How to read series analytics

Review analytics for your sent editions and see how your editions perform over time

 

Use Axios HQ’s analytics to help understand the performance of your series editions. Our metrics can help gauge the effectiveness of your content and engagement with your audience. 

• Viewing edition analytics
• Downloading edition analytics
• Edition statistic definitions 
• Analytics over time
• Anonymized analytics
• FAQs

Viewing edition analytics

• From your Workspace, navigate to the “Sent” tab, where you can view your previously sent editions. 
• You’ll see the title, sent date, as well as various analytics for each send.
  • Pro-tip: Hover over your statistics to see the descriptions
• Click on “View Report” to view the number of bounces, individual recipient statistics, segment statistics, poll and feedback responses, link statistics, and filter your recipient list by delivery status. 
• Private links record two additional metrics: Web views and time on web

Downloading edition analytics

• From the “View Report” pop-up, select “Download analytics report” to download as a CSV file. 
• The CSV file will have the recipients' name, email, segment, first open time stamp, number of opens, clicks, status, source, and date added. 
• You can use the analytics report to update your audience list. 
  • For example, if you would like to remove all failed recipients, simply filter the ‘Status’ column and delete all rows with failed deliveries. Then remove all columns except Name, Email, and Segments and save the updated CSV and upload it to your audience list. Learn more here. 

Edition Statistic Definitions

• Word count: The number of words in your newsletter edition.
• Total opens/Email and web total views: The total number of times this edition was viewed as an email and on the web (when enabled)
• Open rate: The percentage of recipients who opened your edition
• Click through: The percentage of recipients who clicked any link in your email 
• Thumbs up: The total number of positive responses to your newsletter edition. If your count reads “N/A” email reactions are not turned on, you do not have any reactions to your newsletter edition, or the analytics are still calculating.
• More analytics: Selecting “View Report” on your edition will open a dialogue displaying additional analytics. You’ll see specifics for individual recipients, segments, links, responses, bounced emails, as well as the ability to download your report.
• Bounces: Total number of bounces – these may have been resolved into deliveries and not appear in the individuals tab below. 
• Web views: The total number of times the edition was viewed on the web 
• Avg time on web: Average of the longest time that users spent reading the edition on the web

The analytics table in the “View Report” view looks different depending on link access: 

Anyone with the link: 

• Table shows total views which are email and web views combined. 

Recipients only & Recipients and current audience:  

• Table shows web views and avg time on web.

Analytics over time

In addition to looking at the analytics for each edition of your series, you can also compare the performance of your series over time.

• Navigate to the “Analytics” tab on the series navigation menu
• Choose between looking at the full history of your series, the last 10 sends, or set a custom range.
• You’ll see statistics for whichever time frame you select:
  • Total sends – the number of editions sent
  • Total deliveries – the total number of emails delivered across these editions
  • Average open rate – the average open rate across editions
  • Average click rate – the average clickthrough rate across edition
  • Average word count – the average word account across editions

By the numbers: Additionally there are two line charts below illustrate your newsletter's open and click through rates over time. 

These charts allow you to compare the performance of your series against the internet average, derived from statistics released by other newsletter services, and your own benchmark.

• By default, this benchmark is the cohort average of other HQ senders with the same audience type (internal vs. external) and size, or you can set your own custom average if you want to compare against your average with a previous sending service or have a goal you’d like to reach!

• To edit your benchmark, select the pen and paper icon next to “Your benchmark.”

You can also see your top performing editions and links. Looking at commonalities across your top performing editions may give you insights in what works best and help you to write more effective editions. 

• Use the “Download PDF” button in the top right corner to download the analytics page as a PDF. 

Anonymized Analytics

We offer the option to turn on anonymized analytics for your entire organization to hide individual level analytics. If you are interested in turning this feature on for your organization, email help@axioshq.com or notify your Account Manager. 

Some things to note: 

• You will not be able to download an analytics report.
• This feature is implemented organization wide and it cannot be turned on for specific series. 
• You will still be able to see the number of opens, open rate, click through rate, bounces, and links clicked.
• Anonymized analytics will also be applied to one-off sends and your analytics page. 

FAQs

Why are my open rates so low? A recipient said they read the newsletter, but analytics are showing that they never opened it.

We determine our opens via pixel-tracking, which means that if a recipient does not load images when they open their email, their open will not be tracked. We suggest asking your audience to turn on image viewing. 

Go deeper: The process to turn on automatic image loading varies by email client. Here are instructions for Gmail and Outlook.

Why are my open rates so high / seem skewed?

There are a few factors that can influence open rates:

• If someone’s inbox automatically displays the selected email in a sidebar, they might be counted as opening a newsletter every time they click on that email while shuffling through their inbox.
• Some email spam filters actually open emails and click links in them to test for security reasons. This can result in opens and clicks being attributed to recipients even if they did not interact with the email, and can sometimes lead to higher open rates.

Why does a single recipient show so many opens?

• Sometimes, people open and close emails without realizing as they navigate through their inbox. 
• If a newsletter is forwarded to other recipients, their opens and clicks will be attributed to the original recipient. This will not influence your open or clickthrough rates, but can increase the total click number and explains a recipient having many opens linked to them.
• Spam filters that open emails to test their safety can also increase the number of opens attributed to a single recipient.

How to turn on reactions?

Go to “Series Settings” > “Feedback” > toggle on “Edition reactions”

I have 5 bounces but no failed deliveries. What does this mean?

Emails attempt delivery multiple times before failing. An email could bounce a couple times and then eventually get delivered. 

How is the open rate calculated?

Open rate tells you the percentage of individual recipients who opened your newsletter.

• This is tracked via a hidden pixel in the email.
• Some email clients do not automatically download images. If a recipient opens the email but does not elect to download the images, they will not be tracked as having opened the email.
• If your organization has this setting, it is important to let your audience know that they need to download images, or talk to your IT team about adjusting those settings for Axios HQ emails.