5-Minute Friday | Do a Post-Mortem on ONE Email or Post

We love data over here

Earlier this week, we talked about not spiraling over bad numbers and instead looking at what your analytics are actually telling you.

Today’s five-minute task is to put that into practice on one recent email or post (if you’re feeling spicy, do both!)

This exercise will take you less time than it would to pull all your samples for your next blend. ©Heather Daenitz of Craft & Cluster for Dragonette Winery

Your 5-Minute Task

Set a timer for 5 minutes and:

1. Pick ONE email from the last 30 days.

Open your email platform and choose:

• Either your most important promo

• Or the email you felt weird about (underperformed, or surprised you)

Then answer these three questions in a notebook or Notes app:

1. What was the goal of this email?
   (Examples: sell Pinot, fill an event, get club signups, remind people we exist.)

2. Did the numbers support that goal?
   Look at:

   • Open rate (did people care enough to open?)

   • Click rate (did they know what to do next?)

   • Actual results (did you make more online sales or get wine club sign ups, etc from this email?)

3. Try to determine why it performed the way it did (good or bad)
   Timing? Subject line? Segmented (or not segmented)? Chaos in the news? No clear CTA? Broken links? etc

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2. Pick ONE Instagram post from the last 30 days.

Go to your Insights and choose:

• A post you were excited about

• Or a post that “flopped” in your mind

Answer the same style of questions:

1. What was the goal of this post?
   (Reach new people, nurture members, sell an event, tell a story, etc.)

2. Did the numbers match that goal?
   Check:

   • Reach (did enough people see it?)

   • Saves/shares/comments (did it land?)

   • External Link Clicks

3. Again, try to determine why it performed the way it did (good or bad)
   Did you have a really good photo (or bad photo)? A good enough hook? Posted at a dead time? Too salesy? Not salesy enough? Was the news distracting?

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3. Make ONE tweak for next time.

Based on what you just discovered from your data, decide on one tiny change you’ll make next time. For example:

• “Next promo email: subject line will be benefit-driven”

• “Next IG post about events: I’ll put the date + call-to-action in the first line.”

• “Next wine promo email: I’ll exclude anyone who already bought in the last 30 days.”

You just:

• Looked at your data

• Gave it context

• Turned it into an actual decision

Boom. Analytics!

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P.S. Did you do last week’s 5-Minute Friday task? If not, why not? If you did, how long did it actually take you?