2 builders who never spoke to each other
Choose the email tool for what you will need later
Starting on a free tier and paying only when the list justifies it keeps the cost near zero at the stage it matters least. What does need checking early is capability: a platform without an API, custom fields or integrations cannot run a referral programme or personalisation when you want one.
The method
- 01
Pick an email platform that offers an API, third-party integrations and custom fields before you commit to a referral program, because a platform without them cannot run one properly.
- 02
Start on an email tool's free tier and only pay once the list justifies it.
What it returned
- 2,000
MailChimp's free plan covered up to 2,000 subscribers
On Substack there is no way to generate referral links, no custom domain, no pages to host a widget, no integrations and no API, so links, signups and unsubscribes all have to be handled outside it.
Sources
- iOS Design Weekly: Launch Story and StatisticsNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Markup & MailChimp · 2011-08-16
- Want an email referral program? Don't use SubstackManuel Frigerio · sparkloop.app · What it takes to add a referral program to a Substack newsletter · undated
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.
More in email
- Move the audience you rent onto a list you own7 unconnected
- Hold the schedule you promised to hold5 unconnected
- Decide whether cold email is worth what it signals5 unconnected · contested
- Settle who the publication is for before growing it5 unconnected
- Open the list before the product is real4 unconnected
- Send each subscriber the thing they told you they want4 unconnected