Creating an engaging newsletter requires a lot of time, effort, and creativity. Don’t let your valuable content go to waste by sending it to a small group of subscribers. It’s time to build an email referral program to get your newsletter in front of as many readers as possible.
A referral program is just one strategy for growing your newsletter. However, it’s built a proven track record in the email marketing and newsletter industry. In fact, leading publications like Morning Brew and theSkimm gained success using referrals as their primary marketing program in the early days.
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about email referral programs, including how to build your own in 5 steps.
What is a referral program?
A referral program is a system in which an existing customer base is incentivized to tell others about a product or service through word-of-mouth marketing. Outside of newsletters, you’ll notice all types of businesses use referral systems to gain new customers.
Referrals can be incorporated into marketing campaigns across a wide range of industries, from hairdressers to B2B e-commerce startups. At Paved, we’ve even created our own plan to encourage our customers to spread the word.
What’s the point of a referral program?
Like any marketing strategy, the goal of a referral program is to gain more qualified leads. By leveraging the recommendations of existing subscribers, you can aim to reach more readers within your target demographic. This often leads to more engaged and loyal subscribers. In fact, Invesp data showed that referral leads had a 37% higher retention rate than those from other marketing channels.
Aside from expanding their subscriber list, many marketers often set secondary goals for their referral plans. For instance, some may aim to increase engagement by getting their subscribers more involved. Others may have revenue targets they’re trying to meet. Ultimately, what you’d like to achieve with your referral program depends on your newsletter’s goals.
Top newsletter referral program examples
Referral programs have played a key role in many publishers’ marketing efforts. Let’s go through some of the most successful newsletter growth strategies, plus how each referral program works.
Morning Brew
Morning Brew is something of a poster child for referral programs in the newsletter industry. In a blog post from August 2021, the publication credited reader referrals with 30% of its 3 million subscribers. The team built its program in-house using Ruby on Rails, along with integrations from its ESP Sailthru.
How it works
Morning Brew mainly advertises its referral program in the body of its newsletter. At the bottom of every issue, it includes a section dedicated to providing information about the system. In addition to listing the tiers and rewards, it also displays the subscriber’s personal referral count.
Every once in a while, the editors will also call out the referral program in the email header.
If you want to participate in the program, you have two options:
1. Copy your unique referral link and send it to a friend. From there, they’ll be taken to a landing page with some clever copy prompting them to subscribe.
2. Click the Click to Share link to navigate to a referral portal on Morning Brew’s website. You’ll be able to access a variety of ways to share your link, along with a list of your referred contacts.
The Daily Upside
As another daily business newsletter, The Daily Upside shares many similarities with Morning Brew. This includes its referral program, which follows a comparably quick and effortless user flow. However, instead of building its system in-house, The Daily Upside runs its program through the SparkLoop referral tool.
How it works
At the end of every issue, The Daily Upside includes a short and sweet referral CTA.
Readers have two options for referring friends:
1. Copy your unique link and send it to a friend. Once they click on it, they’ll see a landing page with a short description of the newsletter, along with an option to enter their email.
2. Click the Share The Daily Upside, Earn Rewards link to access your referral hub. There, you’ll see a tracker of your referrals, a list of potential rewards and links to share The Daily Upside on a variety of platforms.
The Hustle
In addition to its acquisition by HubSpot and its high-quality tech and business content, The Hustle is well-known for its successful referral program. Thanks to its community-driven system, the newsletter gained 300,000 subscribers in just a few months, reaching over 1.5 million in early 2021.
How it works
At the bottom of every issue, The Hustle includes a quick CTA featuring the subscriber’s unique link and their current number of referrals. It keeps this section minimalistic, without any details about the program or even a link to more information.
Occasionally, it’ll also call out its referral program in the header of the email, particularly when running special events like giveaways.
When you share your link with a friend, they’ll be able to access a landing page to sign up.
Once your referral subscribes with your link, you’ll receive a “thank you” email with a little bit more information about the program. After you reach 3 sign-ups, you’ll officially become an ambassador for The Hustle.
How to launch a referral program in 5 steps
1. Create a workflow
Before you start building your referral program, you’ll need to figure out how it’s going to work. First, consider the basics:
- What are your goals for the program? To gain subscribers? Increase revenue? Boost engagement?
- Do you plan to reward both the existing and referred subscribers, or one or the other?
- Will you use a referral software, build it yourself, or hire a developer?
From there, think about how you’re going to spread the word:
- Where will you place it in your newsletter?
- Will it be shareable across multiple platforms?
- How much information will you provide in each issue?
- Will you advertise it through other mediums (ex: website, social media, affiliates)?
Once you’ve decided how to promote your program, you’ll want to think about your user flow. In other words, what happens after someone is referred?
- What will your potential subscriber landing page look like?
- What information will they have to provide upon signing up?
- Will you verify the new subscriber’s email address?
- Do you need to send a verification email for double opt-in?
- How will you follow up with the existing subscriber after their referral signs up?
2. Choose your rewards
Choosing rewards for your subscribers is a key component in driving interest while keeping acquisition costs at bay. As a rule of thumb, your prizes should be relevant to your brand in order to attract dedicated subscribers.
In other words, you’ll want to make sure that your readers are excited about sharing your newsletter with others who might enjoy it. If your prizes are too generic, it may incentivize subscribers to refer random contacts in order to earn rewards.
Low-tier rewards (1-5 referrals)
According to Tyler Denk, former senior product lead at Morning Brew, the most important prize is for the lower referral tiers. Think about a reward that’s simultaneously cost-effective and sufficient to motivate subscribers to get the ball rolling.
For low-tier rewards, many publishers choose a prize that can scale easily. For instance, a membership to a private community or an extra weekly newsletter will require little to no extra cost as more subscribers gain access.
Some other options for low-tier rewards include:
- Shoutouts
- Coupons for relevant products from brand partnerships
- Membership to an ambassador program
- Admission to a private Facebook group or Discord channel
- Early access to products and resources
- Exclusive content like podcasts, eBooks or case studies
- Small branded swag (ex: stickers, magnets)
Mid-tier rewards (10-100 referrals)
When deciding on a mid-tier reward, you’ll want to continue considering your costs while finding creative ways to reward your more loyal subscribers.
Some options for mid-tier rewards include:
- Notebooks
- Mugs
- T-shirts
- Sweatshirts
- Free access to a paid membership
- Admission to a paid event
High-tier rewards (500+ referrals)
Your high-tier rewards will be reserved exclusively for your most devoted followers. Feel free to go wild with this one. However, you’ll still want to make sure it’s financially feasible.
A simple way to figure out your maximum budget is to figure out your typical cost per acquisition (CPA). Then, calculate the difference between the previous tier and the highest tier, multiplied by your CPA. For instance, let’s say each new subscriber costs around $2. If your tier structure is 5, 10, 50 and 500, you’ll be able to spend a maximum of $900 on your high-tier prize.
Some options for high-tier rewards include:
- Lunch with the team
- Trip to newsletter headquarters
- Dedicated email newsletter featuring a personal profile
3. Design your copy and marketing materials
Once you’ve figured out the logistics, you’ll need to start designing your copy and promotional materials. The type of content you’ll need will depend on your particular workflow, so be sure to think it through carefully.
Placement within your newsletter
What are you going to include within your newsletter? Think about how to describe your program to subscribers. Consider including some basic details about your plan, including the tiers and their corresponding rewards. If you have space, provide a quick description of your target audience to let your readers know who might enjoy your content.
Call to action
Just like any CTA, your referral prompt should catch the attention of your readers and motivate them to share your newsletter. If you just include a subscriber’s link in the body of the email, they probably won’t know what to do with it. Instead, you’ll want to give them clear instructions for how they can send a referral within seconds. Remember to keep it clean, and make it easy for your subscribers to engage.
Landing page
If you have a website, you’ll want to send your referral recipients to a landing page to subscribe. While you might be tempted to link straight to your website, consider creating a dedicated landing page to fit the specific audience.
Follow-up emails
Once you’ve gotten a new subscriber, it’s time to follow up to let them know you noticed them. Draft a message to welcome your referred subscribers and give them a quick on-boarding session. At the same time, think about sending out emails or notifications to the inviting readers to say thank you and remind them of their progress.
4. Track your program’s performance
Throughout your referral campaign, try to track as much data as you can. Every time you get a new referred subscriber, keep track of who they are and who brought them in. As you identify your subscribers based on referrals, you can segment them to learn more about your audience. Keep an eye on how metrics vary between referred and non-referred subscribers. Additionally, take a look at subscribers with a lot of referrals under their belt and how they might differ from the group.
On top of segmenting, you’ll also want to track the performance of your referral marketing efforts. A few statistics to monitor include:
- Number of registrations per inviting subscriber
- Participant share rate
- Participant conversion rate
5. Continuously improve your plan
As you track your performance metrics, continue thinking about ways you can improve the program. Is your click rate on the referral link lower than expected? Consider making it more prominent, or editing the copy to make it sound more enticing.
What’s your conversion rate like on the referred reader’s landing page? Think about where you can edit your design or copy to improve it. Keep in mind that the process should be as quick and simple as possible for the reader. If you want to collect additional information during the sign-up process, limit it to two questions, and consider making it an optional step.
You may also want to tweak your referral rewards over time. As you build new projects, consider incorporating them into your program incentives.
Remember that developing your referral program should be an ongoing process. In order to get the best results, you’ll need to continuously evaluate your metrics and find ways to improve.
Learn more about how to grow your email list
Referral programs can be an engaging and cost-effective way to gain subscribers. However, there are plenty of other options out there.
To learn more about how to expand your newsletter, check out these guides from the Paved blog:
- How to Use Social Media to Get More Newsletter Subscribers
- How to Build an Email List Without a Website
- Using Sponsored Blog Posts To Fuel Growth
- Grow Your Email List: The Number One Tip from Our Fastest Growing Newsletters
- Comparing 6 Referral Program Tools
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