Email Marketing: Is Substack the Future or the Alternative?

Are all email service providers (ESPs) the same? You write the content, they deliver it to your subscribers. Job done – what’s the difference?

One of the most prominent ESPs out there is Substack. You may follow a particular journalist, influencer, or political commentator who’s keen for you to subscribe to their own Substack in return for a small (or large) monthly payment - it’s a great way for well-known creators to profitably communicate with people in their niche.

For your own email marketing output, you may be looking at harnessing the power of Substack. You may also be asking yourself whether there’s an alternative provider that aligns better with what you’re trying to achieve with your content.

Let’s take a look at the key questions to consider when you’re making this choice.

Can I Use Substack for Email Marketing?

There is a short answer to this question, and it is ‘yes’. A question that requires a longer answer is, ‘should I use Substack for email marketing?’

Let’s look at the first question. Everyone who uses Substack (or any other ESP platform) to share content is engaged in the business of email marketing. They either want to drive traffic to their website/social platform/landing page to increase profile or sales, or they want you to enroll in a paid subscription to their newsletter. It’s all email marketing!

Creators can, and do, use Substack for email marketing - sometimes with spectacular returns. Writers as distinguished as Salman Rushdie and Chuck Palahniuk have bypassed the traditional publishing industry in recent years to reach out directly - and lucratively - to readers using Substack. It can work.

Should you use Substack for your email marketing? Well, that depends. If you have the kind of name-recognition and respect in your niche that you know you have a ready-made army of subscribers waiting to pay you handsomely each month, it could easily be the best platform for you. Even with the 10% + processing fee they’ll take from each subscription, you could be looking at making great money.

If you’re looking to grow an audience from a less lofty position, it could be wise to look at alternatives that offer a more comprehensive solution.

Can You Send Emails in Substack?

You sure can! In fact, Substack’s main feature is that you can blog and simultaneously email your subscribers with your latest content.

If it’s important that your emails look and feel unique to you, and you need a suite of tools to make your content sing in a way that’s just yours, Substack may not be the best option for you. Many creators have found its lack of email functionality limiting.

There are alternatives out there.

Which Is Better Substack or Mailchimp?

Substack is a very simple product that allows you to build a subscriber list, blog about what’s on your mind, and share it with your audience whenever you choose. There are few bells, and even fewer whistles. If you have a high profile in your industry, and an audience willing to pay to consume what you’re creating, it’s a great way to monetize your work.

Mailchimp, in contrast, is laden with bells – and its whistles require their own separate transportation. Creators can choose from countless templates to make sure their newsletter is customized to precisely how they need it to look; they can test and monitor the success of each send; they will have access to a suite of analytical tools to enable total command of their operation.

There is, however, no blogging or monetization functionality with Mailchimp, two features that are essentially the USP with Substack.

But which is better?

Do you prefer apples or oranges?!

What Is Better Than Substack?

If you need to send newsletters, there is no shortage of options for you when looking for an ESP. Which will be better? That’s your choice to make.

Mailchimp offers you a traditional email marketing package - you can A/B test for optimal subject lines, it has comprehensive analytics and dedicated IPs. If you want to send newsletters that pack a punch and look exactly how you want - and if it’s more about the message than the money - then it’s a better option than Substack.

At a starting price of $368.62 per month to unlock its full features, it can look pricey – but at least that’s not 10%+ of everything you earn!

Is there anything that beats both Substack and Mailchimp? Well, if you want to have monetization at front and center of your email marketing strategy, as well as having customized, beautiful newsletters that put you in total control of every aspect of every newsletter, there is something out there for you. And it will only cost you a single flat fee of $99 per month.

Apples? Oranges? If you’d like to taste the entire fruit salad, check out beehiiv’s offering - really, it’s the best of all worlds.

Which Platform Is Best for Email Marketing?

One more time with feeling! There is an ESP that offers you all the monetization and scalability of Substack; one that comes with all (and more) of the marketing expertise and flexibility of Mailchimp, and at a fraction of the cost. beehiiv is the perfect platform for creators who know their own worth, as well as the value of their audience.

Does Substack Own Your Content?

No, you own it, but your agreement with Substack licenses the company to use the content you publish with them in various ways in order to promote the platform.

So, Do I Need Email Marketing or Substack?

If you use Substack, you’re using email marketing. If you use beehiiv, Mailchimp, or any other ESP, you’re using email marketing.

The one clear thing is that you do need email marketing.

If you are a genuine thought leader in your field, you can be sure of a high number of paying subscribers, and if you can absorb $99,901 in potential losses through their commission each month, there’s money to be made from subscribers on Substack.

There’s also money to be made from subscribers with a more broad-based email marketing solution. You just need to choose the right solution. With beehiiv you can take subscriptions, send newsletters that look beautiful and monetize across the board, way beyond subscriptions. All at less than a third of the cost of any serious competitors.

You think you need to choose between apples and oranges? Choose both.