Sarah Anderson

Email is a powerful tool for promoting your shop. Subscribers are often more committed than a social media follower, and your content isn't as likely to be stifled by a dreaded algorithm. But how do you get this communication going?

### How to use your newsletter

A newsletter can be used to announce new products, offer sales or discounts, or simply keep your brand in mind. Some tell stories, some focus on beautiful photography, some share jokes, links, or cocktail recipes. The key is that whatever you send, you give readers value. The exact kind of value (education, entertainment, early access, lower prices, or something else) will depend on you and your brand. Need inspiration for the design or type of content to include? Browse this collection of [really good emails](https://reallygoodemails.com/).

*Pro-tip: Consider including a unique discount code in each email. It's a way to track reader engagement, and will keep subscribers opening those messages.*

### Subscribe at checkout

Big Cartel integrates [directly with Mailchimp](https://help.bigcartel.com/mailchimp) so that when you connect the two, you'll automatically be able to add a "Subscribe to our email list" option to your store's checkout. It's a great moment to get email signups, when someone is already excited about your products.

For stores on one of our paid plans, there's also an option to embed a pop-up signup form to your shop to grab the attention and subscriptions earlier in a customer's shopping journey. You can adjust the look of the pop-up, and how intrusive it is for shoppers. [This blog post](https://blog.bigcartel.com/starting-a-newsletter-with-mailchimp) outlines more details of the Mailchimp integration.

*Think about: Will you default the Subscribe checkbox to checked or unchecked? While you grow your list faster with a pre-checked box, you'll also see more folks unsubscribe quickly, because they didn't intend to sign up. There are pros and cons to both options, so just make that choice with intention.*

### Custom signup page

If pop-ups aren't your thing, consider [adding a custom page](/resources/help/article/how-to-add-custom-pages) to your shop with a newsletter signup form. This option also opens you up to choose any email marketing services that meets your needs. Most of them have widgets or code snippets that you can add to a page to collect entries. [This blog post](https://blog.bigcartel.com/newsletters-101-using-email-to-grow-your-brand) can help you evaluate which service can work for you.

*Interesting idea: I've seen shops that name this kind of page "Get 20% off" or similar and then send a discount code to all new subscribers. It's an eye-catching way to lead folks to your signup page and reward their loyalty.*

If you're still on the fence about this whole email business, give our blog post about [getting started with newsletters](https://blog.bigcartel.com/getting-started-with-newsletters) a read. It explains the pros of this marketing channel, and suggests a few platforms that might be a fit.

Stay In Touch by Connecting Newsletters to Your Store

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