Building a scalable media publishing platform is not just an engineering problem. It is a product problem, too, because the signup flow, the landing page, and the subscriber experience decide whether growth sticks.
Refact CEO Saeedreza Abbaspour joined the Sticky podcast to talk through the patterns we see across newsletter and media teams, from first click to long-term scale.
What’s inside the episode
The conversation breaks down what actually moves the needle for newsletter growth and platform stability.
1) The subscriber journey, before the tech stack
Saeedreza talks about treating onboarding like a product experience, not a one-off welcome email. If you want a deeper playbook, see our guide to the subscriber onboarding journey.
He also shares what has worked for clients like Trends: start with a focused landing page. Clear copy matters. So does design. The goal is one job, help the right reader subscribe.
- Keep the page focused on one action
- Avoid sending first-time visitors to the homepage
- Limit extra links that pull people away from subscribing
2) Balancing marketing needs and developer reality
Landing pages and signup flows often stall when teams optimize for only one side, marketing flexibility or engineering stability. Saeedreza explains how we approach customization at Refact so teams can move fast without breaking core templates.
3) Scaling and security for newsletter websites
The second half gets technical, in plain language. Saeedreza explains why WordPress is often a strong fit for publishers, especially when you need a dependable CMS with mature integrations.
He also covers practical scaling choices, like when dedicated infrastructure makes sense, and where performance tools like CDNs can help.
Security is a constant fight for newsletters, especially around spam and fake bot subscribers. If this is a current problem for you, our breakdown of email deliverability and list hygiene goes deeper on list cleaning and protecting sender reputation.
Give it a listen
You can find Sticky on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast apps.
Want help building a publisher-grade platform?
If you’re planning a rebuild, scaling up, or cleaning up a messy stack, we do this work every week. Start with our overview of web development for publishers, then talk with our team about your goals and constraints.
We’d also love to hear what you think after you listen. Drop us a note on LinkedIn.