Edit rate is counted from what was actually sent. Drafts that were thrown away or never sent are usually left out, or counted separately, so the number reflects replies that reached customers.
Why it matters
Edit rate is useful because of the detail behind it. Grouping edits by kind points to the fix:
| Kind of edit | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Wrong or missing fact | A source is outdated, or missing entirely |
| Tone or length | The tool has not learned how you write yet |
| Answered the wrong question | The email was ambiguous, or the draft misread it |
| Personal touch | Fine; the draft was right, you made it yours |
A falling edit rate for one kind of email, over several weeks, is the best evidence that drafts for that kind of email can be trusted more.
An example
Out of forty drafts sent this week, ten were edited. Eight of those edits were small wording changes; two corrected a delivery time that changed last month. The fix is to update the shipping page, not to rewrite the tone.
The mirror image of edit rate is the sent-unchanged rate.