---
aliases: ["Monthly Subscriber Metrics Review"]
Is A: Procedure
Belongs to: "[[responsibility-grow-newsletter]]"
Cadence: Monthly
Owner: "[[person-luca-rossi]]"
---
# Monthly Subscriber Metrics Review

Growing a newsletter sustainably requires understanding not just how many subscribers you are adding, but where they come from, why they stay, and why they leave. This monthly review aggregates the key metrics that drive [[responsibility-grow-newsletter]] decisions: subscriber growth, churn, open rates, and click rates. The data collected here informs content strategy adjustments, growth experiments, and the overall health assessment of the newsletter as a business asset.

## Steps

- [ ] Export subscriber data from the email platform: total subscribers, new subscribers, unsubscribes, and net growth for the month
- [ ] Update the [[measure-subscribers]] tracking spreadsheet with this month's data point
- [ ] Calculate and record the churn rate: unsubscribes / total subscribers at the start of the month
- [ ] Review [[measure-open-rate]] trend: compare this month's average against the 3-month rolling average
- [ ] Analyze click rate performance and identify which content types or topics drove the highest engagement
- [ ] Break down new subscriber sources: organic search, referrals, social media, cross-promotions, paid acquisition
- [ ] Identify the top 3 growth drivers and the top 3 churn signals from this month's data
- [ ] Compare actual growth against the monthly target — if off-track, diagnose the gap and propose corrective actions
- [ ] Document findings and share a summary with [[person-sara-ricci]] and [[person-matteo-cellini]] so content and sponsorship decisions are data-informed

## Notes

- Churn rate is just as important as growth rate. A "leaky bucket" problem (high growth but high churn) is a content quality or audience-fit signal, not a growth problem. See [[topic-newsletter-growth]] for more on this distinction.
- Open rate trends matter more than absolute open rates, especially given the unreliability of open tracking after Apple Mail Privacy Protection. Focus on the direction, not the number.
- Segment the data by subscriber cohort when possible. Subscribers who joined 6+ months ago behave differently from those who joined last week — conflating them hides important patterns.
- If a particular growth channel delivered a spike of subscribers, check their 30-day retention before doubling down. Some channels bring high volume but low-quality subscribers who churn quickly.
- This review feeds directly into [[procedure-quarterly-sponsor-outreach]] — sponsors want to see healthy, growing audience metrics before committing.
