Sending a portion of a post in the email, creating a magnet

Marketing & promotion
1

Hi guys,
Is there a way to send just an excerpt or the intro of a post in the email to the subscribers so that they actually click in the email to be redirected to the post on the website to continue reading the entire post? Kind of a magnet thing?

I know we can do that for non-paid subscribers vs. paid so with a public preview paywall, but can we implement something similar to paid subscribers as well to have them click on a button to be redirected to the website and continue the content of the post/article?

Thanks!

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2

Ghost has some cards right now that can be used for email only content

These might not quite line up with what you want as they assume that you’re also sending along the rest of the post via email (subject to the reader’s member tier and the post preview).

One thing you could do is:

  1. Publish your post without sending a newsletter.
  2. Send a separate email-only post that is the “magnet” content, with a nice big call to action to read more on the site.
3

The problem with that workaround (that lots of folks use) is that it means the opens and feedback aren’t attached to the post itself.

Perhaps a better option is to send and then immediately edit with the full content, but that messes up scheduled sending…

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4

What’s the benefit to the reader of visiting the site? The benefit to you might be getting them in front of adverts, but they might not see it the same way …

5

Lots of folks want readers on site, whether for ads or better functionality or more control of layout. Email clients don’t run JavaScript, which means widgets are non functional in email.

3 Likes
6

I am experimenting with this right now. It have a news site and sending a newsletter every time I have some new news doesn’t seem right.

So far I only used this approach once so I cannot really tell if it is a good or bad approach. I do find it a bit messy to set up though, but maybe that is because one needs to get used to it.

7

I’m having an issue where I’m publishing so much photo and video content that there’s no way I can send it to inboxes. (Videos don’t work at all, for instance, and the photos look terrible because the galleries don’t translate to the email template.) Separate from not being able to schedule by emailing and updating the post, there’s too much lag time in between sending the email and being able to update the post with all of the photos and videos to be able to do that without losing some people. So my workaround has been to separate the email from the post altogether, and link to the published post in the email only version, but I’ve just discovered that it’s throwing some users off who are clicking “view in browser” (which I assumed didn’t work when you didn’t publish the email) and getting the email preview in browser and never actually getting to the full post. (Even though I’ve put into the email a header card with the button that says “view the post”.)

Anyone have a better workaround for this?

8

Use some JavaScript to redirect them to the right place?

9

Thanks so much for your reply! Could you point me to a resource that would show me how to do that? (Not a developer but good at following directions :laughing: )

I’m also wondering if it’s possible after you send the newsletter to change the address of that “view in browser” link using Ghost’s built-in broken link fixer panel.

10

The simplest would be this, in an html card:

<script>
window.location.href = 'REAL_URL'
</script>

(fill in your REAL_URL of course)

Note that this will get your users to the right page but may interfere with “less/more like this” button clicking. Haven’t tested.

11

So you’d put this as an HTML card in the email-only version of the post before you email it? (REAL URL being the url of the publish-only version) And this would change the “view in browser” at the top of the post to be the correct link?

12

Yes, put in an html card.

Nope, it’ll redirect web visitors from the wrong page to the right one. Email clients don’t run JavaScript.

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