A growing number of online shops are quietly moving some of their best content onto Substack, a subscription newsletter platform. Instead of another promo blast, ecommerce brands are sending essays, behind-the-scenes snapshots, and quick musings that read like a note from a friend who also happens to make great jeans, lip gloss, or hair conditioner. Substack promotes storytelling, not selling.
Keep on reading to explore how Substack’s focus on editorial content over promotion distinguishes it from typical email marketing services, and how to create your own brand newsletter that builds genuine community. Plus, look at how real brands turned their Substack newsletters into narrative extensions of their stores.
Table of contents
What is Substack?
Substack is an online blogging platform created in 2017 to let independent writers and creators publish and monetize email newsletters through paid subscribers. Bypassing the typical ad-driven model, the platform focuses on giving Substack writers full ownership of their content and mailing list. To say you have a Substack means you have a blog distributed via the Substack platform.
Although Substack’s core use case began with individual journalists and bloggers trying to attract paid subscriptions, it has grown into a creative ecosystem with millions of readers and popular newsletters on topics from tech and history to finance and cooking. What started as a haven for the indie writing community is now also a platform that media organizations and big brands use.
Substack vs. other newsletter platforms
Substack differs from traditional email marketing services (e.g. Mailchimp) by emphasizing editorial content over marketing automation. On Substack, you won’t find advanced ecommerce email features such as automated product reminders and abandoned cart flows. Instead, the platform intentionally limits marketing tools so a Substack writer can dig into storytelling and community building.
This means Substack works best as a complement to your existing email marketing strategy, not a replacement. Here’s how Substack’s own content guidelines put it: “Substack is intended for high-quality editorial content, not conventional email marketing. We don’t permit publications whose primary purpose is to advertise external products or services, drive traffic to third-party sites, distribute offers and promotions, enhance search engine optimization, or similar activities.”
Substack is more of a blogging-meets-newsletter platform—think of it as a place to nurture a loyal readership and spur discourse, whereas traditional email platforms are built for marketing campaigns.
Here’s what sets Substack apart:
Low-cost, low-barrier publishing
Starting and running a Substack is free. The platform takes a cut only if you enable paid subscriptions—10% of each paid subscription transaction plus Stripe’s payment processing fees (typically 2.9% + 30¢ for credit cards) and a 0.7% billing fee for recurring payments. You can test content ideas and send Substack articles or newsletters regularly at little cost.
Shareable web content beyond email
Unlike traditional email newsletters that only live in inboxes, Substack posts function as permanent web articles with their own URLs that can be linked from your website, discovered through search engines, or shared on social media. Your Substack articles aren’t limited to email forwarding—readers can share a direct Substack link to specific posts.
Community tools
Subscribers can like, comment on, and share posts, but Substack goes further with built‑in discussion threads, microblogging Notes, and a chat feature. Notes operates like a social feed for short updates, letting you share glimpses from product development or inspiration. Chat is a messaging feature where you can host real‑time conversations or collect thoughtful comments without posting a full newsletter.
How to start a Substack
- Create your Substack account
- Name and brand your publication
- Import or build your email list
- Publish and promote your first post or build your email list
Getting started with Substack takes less than 30 minutes, and you can have your first Substack newsletter published the same day you sign up. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
1. Create your Substack account
Go to the Substack website and click “Start publishing” or “Create your Substack” to open a new account. You can register with an email address, and you will be asked to agree to Substack’s Terms of Use, and review its Information Collection Notice and Privacy Policy.
2. Name and brand your publication
During signup, choose a publication URL (typically yourbrand.substack.com, if available). Later on, you can revise this if needed.
After signup, visit your Substack dashboard under Settings, where you can also select a color, layout, and font for your site and pick a primary category (such as Food & Drink, Culture, and Fashion & Beauty). Don’t forget to fill out your About page with a longer description of your brand and what subscribers can expect.
3. Import or build your email list
If you already have customer emails or an existing mailing list from another platform, you can import them to Substack to kickstart your subscriber base. The platform supports direct imports from services like Patreon, Ghost, Mailchimp, and TinyLetter, making it easy to bring over an existing newsletter audience.
If you’re starting from scratch, begin by manually adding a few friends, family, or day-one customers. Building an audience is a long-term play, but by seeding your first subscribers, you ensure your initial posts won’t go into a void. With Substack’s discovery features, new subscribers can also find your publication via the app and recommendations, which are human-powered and creator-driven.
4. Publish and promote your first post
Now it’s time to start writing and create your Substack page. Click the “Create new” button on your Substack dashboard or profile to open the post editor. Give your inaugural post an engaging title—this could be a greeting message like “Welcome to [Brand]’s Newsletter—Here’s What to Expect.” For your first newsletter, introduce your brand’s newsletter concept; explain what topics you will cover and how often you will post. Keep it on-brand and conversational, as if writing your Substack blog to an individual customer.
Before publishing your new post, you can preview it to see how it looks in email and on the web. You can also send a single test email to your own inbox first to ensure the formatting is right. When ready, hit “Send to everyone now.” Substack will send the newsletter to all current subscribers and also make it available on your Substack site. After publishing, share the newsletter link on your social media profiles and other marketing channels to capture more readers.
Real-world examples of businesses using Substack
Ecommerce brands can use Substack to build connections with subscribers through editorial-style content that extends beyond promo. Here are ecommerce examples to inspire your own Substack page:
Ghia
Melanie Masarin, founder of the non-alcoholic apéritif brand Ghia, publishes a Substack newsletter called Night Shade that functions as a founder’s journal rather than a marketing tool. Melanie shares her travel stories across Provence and Portofino, her family’s crepe recipe, and meditations on the art of hosting and mindful celebration. Posts span from flavor development experiments to behind-the-scenes stories about building a category that didn’t previously exist.
“Night Shade was never meant to be a marketing channel for Ghia—it was more of an escape from it,” says Melanie. “But both projects come from the same creative place, so they end up speaking to each other. I like to think I contain multitudes, and of Ghia as a world that contains multitudes. My Substack is one of those layers.”
Saie Beauty
Saie Beauty, a clean makeup brand, launched a Substack newsletter called From the Saie Office. Since joining Substack in 2024, it has grown to more than 5,700 subscribers. Saie uses its Substack as an editorial-style outlet where it talks about much more than makeup. Posts range from a tour of its new HQ to staff product recommendations to spotlights of other women-owned businesses. By not just pushing its brand products, but rather sharing what the team is “up to and into lately,” Saie’s newsletter lets readers see the human side of the company.
Crown Affair
Crown Affair, a hair care brand, takes a founder-driven approach on Substack. The brand’s founder, Dianna Cohen, writes a newsletter called Take Your Time that complements the Crown Affair ethos. Rather than overtly promoting hair products, Dianna’s Substack is “about the art of becoming who you are.” In other words, it discusses personal growth, self-care routines, and mindful living. From posts on resetting your nervous system to creating a “capsule” wardrobe, Crown Affair shows that a brand can use Substack to cultivate a lifestyle narrative around its products, without every post being a sales pitch.
Still Here New York
Still Here New York, an indie denim label, uses Substack to engage fans with narrative storytelling around fashion. Its newsletter, Still Here World, reads more like a zine or journal from the “offices of Still Here New York.” Content includes style guides, quirky essays on apparel (one issue was “A Lesson in the Adult Undershirt”), and personal stories. The brand takes a varied approach—from giving readers a glimpse of it fall 2025 collection to providing inspiration on different ways to style denim shorts.
Rare Beauty
Rare Beauty’s Substack newsletter, Rare Beauty Secrets, is a weekly “semi-authorized” insider diary that pulls back the curtain on actress-singer-entrepreneur Selena Gomez’s beauty brand. It swaps polished marketing for an intimate, unfiltered tone. The newsletter shares product development diaries (like about its Rare Eau de Parfum), sparks mental health conversations, and provides personal anecdotes from staff, including Gomez herself. Rare Beauty uses Substack to make readers feel like part of the journey rather than just customers.
Substack tips for small businesses
Substack can be a powerful ecommerce tool if used thoughtfully. Here are four tips to help you get the most out of the platform:
Offer free content first
When starting out, it’s usually best to keep your Substack content free for all subscribers. Although Substack does allow paid subscription tiers, putting your newsletter behind a paywall can impede community growth. The goal for most brands is to maximize reach and engagement, not to attract paid subscriptions. By offering valuable content at no cost, you lower the barrier for fans and customers to join in and interact. Later, you can offer premium content accessible with paid subscriptions.
“I wrote Night Shade for free for 18 months—it started as a creative outlet. I loved doing it, but time is finite, so I eventually put it behind a paywall to justify the hours I was putting in,” says Melanie. “I chose the minimum Substack price of $5 per month, and signups ended up being double what I expected, which hopefully means people see value in it.”
The balance between free and paid content matters here. Free content builds trust and welcomes new readers; paid deepens relationships with committed subscribers and compensates you fairly. Find the ratio that feels generous while staying sustainable. “Right now, I send one free letter a month and keep everything else for paid readers,” says Melanie. “Free content acts as a funnel—I usually pick a letter that touches both fashion and design so new readers get a real taste of what the paid version feels like.”
Use media features
Instead of sending subscribers walls of text, take advantage of the ability to embed images, videos, audio clips, and even GIFs in your posts. For an ecommerce brand, this is a huge plus: you can show off product imagery, include short video demos or user tutorials, share audio snippets (perhaps a founder’s message or a mini-podcast episode), and embed content from platforms like YouTube or Instagram.
For example, if you’re announcing a new collection in your Substack newsletter, you could include a photo carousel of the new products or a behind-the-scenes video from the photoshoot to bring the story to life.
Try Substack’s chat feature
To really drive community-building, try out Substack Chat. Chat functions like a group messaging thread exclusively for your subscribers and is available through the Substack mobile app. It’s an informal forum where you can talk directly with your readers and they can talk to each other; think of it as hosting a private chat room for your brand’s fans.
Ecommerce brands can use this in creative ways. For instance, you might host a weekly coffee chat where you drop in a question or topic (related to your brand or niche) and everyone can chime in. You could also use chat for quick polls (“Which new scent should we launch next?”), live Q&A sessions, or to share timely updates (“We’re at a craft fair today. Here are some pics—come say hi!”).
Speak beyond your products
Your Substack newsletter will have more success if you balance product-related news with broader topics that interest your community. In practice, this means talking about things adjacent to your brand, not just your brand itself. For example, if you run a sustainable fashion label, start discussions about sustainability tips, garment care, or slow living—topics your target audience cares about that relate to your brand’s values.
On Night Shade, Melanie rarely writes about Ghia. Instead, you’ll find her sharing recommendations for Paris restaurants and art or deep dives into midcentury ceramics and design. “A few times a year—four, maybe five, max—I’ll write about Ghia on Night Shade,” says Melanie. “It's a way to lift the curtain on founder life, or share things that wouldn’t really fit in a standard brand email.”
Subscribers are more likely to open and read your Substack newsletters when they feel like they’re getting insights or entertainment, rather than an advertisement. You can still tie in your products subtly (say, a backstage story about how you developed a product, or a mention that a new collection is coming), but frame it within a narrative or helpful context. Similarly, you can share brand personality content. Spotlight your team members, talk about your company’s mission or community initiatives, or even discuss inspirations and challenges in your entrepreneurial journey.
How to start a Substack FAQ
How much does it cost to start a Substack?
Starting a Substack newsletter is free. There’s no upfront cost to create an account or publish newsletters. Substack makes money by taking a 10% fee if you enable paid subscriptions on your publication (plus standard credit card fees via Stripe, the service Substack uses to process payments), so if you stick to free content, it won’t cost you anything.
Can anybody start a Substack?
Yes, virtually anyone can start a Substack newsletter. The platform is open to individual writers, creators, and organizations of all sizes. You don’t need to be a professional journalist or a particular type of business to use it.
Can I use Substack for my business?
Yes, businesses can and do use Substack to publish newsletters and build communities. There are no rules barring companies from joining; however, Substack’s guidelines encourage a focus on editorial content over pure advertising.
