Should you import subscribers to your Substack?

Read This Before You Regret It....

So, you built an audience elsewhere: on X, LinkedIn, or Medium maybe?

Now you're thinking: Should I move them to Substack?

Sounds like a no-brainer.

A “must” even.

Why would you NOT import your existing audience?!

More people = more readers = more chances to convert.

Not so fast…

What no one tells you about importing subscribers to Substack?

Here are three problems I see:

1. Your conversion rate will drop.

Subscribers who aren’t native to Substack are not very likely to start paying for newsletters. You’ll need to educate them - meaning extra work for a fraction of the results.

Let me show you something:

This is my current subscriber status. Overall my conversion rate is 6.6% (pretty awesome, right?!).

But I do have close to 1000 accounts imported, so when it comes to conversion rate, I always measure by acquisition channel (I get that data from Dashboard → Stats → Network).

So here’s how my actual conversion rates look like by channel:

Everything I do, anything I try, I simply can’t make the imported account’s conversion rate grow higher than 2%.

My Substack Bestsellers’s research has shown me I’m not alone.

There are many paid Substack newsletters importing huge audiences from elsewhere. Their conversion rate? I haven’t seen ANYTHING higher than 3%.

That’s the highest high.

So I’m doing well actually (I guess).

But Substack's average conversion rate is between 5% and 10%.

And you’ll see my App conversion rate is already 9.5% (9.1% for all Substack organic channels).

That’s 6 times higher than the conversion rate of imported accounts!

It’s because Substack's audience is unique.

There’s a supportive culture here that you can’t find anywhere else.

Honestly, when I joined Substack I thought: “Oh, I’d never pay for a newsletter unless someone really impresses me (and my standards are high)!”

Guess what?!

I’m now paying for 9 newsletters!

Bottom line: if your conversion rate matters to you, keep in mind external audience is more difficult to convert.

That’s one thing, but I also noticed it’s not only the conversion rate…

2. They won’t engage much with your Substack content on the app

Chat, Notes, and recommendations?

Forget about it.

These readers will open your emails, maybe, but they won’t interact inside the app.

Not at first.

You’ll need to educate them to do that.

That means lower engagement, which might hurt your growth.

This happened to me in the beginning, when most of my audience was imported.

I started a chat, no one interacted…

I posted a Note, it stayed invisible…

That’s killing my motivation to build a community.

If you recall the findings from my research on Substack bestsellers, the community is crucial for your Substack growth.

So you need your audience in the App.

Full disclosure here: It’s not black and white.

With time my imported subscribers started interacting more.

It just takes more time.

But then I noticed another issue…

3. Your open rates might suffer…

It’s not set in stone, but it can happen.

Especially if you build an audience that is not accustomed to consuming content from an email.

Example: my Medium audience - usually you read on the app, not from the email. Also, Medium’s emails are designed to bring you on the platform: they don’t contain the whole post, just the intro followed by a link to continue reading.

So your open rates will drop.

Why this can be a problem?

It’s a sign of low engagement.

This is something most algorithms don’t like.

I have no proof, but it’s likely that Substack is no exception…

If that’s true, then you’ll have a hard time getting more eyeballs on your posts.

When importing might actually work?

If your audience is high-quality—meaning they are highly engaged with your content and follow you on any platform you go, then importing could amplify your growth. These readers will engage more and could help your content even go viral.

Still, the low conversion rate is a thing to keep in mind.

So ask yourself this:

Are you bringing in loyal fans or just inflating your subscriber count?

And why exactly do you need this?

A smarter strategy

Build within Substack first.

Substack’s built-in audience is already conditioned to pay for newsletters. They trust the platform. They subscribe without hesitation.

Instead of dragging in cold leads from other platforms, focus on:

• Use Substack’s recommendations feature to boost your growth.

• Engage with Notes to get discovered by other writers.

• Write content that hooks native Substack users.

That’s where the real growth is.

If you’re an Unplugged member, you already have everything you need to grow on the platform organically.

Simply join my Notes30 Monthly Challenge, and you’ll get access to:

• My engagement strategy that helps me grow 10-30 new subscribers daily

• My viral Notes templates and guides on how to write them

• A chance to win a spotlight session with me

And access to my custom Notes Writer GPT, I trained it to write Notes that go viral. It’s a must-have tool if you’re serious about your Substack growth.

And if you’re still seduced by the thought of importing, simply try with a small sample of your audience and see how they engage.

You have that type of data in your Subscriber dashboard.

If they’re engaging, then you’re good to go.

Bottom Line

You can import subscribers. But should you?

I wouldn’t unless they’re warm leads. Otherwise, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle—one that costs you time, energy, and some frustration from low engagement.

I’d play the long game.

Grow from within, attract readers who already love Substack, and let the platform’s tools work for you, not against you.

As much as I’m tempted to start mining social media to bring people here, I’m still cautious about all of the above.

Now tell me: have you imported subscribers? Did it help or hurt your growth? I’m curious how it went for you…

I’d love to hear from you!

Yana

Recommend Unplugged by Yana G.Y.!

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