3 Metrics. 1 Summary. Zero Guesswork.

Hey, Alchemists

Your report isn’t too long — it’s just too unreadable.

Today, I’m sharing a battle-tested, 3-metric summary format that turns email chaos into strategic clarity — so clients actually read and act on your reports.

Today’s Insights

🔍 Tutorial: The 3-line report that got me hired (and quoted by CMOs) — with the AI prompt that makes it effortless

📡 Radar: From Web3 inbox incentives to Google’s PMax channel reveal — 5 signals shaping what’s next

🏆 5-Minute Wins: The tiny reporting tweaks that protect deliverability, boost replies, and earn client trust

🧠 Marketing Psychology: How the Decoy Effect can double conversions by making your best offer look obvious

⚡ Productivity: What happens when you ignore 80% of your to-do list — and double your output anyway

🔍 Tutorial

The Only 3 Metrics I Ever Report

In 2020, I sent a 14-slide email report to a new client.

I’d stayed up late formatting graphs, color-coding click maps, and writing a page-long explanation of every single metric.

It looked impressive.
But I never heard back.

Two weeks later, the contract quietly ended.

That’s when it hit me: most reports don’t fail because they’re wrong — they fail because they’re unread.

Since then, I’ve built a lean, 3-part summary format I now use for every client.
It’s short. It’s actionable. And it actually gets results.

Here’s how it works — and how you can make it yours today

1. The 3-Hour Report That Got Me Ghosted

5 years back, I was working with an eCommerce brand that wanted “detailed” reports. So I went all in — 14 slides, 12 metrics, charts, comparisons, annotations.

What did I get?
One “Thanks”... and then silence.

That month, the client didn’t renew.

Now?
I send a 3-line metric summary to every client.

They always read it — and often quote it back to me in meetings.

Here’s what it includes:

• Signal – How’s list health trending?

• Shift – What changed since the last campaign?

• Step – What we’re testing next.

This format changed everything.
I’ve used it with SaaS teams, ecommerce brands, and solopreneurs — and it always lands.

🎯 5-Minute Action:

Take your latest campaign and write a summary using this:
→ Signal. Shift. Step.
Send it to yourself and see if you’d read it as a busy client.

2. The Metric That Nearly Killed a 5-Figure Campaign

One of my clients once hit an 8.7% click-through rate.

We celebrated. Briefly.

But something felt off.
I checked the Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR): just 4.2%.

Turns out, the subject line promised a 3-day offer — but the email linked to a regular product page.

People clicked because they were curious.

But once inside?
They bailed.

CTR made the campaign look good.
CTOR revealed the truth: the content didn’t deliver.

We fixed it by rewriting the email body to build urgency and mirror the promise.

The next send?
11.6% CTOR — and a 29% increase in conversions.

🎯 5-Minute Action:

Look at your last 3 campaigns.

If your CTOR is under 10%, check for a disconnect between subject line and email body. Rewrite your copy to extend the promise, not just repeat it.

3. Your List Might Be Growing — But It’s Getting Sicker

One of the biggest myths in email marketing?
“If your list is growing, you’re doing great.”

Wrong!

A SaaS client added 5,200 new leads from a giveaway campaign.
The open rate dropped from 42% to 19% in three weeks. CTR fell in half.

The reason? The new subs were unqualified.
Passive. Not interested in real offers.

We cleaned up 3,800 cold subscribers and ran a re-engagement series.
The very next email hit:

✔️ 45.3% open rate
✔️ 9.2% CTOR
✔️ 14 direct replies — including 2 product demo requests

Healthy lists outperform large lists.
Every-time.

🎯 5-Minute Action:

Use this formula:
→ List Health Score = % of subs who opened at least 1 of your last 5 emails

If that number’s under 50%?
Time to clean.

4. The 3-Metric Summary That Replaces 12 Slides

When I build email reports, I’m not just showing data.
I’m answering a question: “What should we do next?”

That’s why I use this 3-metric summary in every client report:

1. List Health → % of active subs (last 90 days)

2. Performance Funnel → Open → Click → Reply (or revenue)

3. Action Note → What we’re testing or changing

This works across the board — whether I’m reporting to a solopreneur or a CMO. It’s easy to digest, hard to ignore, and instantly useful.

🎯 5-Minute Action:

Take your most recent client or team report.
Trim it down to these 3 metrics.

Send just those as a summary email and ask: “Is this enough to act on?”

If yes, you’ve nailed it.

5. If a Metric Doesn’t Change Your Next Move — Cut It

Here’s a rule I live by:
If a number won’t change what I do next, it doesn’t belong in the report.

I once had a client who loved tracking email forwards. It was a nice number, but… it never led to any changes. We replaced it with reply rate — and used that to test which emails started conversations.

That one shift helped us increase welcome email replies by 42% — and close a 4K/month retainer.

🎯 5-Minute Action:

Pull up your last report.
Cut one metric that hasn’t led to a change in the last 60 days.

Replace it with one that has.

What to Try First

You don’t need fancier reports.
You need sharper ones.

Top 1% don’t just track data — they turn it into decisions.

Start with three questions:
→ What’s healthy?
→ What changed?
→ What’s next?

Everything else is noise.

If you only do one thing today, make it this:
Write a 3-line summary of your last email campaign using Signal → Shift → Step.

You’ll see instantly what matters — and what doesn’t.

Bonus:

Compress your entire email performance into 3 strategic lines — the kind that land with clients, founders, and CMOs alike.

Use this AI prompt to build your own version:

🏆 Quick Wins

✅ Replace CTR with CTOR in your reporting dashboard.
→ Go to your last email campaign and switch focus to Click-to-Open Rate.
Expected Impact: Spot underperforming content faster — CTOR under 10% often signals copy misalignment or false promises in the subject line.

✅ Tag subscribers who haven’t opened the last 5 emails.
→ Most ESPs let you create an “inactive” segment in seconds.
Expected Impact: Cleaning this segment can lift overall open rates by 20–30% and protect deliverability.

✅ Write a 3-line summary for your last campaign using: Signal → Shift → Step.
→ What’s the key metric? What changed? What’s next?
Expected Impact: Save 90% of reporting time and instantly make performance reviews more strategic.

📡 Radar

📫 Web3 Email Marketing Gets Real with EtherMail’s $EMT Token Model

EtherMail is reimagining how email works by turning attention into a reward system. Users can now earn $EMT tokens for opening and engaging with branded emails — flipping the traditional “ignored inbox” on its head. With 2.5M+ verified users, advanced audience filtering using on-chain data, and wallet-based login, it’s creating a new kind of performance email channel for marketers.

→ Key takeaway: If you run cold outreach or promo campaigns, test EtherMail as a paid channel where users are incentivized to open your emails — not avoid them.
Read More →

📫 StackAdapt Just Combined Email + Programmatic Into One Platform

StackAdapt is now the first programmatic ad platform to natively unify email marketing, first-party data, and paid media under one roof. With this launch, marketers can build full-funnel campaigns — from display to inbox — using one workflow, one audience, and one data source. It also includes AI-powered personalization and the ability to send up to 1 million free emails during early access.

→ Key takeaway: If you're juggling email and ad platforms separately, StackAdapt’s new hub lets you activate both from the same first-party audience — with built-in AI and zero extra tools.
Read More →

📣 Google Ads Just Unlocked Channel Reporting in Performance Max

You can now see exactly how your Performance Max campaigns are performing across individual Google channels — YouTube, Display, Search, and more. Google also rolled out full search term reporting and detailed asset-level insights, making it easier to tie performance back to creative and audience intent. More metrics, less guessing.

→ Key takeaway: Running PMax? Log in today and check which channels are actually driving conversions — then adjust your budget or creative accordingly.
Read More →

📣 Google Launches “AI Max” to Supercharge Search Campaigns

Google is rolling out AI Max, a new suite of one-click features for Search campaigns that combines broad match expansion, auto-generated assets, and landing page matching. Early adopters like L’Oréal saw 2× higher conversions at 31% lower cost-per-conversion. The system dynamically rewrites ads and expands reach based on real-time search intent.

→ Key takeaway: If you’re still relying on exact-match keywords, turn on AI Max in your next Search campaign to unlock 14-27% more conversions - especially from net new queries.
Read More →

📣 Zuckerberg Says Meta AI Will Replace Agencies for SMBs

In a bold projection, Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Meta’s future vision is AI-powered ad automation — where small businesses simply enter a goal and budget, and Meta AI builds and runs the full campaign. He predicts AI will soon outperform the “average marketer” in both creative and strategy, giving startups agency-level execution without hiring one.

→ Key takeaway: Start preparing now: build leaner, modular creative assets that can plug directly into AI-driven ad platforms - or risk being outpaced by competitors who do
Read More →

⚒️ Tools

1️⃣ Suna: Your All-Purpose AI Operator for Research, Analysis & Execution

Suna is a generalist AI agent built to run complex workflows like competitor research, spreadsheet automation, VC list building, SEO analysis, and even event management — all with simple prompts. Think of it as a task-level assistant that executes across tools, not just chats with you. Especially useful for marketers juggling multiple client or brand tasks.

→ Key takeaway: Need help building a quick VC list or competitor teardown? Delegate it to Suna in seconds — it’s like having a junior ops assistant on standby.
Learn More →

2️⃣ Reef: Turn Raw Data into Narrated, Visual Insights (No Analyst Needed)

Reef lets you upload spreadsheets and instantly generates charts, summaries, trend analysis, and even audio narrations of your findings. Perfect for marketers who need fast, clear insights without wrangling pivot tables or writing reports. It also supports real-time collaboration, annotation, and comment threads — all in one interface.

→ Key takeaway: Got messy campaign or list data? Drop it into Reef to get clean charts and key insights — with voice-over ready summaries in minutes.
Learn More →

⚡️ Productivity

80/20 Rule

Myth:

You need to do more to achieve more.

Reality:

Most of your output comes from a small fraction of your effort.
The rest? Noise dressed up as work.

If you’re juggling 10 priorities, chances are only 2 actually move the needle.

That’s the 80/20 Rule in action — 20% of your actions drive 80% of your results.
The rest is burnout fuel.

The Science:

Originally discovered by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, this principle shows up everywhere — from business revenue to email campaign performance.

In marketing? It often means a few subject lines, channels, or clients generate most of the value.

Apply it today:

• Look at your to-do list. Star the 2 tasks that directly impact revenue, engagement, or strategy.

• Deprioritize or delegate the rest. Seriously. Let them wait.

• Set a 30-minute block tomorrow to go deep on just those 2 tasks.

Most valuable for:

Marketers buried in busywork who want to stop reacting and start prioritizing.

You don’t need more hours.
You need a sharper filter.

Want to go deeper? these resources will take it even further.

🔗 Understanding the Pareto principle (The 80/20 rule)
🔗 Pareto Principle: A Guide To The 80/20 Time Management Hack
🔗 The 80-20 Rule (aka Pareto Principle): What It Is, How It Works

🧠 Marketing Psychology Unlocked

Decoy Effect

Why do some offers feel like a “no-brainer”?

It’s not always the price or the product — it’s the comparison.

Sometimes, adding a worse version of your offer makes the best one irresistible. That’s the Decoy Effect in action.

Example:

Imagine a creator sells two pricing tiers:

• Starter Plan: $19/month

• Pro Plan: $39/month

Sales are evenly split.
Now they add a new “decoy” tier:

• Basic Plan: $35/month (but offers less than Pro)

Suddenly, the Pro Plan gets 70% of sales.

Why?
The decoy made it look like a steal.

Why It Works?

✅ Cognitive shortcut: We’re wired to choose based on relative value, not absolute logic.
✅ Makes your best offer shine: The decoy reframes pricing to make the top tier feel like the smartest pick.
✅ Guides buyer choice: Reduces analysis paralysis and nudges action through comparison.

👉🏻 This Week’s Action:

Add a slightly worse (but similarly priced) “decoy” version of your lead magnet, service, or email package — and watch your best offer convert harder.

Want to go deeper? these resources will take it even further.

🔗 Why do we feel more strongly about one option after a third one is added?
🔗 The Decoy Effect – Everything You Need To Know

🚀 Case Study

Your Therapy Source Keeps Subscribers Engaged By Providing Content That Matters

Your Therapy Source, a niche digital product business for pediatric therapists and teachers, used ActiveCampaign to power a lean, high-performing email strategy.

↑ 50% of all sales came directly from weekly emails

↑ 30% of automation revenue was driven by abandoned cart sequences

💰 2000% ROI achieved from ActiveCampaign automation

⏱️ Results seen within the first 12 months of consistent email use

What made it work:

Instead of blasting generic campaigns, they used behavior-triggered emails and cart abandonment flows to send the right message at the right time — making every touchpoint more profitable.

👉🏻 Read full case study here

🎙️ Podcast You’ll Love

🎧 Episode: Zero Clicks, Big Impact: What’s Actually Working in 2025

📢 Hosts: Eric Siu & Neil Patel

🗣️ What it covers:

This episode dives into the rise of zero-click content, why brand matters more than ever, and how marketers can win without relying on old-school tactics like link clicks and cold ads.

💡 Key takeaways:

✔️ Zero-click is the new norm — platforms want you to stay, so marketers must deliver value upfront (no links needed).
✔️ Your brand is your moat — the more people know you, the less you have to fight the algorithm.
✔️ Master one channel deeply before expanding — omnichannel works best when it starts from a focused strength.

🛠️ Why it’s worth your time:

If your email CTRs are dropping or your content isn’t converting, this episode will shift how you think about attention — and show how branding bridges the gap.

🎧 Listen here: Marketing School

📚 Growth Shelf

For marketers tired of staring at the blank page — here’s your creative reset.

Steal Like an Artist

Why it’s worth reading:

✔️ Shows how creativity thrives on influence, not originality—learn to remix, not reinvent.
✔️ Shares 10 punchy, practical rules for building a consistent, visible creative habit.
✔️ Emphasizes simple truths like “creativity is subtraction” and “side projects matter” that hit especially hard in a noisy, content-first world.

✅ Perfect for email marketers, writers, and creators looking to build momentum and originality without overthinking.

🧬 The Elixir

Join Me

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I deliver AI-Powered marketing intelligence used by top 1% professionals.
AI prompts + plug-n-play templates to achieve 3X marketing results.

I keep things concise, tactical & BS free - just actionable solutions you can implement immediately!