Sending Targeted Email Newsletters to Member Segments Using Labels

[Josh_6]

Hi Ghost community,

We’re exploring the use of Ghost for our investment community platform, specifically for sending email newsletters to different member segments — similar to how we currently do with Kit-com.

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Scenario:

• We plan to set up separate Ghost websites (or “instances”) for each of our investment groups — for example, Ghost Select I, Ghost Select II, and so on.
• Focusing on Ghost Select I as an example, this site includes both domestic and international members.
• Our communication goal is to:
  • Send general email newsletters to all members.
  • Send targeted email newsletters to specific member groups based on tags or labels.

Example:

• Members tagged as “USA” would receive email updates related to U.S.-specific topics (e.g., tax guidelines).
• Members tagged as “International” would receive separate content tailored to their region.

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Main Question:

Can we tag users with labels (e.g. “USA” or “International”) and send dedicated email newsletters to those labeled segments — directly via Ghost?

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Additional Questions:

1. Can these labels be assigned manually in Ghost Admin, or automated during signup or through integrations (e.g. Zapier)?
2. Are there best practices or common setups for managing segmented email communication in Ghost?

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We’ve looked into related threads like “Label Based Posts” — while promising, some of the solutions seem tied to self-hosted setups and may be vulnerable to future Ghost updates.

We appreciate any insights or tips from the community — especially around workflows that don’t require replacing Portal or heavily customizing themes.

Thanks so much!

[Cathy_Sarisky]

@Josh_6

We plan to set up separate Ghost websites (or “instances”) for each of our investment groups — for example, Ghost Select I, Ghost Select II, and so on.

Generally when people say a separate instance, they mean a totally separate install of Ghost, with its own database, etc. Is that what you mean here? I’m thinking it isn’t, so I’m sort of ignoring this to respond to the rest of the questions. I don’t see anything in your description that would make separate Ghost instances a good idea, but perhaps I’m missing something. (Separate instances entirely separate content, separate memberships, separate newsletters, separate staff members, etc. And separate hosting bills, if you’re in managed hosting.)

@Josh_6

Can we tag users with labels (e.g. “USA” or “International”) and send dedicated email newsletters to those labeled segments — directly via Ghost?

Yes. When you’re at the ‘publish’ stage for your post, you can select to send to specific labels. There are dropdowns with lots of options:

@Josh_6

Can these labels be assigned manually in Ghost Admin, or automated during signup or through integrations (e.g. Zapier)?

Yes to both.

Aside: The page you linked is about changing what displays for web content based on label, and doesn’t require self hosting.

[Josh_6]

@Cathy_Sarisky

Is that what you mean here?

Yes, that’s what I meant. As a solution to my previous post (Can Ghost Support Multi-Level Access? General, Group-Specific, and Individual Content for Shareholders) This seems to be the more “easy” workaround.

@Cathy_Sarisky

Yes. When you’re at the ‘publish’ stage for your post, you can select to send to specific labels. There are dropdowns with lots of options:

That rocks! Thanks Cathy!

@Cathy_Sarisky

Yes to both.

For the automation part, can it be done natively in Ghost or does it requre 3rd party i.e. Zapier?