Just hit 50,000 email subscribers and it feels meaningless

I was checking my Mailchimp dashboard yesterday and saw I crossed 50,000 subscribers. That's been my goal for like 3 years. But when I looked at open rates they're under 12%. And click through is barely above 1%. Half those people probably forgot they signed up. I built that list through lead magnets and blog popups but never cleaned it out. So now I'm wondering if a smaller engaged list is actually better. Anyone else hit a milestone like this and realize the number didn't matter as much as you thought?

2 comments

2 Comments

hunt.rowan3d ago

I heard someone say a list of 500 true fans beats 50,000 strangers.

margaret_nelson3d ago

Any of you ever count your actual fans? I did once and it was basically my mom, my cat, and three confused coworkers who accidentally subscribed. 500 true fans sounds like a dream, but I'd probably panic if I had to actually engage with all of them. I barely keep up with group texts from two friends, let alone a whole community of people who like my stuff.