How to automatically add your Substack subscribers to Flodesk, Mailchimp, etc.

Sparklers and high kicks! It's actually possible!

Apr 02, 2024

Dear Substack writer.

You’re a trailblazer, you know.

There’s a picture that springs to mind with that word, trailblazer. Visions of people clearing dense forest pathways with machetes and torches of fire. Apparently the true etymology is a little less literal; Instead of pyrotechnics, the ‘blazes’ are in fact small DIY markings or signposts, carved into trees to guide later travellers on the route.

Trailblazers find the path, and then help other people to follow it.

It can be easy to forget, once you’re comfortably settled in here on Substack, that most people out there still haven’t even heard of it yet. I remember when this was true for Instagram, back in the day - an idea that now feels slightly ludicrous.

It’s exciting - so much growth and potential still ahead of us all in this space. And it’s challenging, too, asking us daily to experiment and embrace new mediums, new methods, new features and metrics. And even - occasionally - to hang fire and wait patiently for the features we next need the most.

To paraphrase Mills Baker in a Note that I now cannot find, if you’re not happy with a platform full of changes, surprises and occasional bugs then you’ve no business using a platform that is still developing in real time.

Trailblazers frequently hit uncharted obstacles, and to keep going, we have to figure out a new route. Go around the rocks, wade through the mud.

What a beautiful day! We’re not scared.

And so it is that today, after days spent stumbling through digital underbrush and raging at my computer, I can finally carve a little blaze to mark the way I’ve found.

Because - reader. My dear online friend.
I have finally figured out how to automatically add new Substack sign ups to an external mailing list like Mailchimp, Convertkit, etc.

Ok, admittedly, that might not be quite the mic-drop moment I’m going for unless you have also struggled with this exact same problem as me.

But from coaching and conversations, I know that many of you do! Lots of us here have businesses or email automations that require an external mailing list provider, and we don’t want to juggle with two separate lists.

In theory, the answer seems simple enough: point all of your audience to sign up via Substack, then have those email addresses replicated onto your external list. But with Substack not releasing an API for developers, there’s been no way to extract that data and send it safely across. Meaning, it wont work the opposite way either: no matter what platform you use for email marketing, the two are unable to talk. Until now!

Why might I need an external mailing list provider?

I’ll answer that down below, but first, let’s get into the juicy stuff…

Substack to Mailing List Automation

This workaround uses the new Substack follower email notifications as the trigger to add that subscriber to your external list, via Zapier.

You will need:

A gmail business account that you use for your Substack (or an equivalent Zapier-compatable email client)
A Zapier account (free or paid)
An hour and a bit of patience

Method:

Step 1: Make sure the email address that receives your Substack notifications is compliant with Zapier (see ‘Some Limitations, point 1, below). Change this if necessary.
Step 2: In your gmail inbox, create a new label called ‘Substack’.
Step 3: In gmail, go to settings > filters, and add the following:
Then:
Step 3a: Test your filter by signing up to your substack with an alternative email address. The notification email should go straight into your new label folder. If it doesn’t get added, revisit your filter and check for errors.
Step 4: In your mailing list provider (I use Flodesk), create a new segment or tag called Substack Imports.
Step 5: Create a new Zap using gmail and your mailing list provider, and set the first ‘trigger’ step as follows:

Step 6: Connect Zapier to your gmail and email provider by logging in.
Step 7: Add the next ‘action’ to your Zap and choose the Substack tag in your email provider.
Step 8: Select the ‘Event’ for your mailing list provider. For Flodesk it is Create/Update Subscriber.
Step 9: Select the newly created segment from the list.
Step 10: In the Email field select the ‘Reply To Email’ option.

Step 11: Test your Zap to make sure it’s working. Click publish.
Step 12: Update your welcome email and unsubscribe options to make sure you’re clearly explaining the situation to your new subscribers.
Step 13: Rejoice! Luxuriate in the free time you have now created in your weekly admin calendar that you will inevitably fill with more weekly admin tasks.

Some Limitations

First names are not always included in the emails, and can be a bit unpredictable when they are. You can set Zapier to automatically pull them from the body text (Reply to name), but some people put their publication name into this field instead, meaning you might end up calling them “The” or similar in your personalised greetings.
From February 2024 this Zap will only work with a google business or g-suite email address. Basically, that means any email address ending in gmail.com will not work with Zapier (and a whole lot of other third party services) as part of an effort to crack down on spam / make google more money. Upgrading to a business email address costs £ and allows you to set it to a custom domain that you own, like sara@meandorla.co.uk. The same rule will apply to all webmail providers like yahoo etc.
If you don’t want to change your main email address you can just set up an inbox for this process and get gmail to forward everything received there to your usual address.
Zapier charges based on how many processes you need in a month. If you have over x new subscribers per month you’ll need to upgrade to a paid account - but arguably, if you have x new subscribers a month, it’s going to be worth it to you.
Substack does not offer GDPR-friendly tick boxes at sign up, giving people options for what they’ll receive. You can however do this afterwards by using the double opt-in setting in your external mailing list provider, getting their explicit marketing consent.
This process doesn’t handle unsubscribes, meaning somebody will have to unsubscribe independently from both of your lists. For some subscribers this might actually be of benefit - someone who wants fewer Substack updates, for example, but still wants to know when your products are restocked. Make sure you’re explaining the situation clearly to all new subscribers from the start, and consider adding an ‘unsubscribe to all’ link to your email footers.

Need a little help?

If the above sounds a little overwhelming, then fear not, for I have a plan. Perhaps we should rendezvous for a live group ‘set up together’ session? I could ask tech whizz and coach extraordinaire Claire Coupland to be on hand to help smooth out any bumps? We’ll work through it together over an hour, sharing our screens and helping you out.

What do you think? Would you like to join me? (Let me know in the poll below!)

(This support would be for paid members only, meaning you can get this help for just £5 this month! Total bargain. For some of you, it would cost more than that in impulsive online purchases and packets of biscuits consumed during the hours you’ll spend procrastinating if you try to do this on your own. If you know, you know.)

Do I need a separate mailing list provider?

Not everybody will need to have both and in many cases, switching solely to Substack makes the most simple sense.

In the most recent episode of The Substack Soirée ‘s podcast,Keeley Rees and I attempt to provide a way forward that’s easy to follow and hopefully create some clarity around the topic. Plus, we offer some ideas on how to make the most of both traditional emails and Substack: