LinkedIn Newsletter CTR Benchmarks
A LinkedIn newsletter edition runs 2% to 5% click-through rate, with the top quartile at 6% to 10%. A feed post with the link in the first comment runs 0.8% to 1.5%. The gap comes from the audience: newsletter subscribers opted in and are told when you publish, so the edition is not fighting to be noticed in a scroll. This page covers the numbers specific to the newsletter format, including open rate and what happens to the rate as the subscriber list grows.
Last updated: September 2026 · Next update: December 2026 · Methodology
The newsletter numbers
Typical edition CTR
2–5%
Clicks on links inside the edition
Top quartile edition CTR
6–10%
Narrow topic, one clear ask
Typical open rate
20–35%
Share of subscribers who open an edition
Newsletter benchmarks by subscriber count (compiled ranges)
| Subscribers | Open rate |
|---|---|
| Under 500 | 35–50% |
| 500–2,000 | 28–40% |
| 2,000–10,000 | 22–32% |
| 10,000–50,000 | 18–28% |
| Over 50,000 | 15–25% |
Compiled planning ranges, not Creator measurements. Rate falls as the list grows and total clicks usually rise, because subscribers accumulate faster than they unsubscribe. Judge a large list on clicks per edition and a small one on rate.
Newsletter against the other places you can put the same link
| Where the link sits | Typical CTR |
|---|---|
| Newsletter edition | 2–5% |
| Feed post, link in first comment | 0.8–1.5% |
| Feed post announcing the edition | 0.8–1.5% |
| Long-form article | 0.5–1% |
| Feed post, link in body | 0.2–0.4% |
Compiled ranges. The newsletter and the feed post are not competitors. The standard pattern is a feed post that acts as the trailer and a newsletter edition that carries the link, so the same idea gets both distribution surfaces.
The reach layer Creator can compute
| Cut | Bottom 25% | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement per post, all accounts | 12 | 34 |
| Engagement per post, 2026 onward | 14 | 48 |
| Comments per post, 2026 onward | 2 | 10.5 |
Engagement on feed posts, not newsletter clicks. Creator's dataset holds feed posts and carries no newsletter subscriber counts, open rates or click counts, so every newsletter figure on this page is compiled. These rows matter here because the feed post is how most subscribers are recruited in the first place.
What moves newsletter CTR
One ask per edition
Editions with a single link outperform editions with five. The top quartile of 6% to 10% is almost always an edition where the reader had one obvious next step rather than a menu.
A subject line that names the outcome
The edition title decides the open, and the open decides whether the click is even possible. A 30% open at 5% CTR beats a 45% open at 1.5%, but only after the open has happened at all.
Publish on a schedule people can predict
The whole advantage of the format is that subscribers agreed in advance to hear from you. An irregular schedule spends that advantage, and the open rate falls first, before the click rate does.
Send a feed post as the trailer, not as a duplicate
Announce the edition in the feed with the hook and put the substance behind the click. Pasting the whole edition into a feed post removes the reason to open it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average CTR for a LinkedIn newsletter edition?
2% to 5% on compiled ranges, with the top quartile at 6% to 10%. That is roughly three times a feed post with the link in the first comment, which runs 0.8% to 1.5%, because subscribers opted in and are told when a new edition is published.
What is a good open rate for a LinkedIn newsletter?
20% to 35% for a list in the 2,000 to 10,000 range. Smaller lists run higher, at 35% to 50% under 500 subscribers, because most of those subscribers already know the author. Lists over 50,000 typically run 15% to 25% as the dormant tail grows.
Does newsletter CTR drop as subscribers grow?
Yes, and total clicks usually keep rising. Compiled ranges fall from 4% to 8% under 500 subscribers to 1% to 3% over 50,000. Subscribers accumulate faster than they unsubscribe, so the rate is diluted by people who joined once and never came back.
Should I run a LinkedIn newsletter or just post?
Both, doing different jobs. The feed post recruits subscribers and acts as the trailer. The newsletter carries the link and converts at 2% to 5% against 0.8% to 1.5%. Anything you publish on a recurring schedule belongs in the newsletter, and the feed post announces it.
How many clicks should a newsletter edition get?
Multiply subscribers by open rate by CTR. A 5,000-subscriber list at a 25% open rate and 3% CTR returns roughly 38 clicks per edition. That maths is why the open rate deserves as much attention as the click rate: halving the open halves the clicks before the copy gets a chance.
Why do newsletters convert better than feed posts?
The audience agreed in advance. A feed post has to stop a scroll before it can earn anything, while a newsletter arrives for someone who already said this topic is worth hearing about. That single difference explains most of the gap between the two bands.
Can Creator measure LinkedIn newsletter performance?
No. Creator's dataset holds feed posts and carries no newsletter subscriber counts, opens or clicks, so every newsletter figure here is a compiled planning range. The computed table on this page covers feed-post engagement across 67,569 posts and 433 accounts and is labelled as engagement.
How often should a LinkedIn newsletter go out?
On whatever cadence you can hold without missing. Predictability is the format's whole advantage, and an irregular schedule costs the open rate before it costs the click rate. Weekly and fortnightly are both workable, and a missed edition does more damage than a slower cadence would have.
Methodology
Every newsletter figure on this page is a compiled planning range. Creator's dataset holds LinkedIn feed posts and stores no newsletter subscriber counts, open rates or click counts, so nothing about newsletters can be computed here.
Open rate is defined as the share of subscribers who open an edition, and edition CTR as clicks on links inside the edition divided by opens. Sources that divide clicks by subscribers instead report a much lower number for the same edition.
The computed table covers feed posts only. It comes from benchmark_within_sender('reactions_plus_comments') and benchmark_within_sender('comments') against Creator's production database on 2026-09-09, covering 67,569 posts across 433 accounts, with a cumulative cut for posts published from 2026 onward.
The feed-post comparison rows repeat Creator's published organic ranges unchanged, so a reader comparing this page against Creator's click-through rate benchmarks gets the same numbers in both places.
Newsletter open-rate and click-through ranges are compiled figures consistent with Creator's published click-through rate benchmarks and with public social and email benchmark reporting. The computed engagement table comes from Creator's LinkedInPost dataset via benchmark_within_sender(), 2026-09-09.
Understand the terms
Newsletter Edition
One published issue sent to a newsletter's subscribers.
Open Rate
Share of subscribers who opened an edition.
Click-Through Rate
Clicks divided by impressions or opens, times 100.
Subscriber
Someone who asked to be notified when you publish.
Dormant Tail
Subscribers who joined once and no longer open anything.
Compiled Range
A planning figure drawn from industry reporting, not measured here.
LinkedIn Content Playbook
The trailer post and the edition behind it, written as one unit.
More LinkedIn benchmarks
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