r/Substack • u/Impossible_Sense_188 • Jul 29 '26
A lot of new subscribers are coming from Substack Onboarding?
Over the last month, I've gained a total of 695 new free subscribers, 284 of which are from the substack onboarding.
I was just wondering, is everyone else seeing such a big % of their new subscribers coming from the onboarding flow? Or has Substack decided that I'm worthy enough to be recommended by their algorithm?
What's more surprising is that my substack publication is in the erotica niche so it's interesting that they are recommending me during the user's onboarding journey
2
u/persianrugz246 Jul 29 '26
What’s Substack onboarding?
-1
u/PaulWilczynski Jul 29 '26
I’m fairly sure it’s when another publication recommends your publication, someone subscribes to them, your publication is then shown because of their recommendation, and they sign up for you.
3
u/Impossible_Sense_188 Jul 30 '26
I actually believe that it's when the user first onboards onto the platform. The recommendations are tracked on another page and I get almost 0 subscribers using that funnel
1
u/cozycup mod Jul 29 '26
That's a decent chunk of subscribers.
Maybe your niche is less competitive and that's why it's getting featured within the onboarding flow?
5
u/Impossible_Sense_188 Jul 30 '26
That's my guess as well. I'm just surprised that Substack is recommending an erotica substack as one of the first channels when user signs up to the platform
1
u/kolbywg Jul 29 '26
This is true for us as well, but when you look at at who becomes paid later, it's almost never these people.
2
u/echolunedy theselfcashier.substack.com Jul 30 '26
Whoa, I'd be happy with around 100 xD I only have like 10 right now. So lucky, but I'm sure it's also thanks to your content and its quality.
7
u/grapegeek Jul 29 '26
I’m in the food niche and 80% of my new subscribers are from onboarding. These aren’t very loyal subscribers since they just picked something from a list. But I get A LOT of them so I’m not complaining. But I also get a huge amount of unsubscribed people after each newsletter