Fix conversions first. If the subscribers you already have don’t buy, doubling your list just doubles the silence. I paid $720 for 2,059 referred subscribers once – they bought from me twice, for a grand total of $188. Offer first, messaging second… then pour fuel on it.
Not long ago, I asked my list what they’re struggling with most…
And honestly?
I kinda expected (mostly) crickets.
Why?
Because it was mid-July.
Half the world was on some kind of holiday…
And the other half was probably knee-deep in something else.
Usually, this is a calm period in my world.
But instead of just a few responses here & there…
My inbox filled up with replies within hours.
I read every single one – as promised.
Out of many different types of answers, one showed up more than any other:
“Growing my email list”
Roughly a third of all replies had some version of “I need more subscribers, more leads, more traffic”
Which is quite typical of what usually happens when I send customer research emails like this…
But it’s also surprisingly deceptive.
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This most popular answer is also the most dangerous one
Why?
Not because growing your list is bad…
(quite the opposite, in fact)
But because of what happens when you pour new leads into a system that isn’t converting the leads you already have.
Think about it for a second…
If your current subscribers aren’t buying… what exactly will doubling your list do, right?
Exactly.
It doubles the silence.
The thing is, traffic is an amplifier.
It amplifies whatever system it flows into… including a broken one!
So I totally get why most people think they need more leads…
(OF COURSE they do)
But what the majority of them don’t realize is that…
In what order should you fix your marketing?
There is a specific order to these things:
FIRST, you craft an offer that the RIGHT people – those who represent your Ideal Client Profile – want.
NEXT, you get your messaging converting – so every subscriber you add is worth real money.
And THEN you pour fuel on it.
(of course this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start building a list, for example, before you have those other assets built out… but this order matters more than what most people think!)
Do it in reverse…
And you’re paying (in time or money) to grow a list that ignores you.
I’ve watched people go from a few hundred subscribers to thousands…
…and see ZERO (0) change in revenue
And I’ve also watched others double their sales without adding a single subscriber…
…just by fixing what they SAY to the list they already have.
What happens when you buy leads before you can convert them?
I learned this one the expensive way.
Back in 2023, I jumped on the bandwagon and started using a newsletter referral tool called SparkLoop.
The value proposition is simple and sexy:
“Grow your email list faster, with better leads, while paying less for them”.
Who wouldn’t want that, right?
One of its features is a Partner Program… that allows you to pay other creators a fixed cost per lead for every new subscriber they send over.
Now…
The unique thing about SparkLoop is that people in the network can add a little widget to their sign-up forms, which recommends other newsletters they’ve partnered with to their new subscribers.
This is called “Upscribe” and it’s actually a cool idea…
HOWEVER…
Not every yellow thing that shines is actually gold.
In reality, THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS IN LIFE, and this too is a great example of that.
After using the Partner Program for 4 months, these were my stats:
Total people referred: 2059 over 4 months
Total spent: $720
Total number of buyers: 2 (!)
(that’s a 0.1% conversion rate… pretty freakin’ terrible)
Total spent by these buyers: $188
That’s a mind-bogglingly low Revenue-Per-Subscriber of….
…..wait for it….
$0.09
Nine. Cent. Per. Subscriber.
To give you a reference, my regular Revenue-Per-Subscriber was about $20…
LOOLLOOLOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLOOOOOLLL
That’s more than a 200x difference 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Which means, these subscribers from the Partner Program were – on average – 200 times less valuable than my regular subscribers.
WOW.
Unsurprisingly, when I first calculated this difference, I was floored.
Talk about a low-performing marketing campaign, ammirite?…
But the problem is… that’s not even the worst part.
The WORST part is that – ever since I joined the partner program – I got a record number of complaints (basically, people marking my emails as sp@m)…
Not to mention the massive hit in email open rates and click-through rates.
Because the truth is…
Since this Partner Program makes it sooooooo easy for creators to cross-promote each others’ stuff left and right…
Subscribers sign up to EVERYTHING without even thinking about it…
So that later they can’t even remember who this weird “Csaba” guy is sending them long-form emails.
So, all in all, are these referral tools worth it?
Nope. They’re “Bull Shyte”
(at least for most people)
I’m NOT saying they can’t work better…
Or that you can’t have a positive ROI using them…
I’m just saying that – for me and my business model – this doesn’t work well.
And I’m NOT blaming SparkLoop for this… as they’re a pretty cool company…
But I DO have to call them out on “selling the dream” maybe a bit too much.
Do you need more subscribers or better messaging?
If your messaging already converts – your emails and marketing messages get replies, your offers get sales – then yes, list growth is your genuine next bottleneck.
But if you have an audience that opens… reads a bit here and there… and doesn’t buy?
Your problem isn’t necessarily more people…
…it’s your messaging and how it connects with people.
So which camp are you in?
“GROW”
or
“CONVERT”
(the second most common answer in that survey, by the way: “improving my messaging so it converts better”… so a good chunk of people already know which camp they’re in)
How to tell which camp you’re in (this week)
1. Count what your last 5 emails produced. Replies, clicks, sales. If those 5 emails to your current list made you no money, more subscribers won’t fix it.
2. Work out your revenue per subscriber. Last 12 months of revenue from email ÷ the size of your list. Mine was about $20 when the paid leads came in at 9 cents.
3. Fix the order. Offer first. Then the emails that sell it. Only then, the traffic.
If the problem is your messaging, start with who you’re actually talking to. My Voice & Market X-Ray maps your ideal client – and your own voice – so the emails you send to the list you already have start landing.
And if your list has gone quiet in the meantime, here’s how I’d reactivate a cold email list.
Free book + AI assistant
Turn the Leads Already Joining Your List Into Buyers – Faster
The Rapid Lead Activator reveals the psychology-based framework I use to write welcome sequences that sell – without hype. Normally $9.99 on Amazon, yours free. Plus a bonus AI assistant that writes your first 5 welcome emails for you – in minutes, not days.
Send Me the Rapid Lead Activator →-Csaba
