Blogger Follow by Email widget is going away: export your email subscriber list from FeedBurner

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FeedBurner has announced that it will no longer support email subscriptions as of July 2021. As FeedBurner powers Blogger's FollowByEmail gadget, that will also stop working. 

FeedBurner is a free Google service that let you customize your RSS feeds. It currently also provides feed analytics and - notably - has an RSS to Email service, emailing new posts in your feed to your subscribers. 

FeedBurner was founded in 2004 and acquired by Google in 2007, almost 14 years ago. The Blogger FollowByEmail gadget was launched in 2011. That means many bloggers have a blog email list that is decade old. 

Some of you are reading this post in an email. I haven't figured out an alternative email platform, but I will make an announcement when I do and you will be given the option to re-subscribe. I expect it's going to be a painful transition to a new platform.

Watch the video for a brief overview and tutorial on how to export your email subscriber list. Or read on for detailed information.
 

Is FeedBurner going away? No.

Notice in FeedBurner: FeedBurner is going into maintenance mode July, 2021.

FeedBurner itself isn't going away. It's moving to "more stable, modern infrastructure". According to the notice, "existing feeds will continue to serve indefinitely, and existing users can download past usage statistics and email subscriptions."

What will NOT be changing: 
  • Change the feed URL
  • Change the source feed
  • Change the title
  • Change the podcast metadata
  • Basic (not detailed) analytics
  • Ability to create enclosure tags for MP3 files 
If those are the features you use, nothing will change. 

What's happening to email subscriptions and the FollowByEmail Blogger gadget?

If you use FeedBurner to manage email subscriptions for your blog, that will unfortunately stop working in July. That includes Blogger's Follow by Email option and the FollowByEmail widget. 

That means that if you want to continue to email your followers, you will need to export your email list, and import it into another service. 

Blogger has stated explicitly that "Currently, there are no plans to support this feature again in the future", so don't wait with the hope that Google will offer an alternative. 

How to export your email subscribers from FeedBurner

You can export your email subscriber list as a comma-separated values (CSV) file. A CSV file can be opened in Excel, Google Sheets, or your favorite spreadsheet software. It may also be importable into other email subscription platforms. 


1. Sign into FeedBurner (feedburner.google.com) and click your feed name

2. Click the Analyze tab at the top


3. On the Feed Subscribers Dashboard, scroll down to Email Subscription Services and click Feedburner Email Subscriptions 

4. Click Manage Your Email Subscriber List 

5. Next to Export click CSV

That downloads a .CSV file that you can open in Google Sheets, Excel or a even a text editor. 

The CSV file includes: 

  • Email address
  • Date and time they subscribed
  • Whether the subscription is active or pending verification
Some email subscription services may allow you to import email addresses in that format.

A note: I have a number of subscribers who never verified their email address. 

I think it will be important when switching to a new platform to only invite email subscribers who fully activated their subscription. Someone who signed up in 2013 but never verified isn't likely to be interested in hearing from me again. 

What is a good alternative platform? 

I don't know a good replacement. That's something I'll be figuring out over the next month or so. 

Update August 2021: I created a Revue newsletter.

Here's what I'm considering: 
A few thoughts: 

1. It's going to be like starting over, no matter which platform I switch to. I'll announce the new new email subscription option and possibly directly invite Active followers, but I would not be surprised if many don't sign up again. 

2. Other than the RSS to Email services, a new platform would mean actually composing the emails from scratch. That might be a good thing, even though it's more work.  

3. I want to find a service that isn't likely to disappear in a year. 

4. Money matters. FeedBurner is free. RSS to Email services and email marketing platforms generally cost something. Newsletter services, on the other hand, let me charge for the newsletter. Ultimately I need to figure out what I want to do in the long term, and how much it's worth to me.

I'll be posting more when I'm ready to move to a new platform. 

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