This article explains the figures shown on the Subscriber Email Report page and clarifies how key metrics are calculated.
Important to note
When reviewing email reports, there may be differences between “Sent Emails“ and “Total Subscribers“ counts. This article explains why these differences occur and how the numbers are calculated.
How “Total Subscribers“ in the Email Blast is Calculated
The system calculates this number by identifying unique users who meet ALL of the following baseline conditions:
User account is Active and email address is Verified
User profile setting “Opted to stay informed of any future consultations in my area of interests“ is enabled
AND who meet AT LEAST ONE of the following targeting criteria based on the project settings at the time the email was generated:
Subscribed to one or more Categories tagged on the project
Subscribed to one or more Locations (Places) tagged on the project
Subscribed globally via the “All Categories“ (All Interests) option
Subscribed globally via the “All Places“ (All Locations) option
Important note on counting
Each eligible user is counted only once in the “Total Subscribers“ metric, regardless of how many matching categories, locations, they subscribe to.
What Does NOT Affect This Count
The following settings do not impact the “Total Subscribers“ calculation:
The general profile setting “Receive email notifications to the things that you are subscribed to“ does not impact this specific calculation. (The primary gatekeeper is the “Stay Informed“ setting)
Adding a Campaign or Team to the project does not affect these subscriber numbers
Why “Sent Emails“ Can Be Less Than “Total Subscribers“
You will often see that the “Sent Emails“ count is lower than the “Total Subscribers“ count (e.g., 300 sent out of 500 subscribers). This difference means that while a certain number of users were identified as eligible recipients (“Total Subscribers“), not all of them actually received the email.
The most common reasons for an address to be suppressed are:
Unsubscribed: The user previously clicked the unsubscribe link in an email sent from the platform.
Hard Bounce: A permanent delivery failure occurred. This usually means the email address is invalid or doesn't exist.
Spam Complaint: The user explicitly marked a previous email from the platform as spam.
Once an email is suppressed for reasons like these, Postmark will automatically prevent future emails from being sent to that address to protect sender reputation and comply with user preferences.
Emails that are not sent due to suppression are not queued for later delivery. The “Sent Emails“ number reflects the final count of successfully dispatched emails for that specific blast.
Report Totals vs. Category Page Counts
You might notice that summing subscriber counts from the Category management page does not match the “Total Subscribers“ on the email report. This is expected for several reasons:
Reason 1: Unique User CountThe Email Report counts each user once. The Category page lists total subscriptions per category; summing these will count a user multiple times if they subscribe to more than one category listed.
Reason 2: Exclusion of “All“ Subscribers on Category PageThe subscriber count shown on the Category page (/dash/settings/categories) reflects only users directly subscribed to that specific category. It currently does not include users who selected “All“ categories. However, these “All“ users are included in the Email Report's “Total Subscribers“ calculation.
Reason 3: Inclusion of Location SubscribersThe Email Report includes users subscribed to tagged Locations (and “All Places“), which are not reflected in the Category page counts.
