The app for independent voices
Substack Metrics - You can't go lower
It punishes the work of EVERY author!
Hello Substack Team,
First of all: I like Substack and sometimes I love it, that's why I'm here. This preamble just to avoid comments like "Go away then".
What gives me the right to criticize Substack's metrics?
I've been active in web hosting since day 1, have built and owned several companies for it and have analyzed many hundreds, probably over a thousand sites over the years.
With this in mind, it has been clear to me since I've been here that
The metrics of Substack are not only very rudimentary but also blatantly wrong in many aspects.
If you report this to the Substack support, nothing happens. For example, the podcast statistics are not correct. I reported weeks ago - no response.
So I did some more research.
I noticed that the subscriber numbers displayed in the backend are different from the subscriber numbers contained in the downloaded files - small discrepancies, but a first indication that something is wrong. Because I run my technology myself, I can track every communication with Substack, every email ever received from Substack is preserved. Every one. And I still have all possible emails sent to me and these are automatically saved in the corresponding folders.
So after nearly a year on Substack, I simply counted the emails.
The result is worrying.
Results for GRENZENLOS LEBEN:
2815 - Start with Import
1757 - New subscriptions
4572 - Total subscriptions
1316 - Disabled subscriptions
3256 - Total subscriptions
Actual count on Substack per today:
2923 - Total subscriptions
That is exactly a difference of 333 missing subscriptions or 11.4%
Results for LIVE WITHOUT LIMITS:
(Started last June, but actively run since last week)
000 - Start with Import
185 - New subscriptions
185 - Total subscriptions
019 - Disabled subscriptions
166 - Total subscriptions
Actual count on Substack per today:
151 - Total subscriptions
That is a difference of 15 missing subscriptions or 10.0%
It is impossible that even one email I received was lost, these figures are reliable.
They prove that either the statistics are grossly flawed or the email system is not working properly or both problems coexist.
This is worrying for any author on Substack.
Small authors find it difficult to get started and authors with a high reach usually don't even notice. But both are harmed if they cannot reap the rewards of their hard work.
To avoid any misunderstandings: I don't believe that there is a plan behind this like there is with Google or Facebook.
But it is unacceptable for a faulty technology to hinder the wonderful work of so many authors.
A second example is the obviously flawed integration with Stripe.
For European subscribers, credit card charges regularly fail. As I am in direct contact with many of my subscribers, I know that they have no problems with their credit cards.
But this is not the main problem for authors who want to charge in Europe. Many people in Europe do not have credit cards and use direct debits. These follow the SEPA protocol, a mature procedure that is established throughout Europe. With SEPA, many transfers arrive in real time (similar to Zelle in the USA), or the next day at the latest.
With Stripe, many transfers fail!
Those that are successful, however, are retained by Stripe for 2-3 weeks! This is active fraud against the customer, in this case against the authors, many of whom depend on this income.
The worst thing is that Substack is either unaware of this or deliberately does not inform about failed transactions. The failed transactions or the very late credits also constantly lead to inconsistencies in the metrics.
The only way to deal with this is for the author to monitor his Stripe account with reminders, which is an unproductive and unnecessary task. It also hurts Substack in the end, because many subscribers end up getting fed up with Stripe and prefer to pay directly. I don't like this as it's yet another additional overhead for me, but unfortunately that's the way it is at the moment.
The problem would be very easy to solve with the integration of more serious payment providers. In the USA for example Zelle and CashApp, in Europe SOFORT would solve everything - even much cheaper.
These are just 2 problems, I could go into much more detail.
If a company's numbers don't add up and their payments don't work, you've reached the highest alert level.
Substack, we have a problem!
