Analysis: Email Marketing on Substack
From the perspective of my personal experience
Hi there,
Hope you’re doing brilliant!
Today I want to get my analysis glasses on. Actually, I want to share them with you in the hopes that it empowers you to continuously explore and experiment (and not settle for a general consensus of how you should do…)
When I joined Substack a bit over a year ago, I entered with an email-marketing perspective as a result of having lived off my art professionally for soon a decade, primarily thanks to… You guessed it… Email Marketing!
To say that I love email is an understatement. I ADORE email.
It allows me to communicate naturally, without having to cut myself off mid-sentence. It also allows me to get the message directly to you without a middle-man, making me feel as though I can speak my truth to those who care and it’s all a mutually giving environment (off the public eye).
Substack changed things. More accurately; The Substack culture changed things.
I went from “this is email” to “this is a public newsletter/blog”, which unconsciously impacted my approach.
As opposed to privately emailing my readers, which is what I had done for many years prior (sending emails only to an inbox), I suddenly only sent public emails (meaning you can also find them on my Substack home page plus they can be read in the app for those who use it).
At first I didn’t think too much about it, because I didn’t feel that I had capacity to do both (public and private). It also felt logic to focus on the public side, because it allows you to get discovered and grow while simultaneously nurture your existing readership.
There’s a catch though, public emails include the social media element that many of us (me included) have been attempting to circumvent.
Suddenly your writing isn’t just measured by open rates and clicks, but also by likes, comments, new subscribers, upgrades and re-shares… Phew it’s a lot for a creative brain that already has a hard time to shut up (it never does…)!
Additionally, to always send emails publicly to everyone limits your ability to explore comfortable ways of selling your products and services without feeling as though you put your heart on display. Public sales emails are VERY different from sales emails that are sent directly to someone’s inbox without external scrutiny.
Because those who receive the email have said “I want to hear from you”, whereas a public email includes readers who may check it out for other reasons than genuine interest in your stuff. They may read it for their own benefit, which impacts the energetics around your work (doesn’t have to be bad, it’s just something to be aware of so you can act accordingly).
PLUS, a public email sent to free readers only, can still be accessed by paying readers if they go to your site from a new browser or if they’re logged out from their account and the site can’t recognise their paid status. As a result, I have stumbled on emails I don’t think I was supposed to see from people with offers that made me feel an ick… (did this happen to you too?).
Who gets what has always been a main concern in my art business.
As much as I’ve had to overcome the fear of sending frequent emails, I have combatted any potential discomfort by only sending things to people I imagine are interested in a certain topic.
In practise this means that I will never pitch a product to someone who has already purchased it. I also always include options for readers to click a link that tags them if they’re not interested to learn more about a particular campaign, in which case I can easily segment them out of receiving more emails about that particular topic.
Tagging, by the way, is a feature not available on Substack at this time.
This has mattered in my business, because not everyone is interested in all the different styles of embroidery.
If we imagine a paid readership to be the product or service, then to segment based on free/paid is sufficient to follow the same logic of permission marketing. But only if it’s sent privately.
At the beginning of this year (2025), I felt an urge to follow my gut (pun intended).
I didn’t want to be constipated anymore with things I thought I should be doing. I had to reassess, get back to basic and do what felt intuitive.
As a result, I started sending private emails to free readers, flipping the script from “Get more when you pay” to “Get less when you pay” (though I haven’t spelled that out as explicitly).
→ Essentially: Skip the additional marketing emails and access value beyond what’s available to everyone.
Crazy or genius?
My frustration of feeling limited by the “don’t send so much” narrative evaporated instantly.
Truth is, to send more emails = More opportunities to get your message out there, reach more readers and have more conversion (=more money =more time that you get to dedicate to your writing love).
But more messages also mean more chances for readers to decide that they don’t want to read or pay anymore.
The balance is tricky.
I personally find it key to not overwhelm those who said ”I’m in”, because they’ve already voted for your work with their hard earned money and deserve the focused quality work.
By sharing fewer public emails, I’ve been able to find a better balance in the general output, while simultaneously turning my stagnation into significant growth again relative to the previous six months.
How to send a private email?!
Before we dive into statistics and deeper reflections, let’s make a quick recap of how to send private emails for anyone unsure of what I’ve been yapping about:
Go to Subscribers in the Dashboard
Scroll down to the overview and choose your filter, if applicable (loads more options than just free/paid)
Tick the box before “Subscribers” AND → Don’t forget to click ”Select all xxx” in case there are more than 50 within the segment and then hit Email (seen on the right)
Write your email!
Send
Let’s proceed…