We hit 7500 newsletter subscribers.
by Robin Vander HeydenOne of my growth strategy this year was to grow the number of newsletter subscribers.
We did so via three ways:
- Marketing engineering (creating a gallery of free illustrations)
- Creating valuable content on our blog for our audience
- Facebook advertising
My 2019 goal: 20,000 subscribers (I will update you if I hit it!)
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About USD $20 to $25 / day. We're ramping up our Facebook Ads strategy in July with a new funnel, new content and a dedicated designer / performance marketing guy to create the ads.
Here's the collaboration with my personal ManyPixels designer (yes, I am using my own product and "bought" a subscription of ManyPixels ) : https://imgur.com/a/1MiQB5f
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Super useful. Thank you!!
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What was your total cost (approximately)? Ads + hours creating the content, to reach 20K?
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- Design = I "bought" a subscription of ManyPixels (USD $399/month) and have my designer creating on average 3-4 ads, blog posts header, and lead magnets/exit intent designs. See collaboration here: https://imgur.com/a/1MiQB5f
- Performance marketing costs = USD $20 to $25/day (USD $600/month)
- Content creation = myself, I spend about 6 hours a week a week just on content, let's say I charge USD $100/hr, then $600/week (USD $2400/month)
Total = USD $3400/month so about USD $0,5 per lead since I acquired most of the leads in the past month (this doesn't include the time to develop the gallery: 1 week, and another ManyPixels designer who creates about 25 illustrations a week for the free illustration gallery)
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Amazing! I'm also working really hard on growing my email list. I've hit 1,000 through the use of Reddit. Out of your 3 strategies, which provided the most sign-ups?
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Reddit is great. And it is really a great idea you built your own subreddit. Creating a community helps you become an influencer/build trust/educate customers.
I have my own little community on FB called Productized Startups which brought the highest quality leads but the lowest number of leads. In terms of highest quantity / lowest quality I would say it is our free illustration gallery (https://gallery.manypixels.co). The gallery buzzed on many media / blogs and actually (according to SimilarWeb), our most popular country is China. We have about 1500 email subscribers from China (and a few - I think 2 or 3 did actually go and buy a subscription) but they mostly use our free gallery which I am happy with as well. We were able to make a product that really speaks to everyone and that's really cool. We might translate our site one day to convert them into actual customers.
And thanks again for bringing me attention to Budget Meal Planner :D I will be moving next year in a more expensive place where I'll have to cook and this is helpful haha!
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Exactly, building a community around your product has proven to be very beneficial. Especially because you can 'sellout/spam' your own content without getting negative feedback.
That is interesting you have a high amount of viewership from China. Do you feel like that is hurting you at all?
I'm just trying to think if my audience suddenly spiked for non-English speaking... of course my project is way different, but I wouldn't be sure how to convert them. Unless you are translating, but then I feel out of control.
And that's awesome, I hope you do find use of the meal plans! I've got about 14 different themed ones I still need to add to the website, so you'll have lots to choose from soon :)
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Really curious. What was your approach on Reddit to get subscribers?
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I wrote this a few days ago with some details about it all https://www.indiehackers.com/product/budget-meal-planner/-Lh1-_MAk_iFV3tvBVab
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thank you!
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Help me understand? I don't see $2400 a month worth the newsletter subscribers? My guess is you can convert 6% into revenue somehow. This does not seem profitable.
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Wow this is awesome :O
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Huge number, congrats! I hope I'll reach it one day with my newsletter 😅
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Did you find Facebook advertising to be more worthwhile than google advertising?
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In our case... yes. Our product is priced at $399/month. Even though we have a money back guarantee my gut tells me that prospective customers need some sort of education / trust before buying. Having ads that explain what the product is on Facebook really helps in that sense.
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Wow, I'm envious!
You nailed it! How facebook advertising went for you?
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We have a profitable ROI with FB ads.
Due to the nature of our business (service business), we approach it cautiously so that we can grow not too fast (each new customer means we need to onboard new designers)
I made that mistake of growing super fast in month 2 where I acquired 200 subscribers in one month, and 90% of them churned). Now we're growing steadily, month over month.
Facebook advertising requires the following:
- A great value proposition (Ours is "Get your personal designer" -- usually talk with the words your customers use. I talked to 10 customers and they say: I love to talk to my personal designer --> SO I created an ad copy that said that. I used their language against them in a way)
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- Great content
- Videos
- Great ad designs
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- Great funnel
- Lead magnet (free content? ebook to download? free strategy session?)
- Landing page
- Email capture
- Great drip marketing emails (testimonials, education, ...)
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Great work!
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Thanks :D
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