MODULE 10: Email List Building & Migration

Overview

Email list building is the foundation of sustainable Substack growth. While Substack’s internal tools (Recommendations, Notes) should remain your primary growth mechanism, building an email list from external sources creates a secondary channel for audience development.

This module covers the technical mechanics of importing existing lists, collecting new subscribers, optimizing welcome sequences, and maintaining list health. All statistics and benchmarks are drawn from 2024-2025 industry data.

Critical Reality Check: Building an email list is slow, methodical work. Cold traffic converts at 1-3%. Warm traffic converts at 10-30%. There are no shortcuts. Anyone promising “10,000 subscribers in 30 days” is selling fantasy. This module documents what actually works.