What is it?
Your existing audience likely know a lot of other people who'd love your newsletter too. So give them a link to share with friends, and reward them when they get people to subscribe!
Referral programs work when:
- you offer rewards your audience actually wants
- your newsletter is good enough to share even without an incentive
Most creators believe #1 and #2 are both true for their own newsletters. Unfortunately, it's very rarely the case.
Want to learn more about how a referral program could work for your newsletter?
This video is everything you'd ever need to know:
The Good and the Bad
- good subscriber quality
- affordable (profitable when paired with SparkLoop paid recommendations)
- requires a lot of upfront work
- you need to be a really good marketer to make it work
- only drives significant volume if you already have a large audience
Examples of how to crush it
Morning Brew
The Morning Brew coffee mug became pretty iconic. It was a bit of a status symbol on college campuses, which meant students were highly incentivised to get those 10 referrals as quickly as possible.
And the more referrals you get, the higher the value of the rewards.
Another benefit of course is that every single one of these is essentially a walking billboard for Morning Brew.
So their subscribers are driving referrals, and then going on to market in real life? It's a win-win.
SEO FOMO
This digital marketing newsletter basically take the Morning Brew framework and apply an "I'm an SEO" identity.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The Pour Over
In less than a year, The Pour Over grew from 20,000 to over 100,000 subscribers, with referrals bringing in several thousand new signups every month.
