If you're ready to move to Substack, experience growth with Recommendations, or engage with your subscribers in Chat, this guide will show you how to seamlessly transition your paid members and posts to your new publication.
If you’re moving from Ghost, Beehiiv, or Mailchimp, follow the detailed steps here:
How do I move from Beehiiv to Substack?
How do I move from Ghost to Substack?
How do I move from Mailchimp to Substack?
In this guide, we'll explain:
What to get from your current platform
First, you'll need to export your email list and paid subscriber list on your current platform.
Exporting all subscribers
If you have paid subscribers or members on your current platform, ensure that the .csv file contains their subscription expiration date (or renewal date) and email addresses.
Here, we'll use Patreon as an example:
To export your email list on Patreon, click Audience and download the .csv file.
Pause billing on your current platform
After you export your email list, you’ll need to pause billing on your current platform.
Here, we'll use Patreon as an example.
- Navigate to your Settings Page on your Patreon Dashboard
- Click on Billing and Payouts
- Scroll down to “Pause upcoming billing cycle”
- Click on “Pause billing"
Note: If you are on Patreon, this pauses your billing cycle for one month.
Getting started on Substack
On Substack, you'll need to:
- Create a new Stripe account
- Import your members
- Comp your paid members
- Import your posts
- Notify your members of the next steps
Create a new Stripe account on Substack
After signing into your Substack account, head to your Settings page. Select Payments in the left navigation bar and once in your Payments section, click on "Connect with Stripe".
You'll be taken to Stripe's website to complete the required details to receive payments. Once connected to Stripe, you can set up your paid tier plans on Substack.
Tip: Learn more here on what information Stripe requires.
Import your members onto Substack
Click on the Subscribers tab and select "Upload a CSV" from the following options:
Scroll to the bottom of the page and import a mailing list by dragging, dropping, or selecting "browse" to upload a CSV or TXT file containing the emails.
Once you upload a .csv file, confirm that these subscribers have opted into receiving emails and select their subscription type if you have payments enabled.
What do I do with my paid subscribers or members?
If you're importing paid subscribers and would like to ensure they don't lose access after your transition to Substack, you can offer these readers a trial i.e. a comp to your new publication.
Once you set up your Stripe account, it's time to comp the paid subscribers you’re moving from your current platform to Substack. If you have annual subscribers, make sure that you have their renewal dates so that you can comp them for the correct time period.
On your Subscribers page, scroll to the All Subscribers section.
Select which readers you'd like to give a paid subscription to and click on the three dots in the banner after selecting at least one reader. Select "Comp".
You'll be prompted to comp the selected reader for a certain amount of time to your paid posts: 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, 6 months, 1 year, or forever.
Import your posts to Substack
Substack enables seamless content imports from the following services: Medium, Ghost, WordPress, Mailchimp, Beehiiv, Tumblr, and Blogspot. To get started, just paste the URL of your blog or newsletter.
If you use a platform other than the ones listed, check if it has an RSS feed. Our post importer also takes RSS feeds from sites like Squarespace and ConvertKit. Some platforms only include the most recent posts, such as the latest 20 posts, in their RSS feed.
Go to your publication's Settings page, click Import/Export in the left navigation bar, and click on "Import posts."
Once the Substack importer has found your archive, select "Import". Alternatively, you can upload a .csv file of your posts. If you have payments enabled on your Substack publication, you can import the posts as paid posts.
Imported posts may appear with a platform's subscribe options or a banner at the bottom. To remove the unnecessary text, head to your Posts page and select the three dots next to your imported post.
Delete the selected text or image and choose "Continue" to update your changes. Select your audience and let us know if you'd like to send the imported post as an email to your Substack subscribers and the Substack app.
Once each post has been published:
- You can go into that post’s settings and change the publication date to match the date of its original publication.
- You can automatically paywall your entire archive so only paying subscribers can access your posts.
Notify your subscribers about the transition
The last step is to publish a free post from Substack so subscribers' payment details can be saved in your new Stripe account, ensuring their subscriptions remain uninterrupted.
We recommend sending a post with instructions on how subscribers can subscribe on Substack, such as the one below:
“We're transitioning from [OLD PLATFORM] because Substack offers the tools to bring you even more valuable content and community features. While [OLD PLATFORM] has been a fantastic home for us up to this point, Substack is built with creators like us in mind, allowing us to enhance your subscription experience and grow our community in meaningful ways.
I've provided paying members a complimentary one-month subscription to Substack, allowing you to enjoy uninterrupted access. Your subscription to paid content will expire after 30 days, so be sure to click the "Subscribe" button below to continue your access."
To add a Subscribe button inside a post, head to your post editor and follow these steps:
1. Click on "Button" in the editor toolbar and select "Subscribe" or "Subscribe with caption".
2. Your readers will be directed to your subscription plans page at this URL: https://subdomain.substack.com/subscribe (replace subdomain with the name of your Substack)
Once the reader's complimentary trial is ending, Substack will send them reminder emails that their trial is expiring and prompt them to continue with a paid subscription.