3 builders who never spoke to each other
Ask each reader to forward it to one person
A vague request to share gets nothing, while asking for exactly one named contact is small enough to act on, especially at the end of a welcome sequence when the goodwill is at its peak. Giving the forwarder your opt-in link to paste at the top means the forward recruits rather than just circulates.
The method
- 01
Ask each subscriber to pass the invitation to exactly one contact who would get something out of it, rather than making a vague request to share.
- 02
Give the forwarder your opt-in link and ask them to paste it at the top of the message they pass along, so the forward recruits subscribers too.
- 03
Ask readers directly to forward the newsletter to someone who would like it, at the foot of every issue.
- 04
Put the referral request at the end of the welcome sequence rather than at signup, because compliance is highest immediately after you have delivered a run of genuine value, and attach a reward to the ask.
- 05
Store each subscriber's referral link and referral count in a custom field so you can drop both straight into the emails you already send.
What it returned
Bourgoin places the ask in the final email of the sequence and calls the underlying mechanism reciprocity decay: the willingness to help fades as the memory of the favour does.
James Clear's referral emails carry a share button and the reader's own link inside the message.
Sources
- Growth Flywheels | Customer CampKatelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · Get paid to grow your audience · undated
- How Freelancers Can Kickstart Their Audience - Double Your FreelancingBrennan Dunn · doubleyourfreelancing.com · Step 4: Deliver lots and lots of value, and do it often · 2014-09-04
- Want an email referral program? Don't use SubstackManuel Frigerio · sparkloop.app · Poor User Experience · undated
- The Bootstrapped Founder Newsletter Episode 6 – December 20th 2019 – The Bootstrapped FounderArvid Kahl · thebootstrappedfounder.com · Links I Found Interesting · 2019-12-19
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
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