If you’ve been with me for a while you know that I built my email list from the ground up to almost 8,000 subscribers within 21 months.
I attribute 50% of my Substack newsletter success to — can you fill in the blank? What is it? — recommendations.
Yep, free recommendations!
I didn’t pay a single dollar for others recommending me.
While growing my email list, I realized how powerful Substack’s recommendation engine is and that it helps me to grow 50% faster.
One of Substack’s top newsletter authors, Lenny Rachitsky, who has more than 800,000 subscribers and earns 6 figures with his product management newsletter, even shared when he had about 250,000 subs that 78% of his subscribers were coming from other Substack newsletters recommending his newsletter.
In the growth chart below, you can see how fast he’s growing since Substack launched its recommendations feature:
As you can see in the chart above, as soon as the growth feature launched, it was just a hockey stick starting that day.
“(…) the recommendations feature is a total game changer. IMHO it’s one of the most impactful growth features in history (…) and, (…) totally changed the trajectory of my newsletter.”
This is a huge deal, fascinating, and one of the reasons I love email marketing as a marketing expert.
The minimum implied revenue in February 2023 was $1.5M up to $15M.
My father used to work in finance and always said: get rich quietly
For the corporate world, this might be true but for my part-time online writing business, this doesn’t sound like fun.
I love to share more about my growth because I know many writers who want to make a living writing, pay their bills, and feed their families and who find my WOW-worthy stories inspiring.
For me building and growing (together with my members) feels more real. I also think getting advice from someone who has been through the trenches is smart as we fail our way forward.
So if I’m looking back to March 2024 and comparing it to my paid subscriber growth today I grew by 41%.
(Here are my wild earnings in my first ever Substack income report for you.)
Psst! Good news!
You don’t have to be an early adopter and top newsletter writer like Lenny Rachitsky to see awesome results.
You don't have to be a bestselling author, TikTok dancer, Instagram superstar, or celebrity to see your subscriber numbers skyrocket.
There’s more to it but my tip of the day:
Give recommendations a whirl and grow from the inside out!
Want to experience the same?
Most writers don’t know… Substack updated its recommendations engine in spring 2024.
As Substack reported in their official announcement:
“Early data show that this approach to Recommendations increases both the number of subscriptions that Substacks enjoy and the number of followers that individuals get, helping them amass large audiences that serve as a base for ultimately finding new paid subscribers.”
All newsletter starters and smallstackers ask the same question
“How can I add (more) new subscribers to my list?”
In my corporate job as a brand manager, I have been growing email lists for the brands, products, or services that are under my belt. ConvertKit is great for this because it offers to segment subscribers and I love its analytics for presentations.
In my part-time online business, I use Substack to build my personal brand. Since I’m in the business of helping others start and grow their online presence and most of them are writers, Substack is the perfect place for me.
I love growth hacks
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I love to share growth tips for Substack because I think building and growing an email list is just part of how you do business online as an entrepreneur.
My email list is the most valuable asset in my business because I don’t “rent” just “followers” as on any social media platform, such as Medium.
Psst! On Substack, I now have almost 11K followers. I’ll soon have more followers on Substack than on Medium but my goal is to have more Substack subs than Medium followers by the end of 2024.
I accumulate the most valuable audience in the sense that I “own” the email addresses of my subscribers.
From my coaching and mentoring experience I know most people are aware of how important it is to grow an email list but what’s holding them back from taking action is that they feel intimidated.
Fear not. I’m here to help.
Substack’s recommendation engine is a growth machine!
Instead of implementing a recommendation algorithm such as on Meta, TikTok, or YouTube, Substack decided to ask writers who they recommend to their subscribers.
In essence, writers can recommend other newsletters that they specifically pick and think are awesome.
Once someone subscribes to your newsletter, they see these in the subscribe flow:
“Hey, you should check these newsletters out. I think these are awesome!”
What I love is that I can curate the newsletters I want to recommend.
I have control over it.
There’s no algorithm involved.
My system right now is that I recommend Substacks I love to read, writers I’m connected with or have on my podcast or YouTube channels plus selected Substacks from members of my paid community experience.
Everyone says hitting the first 1,000 subscriber milestone is super hard
I hit this goal within 5 months of writing on Substack - without writing consistently, having a cadence, while being pregnant, having a family with my hubby and work, you name it.
After this fantastic milestone for me as a part-time list creator, I reached 1,000 subscribers with recommendations less than six months ago:
Substack’s recommendations engine is powerful
In the middle of January 2024, I had 3,300 subscribers and 900 subscribers from recommendations.
In March, I already had more than 4,200 subscribers, with more than 1,000 subscribers coming from 222 other publications recommending me.
Fast forward to today, I have 4,000 subscribers coming from 403 publications recommending me.
Recommendations on Substack are the most engaged subscriber acquisition channel!
If people ask me how my audience growth from zero to 8,000 subscribers within 21 months happened, I tell them:
Recommendations played a huge role in my subscriber growth.
I didn’t invest a single dollar in paid recommendations or sponsorships to promote my newsletter.
While growing my email list, I realized how powerful Substack’s recommendation engine is and that it helps me grow 50% faster.
Get more subscribers with Substack’s recommendations engine
To celebrate 4000 subscribers and thank my community, thank you, I kicked off the party with a big BANG!
A surprise LIVE session for members. You can watch the replay now.
I’m pulling back the curtain on…
what Substack’s updates mean for you
get to know Substack’s recommendation settings
how Substack’s recommendations growth engine works
the 4 surface areas where recommendations are shown now
how to find others to recommend and ask for a collab
how to get recommended by others
how to get recommended by me
how to write a blurb
best practices
🔥 It’s nice to know the WHAT but you want to know HOW you take the first steps towards making that kind of growth happen.🔥
Inside Substack School, I’ll show you the EXACT (baby) steps to use Substack’s recommendations growth engine to take action TODAY!
Plus, you can attend multiple LIVE sessions with me and other inspiring voices who have gone before you.
Besides the opportunity to meet the people I interview on YouTube and my podcast, such as Michael Thompson and Elna Cain, here’s what I’ll offer in September 2024:
From Zero to 100 Recommendations
From Zero to Substack Bestseller
From Zero to Notes Hero
BONUS:
Get access to the smallstack list to connect and collaborate with 200+ other stackers from around the globe (will share the updated list in a few days)
Get the chance to be recommended by yours truly
🎉Access to Substack School for paid subscribers
All premium subscribers get a bit deeper and have access to my “Online Writing School” membership with the Substack School.
Be a part of it and join a lovely and vibrant community of more than 240 writers.
Find an A to your Q, chat with me, watch exclusive tutorial videos with insider tips, grow and make money writing on Substack with clarity, fun, and by doing what you love, writing.
Inside Substack School, I’ll show you the EXACT (baby) steps to use Substack’s recommendations growth engine to take action TODAY!
I’ve grown my email list to over 8,000 subscribers within 21 months. 4,000 are coming from recommendations.
🔥I’m handing my tactic over to you so you can start putting structure behind your 2024 list-building goals.
✨If I can make your newsletter transformation a little easier, I’m 100% here for it.
🏆As a member, I’ll recommend your Substack to my audience. You can connect with other tribe members (in your niche) and find collab partners. In addition, you can write a guest post for my newsletter to be seen by more people.
Don’t take it from me. Here’s what some of my 250+ members say about the LIVE session
