Managing Your Subscriber List

Your subscriber list is the core of Narrativ. This guide covers how to add subscribers, import an existing list, search and filter your readers, and understand subscriber status and engagement data.

Viewing your list

Open the Email List panel from the left nav to see all your subscribers. The table shows:

• Name & Email — the subscriber's display name and email address
• Source — how they signed up (Signup Form, Manual, Import, or API)
• Book — which book they were associated with at signup, if applicable
• Engagement — their lifetime opens and clicks (e.g. "2 opens · 1 click")
• Status — Active or Unsubscribed
• Date — when they joined your list

Adding a single subscriber

To manually add one subscriber:

1. Click + Add Subscriber in the top-right of the subscriber table
2. Enter their name and email address
3. Optionally select which book to associate them with
4. Click Add

The subscriber will appear in your list immediately with Active status.

Importing a CSV

If you're moving from another platform (Mailchimp, Kit, Substack, etc.), you can import your existing list via CSV.

1. Export your subscribers from your old platform as a CSV file
2. In Narrativ, click Import CSV in the subscriber table header
3. Upload the file — Narrativ will detect your columns
4. Map the columns: your email column is required; name (or first_name + last_name) is recommended
5. Click Import

After the import you'll see a summary: how many were added, how many were skipped (duplicates or invalid emails), and any errors.

Searching and filtering

At the top of the subscriber table there's a search bar and a set of filter chips:

• Search — type any part of a name or email to filter the list in real time
• Status chips — click All, Active, or Unsubscribed to filter by status

These filters work together — you can search for "sarah" while also filtering to Active subscribers only.

Subscriber status

Every subscriber has one of two statuses:

• Active — they're on your list and will receive campaigns you send to them
• Unsubscribed — they clicked the unsubscribe link in one of your emails. They won't receive any future campaigns. This is managed automatically by Narrativ.

You cannot manually re-subscribe someone who has unsubscribed themselves. If they want to rejoin, they need to use your signup form.

Engagement data (opens & clicks)

The Engagement column shows each subscriber's total opens and clicks across all campaigns. This data is tracked automatically — when a subscriber opens an email or clicks a link, those counts increment in real time.

Engagement data is also used when building segments. For example, you can create a segment of readers who have clicked at least once, or who have never opened any of your emails.

Unsubscribing and re-adding subscribers

If a subscriber contacts you asking to be removed, you can unsubscribe them manually:

1. Find them in the subscriber table
2. Click the ••• actions menu on their row
3. Click Unsubscribe

If you need to delete a subscriber's record entirely (e.g. a GDPR right-to-erasure request), use the Delete option in the same actions menu. This permanently removes their data from Narrativ.

Stats at a glance

The overview cards at the top of the Email List panel show:

• Total Subscribers — active subscribers only (unsubscribed are excluded)
• New This Month — how many joined in the current calendar month
• Avg Open Rate — across all active subscribers who have been sent at least one campaign