Posts Statistics
What WriteStack's Posts Statistics page shows for your Substack newsletter posts (subscribers, ARR, open rate, email traffic, delivery, views, likes, free and paid subs per post), how open rate differs from email traffic, and the extension version it needs.
Posts Statistics shows how your Substack newsletter posts perform: subscriber counts and ARR, email open and delivery rates, interactions, and a ranked table of your posts. The numbers come from Substack and are collected by the WriteStack browser extension.
Before you start
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Plan | Standard or Enterprise. See Plans and limits. |
| Extension | WriteStack extension version 1.5.25 or newer |
| Substack | A connected Substack account with at least one newsletter |
Steps
- Open Posts Statistics in the sidebar.
- The first time, WriteStack asks Which newsletters are yours? Tick every newsletter you own and click Save newsletters. WriteStack fetches post stats only for those.
- Keep the tab open while the first fetch runs. The page shows "Fetching your posts". It can take a few minutes if you have hundreds of posts.
- Pick a date range and interval at the top. To see one newsletter, choose it under Newsletter; the default is All newsletters.
To change your newsletters later, click Choose newsletters. New publications on your Substack profile show up there, marked New, until you decide. Use Refresh newsletters if one is missing.
What the page shows
Subscribers
Live counts from Substack's own subscriber chart, not sums of post conversions. Switch the metric between Free subscribers, Paid subscribers and ARR. The section also shows Paid now, Total now, and the change across the selected range. Paid subscribers are split into Paid, Free trials, Gifts and Comps.
How posts land
| Tile | What it means |
|---|---|
| Open rate | Substack's unique email opens divided by emails delivered |
| Email traffic | The share of all views that came from email, including repeat views |
| Engagement rate | Average across emailed posts |
| Delivery rate | Emails delivered out of emails sent |
Open rate and email traffic are different numbers. Open rate counts each reader once. Email traffic is about views, so one reader opening an email three times adds three views. Use Open rate when you compare with Substack's dashboard.
Interaction mix
Totals for posts published in the range: Views, Likes, Comments, Restacks and Shares.
Post type and Audience
- Post type splits views by the kind of post.
- Audience splits views by the Substack audience setting of each post (who can read it).
Top posts
A table of your posts with Views, Unique opens, Open rate, Clicks, Free subs and Paid subs. Click a column header to rank posts by it. Click a title to read the post on Substack.
Date range and interval
| Control | Options |
|---|---|
| Date range | Last 7 days, Last 30 days (default), Last 90 days, Last 12 months, All time, Custom |
| Interval | Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly |
You can add an annotation to a point on the Subscribers chart, for example the day you launched a paid tier.
How often it updates
The extension fetches post stats when you open WriteStack, at most once a day. The page header shows Last updated with the time of the last fetch.
If it doesn't work
- "Choose your newsletters": you haven't marked any newsletter as yours. Click Choose newsletters.
- "No newsletters found": WriteStack found no newsletter on your Substack profile. Connect a publication in Settings, then open the page again.
- "No post stats yet": the first fetch hasn't run. Open WriteStack with the extension installed and keep the tab open until it finishes.
- Numbers look out of date: check that your extension is 1.5.25 or newer. See Browser extension.
- "Posts Statistics isn't on for your account": your plan doesn't include it. See Plans and limits.
Find your best Notes
How to find the Substack Notes that brought you free and paid subscribers, impressions and replies in WriteStack, and how to use them to write more Notes that work.
Activity Center
How to use WriteStack's Activity Center to see Substack comments, mentions and restacks in one feed, filter and sort them, reply, like or restack with keyboard shortcuts, and auto-handle notifications.