DISCLAIMER: 1. I'm just a potato that tried to get a mathematics degree and ended up failing out of college. A lot of math in here is gonna make broad assumptions. In fact none of it might be legitimate. I just calculated this (for fun) to get another perspective on your views and subs. 2. There will be plenty more disclaimers about said assumptions 3. I'll probably still miss a couple issues here and there - oh well.
How effective is your first episode?
For almost every webcomic, your first or second episode will have the most views by far. How effective is your episode in turning those views into subs?
*Doesn't account for fact that Tapas shows last ep first - If not a premium comic or novel, which is most people, many readers will not see first ep first
*views from same person without accounts on different computers/phones (this isn't the case for NSFW in which only people with Tapas account can view)
Well, then what's a good percentage to have?
Uh... ;;
I read this quote from a manga that talked about serialization in Jump (Bakuman if you were wondering) and I know it's a worlds apart, but I'll apply it here for a rough guideline:
"If two out of ten people choose a manga, it's considered popular."
(Obviously this leads to two strategies: mainstream: write something that will appeal to as many people as possible, or cult: write something most people won't like, but two people are guaranteed to like it - but that's for a different topic)
So let's start with 20% as a good number to shoot for. Two out of ten viewers.
Viewer Retention between episodes
And the ep numbers ascend as you look at viewer retention from ep 2 to ep 3, etc. Obviously the best percentage to have is 100%
Number of Subs actively engaging in your updates (on average)
This was a difficult one because it's difficult to find an accurate average of views per episode, especially when they keep fluctuating, so I removed the first, second, and last episode from the average
Now put the average into:
I'm assuming the average number of views per episode will always be smaller than the number of subs you have. Maybe it isn't. Especially if it's a comic that has been around for a longer period of time. Let me know
This might be more accurate in terms of recent engagement:
The reason I chose second-to-last episode is because your most recent update's traffic may or may not have settled
I'll edit in all the disclaimers later... tired
Feel free to add your input!