I started my Ghost site with ~3000 imported members from WP. I had no paid tier. Since then, subscriptions have increased to ~5000 and I’ve introduced a paid tier. About 10-12% of members now pay.
I currently only send paid subscriber posts to those who pay, despite the fact that most subscribers who have joined since introducing a paid tier opt in for every newsletter (I don’t think most know what they’re opting in to receive). I’ve been concerned that they’ll take offence at receiving an email containing a ‘preview’ cutoff, either marking it as spam, or unsubscribing.
What’s the etiquette here? Should I send to everyone who has opted in? Is there a downside to this? I value my readers and don’t want to send them stuff they’ll be frustrated about not being able to read.
Alternatively, the route I’d considered, was introducing a new newsletter solely for paying subscribers, moving all those who currently pay to it, and making it explicit in the description that those who opt in but don’t pay will receive it anyway.
A quick look at exported members means I’m puzzled how to do the latter. The export only includes a single field for ‘subscribed to newsletters’, rather than an indication of which newsletters each member is to receive.
Perhaps I’m worrying unnecessarily? The shift to Ghost has been a great success, both from my enjoyment of writing (and not maintaining — thanks @jannis at MagicPages 
) and financially, and I don’t want to break things.
But, I also want to make sure those who currently don’t pay are aware about what they’re missing — and perhaps consider taking out a paid subscription 
.