Announcements
Track a broadcast
Follow an announcement email from scheduled to sent, read the sent, skipped and failed counts, and ask Soul AI for opens and clicks.
Every announcement you notify people about has a Broadcast panel. It shows where the send is and how many people it reached.
When to use this
- You want to know whether your email has gone out yet.
- Your counts show skipped or failed and you want to know why.
- You want to know how many people opened or clicked.
Find the Broadcast panel
On Audience → Announcements, click the announcement. The Broadcast panel sits under the post. It refreshes by itself while the page is open, every few seconds while sending.
| State | You see | You can |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled | Send time, and Recipients: the number of sources and their names | Cancel Broadcast |
| Sending | A progress bar and "[n] of [total] sent", plus skipped and failed when there are any | Wait. It can't be stopped. |
| Sent | Finished: the time it finished, and how many were sent, skipped and failed | Nothing. It can't be recalled. |
Counts over 10,000 are shortened, for example 12.5k.
What the counts mean
| Count | Means |
|---|---|
| Sent | Handed over for delivery by email or text. |
| Skipped | Chosen not to send: the person has no email or phone number, or has unsubscribed from your announcement emails. |
| Failed | Soul tried and the email or text provider refused it, for example an address that doesn't exist. |
Skipped isn't an error. A few failed sends are normal on any list. A large number usually means an imported list has old or mistyped addresses.
Opens and clicks
The panel counts deliveries only. For engagement, ask Soul AI, for example "How did my launch announcement do?" or "What was the open rate of last week's newsletter?" It can report:
| Metric | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Sends and deliveries | How many went out and how many arrived. |
| Unique and total opens | How many people opened, and how many opens in all. |
| Unique and total clicks | How many people clicked a link, and how many clicks. |
| Open rate and click rate | Out of delivered emails. |
| Click-to-open rate | Of the people who opened, how many clicked. |
| Unsubscribes, spam reports, bounces | Who opted out, complained, or couldn't be reached. |
You can ask for a date range, for example the first 48 hours.
Opens are undercounted, because many email apps block the image that records them. Clicks can be overcounted by spam filters that check links. Treat both as a guide, not an exact count. A test email from Preview isn't counted.
Tips
- Give it time. Most opens happen in the first day or two.
- Compare like with like. Ask Soul AI for two announcements to the same audience to see what worked better.
- A big skipped number? Check how many of your contacts have an email address in People.