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Setting up your newsletter

There are three settings you need to set up before you can send your first campaign:

Sending email

The email address your campaigns will be sent from. It must use a custom domain that you have DNS access to, since you’ll need to add a couple DNS records to verify ownership. Don’t have one? Purchase a discounted domain with Supertape.

Physical address

This is required for CAN-SPAM compliance and goes in the bottom of all campaigns. It must be a physical address, no PO boxes, but can be your home, work, manager, label, rehearsal space, studio, or any other physical address you have access to.

Campaign tracking

Decide if you’d like to track email open and click activity. This tracking enables some additional features and insights, but some fans may feel that it’s intrusive, and some email clients may block it.

To configure or update your newsletter settings:

  1. Visit Settings and select Edit in the Newsletter section.
  2. Make your changes and hit Save.
  3. Add the required DNS records to Verify your email domain.

That’s it! You’re ready to start importing contacts and sending campaigns.

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Recieving campaign replies

Since your campaigns are delivered from your sending email, any time someone replies to your campaign it will go to that email address. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to set up an email provider to receive those replies.

One simple option is to forward your sending email to an existing personal or band email (ie contact@yourband.com -> yourband@gmail.com). Many domain providers offer this for free, so check yours first. Otherwise, there are free options like ImprovMX and Forward Email.

If you want a full inbox for your sending email, or even inboxes for each member of your team, there are some alternatives to Google Workspace that are more simple, affordable, and privacy-focused. In particular, we like Fastmail and Proton Mail.

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Building your email reputation

Maintaining a good email sending reputation is critical to getting your campaigns in inboxes and not spam folders. Email providers like Gmail and Yahoo track how often your emails are opened, clicked, marked as spam, bounce, etc., and reward or penalize you accordingly.

Fortunately, Supertape handles a lot of the heavy lifting for you: double-opt ins, verified domains, easy unsubscribes, and more. But your email reputation is ultimately your responsibility, and there are some golden rules you need to follow.

Always get permission to email people

Only email people who have explicitly opted in to receive emails from you. Never import purchased or “found” email lists.

Keep your contact list clean

If contacts aren’t engaging with your campaigns, or if it’s been a while since you’ve emailed them, remove them.

Send quality emails

This is obvious, but send emails that your fans want to read. Spend time crafting emails that are worth opening and clicking.

Be consistent and respectful

Keep your fans engaged with a regular cadence, maybe between once a week and once a month. Not too much, not too little.

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Email sending requirements

Artists with poor email reputations also impact Supertape’s reputation, and our ability to send emails on behalf of all our artists. Because of this, all campaigns sent on Supertape are expected to meet the following standards:

  • Bounce rate - less than 10%
  • Spam rate - less than 1%

Any of your campaigns that fail to meet these requirements will be paused and you’ll be notified. If this is your first issue, we’ll work with you to try to resolve it. If the problem persists, your account could be suspended or terminated. So please, keep track of your campaigns.