How do you send a newsletter people actually signed up for?
Write down what people are agreeing to receive, then connect a signup form to a list that keeps that permission visible. Start with one useful newsletter or welcome email and make it easy to stop future marketing.
Does this message belong in your newsletter or your app?
A newsletter or optional welcome series is marketing people choose to receive. A receipt, a password reset or a booking confirmation follows an action the person took. Give each a separate path so a newsletter unsubscribe does not break an essential message.
Imagine you run pottery classes. A student who reserves a seat needs the date and location. They might also want next month’s class list, which is a separate signup choice. Keep a record of the choice before adding the student to the class newsletter.
How do you plan the first welcome email?
Sketch a path from the signup promise to one message that delivers something useful. A welcome automation is a rule that starts a message when a person does something, such as confirming their signup.
- Write the promise above the formSay what the reader will get and how often. A person asking for class announcements may not have asked for other offers.
- Draw the first two pathsUse invented names on paper. Follow one confirmed signup to a welcome message and one unconfirmed signup to no marketing. Write what the eligible reader sees first.
- Draw the unsubscribe pathHave the eligible reader opt out before the next issue. Verify on paper that the issue would skip that person. Write down how you would carry the status into a replacement system. Leave provider tools, recipients and sending controls untouched.
Compare tools
Scroll the table sideways to read every column.
| Tool | How are people organized?Where signup permission and topic choices belong. | What can limit the plan?How the service counts people, sends and automated paths. | How do you start a welcome email?How a signup leads to the first useful message. | What should you keep when you move?Which records help you keep the same permission choices. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MailerLite | Groups label one subscriber record by interest. Pick a group and check subscriber status before including someone. | Free covers 250 active subscribers and 2,500 emails per month. The Free send allowance resets on your account registration date each month. | Use a signup form and an automation for a welcome email. Check the group and eligibility before making it active. | Export status lists and the fields and group names you need. Copy the form and automation logic separately. |
| Mailchimp | Use one audience for shared contact status and groups for interests. Different audiences track the same address separately. | Marketing Free covers 250 contacts, 500 monthly sends and 250 daily sends. Unsubscribed and non-subscribed records can count. | Choose the signup audience and check the plan before depending on an automation. Essentials includes single-email automations and flows up to four steps. | Export each relevant audience and reconcile permission where the same address is in more than one. |
| Kit | Forms collect subscribers. Tags mark interests on the same subscriber record. | Newsletter supports 10,000 unique active subscribers, unlimited email sends and one basic automation with one Sequence. | Link a form to a Sequence with a Visual Automation. Use a Broadcast for the separate one-time issue. | Export every relevant status, including exclusions, and check counts and tags before moving. Save the sequence’s copy and schedule separately. |
| Brevo | A signup form can place people in the lists they choose. With double opt-in, wait for confirmation before using the address. | Free includes 300 email sends per day and up to 2,000 unique contacts entering active automations. Unused daily sends do not roll over. | Choose the list that receives confirmed subscribers before starting a welcome workflow. | Export contacts with relevant attributes. Record which addresses are blocked from marketing and keep that choice when moving. |
| Loops | Use mailing lists for topic preferences, and preserve the audience-wide subscription status. | Free covers the first 1,000 subscribed contacts and 4,000 total emails per rolling 30 days, including transactional sends. | A form or integration can start a welcome workflow. Review Trigger workflows before a CSV import. | Export the audience or a subset as CSV. Reconcile permission and keep workflow rules separately. |
| Customer.io | Group people by app data and check their topic and email channel preferences. | Essentials starts at US$100 per month for 5,000 people and objects combined and one million emails per month. | Start from a product event or a segment rule. Connect the app data and select the subscription topic. | Export people and relevant attributes. Keep topic preferences, event definitions and workflow logic when planning a move. |
| beehiiv | Organize signup and statuses by publication. Double opt-in keeps new signups pending until confirmation. | The free plan lists up to 2,500 subscribers and unlimited sends. Multi-step email automations require an eligible paid plan. | Configure the preset Welcome Email separately from a multi-step automation. | Export posts and subscriber data. Full export adds details beyond address, status and tier. |
| Buttondown | Track pending, active and unsubscribed readers as distinct states. | Base pricing starts free for the first 100 active subscribers. Automations are listed as an add-on. | Check the plan for a welcome after confirmation. Use an automation when you need several messages. | Export subscriber data and inspect status. Keep the issue template and welcome text separately. |
| EmailOctopus | Lists are independent. Use tags within a list when they cover the topic choices you need. | Starter lists 2,500 contacts, 10,000 monthly emails and three automations with five steps each, excluding the trigger. | Choose Contact added and decide separately whether imports can enter. | Export subscribed and unsubscribed records. Preserve the list and status for each. |
| ActiveCampaign | Organize by list and check the automation’s unsubscribe associations. | Starter lists up to five actions per automation and a monthly send allowance of ten times the contact limit. | Use an eligible list subscription and a small signup workflow, then check which list the message uses. | Export all relevant statuses per list. Active is the default, and notes and automation rules are separate. |
How can you estimate the plan you will need?
Count eligible recipients, the total contacts the service bills for and the number of emails each person might receive. Compare those with monthly, daily and automation limits before importing the list.
Four issues to 200 people use 800 sends before a single welcome email. Keep a separate line for one-time imports and for contacts stored in several lists. A plan that fits 200 readers can still be too small for that schedule.
What should you check before relying on an email platform?
Find out who controls the From address and domain settings. Check whether you can export statuses, interest labels and any signup evidence you need.
Domain authentication adds settings that receiving mail services can check. Do that work with the person who owns the domain. Keep a note of the account owner and which settings they changed.
When you move, export before disconnecting a form. Carry over opt-outs and check how the new tool excludes them. Save copies of templates, welcome emails and timing rules so you can rebuild them if the contact file only contains subscribers.