diff --git a/analysis/matlab/variation_plot.m b/analysis/matlab/variation_plot.m
index 1f090e6..a9dba8b 100644
--- a/analysis/matlab/variation_plot.m
+++ b/analysis/matlab/variation_plot.m
@@ -46,9 +46,18 @@ set(gca, 'XTick', xd, 'XTickLabel', {}, 'Position', [0.2 0.30 0.60 0.60], ...
 xticklabels('auto')
 set(gca, 'XTickLabelRotation', 0);   % keep x labels horizontal (no auto-rotate)
 xlim([min(xd) - 0.5, max(xd) + 0.5]); % half-day padding so points aren't on the edges
-if strcmp(metric, 'count')       % success count: y-ticks every 5 units
+if strcmp(metric, 'count')       % count: tick every 5, but label only every 10
     yl = ylim(gca);
-    set(gca, 'YTick', floor(yl(1) / 5) * 5 : 5 : ceil(yl(2) / 5) * 5);
+    yt = floor(yl(1) / 5) * 5 : 5 : ceil(yl(2) / 5) * 5;
+    lbl = cell(1, numel(yt));
+    for k = 1:numel(yt)
+        if mod(yt(k), 10) == 0; lbl{k} = num2str(yt(k)); else; lbl{k} = ''; end
+    end
+    set(gca, 'YTick', yt, 'YTickLabel', lbl);
+else                             % rate: fine minor tick marks every 0.02 (no labels)
+    yl = ylim(gca);
+    set(gca, 'YMinorTick', 'on');
+    ax = gca; ax.YAxis.MinorTickValues = 0 : 0.02 : ceil(yl(2) / 0.02) * 0.02;
 end
 grid on
 % Add breathing room between the y-axis label and the tick numbers.