Day 15: The Forward to a Friend Strategy
Reward people for spreading the word!
Technology is so wild and thanks to email service providers like Kit and Beehiiv you can reward subscribers for forwarding your email and getting people to sign up for your list.
Unfortunately, Mailchimp, FloDesk and others don't yet have this feature.
Note: if you don't use a tool like Kit or Beehiiv—you can always do it the old fashioned way: ask for a favor nicely. 😉
Here's how you do it:
🛠️ How to set up Forward to a Friend Strategy
Step 1: Before you set anything up on the backend—you'll need to come up with a list of prizes to give people when they get people to sign up.
Strategically, I'd try to give people a quick win. For example, what is something you can give people for getting even one new person to sign up for your email list?
For ease? I would try to make this something digital and something you can automate.
If you need some examples, this is how some creators I follow set their referral program up:
Tyler, the founder of Beehivv does this:
You could gift a discount code, a resource, etc.
Chenell, the creator of Growth in Reverse gifts a shout out once you refer 10 people:
Step 2: Set up your back end system inside your service provider.
Step 3: Set up an automation email altering people when they've hit the next reward tier
Pro tip: If this is your first time trying this method out—you should consider sending out an email announcing this new reward system!
💡 Why it works
People who are interested in the same things tend to know other people who share similar interests and values.
For example, do you know other nonprofit professionals who are responsible for fundraising at their organizations? My guess is yes!
If I asked you to forward my newsletter to a friend—would you? I bet some of you would! And I'd be forever grateful 🙌
📊 Results
Depending on how engaged your list is, how valuable the content in your newsletter is and what your rewards are—this has the potential to reach dozens if not hundreds of new subscribers.
Pro tip: what if you coupled this with a milestone giveaway?!
🧰 Tools Needed
Your email service provider and/or a spreadsheet to keep track
Reward(s)
🗣️ Last thought
If you have an engaged email list that likes to have a bit of fun/appreciates the gamification of things—this could definitely be a strategy to try!
xo, Jess
PS: You've officially made it half-way through the 30 Day Growth Challenge for Nonprofits 🎉🌟🔥🤝💪.
I still have 15 drool-worthy strategies to send your way BUT if you're already looking forward to what's next—I have two options:
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