Creators always ask, “how do I grow my audience?” While the answer is different for everyone, when you’re an emerging creator with a tight budget, referral programs are a great way to expand without burning revenue. And not only expand, but find subscribers more likely to engage.

As we continue moving away from open rates as our main metric, referral programs are a great step toward increased engagement. Luckily, where there’s a will, there’s an app. Tools like SparkLoop smooth out the logistics and make tracking your referral progress fun and easy. 

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss the benefits of a referral program, the steps to referral success, and examples of creators who are doing it right. 

Key Takeaways

• [07:09] - Referral programs are a great way to grow your audience in a way that’s relatively “hands-off”.
• [08:39] - Tools like SparkLoop help you automate your referral program. Automation is especially useful if you’re a small creator.
• [14:24] - People trust referrals from friends more than anything else. A referred subscriber has built-in trust with you that otherwise, you would have to spend time, money, and energy to establish. 
• [16:11] - Referral programs reward subscriber engagement. 
• [16:47] - Using incentives not only drives traffic to your newsletter but also the content outside of your newsletter. 
• [19:22] - Referral programs lower the cost of subscriber acquisition and get people excited about your upcoming content. 
• [22:18] - Before launching a referral program, you need a newsletter with measurable subscriber value rather than a brand new newsletter with no built-in audience. 
• [24:08] - You also need a clear explanation of how your referral program works so it’s obvious to your subscribers what they have to do. 

Quotes

[12:12] - “Any other way to try and find people to join your list, like maybe doing paid ads, can only do so much to get the right person in front of that sign-up form. And it’s kind of more like casting a wide net and hoping to find the right people. But this is perfect. Your subscribers clearly are the perfect fit for your email list, they’re already there, they signed up for it, and they likely know other people who also would love your content.” ~ @alyssa_dulin

Links

• Contact Us!
• Morning Brew
• theSkimm
• SparkLoop
• ConvertKit Creator Pro account
• Manuel Frigerio
• Louis Nicholls
• Codie Sanchez
• Nathan Barry’s newsletter
• SparkLoop’s growth calculator
• SparkLoop rewards library
• James Clear
• The 3-2-1 Newsletter
• Great Talks Most People Have Never Heard
• Nathan Barry’s podcast
• Brennan Dunn
• Create & Sell
• Angel at ConvertKit
• Isa at ConvertKit 

Connect with our hosts

• Alyssa Dulin
• Melissa Lambert

Stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined Website

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing.