Channel Subscribers and Notifications

Start gathering subscribers with Channel subscriptions and keep your audience updated and engaged.

Channel Subscriptions give you the ability to collect subscribers for a Channel. With Channel Subscriptions, you can also send automated email notifications to your subscribers when you add new content to your Channel. This means that you can keep both new and existing audiences engaged by letting them know when you’ve released new content! Pretty sweet, right? We think so! You can manage your audience members by collecting, tracking, and connecting with them right within the Wistia platform.

Collecting Subscribers

You’ll first want to be sure that you’ve enabled the subscriber button and form on your Channel. On the Edit/Preview page of your Channel, under Add Ons, check the box next to Show Subscribe button under Subscribers.

The subscribe form can be set to ask for just email, or first and last name, as well as email.

If you’re connected to HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, or an email integration, you can sync your subscribers to your integration. When connected, you’ll be able to collect new contacts within your integration platform, and send them to specific lists.

You can choose to notify your subscribers about new episodes right from within Wistia, and they’ll receive an email notification about your new content. Email notifications can also be sent from a new, personalized Wistia domain.

How does all of this work, you might ask? Read on for a step-by-step guide that walks through all you need to know in order to collect and notify subscribers for your Channel.

View Subscribers in Wistia

Once visitors have successfully completed the subscribe form, they will be collected in Wistia as Subscribers. You can see how many subscribers a Channel has by navigating to the Subscribers page in your Channel.

The Subscribers page includes a list of all subscribers for a Channel (this includes Name (if enabled), Email, and Subscribe Date) as well as the total count. You will also find the option to export the subscriber list to a CSV.

Notifying Subscribers

There are a couple of steps to take in order to notify Channel subscribers about your sweet new content.

Email Settings

You’ll first need to be sure that your Account Owner has filled out the “Email Settings” section in your account, which can be accessed under “Account.”

Email Settings include the following:

  • Company Address (a physical mailing address is required by the CAN-SPAM act)
  • Email - we send subscribers emails from notifications@wstml.com, but you can customize this so that your subscribers know who they’re receiving the email from.
  • Social Profiles - if you’d like, you can add your Facebook Page URL, Instagram URL, Twitter URL, and/or LinkedIn URL. These will display in the footer of your email.

Email Notifications

Now that you’ve filled out your Email Settings, you can set up email notifications for subscribers. You’ll find the Notify option on your Episode pages, and this is where you can configure your email notifications.

The email notifications will include the following:

  • A Channel logo (if present)
  • A headline that reads “Watch the latest from [Channel name]”
  • The thumbnail & title of the episode being published
  • A Call To Action to “Watch Now”
  • An email footer with an unsubscribe link
Note
If the media has a video thumbnail, the email will showcase a GIF right within the notification.

You might be wondering how you can customize these notifications to best fit your company’s branding and content. Email notifications allow for the following customizations:

  • Custom Subject line & Preview Text
  • A button link that is a URL of your choosing
  • A dark or light color theme
  • Dark or light button text color
  • A link to “Email Settings” where you can configure the footer & social links (if you haven’t done so yet)

Channel Subscribers and Marketing Integrations

Whether you’re connected to HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, or an email integration, you’ll want to be sure to select a list if you’d like to have your Channel subscribers populate there. Within your Channel, select Subscribers from the Edit menu. Here, select the list you’d like to send your subscribers to.

When a viewer subscribes to your Channel, you can choose to collect just their email, or their first name, last name, and email. This information will then be sent to the list you have chosen for your marketing or email provider.

Alert
If you have the Hubspot & Wistia integration connected you’ll need to have a static list ready in HubSpot for your Channel Subscribers. This can be a brand new list for your Channel Subscribers, or one that already exists!

FAQs

Can I get stats on my notifications?

You might be wondering what your click-through rate is and how many viewers opened your email - at the moment we do not have this functionality available.

What happens if a user unsubscribes?

If a user unsubscribes, they are removed from within Wistia. If you export your list of subscribers, those who are unsubscribed will be included, but marked as unsubscribed.

Alert
If you are syncing your subscribers to another platform, Wistia doesn’t know what happens to those subscribers from there. If someone unsubscribes from the marketing emails, they won’t be unsubscribed from Wistia.

I gated my Channel with the subscribe form, but the form no longer appears. Why?

Some of our Legacy plans include a subscriber limit of 250. When that limit is reached, the subscribe feature will be removed and your Channel will no longer be gated. Our current plans do not come with a subscriber limit. You can check them out on our pricing page!

You ready? Go forth and channel! Have questions? Need some help? Want to know how Lenny’s doing? Give us a shout!