NL001–NL008 · March 31 to May 19, 2026
List health is solid. Bounce rates sit between 0.05% and 0.7%, and unsubscribes between 0.25% and 0.47% — both well within healthy ranges (industry norm: under 2% bounce, under 0.5% unsubscribe).
NL006's bounce rate (0.70%) is the highest in the series and lines up with that send going to the unengaged segment — those addresses are more likely to be stale. Worth a list-hygiene pass before re-using the combined segment.
NL002 had the highest unsubscribe rate (0.47%), which combined with its lowest open rate suggests the framing didn't land with part of the audience. Not alarming on its own, but a signal to watch if "executive presence" themes get reused.
The series averages a 35% open rate, which is strong for a weekly B2B/B2C newsletter — and that average is dragged down by a single anomaly. Strip out NL006 (where you sent to the engaged + unengaged list combined, nearly doubling send volume to 27.7K) and the true baseline is closer to 37–38%.
NL007 ("How to stay sharp when meetings move fast") is your standout at 41.2% open rate with 5,692 unique opens. Meetings are universally painful — that subject line hits a frequent, concrete frustration. NL003 ("Unscripted moments") sits right behind at 40.2%, suggesting subject lines tied to specific high-friction scenarios (meetings, networking, awkward conversations) consistently outperform broader thematic ones.
NL002 ("Executive presence / make people listen") is the weakest engaged-list send at 30.5%. The framing — "How to make people listen to you" — is more abstract and possibly reads as self-help cliché compared to the situational specificity of the others. Worth noting: NL008 covers similar territory (sounding senior, executive presence) but performs much better at 39.8%, likely because "Do your words match your ambitions?" reframes the same theme as a direct question.
The total-to-unique opens ratio hovers around 1.5–1.6× across the board, meaning subscribers who open tend to revisit. NL001 stands out with a 1.65× ratio (9,840 total / 5,961 unique) — cross-cultural content seems to invite re-reading or sharing.
NL006 deserves its own note. The 17.9% open rate isn't a content problem — it's a list problem. Adding the unengaged segment roughly doubled send volume but unique opens stayed flat. The engaged-only baseline for that send would have been ~36%, fully in line with the series.