Pull these from your ESP before Thursday. It takes about ten minutes, and the four of them add up to one figure most publishers have never put a dollar sign on. Bring the result to the workshop.
Everything calculates as you type, in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you choose to at the end.
What you're billed for. Subscribed contacts, before any suppression.
Unique subscribers who clicked anything at least once. Not total clicks — people.
How to build it is below.
What the platform charges you. If you're billed annually, divide by 12.
Building number 3 — opener bloat
One segment, three conditions: opened in the last 30 days, never clicked, ever, and added 30+ days ago. That third condition is what keeps new subscribers who haven't had a fair run yet out of the count.
Some platforms express this as an activity window, others as a "last opened" date. Either is fine.
Not "hasn't clicked recently" — never, across their whole history. If your tool counts rather than filters, the equivalent is unique clicks, all time, equals zero.
Usually a signup or subscribed date, set to "is before" 30 days ago. Keeps new subscribers who haven't had a fair run out of the count.
If your platform won't combine all three — and several won't, particularly around condition A — export your subscriber list to CSV and apply the three filters in a spreadsheet. It takes a few minutes and the number is the same. Bring the question to Thursday if you get stuck; it's a good one for the Q&A.
Three of these you already suspected. The fourth is the one that usually lands.
Every month you are paying this to mail people who have never clicked
Engaged Audience Density
Clickers over your active list.
Opener bloat
Share of your list that opens but has never clicked.
Cost per engaged subscriber
Monthly bill divided by people who actually click.