What You NEED To Know About Importing Email Lists To Substack
I regret not taking my own advice on this one.
Get your Substack sorted out in one afternoon, without lifting a finger!
When I dish out advice to Substackers, I do so with their best interests in mind. This weekās advice is the same Iāve given to all my clients, so I have no idea why I did the exact opposite when the client was ME!
I guess the silver lining is that if I hadnāt messed this up for myself, I wouldnāt have the lesson to teach. Pay attention and do as I say, not as I do š
NOTE: This mistake was not ALL mine. Substack also dropped the ball and is equally responsible for how some of this played out.
First, here is the advice I give my clients when theyāre importing email lists from other newsletter platforms:
I advise them to send the email to their list via the OTHER newsletter announcing their move to Substack. Give them the Substack link and let them come over here to opt in and subscribe.
Of course, I did the opposite. I exported my list from one Substack, imported it into the new one, and created a custom welcome email specifically for imported subscribers. And that is where it all fell apart. Read on for the long version of the story.
On January 1st, I launched a brand new Substack publication to replace my former one. Rather than announcing this launch to my audience, I decided to export them from the old list and import them to the new one.
I exported roughly 4020 subscribers via Substackās export feature.
Everyone can download their email list by going to their dashboard Ā» settings Ā» then typing Export into the left search box.
This will navigate you to the import/export feature.
Once you click the ānew exportā button, it will take several minutes for Substack to process the request. When itās finished, click the download arrow to the right.
This action will save a backup of all your posts and your subscriber list to a zip file on your computer. Youāll need to extract the subscriber list from that file, which you can then upload to any other newsletter service, including other Substack newsletters.
TIP: I highly recommend doing this download at least monthly to back up your data, just in case.
Hereās where things got wonkyā¦
I had 4020 subscribers at my old publication, but the export CSV file only showed 3749. Iām not sure how 271 email addresses just fell off.
But waitā¦thereās more.
When I uploaded the file of 3749 addresses to my new publication, roughly only 3100 came through š I lost another 600-ish subscribers.
But waitā¦.thereās more.
Of those 3100-ish imports, some received my custom welcome email for imported subscribers, and some received a spammy-looking, generic email that doesnāt even have my name on it.
For those who received this ā¬ļø in their inbox, they have NO CLUE who writes it or why they should stay subscribed! So, probably most of them unsubscribed and deleted the email.
This is very shoddy on Substackās part, IMO.
I lost long-time subscribers in this transition simply because Substack didnāt do what it was supposed toāsend my custom-written welcome email to imported subscribers. š WHY do they give us the option to send a welcome email to imported subscribers if theyāre not going to send it to ALL of them?
Thankfully, some of my readers who received the spammy message had the forethought to reach out to me and ask WTH was happening.
Thank you Mike Searles and JULIA HUBBEL, for reaching out so quickly and making me aware of this issue.
Yes, the initial mistake was mine. I should have never imported my people. I should have invited them via an email through the old Substack. But my mistake still highlights Substackās failure to send the proper welcome email.
For those who donāt know, you can set up a custom welcome email in your dashboard settings for imported email addresses, although, in light of what I just experienced, Iām not sure it even matters.
What you SHOULD do when importing an email list to Substack:
In light of this debauchery, I would highly recommend sending them an invitation to come join you on Substack rather than importing them and hoping the welcome email works properly. Your list is too important to get lost in translation.
What Substack has said about this mixup:
So far, feedback has been mixed. Iāve had a chat with the chatbot, and those responses are pasted below.
This is what the Chatbot had to say:
When importing subscribers from another Substack publication, those who were already subscribed to your previous publication but not yet opted in to the new one may receive a generic invitation rather than your custom welcome email. This is because Substack requires explicit opt-in for each publication, and the system sends a generic invite to ensure compliance with opt-in requirements, especially for long-time subscribers who haven't directly joined the new list
The part about: Substack requires explicit opt-in for each publication doesnāt make much sense to me because how can they be opted in if they havenāt been imported or subscribed yet? So, why is there an option to send a welcome email to imported subscribers if they arenāt considered opted in? So confusing.
The import tool is designed to add subscribers who have explicitly opted in, while those who haven't will receive an invitation to join your new publication
Okay, this would be totally fine if that āinvitation to joinā wasnāt a spammy-looking, generic email that doesnāt even include the writerās name.
The current invitation template is generic and does not include the writer's name, which can make it less personal and potentially look like spam to recipients. While there isn't a way to customize the content or subject line of these invitation emails at this time, I can pass your comments along to our product team for consideration as we continue to improve the platform.
And there we have it. That was the end of my chat with the bot, however, because Iām a Substack bestseller, I do have email access to human support, so Iāve sent an email sent in to the Standards & Enforcement team. As of this writing, an actual human has reached out to confirm the complaint and let me know theyāre looking into it.
š¶ Even though my importing experience was crappy, to be fair to Substack, hereās what their support docs say about importing. š¶
Have you played around with importing and exporting subscribers on Substack? If so, how did it go? Iād love some well-rounded feedback!
I have found that customer service is non-existent on Substack. I cannot reach a live agent and must deal with chat bots, and never receive a response back. Thank you for alerting us to yet another pointless glitch.
Regarding the statement: "Substack requires explicit opt-in for each publication doesnāt make much sense to me." I think I can at least explain the "explicit opt-in" part of the policy.
One reason for this is that Substack has an international subscriber base, and anyone from the EU/EFTA region is protected by the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, which requires explicit consent for any new use of their private information--which includes name, email and other details that might exist in Substack's (or some other platform's) metadata. New use would include the type of process you describe in this post.
You can read elsewhere about the GDPR; there are several posts on Substack about the constraints it imposes. I've written about it and its implications for Substack authors here: https://bit.ly/Privacy-DataProtection. I hope this helps!