--- title: How to Move Your Newsletter to SendHQ | SendHQ description: Export your subscribers, import them with their consent basis and tags, verify your domain, and send your first issues to your most engaged readers first. canonical: https://sendhq.cc/guides/move-newsletter-to-sendhq last-updated: 2026-11-06 author: Dhrumil Barot author_bio: Dhrumil is an email marketing expert. Dhrumil built SendHQ so developers and AI agents can send, receive and track email without fighting deliverability on their own. published: 2026-11-06 updated: 2026-11-06 --- # How to Move Your Newsletter to SendHQ By [Dhrumil Barot](https://sendhq.cc/about.md#founder), Founder Export your subscribers, import them with their consent basis and tags, verify your domain, and send your first issues to your most engaged readers first. Moving a newsletter is mostly a CSV and a domain. The parts that need care are keeping the record of how people signed up, leaving out addresses that should not get mail, and warming up a new sending setup by writing to your most engaged readers first. This guide walks through each step, from exporting on your current platform to reading your first SendHQ report. Published November 6, 2026 ยท Updated November 6, 2026 ## Key takeaways - Export your subscribers as a CSV, keep a note of where and when they signed up, and leave out anyone who unsubscribed or bounced. - Import into a SendHQ list with a consent basis and tags. Each file can hold up to 5,000 rows, so split larger lists. - Verify your sending domain before the first issue, and add your postal address in Newsletter settings. - New workspaces start at 100 emails a day and ramp up with healthy sending, so send to your most engaged readers first. - Expect a lower open rate than on your old platform, because SendHQ leaves bot opens out. Compare clicks instead. ## Before you export - Write down how people joined: the signup form, the site and the rough dates. You will need it as the consent basis on import. - Export unsubscribed, bounced and complained addresses separately, or leave them out. SendHQ never resubscribes a suppressed address, but there is no reason to import them. - Tag your most engaged readers, for example everyone who opened or clicked in the last 90 days, if your old platform can filter for it. A fresh import has no engagement history in SendHQ, so this tag is how you find your best readers for the first issues. ## Exporting from your current platform Most platforms export subscribers as a CSV. These are the steps each one documents: | Platform | How to export | | --- | --- | | Mailchimp | Audience > Export audience > Export CSV (also per segment/tag/group). Arrives as a ZIP with one CSV per status (subscribed, unsubscribed, non-subscribed, cleaned). Downloads kept 30 days. | | beehiiv | Settings > Export Data > 'Export All Basic Subscribers' (quick) or 'Export All Subscribers' (full). Emailed link valid 24h. Also via API on paid plans (variant full/basic). | | Substack | Subscribers page > All subscribers > three-dot menu > Export (all columns or visible columns; filtered or full list) > Download last export. Settings > Exports also creates a ZIP of posts, subscriber lists and stats. | | Kit (ConvertKit) | Subscribers > filter Status (e.g. Confirmed) > Select all > three dots > Export. CSV link emailed, expires after 5 days. | Each platform has its own comparison page under [newsletter platform comparisons](https://sendhq.cc/compare.md), with its prices and export columns. ## Importing into SendHQ 1. Create a list for the newsletter. 2. Upload the CSV. A tags column is read on import, and you can tag everyone in the file at once. Each contact can carry up to 50 tags, and each file up to 5,000 rows. 3. State the consent basis, such as "Signed up on example.com, exported from beehiiv in November 2026". It is stored with every contact. 4. Check the import summary. Addresses that were unsubscribed, bounced or complained in SendHQ are skipped. ## Setting up sending - Add and verify your sending domain. Cloudflare and Domain Connect users can publish the DNS records in one click. - Add your postal address in Newsletter settings. It goes in the footer of every issue, and the pre-send review warns you while it is missing. - Set your accent colour, font and alignment, and a welcome email for new subscribers if you want one. - Turn on the [newsletter website](https://sendhq.cc/newsletter/website.md) if you want a public archive and RSS feed at sendhq.cc/n/your-name. ## Your first issues New workspaces start at 100 emails a day and step up as sending stays healthy, up to 50,000 a day. A large list's first issue therefore goes out over a few days. Use that time well: 1. Write the issue in the [block editor](https://sendhq.cc/newsletter/editor.md), send yourself a test, and fix what the pre-send review flags. 2. Point the issue at a [segment](https://sendhq.cc/newsletter/segments.md) of the readers you tagged as engaged, so the first emails go to people who are likely to open them. 3. Limit the audience if you want to start small, then use send to more later to reach the next readers without repeating anyone. 4. After a few issues, SendHQ has its own engagement data, and you can order any audience by most engaged first instead of relying on the import tag. ## Reading your first reports Your open rate will probably be lower than it was. SendHQ leaves out Apple Mail prefetches, link scanners and datacenter traffic, which many platforms count, as explained in [why newsletter open rates are inflated](https://sendhq.cc/guides/newsletter-open-rate-bots.md). Compare click rates between the two platforms, and watch bounces and complaints on the first sends from your domain. ## What it costs SendHQ prices newsletters by emails sent, not by subscribers. Starter is $19 a month for 50,000 emails and Scale is $39 a month for 200,000, with no charge per subscriber. A weekly issue to 10,000 readers is about 43,300 emails a month. Compare your own list size on the [newsletter cost comparison](https://sendhq.cc/compare.md), and note what SendHQ does not offer yet, such as paid subscriptions, automations beyond the welcome email and custom domains for the website, on the [newsletter page](https://sendhq.cc/newsletter.md). ## Sources and dates Export steps for other platforms were read on each platform's help pages, linked below, in October 2026. SendHQ details describe the product as of the updated date above. - [Mailchimp export help](https://mailchimp.com/help/view-export-contacts/) - [beehiiv export help](https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/12258595483543) - [Substack export help](https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037607131-How-much-does-Substack-cost) - [Kit (ConvertKit) export help](https://help.kit.com/en/articles/4494683-creator-vs-pro-choose-the-right-plan) - [SendHQ for newsletters](https://sendhq.cc/newsletter.md) - [SendHQ deliverability rules](https://sendhq.cc/docs/deliverability.md) ## Questions teams ask **Can I import subscribers from beehiiv, Substack, Mailchimp or Kit?** Yes. Export a CSV from your current platform and import it into a SendHQ list with a consent basis. Tags in a tags column are imported too. **How many subscribers can I import at once?** Each CSV file can hold up to 5,000 rows. Split a larger list into several files. **Why does my first issue take days to send?** New workspaces start at 100 emails a day and ramp up with healthy sending, so a large list's first issues go out over a few days. **Will unsubscribed people be emailed again?** No. Addresses that unsubscribed, bounced or complained in SendHQ are never resubscribed by an import. Leave out people who unsubscribed on your old platform too. ## Continue learning - [Email API: Send, Receive, and Track Transactional Email](https://sendhq.cc/guides/email-api.md): Understand what an email API does, how sending and inbound receiving work, and what to evaluate before choosing one. - [Transactional Email API Guide](https://sendhq.cc/guides/transactional-email-api.md): A practical guide to sending passwords, receipts, alerts, and other product-triggered email reliably. - [How to Send Email with an API](https://sendhq.cc/guides/send-email-with-api.md): A step-by-step approach to authenticated API email sending, testing, and production safety. - [How to Receive Email with an API](https://sendhq.cc/guides/receive-email-with-api.md): Route inbound mail to your application, parse it safely, and make it useful in a product workflow. - [Email Domain Verification: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC](https://sendhq.cc/guides/email-domain-verification.md): What domain verification is, why it matters, and how SPF, DKIM, and DMARC work together.