I Deleted 500 Subscribers on Substack (And My Email Open Rate Nearly Doubled)
It’s not a growth hack; it was just simple math
I had 1067 subscribers on my main publication on Substack, and I deleted about 530 inactive subscribers. I would like to thank this writer, Mack Collier, and their article for helping me recall that it was something I always wanted to do.
From 1,067 to 533, basically a collapse that I enjoy seeing.
I just need someone to do it first, and I thought it would take a long time. With a simple activity feature with stars next to it, we can simply know who is not long active or interested in our work.
This is actually very normal, read come and go, they have a busy life, most of the time they only come subscribe and never really open their email or app after a few months.
One this that gave me confidence in deleting the 0-star subscribers is that they really are not that active or no longer look at your work.
I checked a couple, and almost all of them have not looked at or had any interaction with me for at least a month.
Even some of the 1-star subscribers have only looked at us a few times over how many months they’ve already subscribed to us.
Some want to know the rules I set to delete them. I’ll share that next time, as this one is jam-packed already.
The Email Open Rate Nearly Doubled
The math makes sense because if you removed half of your subscribers who are inactive, the email open ratio would automatically double.
And the only reason it has not doubled yet because the article has only been posted for about 15 hours or so.
Another reason is that the same reader opens the email or article more than once does not count as open rate.
Some readers looked at the article more than once, while about 30 of them saw it at least twice, and about 10 saw it more than 3 times.
This also includes your own opening of the article, which is usually the highest since you might have to go reply to comments or edit something.
How Did This Impact the Views?
The most exciting part is that the view didn’t drop and actually somewhat went up.
You can see the last bar on the chart is the day after removing 500 subscribers. It didn’t drop because those inactive accounts are like 99% not going to look at us anyway.
One interesting thing that I hope to see is for it to increase the views even more because I believe the system will push article that has a higher open rate.
This observation is based on a viral article I saw on Substack about what new accounts are able to achieve sometimes.
It does make sense of a viral article because you would have little to no subscribers, so the open rate should be very high, and once it catches on fire. It will run very hard depending on the topics, too, of course.
What Else Has Helped, or What Do I Do Differently?
Substack notes still remain the most underrated feature on social writing platforms right now. A simple 4 sentences can get you 40 likes and 300 impressions.
Normally, I only get like 5–20 likes, and impressions range from 50–200 on average.
Notes are like a poster, which is what the Substack CEO once said, they help you promote your work, and not in a way to spam others by sharing your work when no one asks for it.
Bonus Tips on Notes
There are many ways to get viral notes; some ways feel more genuine than others. It can range from sharing a cat or bird photo to asking questions like what someone’s Substack is about.
You find a way that works for you, and you will keep doing it without feeling ashamed. Most writers I know don’t like to self-promote.
Can’t say no to 1,000 impressions sometimes.
When promoting, one thing to keep in mind is whether you enjoy doing it. You can copy or repurpose the viral notes, but if you are not having fun, it won’t last very long.
And the best way to get real subscribers is to really talk to others first.
Most of the time is to support them because you or we find things in common that lead us to interact.
It’s really hard to say what it was, but you and I know there’s something that is attracting us and keeps us seeing each other. It might be the algorithm not letting us get off our 13-person island.
But it’s okay, as notes and posts still have a chance to go viral and meet new people.
Take it like you wrote something good and your closest friends liked it, followed by the algorithm starts pushing it to more readers.
Keep This In Mind When Deleting Subscribers
Your followers will tank as well, this is because every time someone subscribes to you, they will automatically follow you as well.
So when you delete them, it will also be removed from the follower list.
My theory with followers is that most of them come from notes. As a user myself, I feel strongly about that in the past, now I’m leading more towards content and how we engage with others when using the app.
Subscribers will see your posts in their email and app.
Followers will see your notes on the app more often.
Based on the 13 people island rule, it does not really matter, besides optimizing your work or making it better for the initial engagement to lift your post. or notes.
What Else Should You Know?
One thing to keep in mind is not to compare your progress with others, especially with bigger accounts. (This goes for any platforms; learn from their actions)
The best thing to do is work on your craft, show up, and also show up for others that you enjoy talking to.
This is likely to be a very slow grind for most people.
Thanks for Reading
This story was originally published on [Medium] and is cross-posted here for a wider audience.
Good to know, Bin. Truthfully, I read you when you talk about your Substack, but I am less inclined to when you discuss Medium, since I no longer spend time there. Perhaps my readership reflects that reality? Interesting to read.
Bin this was actually fascinating to know! I’ll keep this in mind when I get larger, if I get larger. I remember when I only had ten and thought I was a rockstar.