3 reasons why you shouldn't use Substack for your mailout

3 Reasons why you shouldn't use Substack for your mailout:

(yes, Substack may provide a lovely interface, and no, I'm not telling you you have to stop using it.... I just think everyone should have their eyes open to the issues involved with it..)

1. Substack require age verification now.  This means you may have folk on your mailing list who never see another email from you because they choose not to opt in for privacy reasons. Yes Instagram has the same, but being an established platform they can pretty easily tell who among their users needs age verification and leave the rest of us alone.  Substack is the only platform I have ever been asked for age verification on (yes, I'm old! )

2. The information Substack gather about your audience is very limited which makes it harder to understand your audience and make sure you are delivering tailored content to them. This may not be a huge issue if you are writing over there as a creative pursuit, but if you have things to sell beyond your creative writing in and of itself, being able to build a rich picture of those you are talking to, where they come from, when they are online, if they buy from you or go to your shop updates - these are all incredibly useful data points to have.

3. There are lots of folk who are now boycotting the platform over concerns about it platforming and profiting from Nat- see (say it out loud to yourself) content. While I am not the expert on this, I do know that people are leaving the platform in droves because of it, which is something I think everyone should be aware of. 

 written by Ilona Glastonbury (no AI here, just my considered opinions, always)