Subscribing with only an email

A reader on your publication can subscribe by typing only their email. There is no account page in the way. The Subscribe button, the invitation that appears as someone reads, and the Upgrade button all open the same small form. Behind it, Peakub makes an account for the reader. They don't choose a password and they don't fill in a profile.

Choose what happens next

In Studio > Audience > Subscribers, Settings, the field When someone subscribes with only their email has three choices. Press Save to keep it.

• Ask them to confirm is the default. The reader gets an email with a button. The subscription counts only after they click it, and the click also signs them in. Until then they are not counted and nothing is sent to them. The link works for a limited number of days, and an unclicked one does nothing.
• Welcome them subscribes the reader and signs them in at once, then sends a welcome email. It carries a one-click unsubscribe and a link that says this wasn't me. If the welcome email can't be sent, the subscription stays.
• Nothing subscribes the reader and signs them in at once, and sends no email.

The setting is for readers who give only their email and don't pay. A reader who pays, or who already has an account, is not affected by it.

Confirming is the safest choice. Anyone can type someone else's address, and with Ask them to confirm that address receives one email and nothing more unless its owner clicks. With the other two the address is subscribed straight away.

Content kept for subscribers

A freewall keeps part of a piece for your subscribers, free or paid (see Access and paywalls). The setting above decides how much a reader has to prove to read it.

• Ask them to confirm. A reader reads what is kept for subscribers once they have clicked the link in the email, and only then: their address is verified. Someone who typed an address and hasn't clicked, or an account whose email was never verified, sees a card titled "Confirm your subscription" with a line saying "Verify your email to read what is kept for subscribers", and a Verify your email button. After they verify, the rest opens. This is a change for readers who subscribed before and never verified their email: they read the freewalls again once they do.
• Welcome them and Nothing. The reader is subscribed and signed in at once, so a freewall asks for an address and not for a verified one. That is what these two settings mean. If you want the proof of a click, keep Ask them to confirm.

Whatever the setting, typing an address never opens a freewall for someone else's account, and a person you imported stays outside until they accept the invitation.

When someone says "this wasn't me"

The welcome email has two links. Unsubscribe ends the subscription. This wasn't me ends it and blocks that address for your publication: if someone types it again, they get the usual "Check your email" answer and nothing is sent or recorded. A block is not lifted by unsubscribing. Blocked addresses are not counted and are never emailed.

An address that already has an account

Typing an address that belongs to an account never subscribes or signs in anyone. The form answers Check your email, the same answer as for any other address, and the owner gets a link. Clicking it signs them in and subscribes them. This way nobody can use your form to find out which addresses exist, or to subscribe someone else's account.

Limits to expect

• The form accepts 10 requests a minute from one connection.
• An address typed more than five times in a day gets the usual answer, and nothing happens: no account, no email.
• Text that isn't an email address is refused.
• If your publication suddenly receives a very large number of new addresses in an hour, Peakub records it as a spike so the team can look.

Paying

Paying doesn't depend on this setting. See Subscribing and paying with an email for what your readers see.

What isn't there yet

An email-only reader can't be turned into a full account from the reader's side yet, and reading, liking or commenting straight from an email link without signing in doesn't exist: a reader signs in first, with an emailed link or code.