On Steady, you can publish posts and design them however you like — with images, videos, audio and more — then send them to both free and paying members as an email. In short, Steady doubles as your newsletter tool.
Send a post as a newsletter
Sending a newsletter just means publishing a post and choosing to send it by email. Here’s how:
Write your post, if you want to gate access to paying members only, add a paywall via the lock icon in the menu bar.
Click Continue to reach your post’s settings page.
Under Access, choose who may read the post -- if you added a paywall. Who receives the email is a separate choice.
Under Distribution, choose who should receive the post. Select Free Members and/or Paying Members, and use Select plans to limit it to specific plans. Anyone without access gets the paywalled version of the email.
Publish now, or schedule it for a later date.
Collect free members
Free members are what we previously called newsletter subscribers. Users who don't pay for a membership, but who receive your posts by email.
To build an audience of free members, there are several entry points:
Newsletter Layer and embed on your Steady page and external website
Your Newsletter signup page on Steady
Your free plan on Steady and checkout on your own website
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When a paying member cancels and chooses to remain a free member
Here is everything you need to know about free membership.
Even if your main focus is a podcast, a magazine or another publication, it pays to collect email addresses: a mailing list dramatically increases your chances of making your membership programme a success.
Import your existing contacts
Already have a newsletter elsewhere? You can bring your contacts to Steady. The Import (+) button appears in the top-right corner of your members table as soon as your project qualifies.
If you don’t see the import option yet, reach out to support@steadyhq.com and we’ll unlock this option for you.
See all your free members
Your free members are listed alongside your paying members on the Members table.
Your statistics show your active free member count, plus a timeline view chart of how many free members you gained, lost or converted into paying members.
For per-post detail like open and click rates, check your post overview.
What shows up in the email
Embedded content like tweets, images and animated GIFs is shown right in the email.
For audio posts, videos and similar content, a linked thumbnail is created instead. A YouTube video, for example, appears as a preview image that opens YouTube when clicked.
Not everything can be shown in the email
A few embeds work in your post but not in the email — an article preview or a Spotify embed, for instance. When that happens, the email simply shows the link with a grey border:
A quick test email always shows you exactly how it will look. And don’t worry — all the most common content is supported in the email view:
YouTube
Vimeo
Tweets
Images
Audio
Animated GIFs
Your legal notice
Your legal notice appears in the footer of your emails. As a publisher on Steady you are obliged to provide a legal notice. You can add yours here in your publisher area.
That’s everything you need to send your first newsletter and start growing your list.
Still need help? Email us any time at support@steadyhq.com. And if you have ideas for making Steady newsletters better, we’d love to hear them.
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