Your email list is a gold mine for your business.
These are the people who invited you into their inbox—one of the last personal digital spaces a person can own—and said “Yes!” to hearing more about who you are and what you do.
But building that email list can feel like trying to dig for gold with a spoon with traditional marketing tactics. It can take years for an email list to have enough subscribers where the channel pays off.
Let’s get you a shovel instead.
This video walks you through a 7-step process showcasing how even small newsletters can benefit from using Creator Network.
You can grow your email list a lot faster with Kit’s Recommendations.
We surveyed creators in the Creator Network with less than 45,000 subscribers who have seen 75% list growth with Recommendations to find out how they’re connecting and growing with their peers.
Here’s what we learned:
What are Recommendations and the Creator Network?
Before we dive into the top tips from our creators on growing your email list, let’s take a look at how Recommendations works.
Your dashboard when you log in to Creator Network.
Recommendations allow creators to cross-promote their work by partnering with other like-minded creators.
When a new subscriber joins your list, they’ll see a pop-up offering the chance to subscribe to other newsletters you recommend and vice versa. You can also add a Recommendations block in an upcoming newsletter.
Find creators from around the world in the Discovery tab.
This is all part of Kit’s Creator Network, a growing community of creators just like you.
Joining the Creator Network gives you access to creators from all over the world to grow your businesses together.
Why creators use Recommendations to grow their email list
Most creators didn’t start their business because they love marketing. They want to build and serve a community.
Recommendations kickstart a growth loop that doesn’t take time away from doing what you do best: Creating.
When we asked creators why they chose Recommendations, two responses came up over and over again:
1. List growth
If you’re looking to make email work for you as a marketing channel, then building your email list is a top priority. Six-figure blogger Shawna Newman doubled her subscribers using Recommendations, while home-and-garden creator Rhonda Brown grew her email list by 25x in just six months.
I had less than 30 subscribers six months ago, and now I have over 750.” – Rhonda Brown
Yes, you can grow your email list that fast. And it doesn’t require spinning over countless lead magnets, advertising spots, or sponsorship deals.
Once you set up your profile on Recommendations, you don’t have to actively manage anything. Squarespace designer Katelyn Dekle uses Recommendations to grow her email list behind the scenes:
I’ve gained over 260 new subscribers so far. And I’m getting 20+ new subscribers every month from the Creator Network alone, without me doing anything ‘extra’ than what I normally do. It requires no effort to maintain or increase the growth, which is amazing! – Katelyn Dekle
This kind of momentum gives creators a chance to catch their breath and spend more time on the rest of their marketing mix.
2. Gaining quality subscribers
It’s one thing to grow your email list and another to grow your email list with intention. Having thousands of subscribers means nothing if they don’t open and read your emails. Recommendations help you connect with like-minded creators whose work overlaps with your own in some way—so new subscribers are much more likely to be interested in your work.
Marketer Sonia Thompson obsesses over customer acquisition. When she started using Recommendations, she watched her metrics closely for any changes. Instead, they stayed high.
My open rates have stayed the same, so my engagement hasn’t gone down. – Sonia Thompson
Katelyn prides herself on strong engagement for her small-but-mighty email list, averaging a 55% open rate and anywhere between a 3.5-6.6% click rate. Even while growing her list, those engagement metrics are holding strong.
Most of [these subscribers] stay on my list after subscribing, some have purchased digital products from me, and my overall click and open rates are not going down with this growth. – Katelyn Dekle
You don’t want just anyone on your email list. Finding high-quality leads that actually want to hear from you is what makes email marketing such a successful channel in the first place.
8 tips from creators to grow your email list with Recommendations
New York Times bestselling author Ryan Holiday says that “the Creator Network is driving more subscribers to his newsletter Daily Stoic than all other traffic sources combined.”
Mind. Blown.
But you don’t have to be a New York Times bestselling author to make Recommendations a top growth channel for your business. Here’s how to get started:
1. Create a skimmable Creator Profile
First, join the Creator Network and build your Creator Profile. This is where other creators can get a quick overview of what your newsletter is all about. Add a picture, your newsletter name, your company logo, and a description of who you are and what you do.
Sonia’s profile gets straight to the point.
Marketer Sonia Thompson keeps her description short and sweet, with one line describing what subscribers get out of her newsletter and a line with a brief list of her achievements.
Work on building a strong description in your Creator Profile. And it never hurts to network with people in general, and get to know people outside who might recommend you here. – Sonia Thompson
You want your profile to be skimmable and easy for creators to understand what kind of emails you send—and, therefore, whether or not their audience would be interested.
Katelyn Dekle added a few keywords into her headline so other creators would know what to expect from her.
Make your profile [skimmable to] stand out! There’s no secret that my brand name stands out by itself, but so does my content. That gives you a better chance that they will actually click to learn more about you! – Katelyn Dekle
Finally, pick and choose what colors and fonts feel on brand for your newsletter. You can see Sonia took a simple approach with a light blue background and orange button for her profile, while Katelyn’s profile uses a more neutral palette.
2. Add public posts
Once you have your description, add public posts to your Creator Network profile by selecting your past newsletters to include. That way, when someone comes across your profile and they’re considering recommending you, they can get a better sense of the kind of topics you write about and whether or not you’d be a good fit for their audience.
Jen Panaro adds public posts to her profile each week.
Once you join Creator Network, you’ll have the option to add future broadcasts to your public posts when you schedule your send. Sustainable blogger Jen Panaro always looks for consistency when she’s finding creators to recommend:
Be sure to write consistent content and share it on your public Creator Profile so people know what you offer. Having recent content on one’s Creator Profile gives me a good idea of what I am recommending to others and that the creator is active and writing fresh, relevant content. – Jen Panaro
Choose a mix of your top performers and recent posts as you build out your profile, and be sure to tag one as a featured post for the top of your profile. Jen rotates out her featured post after a few months to make sure it’s fresh.
3. Add links to your Creator Profile
Recommendations are just one part of the Creator Network. It’s your place to find and partner with other creators, so make sure they can contact you. Add links to your social media platforms, “about me” page on your website, and any other additional links that match what you write about.
You can easily see links, posts, and recommendations on any creator profile.
The links you choose are entirely up to you. Katelyn includes links to her blog, YouTube channel, Instagram, and about me page on her website.
4. Find creators to recommend
The best way to get recommendations? Give them!
Finding other creators that offer content similar to yours that your audience will love is the first step toward getting on their radar. You won’t get a mutual recommendation from every creator you recommend, but if you find someone in sync with your content, it might make sense for them to recommend you back.
Recommend as many relevant creators as you can because they can see it, which means they may return the favor. And don’t be afraid to ask people in your industry to recommend you if you notice they’re on Kit. – Shawna Newman
3 examples of newsletters Jen recommends.
Jen recommends a variety of creators in sustainable living, travel, and family space.
Mostly, those who recommend me have come from organic connections through the Creator Network platform and algorithms. – Jen Panaro
If you’re new to the Creator Network, you can find other creators through the Discover tab. Once you add them to your recommendations, they’ll get a notification and can see how many subscribers you send over in their dashboard.
5. Subscribe to other newsletters
If you’re recommending other creators to your audience, make sure you know exactly what kind of topics they write about. Subscribing yourself is a great way to get to know other creators’ work and gut-check your recommendations for your audience. Chances are, if you’re genuinely interested in another newsletter, your audience will be, too.
Check your inbox as well. Kit has thousands of users—you may already be receiving a newsletter you love from someone in the Creator Network. Those kinds of organic connections are a great foundation for a partnership.
6. Reach out to other creators
If you want to get more recommendations, put yourself out there.
What’s really going to set you apart is asking creators directly for a recommendation on Creator Network. You don’t have to send a note to every single creator out there; this is best done for creators whose work you already genuinely enjoy and feel like it’s a mutual fit.
Knitting and crochet creator Chantal Campsey has done this by reaching out to other creators passionate about all things yarn before broadening her search to crafting or sewing more generally.
Find creators specific to your niche and recommend them first. If you’re comfortable, reach out to see if they’ll recommend you too. – Chantal Campsey
Sending a short note that details why you think you’re a good fit and how much you enjoy their work can go a long way. For data engineer Marcos Ortiz, it’s all about being upfront about goals and not taking the “no’s” personally.
Just reach out and be honest with your goals. We are so afraid to ask for help that we don’t do it. Although some [people] said no, some of them said YES. And I only need one YES to keep going. – Marcos Ortiz
It can be scary putting yourself out there, especially when asking creators with much larger audiences to recommend you. If you’re vetting your creators and taking an intentional approach with outreach, you will find your people.
Recommend the people whose audiences are similar to yours. Reach out to them directly with a kind note and be brave! Tell them how your work can help to benefit their readers as well. – Ariel Curry
As writer Ariel Curry says, it takes courage, but creators are people, too. Don’t be afraid to reach out. You’ll never know what magic can happen.
7. Share on social media that you’re looking for partnerships
If you’re willing to be even more vulnerable, post about partnership opportunities on social media. This isn’t as personalized as sliding into a creator’s DMs, but you may be surprised at the amount of responses you receive.
This creator posted on LinkedIn to find potential partners.
How you post more publicly about these partnerships depends on your overall social media strategy. You may have more luck on business-focused platforms like LinkedIn or X/Twitter rather than blasting your TikTok audience.
8. Rinse and repeat
Tons of new creators join the Creator Network every day.
Set yourself a reminder to repeat this process every four to six weeks. You don’t have to spend more than a few minutes each month checking your Discover tab, browsing through creator profiles, and doing some outreach to like-minded creators to reap the rewards.
Remember, it takes time and patience to build authentic connections with other creators. When we analyzed Creator Network performance, we found that the creators who have grown their list the most with Recommendations have been members for at least three months, so keep at it.
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