Illuminated
Newsletter Intelligence
Performance analysis across sends, with narrative summaries for leadership and detailed breakdowns for the strategy team.
Executive Summary
Field Notes reached 2,847 subscribers this month, up 6.2% from last month. Open rates averaged 24.8% across four sends, with the March 28 issue on financial intelligence performing strongest at 27.1%.
That tracks with a pattern we're seeing: question-format subject lines consistently outperform wrap-ups by 5+ points, which suggests the audience responds to Courtney's diagnostic voice more than summary content.
Readers are clicking through to the Planning to Scale book page more than any other destination (41% of all clicks), which tells us the book launch activity is working as an entry point. Unsubscribes are flat at 0.2% per send, healthy for this list size and cadence.
One thing to watch: the February wrap-up issue pulled a 21.3% open rate and the highest unsub rate of the period (0.29%), reinforcing that recap-style issues underperform and may be worth rethinking.
Key Metrics
Per-Send Breakdown
| Date | Subject Line | Sent | Open Rate | Click Rate | Top CTA | Unsubs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 28 | What your financial reports aren't telling you | 2,847 | 27.1% | 0.9% | Book page | 0.18% |
| Mar 14 | The delegation trap nobody warns you about | 2,790 | 24.6% | 0.8% | Workshop | 0.21% |
| Feb 28 | Field Notes: February wrap-up | 2,734 | 21.3% | 0.3% | Blog | 0.29% |
| Feb 14 | Why your best people keep leaving | 2,681 | 26.1% | 0.9% | Workshop Blog | 0.15% |
Where Readers Go Next
Subject Line Patterns
Average open rate by subject line approach, based on the last 12 sends.