Outpost has the smartest and most comprehensive Autoresponder for Ghost, which takes care of critical subscriber communications for you.
Writing the newsletter you send out to subscribers is just one part of your business.
You also need to welcome new free subscribers and convince them to become paying subscribers.
You need to thank paying subscribers, and those that upgrade from free to paid. And, legally, you need to give them notice that they signed up for a recurring subscription.
You need to express appreciation to people that donate or tip, or give gift subscriptions.
And, state laws in the USA require that you remind annual users when their subscription is about to be renewed automatically.
Outpost's Autoresponder is here to help you with all of that and more, freeing you up to spend more time creating.
Free Subscriber Welcome/Upsell Flow
When you get a new subscriber, make them feel welcome with an Autoresponder message welcoming them to your world. We recommend using these emails to share your story and mission, and links to your best posts.
Free members will get a set of drip emails, encouraging them to become paying members. In addition to sharing your story, we also recommend including discount offers in each email. If a free member signs up for a paid plan, the drip emails will stop. Members can also opt-out of getting these emails, without unsubscribing from your Ghost emails. Our Autoresponder will:
- Welcome someone who signs up as a paid subscriber without starting as a free member
- Welcome a new free subscriber to tell them more about you & encourage them to upgrade
- Up to four more (five total) Welcome Flow emails, spread out over time to new free subscribers, encouraging them to become paying members
Paying Member Welcome Flow
Some members skip the part where they start as a free subscriber, which is great. So you should customize your messages to them. Outpost's Autoresponder will:
- Thank a new member who went from being unknown to a paying member
- Tell someone who is part of a Institutional or Group Subscription that they have been upgraded to Paid privileges
Paying Member Communications
Thanking your supporters goes a long ways towards keeping them. Don't take them for granted. You can customize the messages our Autoresponder sends when you:
- Thank a Free member who upgraded to a Monthly or Annual paid plan
- Thank a Monthly subscriber who upgraded to an Annual paid plan
- Thank an Annual subscriber who renews for another year
Donations
When someone gives you a donation or a tip via Outpost's Donation Button using the Stripe option, Outpost makes sure the reader feels your appreciation:
- Thank the donation giver on the site with a customized message
- Thank the donation giver again with an email
- Notify the site owner of the donation by email
Additionally, if the donation comes from a registered subscriber (free or paid), Outpost labels the subscriber in Ghost as a person who donated. That lets you keep track of who donated and even write all members who donated to you.
Gift Subscriptions (Luna+ Plans Only)
Sometimes a supporter will love your work so much they want to gift a subscription to someone they think will love you too. Outpost built features to support this particular kind of support, and you can customize the Autoresponder messages to supporters when you:
- Notify the Gift Subscription Recipient that they got a gift and who gave it
- Thank the Gift Giver for purchasing a gift subscription
- Notify the Gift Giver that the gift subscription ends soon and ask them to give another year
- Notify the Gift Subscription recipient that their subscription ends soon and ask them to buy own subscription (if the Gift Giver doesn't renew)
Retention and Renewal
Regular communication with supporters keeps them feeling connected to you, and engaged with your work. Outpost built Autoresponder Action emails that will do this for you, and help you to:
- Thank an Annual member who paid for another year
- Tell an Annual subscriber who cancels auto-renewal more than 45 days before the end of their subscription that you will write them later to remind them of subscription end date. No special offer is sent at this time.
- Ask an Annual subscriber who cancels their subscription with 45 days of renewal to re-consider (includes special offer)
- Remind subscriber who cancelled that their subscription ends soon and give them a special offer (2x)
Complimentary Subscriptions
Sometimes you want to give a complimentary subscription to your work, for friends and family or scholarships for those who don't have financial means. Complimentary subscriptions are also great for influencers, journalists, or fellow newsletter writers, collaborators, and guest writers. Outpost helps you manage your complimentary subscriptions, and our Autoresponder will:
- Tell someone they got a new complimentary subscription and welcome them
- Tell site owner a complimentary subscription is ending soon and give options
- Remind site owner a complimentary subscription is ending soon and give options
- Tell a complimentary subscriber their free subscription ends soon and encourage them to pay
- Remind a complimentary subscriber their free subscription ends soon and encourage them to pay
Image Credit: "Rose Galaxies" NASA Hubble Telescope
