Why I use Squarespace (not Mailchimp!) for my author newsletter
Most of the authors I know use Mailchimp to send their newsletters. For a long time, it really was the only viable newsletter platform for complete beginners to email marketing. But in recent years, as people have come to see the incredible value in email marketing, more and more different platforms have emerged.
So I guess it was only a matter of time before Squarespace joined the party!
It’s been a few years now since they launched Squarespace Campaigns: their integrated email marketing platform. And it’s brilliant.
Like most-things-Squarespace, it’s been designed to be extremely user-friendly, to work efficiently while also looking really good too.
I used Mailchimp for years for my author newsletter, and initially too for my web design studio newsletter.
I carried on with Mailchimp without really thinking much about it – it was what I was used to in my previous life as a digital marketing agency owner, so I just continued using it.
But I found Mailchimp very frustrating to use.
One day, when I’d had more than enough of that fiddly little chimp, I decided to take advantage of the 3 free (try saying that quickly after a G&T 😆) campaigns that Squarespace offers and once I started digging into it properly, I was sold.
Four years ago I switched over ALL my email marketing to Squarespace’s platform, and I haven’t looked back.
Here’s why:
1) It’s incredibly easy to use
This has become Squarespace’s signature: user-friendly tech!
And if you’ve built your own Squarespace website, then trust me, you’ll have absolutely no issues using their newsletter software.
It’s all built into the platform, and you can access it right away from inside your Squarespace account under Marketing > Email Campaigns.
Inside, you’ll find tons of email templates for you to customise, or you can choose to build your own from scratch.
Email campaigns are made up of ‘blocks’ in a similar way to web pages in Squarespace, and to add new blocks of content you simply click on the plus icon (insert point) and select which block you’d like to add.
This is actually very similar to Mailchimp, meaning if you’re used to using that platform, you will find it a breeze.
Adding blocks of content to your Squarespace Campaign is easy-peasy
You can add Text, Line, Image, Spacer, Button, Product, Blog or Discount blocks to your email campaign, and they will be stacked on top of one another.
Image blocks can house multiple items, as can Product and Blog blocks, meaning you can share groups of things easily.
You can also edit Text blocks using the same WYSWIG editor that you use to edit text blocks on your website, so you can add styling and links easily and quickly.
2) You can manage everything in one place
We all have enough logins and passwords these days don’t we? 🤪
Using Campaigns to send your newsletters means you don’t need to have a separate system, with its own billing cycle and logins, as well as your website.
You collect your email sign ups directly on your website and they’re all ready inside Squarespace for you to contact, without you having to import or export data, or connect anything using complicated integrations.
Everything is integrated within one platform, saving you time and hassle.
It also gives you the security of knowing that the info for every person who signs up will be safely saved - the less tech involved, the less chance of anything going wrong.
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3) The designs look amazing
No great surprises here, but if you build it in Squarespace, your newsletter will look beautiful.
They have created tons of stunning templates for you to choose from and instantly populate with your own content, or you can build your own from scratch in a few simple steps.
In just one click you can also match your newsletter to the style options on your website, including bringing across the logo, if you have one! 🤩
They also have a limited number of fonts to choose from - all checked and chosen especially so that they will display nicely in people’s Inboxes, but with enough choice that you’re sure to find one that matches your branding.
The simple styling options in Squarespace Campaigns makes it so easy and quick to ensure your newsletter perfectly reflects the colours and style of your own website.
Cohesion is everything in author branding!
4) It’s simple to share your latest blog content
If you blog on your author website, you can easily add your most recent blog posts to your newsletter using the blog block.
Simply select the blog posts you'd like to include in your newsletter by ticking them!
You simply add the block then select the posts you’d like to include from the list by clicking on them.
You then have some customisation options, for example being able to select whether or not to include an excerpt, the date the posts was published and more.
The post will automatically be linked from the newsletter. This is such a time-saver!
You can also create newsletter campaigns from inside your blog posts themselves, by clicking on Settings > Share > Create Email Draft.
You can push new blog posts directly out as email campaigns
This creates an email campaign that is literally a copy of the blog post, plus a link to read it on the website. Perfect if you want to directly email your newest posts to your newsletter subscribers.
5) Automations are easy
I’m wondering how many times I’ve used the word ‘easy’ in this post… Are you sensing a theme here!?
But anyway, setting up an automated email (for example to thank new subscribers by sending them a short story as soon as they sign up) is really simple.
Here are some of the automations you can create within Squarespace Campaigns:
Sending welcome emails to new subscribers, along with your ‘opt-in gift’ - for eg, a short story or whatever else you offered people as an incentive to sign up.
Creating a nurture sequence so that new subscribers get a series of emails from you when they first subscribe, to share a bit more information about you and your writing, and to help build the relationship between you and your subscribers further.
Send thank you emails to subscribers who have purchased something from you (for example, if you sell signed copies of your books online).
Offer discounts to people who have already bought something from you.
You can also segment your list by having multiple different mailing lists.
This is not something all authors will need to do, but if, for example, you write in two different genres, you can create two separate mailing lists so that you send different newsletters to the readers of each genre.
It’s all very simple and intuitive!
Setting up automations is much more of a PITA in Mailchimp, and this was one of the main reasons I switched.
6) The analytics are great
I used to find Mailchimp’s analytics a bit overwhelming.
What I really wanted to know was just how many people opened my newsletters, how many clicked on the links in them, which links they clicked on and how many people unsubscribed.
Again, it’s really easy to see all this data at a glance on your Squarespace Campaigns dashboard. Everything has been set out in a way that’s just super simple to absorb.
You can also easily see which links people clicked on.
7) It’s surprisingly affordable
While Squarespace Campaigns is not free, it’s pretty good value for money.
You can send three newsletters for free as part of their trial, then plans start from £4 per month.
Most authors will need to be on the Core pricing plan, which is £8 per month and allows you to send up to 5000 emails each month. It also gives you access to the Automations.
See the Squarespace Campaigns pricing plans here →
I also find that their pricing is much easier and straightforward to understand than Mailchimp’s, which has become really complicated, but is now at least £9 per month for the basic plan which has limited features.
Conclusion
I see so many posts from authors getting stressed out with Mailchimp, or wondering what platform to use for their author newsletter and I think it’s a real shame that authors with Squarespace websites aren’t aware that they have an easy, simple option at their fingertips!
I highly recommend you check out Squarespace Campaigns - and then use it for your author newsletter. You can thank me later.
It’s not the most sophisticated or advanced email platform, and it won’t work for more complicated online businesses, but this is exactly what makes it perfect for authors, IMHO!
Authors don’t need complicated email marketing software! They just need an easy way to build a relationship with their readers.
Squarespace Campaigns is easy to use, affordable and gets the job done (beautifully!).
