Email Subscribers & Mailing Lists

Overview

When you publish a story on Exposure, you can automatically notify your email subscribers. Visitors to your site can subscribe to receive updates, and you control exactly who gets notified for each story you publish.

Pro Plus and Business plan users can organize subscribers into multiple mailing lists, giving you the power to segment your audience and send targeted notifications.

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Feature Comparison by Plan

Feature	Pro	Pro Plus	Business
Collect subscribers	✓	✓	✓
Email notifications on publish	✓	✓	✓
View all subscribers	✓	✓	✓
Search subscribers	✓	✓	✓
Export subscribers (CSV)	✓	✓	✓
Import subscribers (CSV)	–	–	✓
Custom mailing lists	–	Up to 10	Up to 100
Choose lists on publish	–	✓	✓
Public/Private list toggle	–	✓	✓
Import to specific list	–	–	✓
Export from specific list	✓	✓	✓
Browser push notifications	–	–	✓
Subscribe nudge	✓	✓	✓

Note: Trial users can collect subscribers but cannot create mailing lists. Upgrade to a paid plan to unlock the full email subscriber features.

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How It Works

Collecting Subscribers

Visitors can subscribe to your stories in several ways:

• Subscribe form on your Exposure site

• Subscribe prompt after reading a story

• Subscribe nudge that appears while scrolling (Business plan)

• CSV import (Business plan only)

When someone subscribes, they’re added to your subscriber list and will receive an email notification each time you publish a new story (unless you choose not to notify them).

Publishing with Email Notifications

When you click Publish on a story, you’ll see a Pre-Publish Check that shows:

• ✅ How many subscribers will be notified

• ✅ Whether your story will be publicly accessible

• ✅ Any privacy settings that affect visibility

Emails are sent 15 minutes after publishing, giving you a brief window to unpublish if you spot any last-minute issues.

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Browser Push Notifications (Business Plan)

Business plan users can send browser push notifications to subscribers when publishing a new story. Push notifications appear directly in the subscriber’s browser or device notification center—even when they’re not on your site.

How It Works

1. When visitors subscribe on your site, their browser asks permission for push notifications

2. If they allow notifications, they’re added to your push subscriber list

3. When you publish a story, subscribers receive an instant notification

4. Clicking the notification takes them directly to your new story

Enabling Push Notifications

Push notifications are enabled by default for Business plan users. To manage this setting:

1. Go to Settings → Subscribers

2. Find Browser Push Notifications

3. Toggle on or off

Per-Story Control

When publishing, you can choose whether to send push notifications for each individual story:

1. In the Pre-Publish modal, look for the push notification toggle

2. Toggle ON to notify push subscribers

3. Toggle OFF to skip push notifications for this story

Push notifications respect the same rules as email—they won’t be sent for password-protected stories or when republishing.

Push Notification Stats

You can view your push subscriber count in:

• The Pre-Publish modal when publishing

• Your Stats page under “Push Subscribers”

• The Subscriber Growth chart

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Subscribe Nudge

The Subscribe Nudge is a gentle prompt that appears when visitors scroll through your stories, encouraging them to subscribe. It’s designed to capture engaged readers who might otherwise leave without subscribing. This feature is available on all paid plans (Pro, Pro Plus, and Business).

How It Works

1. A visitor scrolls down while reading one of your stories

2. After reaching a certain point, a subtle subscribe modal slides in

3. They can enter their email to subscribe or dismiss the nudge

4. Once dismissed, the nudge won’t appear again during that browsing session

Enabling the Subscribe Nudge

1. Go to Settings → Subscribers

2. Find Subscribe Nudge

3. Toggle on or off

The nudge is designed to be respectful—it only appears once per session and can be easily dismissed. It won’t interrupt readers who are already subscribers.

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Mailing Lists

Mailing lists let you organize your subscribers into different groups. This is perfect if you create different types of content for different audiences.

List Limits by Plan

Plan	Lists Allowed
Pro	Primary list only
Pro Plus	Primary + up to 10 custom lists
Business	Primary + up to 100 custom lists

Examples of How to Use Lists

• “Photography Tips” – Subscribers interested in learning

• “Behind the Scenes” – Your most engaged fans

• “Family Updates” – Personal stories for family only

• “Client Work” – Professional portfolio updates

Creating a New List (Pro Plus & Business)

1. Go to Subscribers in your dashboard

2. Click + New List

3. Enter a name and optional description

4. Choose whether the list is Public (visitors can choose it) or Private (only you can add subscribers)

5. Click Create

Pro tip: If you’re on the Pro plan and want to create custom lists, you’ll see an option to upgrade to Pro Plus.

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The Primary List

Every account has a Primary list that cannot be deleted. This is your main subscriber list and serves as the default for new subscribers.

When visitors see the “All Stories” option on your subscribe form, they’re subscribing to the Primary list—meaning they’ll be notified about any story you choose to send to Primary.

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The Pre-Publish Modal

When you click Publish on a story, you’ll see the Pre-Publish Check modal. What you see depends on your plan:

Pro Users

You’ll see:

• Your Primary list toggle (on/off)

• Total subscriber count

• An upsell to upgrade to Pro Plus for custom mailing lists

Pro Plus & Business Users

You’ll see:

• Toggles for each of your mailing lists

• Subscriber count per list

• Real-time total of how many will be notified

• A “Manage Lists” link to your subscriber dashboard

• Push notification toggle (Business only)

How to Use It

1. Toggle ON the lists you want to notify

2. Toggle OFF any lists you want to skip

3. Watch the subscriber count update in real-time

4. Click Publish Story Now

Default behavior:

• Primary list is pre-selected by default

• Custom lists are not pre-selected (you opt-in)

• You must select at least one list or have push notifications enabled to publish with notifications

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Managing Subscribers

Viewing Subscribers

Go to Subscribers in your dashboard. You’ll see tabs for each of your lists:

• All – Every subscriber across all lists

• Primary – Your main list

• [Custom Lists] – Any lists you’ve created

Searching Subscribers

Use the search bar to quickly find subscribers by email address. Results appear instantly as you type.

Moving Subscribers Between Lists (Pro Plus & Business)

1. Find the subscriber in your list

2. Click the Move to dropdown

3. Select the destination list

The subscriber will be moved immediately.

Removing Subscribers

Click Remove next to any subscriber to remove them from that list. This is a soft removal—if they subscribe again in the future, they’ll be re-added.

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Importing Subscribers (Business Plan Only)

Business plan users can bulk import subscribers via CSV:

1. Click Import CSV

2. Upload a file with an email column (required)

3. Optionally include a list column to specify which list each subscriber belongs to

4. New lists mentioned in the CSV will be created automatically (up to your plan limit)

5. Watch the progress bar as your import processes

Import Limits

Limit	Value
Emails per upload	5,000
Total imported subscribers	10,000

CSV Format

email,listjohn@example.com,Photography Tipsjane@example.com,Behind the Scenesbob@example.com,

• If no list is specified, subscribers go to the currently selected list (or Primary)

• Duplicate emails are automatically skipped

• Invalid email formats are flagged and skipped

What Happens to Previously Unsubscribed People?

If someone previously unsubscribed themselves, they won’t be re-added via import. This respects their preference. However, if you manually removed someone and try to re-import them, they will be restored.

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Exporting Subscribers

All paying users (Pro, Pro Plus, and Business) can export their subscribers to a CSV file.

How to Export

1. Go to Subscribers

2. Click Export (or Export All)

3. Wait for the export to complete

4. Click Download to save the CSV file

Export Options

View	What's Exported
All	All subscribers with a list column showing which list they belong to
Specific List	Only subscribers from that list (no list column)

CSV Columns

email,source,subscribed_at,listjohn@example.com,story,2026-01-15T10:30:00Z,Photography Tipsjane@example.com,csv-import,2026-01-10T08:00:00Z,Primary

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Public vs. Private Lists

Type	Behavior
Public	Appears in the dropdown on your subscribe form. Visitors can choose which list to join.
Private	Only you can add subscribers (via import or moving). Great for exclusive content.

The Primary list is never shown in the public dropdown—it’s represented by the “All Stories” option.

When to Use Private Lists

• VIP or early-access content

• Client-only updates

• Personal family stories

• Test lists for development

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When Emails Are NOT Sent

Subscriber notifications are not sent when:

• ❌ You toggle off “Send Email Subscriber Notification” in story settings

• ❌ The story has a password set

• ❌ You’ve already published this story before (re-publishing doesn’t re-send)

• ❌ No lists are selected in the publish modal

• ❌ You don’t have any subscribers

• ❌ Your account is on the free plan

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Custom Reply-To Email

By default, when subscribers reply to your story notification emails, their messages go to your public email or our support address. With Custom Reply-To Email, you can direct those replies to any email address you choose.

Why Use a Custom Reply-To Address?

• Keep your inbox organized – Direct subscriber replies to a dedicated email

• Use a professional address – Reply from a branded or team email

• Separate personal and professional – Keep subscriber communication separate from your account email

Setting Up Custom Reply-To

1. Go to Settings → Subscribers

2. Find Custom Reply-To Email

3. Enter your preferred email address (e.g., replies@yourdomain.com)

4. Click Save changes

How It Works

When you publish a story and subscribers receive the notification email:

• If they click “Reply” in their email client, their message goes to your custom address

• Your custom address appears as the Reply-To header in the email

• Your actual email address remains private

Reply-To Priority

The system uses this priority order for the Reply-To address:

1. Custom Reply-To Email (if set)

2. Public Email (from your profile, if set)

3. Default (darkroom@exposure.co)

Availability

Custom Reply-To Email is available on all paid plans (Pro, Pro Plus, and Business).

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Unsubscribing

When a subscriber clicks “Unsubscribe” in an email:

• They’re removed from the specific list that email was sent from

• They remain subscribed to any other lists they may be on

This means if someone unsubscribes from your “Photography Tips” list, they’ll still receive emails from your “Behind the Scenes” list (if they’re on both).

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Email Stats

After publishing a story with email notifications, you can track how your emails performed. Email stats help you understand subscriber engagement and optimize your content.

Available Metrics

Metric	Description
Emails Sent	Total number of notifications successfully delivered
Opened	Number of subscribers who opened the email
Clicked	Number of subscribers who clicked through to your story
Open Rate %	Percentage of opens vs. sends
Click Rate %	Percentage of clicks vs. sends

Viewing Email Stats

1. Open a published story in the editor

2. Click Story Stats in the toolbar

3. View the email performance cards

The Story Stats Panel shows:

• Emails Sent count

• Open rate with percentage and count

• Click-through rate with percentage and count

• Recent email opens (Business plan) showing subscriber activity

Understanding Your Metrics

Open Rate tells you how compelling your subject line and story title are. A healthy open rate is typically 20-40%.

Click Rate shows how effective your email preview is at driving readers to your story. This measures how many subscribers clicked the link in the email to view the full story.

Tips for Better Email Performance

• Use compelling story titles – The title appears in the email subject

• Choose strong cover images – The cover is featured prominently in the email

• Publish consistently – Regular publishing keeps subscribers engaged

• Time your sends wisely – Emails are sent 15 minutes after publishing

When Email Stats Are Available

Email stats are available for stories published after January 9, 2026. Stories published before this date won’t show email performance data.

Privacy & Tracking

Email opens are tracked using a standard tracking pixel. We don’t collect personal browsing data—only whether the email was opened and if the subscriber clicked through to your story.

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What Happens If I Downgrade?

If you downgrade from Business to Pro Plus, or from Pro Plus to Pro:

What Happens	Details
Lists remain	Your custom lists and subscribers stay intact
Can't send to extra lists	Lists beyond your new limit become inactive
Inactive lists show lock	They display "Upgrade required" in the publish modal
Upgrade restores access	All your lists become active again when you upgrade
Push notifications disabled	Push features require Business plan

Your data is never deleted when you downgrade—you just temporarily lose access to features.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can subscribers be on multiple lists? A: No, each subscriber belongs to one list at a time. You can move them between lists as needed.

Q: What happens if I downgrade my plan? A: Your lists and subscribers remain intact. However, you won’t be able to send to lists beyond your plan’s limit until you upgrade again.

Q: Can I re-send notifications for a published story? A: No, notifications are only sent once when a story is first published. This prevents accidental duplicate emails.

Q: How do I see email open rates? A: Open and click statistics are available in Story Stats for each published story.

Q: What if someone unsubscribes and wants to re-subscribe? A: They can subscribe again using your subscribe form. Their previous unsubscribe preference is respected—we won’t re-add them via CSV import.

Q: Why can’t I import subscribers? A: CSV import is a Business plan feature. Upgrade to Business to import subscribers in bulk.

Q: How quickly are emails sent after publishing? A: Emails are queued 15 minutes after you publish, giving you time to catch any last-minute issues.

Q: Can I customize the notification email? A: The email includes your story’s cover image, title, and a preview. The design is optimized for all email clients and cannot be customized.

Q: Is there a limit to how many subscribers I can have? A: There’s no limit to organic subscribers. Business plan users have a limit of 10,000 CSV-imported subscribers.

Q: How do push notifications differ from email notifications? A: Push notifications are instant browser notifications that appear immediately when you publish. Email notifications are sent 15 minutes after publishing. Both can be enabled independently for Business plan users.

Q: Will the subscribe nudge annoy my visitors? A: The nudge is designed to be respectful—it only appears once per browsing session and can be easily dismissed. It targets engaged readers who have scrolled past 50% of your content. Available on all paid plans.

Q: Can I set a custom Reply-To address for subscriber emails? A: Yes! Go to Settings → Subscribers and enter your preferred email in the Custom Reply-To Email field. When subscribers reply to your story notifications, their message will go to your custom address instead of your account email.

Q: What happens if I don’t set a custom Reply-To email? A: If no custom address is set, we’ll use your public email (if configured) or default to our support address.

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Need Help?

If you have questions about subscribers or mailing lists, we’re here to help:

• Email: hello@exposure.co

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Need help?

Use the Exposure contact form.