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Paid Newsletters

Paid Newsletters let you sell subscription access to your email content and collect recurring payments from your subscribers through Stripe. This article explains how the feature works and how to set up your first paid newsletter.

Written by Support Team

Please note that this feature is available only on the Email Marketing PRO plan and its subaccounts, except Custom Branding users.

Paid Newsletters is about charging your own subscribers on a recurring basis. If you want to sell one time digital products instead of a subscription, see the article "How to Use Checkouts for Selling Digital Products". For information about how your own Elastic Email plan is billed and renewed, see the article "How to manage your billing".

What you can do with Paid Newsletters

Paid Newsletters are subscription-based email campaigns that allow you to:

  • Charge subscribers on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis.

  • Create a branded landing page dedicated to each newsletter.

  • Manage transactions through Stripe.

  • Manage subscriber lists automatically.

  • Control what a subscriber sees after purchase and after cancellation.

Connecting your Stripe account

Stripe handles and records every transaction made through your newsletter, so a Stripe account is required before you can accept payments. If you do not have one yet, we guide you through connecting it when you publish your first newsletter. If you already set up a Stripe account for Checkouts in Elastic Email, you can continue using that same accoun

The Customer Portal

The Customer Portal is a secure page hosted by Stripe where your subscribers manage their own subscriptions. From the portal they can:

  • Review their current subscription details

  • Cancel their subscription

It is the newsletter owner's responsibility to make sure subscribers can reach the Customer Portal. To make this easier, include the dedicated merge field {paidnewslettercustomerportal} in your emails. It generates a personalized link for each subscriber.


Managing your newsletters


On the main Paid Newsletters screen you can browse your published newsletters, open drafts in progress and start a new one. This is also where you publish, unpublish and edit newsletters, or select them for use in a campaign.


Please note the difference between pausing and deleting a newsletter. Turning the newsletter toggle off does not cancel your subscribers' subscriptions. The landing page stops being available at its link, but you can still send emails to the associated list, existing subscriptions stay active, and contacts who have already purchased continue to be billed as usual. To cancel the newsletter together with all associated subscriptions, use "Delete" instead.

Setting up your first Paid Newsletter

Defining your newsletter

In the first step you set the core details of your offering:

  1. Enter a product name. This name is visible only to you on the dashboard.

  2. Set the price and the currency. Available currencies are USD, AUD, CAD, EUR, NZD, PLN and GBP.

  3. Select the subscription frequency: monthly, quarterly or yearly.
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To update the price of your paid newsletter later, make the change in the Elastic Email panel. Updates made there sync automatically with your connected Stripe account. Changes made directly in Stripe are not reflected in Elastic Email.


​Designing your landing page

Use a built-in editor to design your branded landing page with product description (name, price, terms).

Use helpful new merge fields specifically designed for this feature:

  • {Paid Newsletter Name}

  • {Paid Newsletter Recurring Price}

  • {Paid Newsletter Terms URL}

You don’t need to code - just choose one of our stunning templates, customize it, or create your project in our powerful editor
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Confirmation page and Terms and Conditions? Don't worry, we've got your back!
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In our editor, you can also customize the landing page used to confirm the purchase of your Paid Newsletter.
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Note! This page will include the Terms and Conditions of your service, which you can define in your Account Settings -> Profile.
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Choosing the newsletter link

You can define a custom URL for your product page. The URL is hosted under the myelasticemail.com domain, which is the same domain used for all landing pages in your account. Because the URL namespace is shared across landing pages, newsletters and checkout pages, the suffix you choose must be unique within your account. This naming convention keeps your account organized and prevents URL conflicts.

Setting the social share preview

Each landing page includes a section where you customize the information displayed when the page is shared on social media..

After a successful payment is processed via Stripe, the post-purchase settings come into play. This is where you define what your new subscriber sees next. An automatic confirmation email is sent to the buyer to acknowledge their order - and you have full control over how that message looks and feels.


You can easily customize the From Name, Sender Email, and Email Subject, and tailor the message content to match your tone and brand. To make things easier, a ready-made default template is provided, which you can use as-is or personalize as needed. For added convenience and personalization, remember to include the dedicated merge field {paidnewslettercustomerportal}. It can also be added here to enhance the user experience

Managing the subscriber list

Every paid newsletter has its own dedicated subscriber list. Once a customer completes their purchase, they are automatically added to this list - no manual action required.

This list plays a vital role in your workflow. It ensures that only paying subscribers receive your premium content. You’ll be able to select this list when creating and sending campaigns using the campaign creator.
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If you’d like to learn more about campaign sending, feel free to check out our dedicated article on campaigns.

More details about Newsletter's contact lists:

Limited access to newsletter contact lists

  • Newsletter lists are not visible in the Upload Contacts or Add Contacts screens.

  • Recipients can only be added through active subscriptions (e.g. via Stripe).

  • Manual addition or removal of subscribers is not allowed.

Subscription cancellations and expirations

  • Contacts who cancel their subscription and whose subscription has expired will no longer appear on the list.

  • Note: This does not automatically change their contact status (e.g. to "Unsubscribed").
    Contact status behavior is explained below.

What triggers removal from the newsletter list and stripe subscription

The following actions will remove a contact from the Newsletter list and cancel their Stripe subscription:

  1. The contact unsubscribes from all mailings

  2. The account owner manually deletes the contact from the account

  3. The contact’s status is manually changed to any of the following:

    • Transactional

    • Inactive

    • Unsubscribed

    • Complaint

Remember: Once your Newsletter is published, you become responsible for consistently providing content to your subscribers, who pay for access to your material on the agreed conditions. 

Configuring the cancellation email

The final step in setting up your Paid Newsletter is configuring the email that will be sent to subscribers when they cancel their subscription. This message helps ensure a clear and professional offboarding experience.

Just like with the post-purchase email, you can fully customize the From Name, Sender Email, and Email Subject to match your branding. The email content is also editable, allowing you to include any relevant information or parting message. 

If you need help along the way, our Customer Support Team is available 24/7 - always ready to assist you as you take your first confident steps into the world of monetized newsletters.

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