Most newsletter operators track opens and clicks. Those are table stakes. The real question -- "Is this newsletter worth the investment?" -- requires a more comprehensive measurement framework.
The Three Layers of Newsletter ROI
Layer 1: Direct Metrics (Easy to Measure)
These are the metrics your email platform gives you out of the box:
Open rate. The percentage of recipients who open your email. Benchmark: 35-55% for a well-maintained B2B newsletter. Below 30% indicates deliverability or subject line issues. Note: open rate tracking is becoming less reliable as privacy features block tracking pixels.
Click-through rate. The percentage of recipients who click a link. Benchmark: 3-7% for B2B. Higher if your content includes genuinely useful resources.
Unsubscribe rate. Per-issue churn. Benchmark: under 0.3% per issue. Above 0.5% suggests content-audience misalignment.
List growth rate. Net new subscribers per month (new subscribers minus unsubscribes and bounces). Benchmark: 5-15% monthly growth rate is healthy. Below 3% means your growth channels need attention.
Reply rate. The percentage of readers who reply to your email. This is the most underrated metric. Benchmark: 0.5-2% is good. Above 2% is exceptional.
Layer 2: Business Impact Metrics (Requires Setup)
These metrics connect newsletter performance to actual business outcomes:
Website traffic from email. Use UTM parameters on every link. Track how much website traffic originates from your newsletter and what those visitors do (pages visited, time on site, conversions).
Lead generation. How many newsletter subscribers become leads? Track this by matching email addresses in your subscriber list with leads in your CRM. Newsletter subscribers who become leads typically convert at 2-3x the rate of cold leads.
Pipeline influence. Of the deals in your pipeline, how many include contacts who are newsletter subscribers? This "influenced pipeline" metric shows how your newsletter warms prospects before they enter the sales process.
Revenue attribution. What revenue can be traced back to newsletter subscribers? This requires CRM integration and proper attribution modeling, but even a rough estimate is illuminating.
Layer 3: Strategic Value Metrics (Qualitative + Quantitative)
These metrics capture the harder-to-measure but equally important value:
Brand authority. Are you being invited to speak at events, quoted in publications, or approached for partnerships? Track inbound opportunities that reference your newsletter.
Talent attraction. Are job candidates mentioning your newsletter? In competitive hiring markets, a founder's newsletter is a recruiting asset.
Customer retention. Do newsletter-subscribed customers have different retention or expansion rates than non-subscribers? For SaaS companies, this metric often reveals significant lifetime value differences.
Network effects. Are influential people in your industry reading and sharing your newsletter? Track notable subscribers and their engagement.
The ROI Calculation
Simple version: ROI = (Revenue attributable to newsletter - Cost of newsletter) / Cost of newsletter
For a WrittenByTed Growth plan client: - Cost: $12,000/year ($1,000/month) - Revenue from 3 deals closed with newsletter subscribers: $90,000 - Pipeline influenced by newsletter: $300,000 - ROI on direct revenue: 650% - ROI including pipeline influence: 2,400%
For a DTC brand on the Scale plan: - Cost: $18,000/year ($1,500/month) - Email-attributed revenue: $180,000 (20% of $900K total revenue) - ROI: 900%
These are representative numbers, not guarantees. But they illustrate why newsletters consistently rank as the highest-ROI marketing channel for companies that commit to them.
What Ted Tracks
Ted provides analytics on all Layer 1 metrics automatically. On Growth and Scale plans, Ted helps set up Layer 2 tracking and reports on business impact monthly. The goal is not just to measure opens and clicks, but to connect your newsletter to revenue and demonstrate the ROI that justifies the investment.