Building an email list from day one

It is easy to assume email is old-fashioned when most of your customer relationship happens through Instagram DMs and story replies. But Instagram's reach to your followers is not something you control, an algorithm decides who sees your story or post on any given day. An email subscriber list is something you own outright, and it reaches people directly, regardless of what any platform decides to show them.

How the subscriber list works on your store

Your Varchas store lets you build an email subscriber list directly, so visitors can sign up without needing to already follow you elsewhere or be an existing customer. Once someone is on the list, you have a direct way to reach them, whether that is about a new Drop, a coupon, or simply an update about your brand.

Why starting early matters

The value of an email list compounds over time, so a list started on day one, even if it grows slowly at first, ends up far more useful a year in than one started only after you feel your brand is "big enough" to need it. There is no real downside to giving visitors the option to subscribe from the very beginning, even before you have a large catalogue or a big following.

Giving people a reason to subscribe

Nobody joins a list just because it exists. Pairing your subscriber list with something concrete, like early access to a coupon covered in this post on coupons, or a heads-up before a Drop goes live, gives visitors an actual reason to hand over their email address rather than scrolling past the option entirely.

Email versus social media reach

Social platforms decide who sees your posts, and that decision can change without warning, through an algorithm update or simply because a follower is not currently active. An email sent to your subscriber list reaches every address on it, directly, without a platform deciding whether it is worth showing. This does not mean you should abandon Instagram, but it does mean your subscriber list is a channel that does not depend on someone else's rules.

Who ends up on your list

Over time, your subscriber list tends to include a mix of people: existing customers who want to hear about new arrivals, visitors who wishlisted a product and want updates, and people who came across your store but were not ready to buy that day. Combined with a wishlist, this gives you two connected signals of genuine interest that you can act on together, rather than treating every subscriber the same way.

Keeping it useful, not overused

An email list only stays valuable if it is not overused. Sending something worth opening, a genuine Drop announcement or a meaningful offer, keeps subscribers engaged. Sending too frequently with nothing new to say tends to have the opposite effect, and people stop opening or unsubscribe entirely.

Next step

If you do not currently have any way to reach past visitors beyond hoping they follow you on Instagram, a subscriber list is worth setting up from the very start of your store. The Founding Offer covers the first 10 stores with setup done together. Get in touch at /early-access.