Have you taken our Substack Audience Trust Survey yet? It takes 90 seconds and all results will be shared with everyone in May!
We covered a lot in this month’s Pivot Hour — from surprising patterns in open rates to what it really means when your post views spike.
→ What did you learn from your data audit?
Drop your takeaways or questions in the comments — we’d love to hear how you're thinking about your numbers.
If you couldn’t make it live, here are the top takeaways from The Pivot Hour
1. Open Rates Aren’t the Whole Story
While open rates are still useful (especially for tech troubleshooting), post views are a better signal of actual engagement. Substack’s native environment offers more reliable data than email metrics, which are often filtered or blocked.
2. Publishing Mindset vs. Creator Mindset
This session introduced a helpful reframing: thinking like a publisher helps detach from the emotional weight of performance metrics and shifts focus toward sustainable, strategic audience development.
3. Custom Subscriber Filters = Goldmine
Using Amanda’s custom filters, attendees identified their most engaged readers — and uncovered surprising patterns, like high openers who never visit the site, and lurkers who might one day convert into buyers or clients.
4. Repurpose High-Performing Posts
One participant realized they had several posts that resonated deeply and could be pitched to outside publications — suggesting that engagement data can guide syndication and broader visibility opportunities.
5. Quarterly Audits > Monthly Stress
For smaller publications, a quarterly cadence hits the sweet spot — offering meaningful trends without data overwhelm. Larger pubs may need monthly deep dives, but most solo writers benefit from broader, less frequent reviews.
6. Don’t Prune Too Soon
Subscriber churn is natural, but “dead” subscribers might still be reading headlines or waiting for the right post to re-engage. Unless you're paying per subscriber, it often pays to let the lurkers stay. As Amanda put it: “Lurkers are book buyers.”
7. Focus Where You Have Control
Headline testing, storytelling quality and meaningful connection with your audience matter more than trying to hack Substack’s algorithm. Creative strategy beats platform guesswork every time.
Link Round-Up:
Amanda mentioned a few tools and guides during the session, including:
