California, United States
MRKTRS x STM WKLY #96
6 RULES TO ACCELERATE YOUR EMAIL LIST TO 1.5M SUBSCRIBERS
Rule #1: Start with the product
Ask yourself:
Is the product valuable to the end user/customer?
How can you build growth mechanisms natively into the product?
There are plenty of killer examples out there. Such as:
- HQ Trivia provided extra lives when users referred someone else to play.
- Dropbox gave free additional storage to those who referred others.
- Harry’s Razors created a milestone-based referral program providing free product before they even launched.
- Wealthfront has an Invite Program that gives both the referrer and referee an additional $5,000 managed for free.
So, what did Morning Brew (MB) do? They implemented a milestone-based referral program offering various tiers of free gifts and is embedded into every single newsletter they send.
Rule #2: Have a nifty referral platform
You need a system that generates unique referral codes automatically. It needs to count referrals so subscribers can see what milestones they’ve reached. And most importantly – make it super easy to use and share.
MB baked their own, and integrated 3rd party apps where possible (including one that allowed users to import their contacts). But there are similar programs like Viral Loops that handle the tricky stuff for you.
Pro Tip: Do include a double opt in even though it adds an extra step to subscribing. The email gods will have mercy on you. MB’s confirmation rate is 85% on referral signups.
Rule #3: Gift enticing rewards…That readers actually want.
MB poll their readers and see what rewards would be in high demand.
This is a taster of what they offer, with 8 tiers in total:
3 referrals = Premium Sunday Newsletter. 5 = Stickers. 10 = Exclusive Community Access. 15 = Phone Wallet… >> … 1000 = Trip to Brew HQ
Rule #4: Email referrals trump all
People who are referred via email have a 75% conversion rate. Drastically higher than the 35% for all other referrals.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test other platforms. MB found sharing via WhatsApp and SMS leads to 10x more signups than LinkedIn, 5x more signups than Twitter, and 2x more signups than Facebook.
Rule #5: Always be split-testing
Given the stats above, splitting traffic for email versus other referrals to different landing pages has helped them optimize conversions significantly.
Why? The email traffic enabled them to enter dynamic fields into the headline, like adding their friends name made it an instant personalized experience and increased CR by 3.1%
Rule #6: Send many “transactional emails” to subscribers
…. Check out the full article for the full low-down! It’s a long article, so make sure you’re armed with your morning brew and enjoy ☕️
Adplexity’s the 007 Of Spy Tools

This week’s adventures have been sponsored by our Adplexity family members.
No one knows how they manage to always stay on top of the competitive intelligence game.
Their ways remain shrouded in mystery.
For the uninitiated, Adplexity is a set of industry-leading competitive intelligence tools that let you keep track of your competition’s most profitable ad campaigns on tons of traffic sources:
– Mobile
– Native
– Desktop
– Push
– eCommerce
– Adult
– Carriers (more of a tool that lets you use carriers to browse around)
>> Read more about the available version <<
And they have been doing this for a very, very long time.
The speed at which they gather data and launch new products is nothing short of pure Hogwarts magic.
The products have become a standard and a benchmark in the industry – every affiliate and their cat have used Adplexity (or at the very least have heard of it).
Also, if you dig around you’ll find their thread on STM netting you a healthy discount. (for STMers only, of course)
>> Check out Adplexity’s HQ here <<
>> Want to advertise here? Contact us. <<
WEEKLY PICKS:
SEARCH – Astonishing stats show that under half of Google searches now result in a click. ? — Read more
CAREERS – Affjobs have two must-see jobs expiring on Monday, RevenueWire are seeking a Media Buyer, CMP Group are after a Senior Traffic Manager. ?? — Learn more
DAISIE – Maisie Williams, a.k.a Arya Stark from GOT, lifts the lid on the transition from actress to co-founder that led to her first startup success. She’s only just getting started. ? — Read more
BOOKS – There are 16 titles up for this year’s Business Book of the Year Award, have you read any? ? — View long list
THREADS – Facebook is releasing a companion app to Instagram, named “Threads” designed for sharing a lot more than just photos with your close friends list. It’s their latest attempt to hijack Snapchat ? — Read more
PASSIVE INCOME: THE DREAM OF EVERY AFFILIATE!
Here at MRKTRS & STM, we talk with a lot of affiliates and most share a common goal.
To earn passive income! In other words, to make money while sleeping, or partying, or fishing… anything except for working.
But how real is this dream? Can you really make money while you sleep? The answer is quite obvious: “You can!”. But it’s not that simple. There is more to it and to make money while sleeping, there are some things you need to do when you’re actually awake.
Lots of articles have been written about building passive income streams, but there is one we’d like to point your attention to. Katie shares her views on what it really means to build a passive income stream and whether this should be the final destination of your business path.
Katie mentions 4 basic truths, that might be kinda eye opening for some of you. Here goes:
- Making money while you sleep takes A LOT of work while you’re awake
Take an affiliate campaign, for example. They can run 24/7, so yeah, they do make money while you sleep. But it’s not like the campaigns launch themselves. You need to set them up, do proper research before doing so… it can take hours. Invest the time and resources first, reap the benefits afterwards, that’s the name of the game.
- Making money while you sleep doesn’t happen overnight
Let’s use affiliate marketing again to explain this one. Maybe you remember how you started. How many days, weeks or months did it take you to understand just the basic principles? Some people need a couple years to master this business, or any other for that matter.
You need to take it one step at a time, learn, experiment, test, lose and then lose some more… But eventually it all starts to come together and your business takes off. Then, if you were smart enough, your business or at least a part of it might be running on autopilot. But it definitely doesn’t happen overnight.
- Passive income is not the only way to build a successful business
This one is simple. Focus entirely on building one thing (passive income) and you might miss a ton of other opportunities. And an analogy with affiliate marketing again: Some people think they have to do only Pops, or only adult, or just leadgen… But in reality, affiliate marketing offers so many options and opportunities.
DO NOT LIMIT YOURSELF! Explore all there is to explore. Passive income is just one “option”, a good one, but just one. The world of business is way bigger than that.
- Just because you’re making money while you sleep doesn’t mean you’ll want to quit your business
Let’s say you actually reached your goal and your business runs on autopilot. You’re having a great time and keep on collecting the passive $$$… What’s next? Do you wanna stop there and just never do business again?
Many people realize that once “they made it”, they actually want to go on and grow their business further. Some decide to explore other verticals/niches, some just focus on growing what works for them.
The thing is, simply collecting profits without doing anything can get boring. As stupid as it might sound, it’s the truth. We all need to do something to keep our minds occupied, agree?
FEATURED STM THREAD: HOW TO RUN ADULT IN 2019 LESSON 2 IS OUT.
Are you one of those affiliates who plan to run adult traffic? We have good news for you then. The 2nd lesson of the “How to run adult traffic in 2019” tutorial has just been published on the STM Forum.
This time, Matuloo goes over the vertical and offer selection for your first campaign. What vertical to focus on, which ones to leave for later… What Geos to attack and which to stay away from. It’s all in the thread.
Check out a short preview by clicking the link below. Keep in mind it’s just a preview, the actual thread is much, much longer! And juicier.
Stay tuned for the next edition of MRKTRS WKLY.
Want to offer some feedback or submit content? Email us at [email protected]