Sinem Günel’s writing is read by millions each year, and she built a multi-6-figure business by the age of 24 without using ads.
Sinem uses Kit to connect with her readers and sell her course, coaching, and membership products. In 2023, she aimed to grow her email list to 10,000 subscribers.
But when she hit 8,000 subscribers, her growth plateaued.
The challenge: Email list not growing past a certain number
Sinem had always grown her list through her writing on Medium. But when she wrote less to focus on other aspects of her business, the subscriber growth slowed, too.
I felt a little stuck around the 8,000 subscriber mark.
I was also on the lookout for more “passive” ways to grow the list.
When she heard about the Creator Network and Recommendations, she thought it could potentially be the answer to helping her reach her goal of 10,000 subscribers.
I had been thinking of trying paid ads, so Recommendations was a no-brainer to try since I had nothing to lose.
The solution: Setting up Recommendations
Sinem originally switched to Kit in 2020 because she loved the simplicity.
I love the experience on the backend. I am not a tech person. I don’t love complicated interfaces. I don’t love workflows that look too techy, but I felt really comfortable with Kit very early on.
So, when she saw how simple it seemed to set up Recommendations, she decided to give it a try.
I was really hoping that Recommendations would help me get past the 10,000 subscriber mark.
And who doesn’t like the idea of getting something set up within a couple of hours, if even that, and then having revenue come in?
The strategy: Creating a welcome sequence for new subscribers coming from Recommendations
Once Sinem joined the Creator Network, she emailed and DM’d her creator friends who were also using Kit, and they all recommended each other, forming a kind of pod: a group dedicated to helping each other grow.
After setting up all of her Recommendations in her opt-in forms, Sinem decided to do one more thing: tweak her welcome sequence.
Every time a new subscriber joins her list, they get a pre-written welcome sequence via a Kit automation. However, Sinem realized that these new subscribers—the ones coming in via the recommendations of other creators—had likely never heard of her before.
Other subscribers typically join her newsletter after they’ve read one of her Medium articles or something she’s posted on social media.
But for these new subscribers coming from Recommendations, her welcome sequence would be their very first introduction to who she was and what she offered.
It was obvious to me that I have to treat my new subscribers who come from Recommendations differently. So I took a look at my normal welcome sequence, copied it over into a new sequence, and tweaked it to make sure I was saying hi to a different audience that was obviously coming from a different place.
Every time a new subscriber comes in through Recommendations, they’re automatically associated with a form in your account called “Creator Network”, so Sinem just connected that form to a new automation where everyone associated with the “Creator Network” form would get this new welcome sequence.
She didn’t have to tweak it much but says it felt great to introduce herself to these new subscribers in a way that felt relevant and genuine.
If someone’s coming in through Recommendations, it’s my job to ensure they know who I am and what I do so they can quickly decide whether they want to stay subscribed or not.
What I love most is a lot of them replied to my welcome sequence saying, “Hey, Tim Denning recommended you, so that’s why I’m here.” Or “I saw you on Zulie Rane’s recommendations, and that’s why I’m here.”
Because of that, Sinem says, Recommendations have fundamentally changed her business.
Recommendations helped me grow my list 30 percent faster over the last three months and helped me gain paying clients via my live launches and evergreen funnels.
She also set up Paid Recommendations, where one of her recommendation slots goes to a creator paying her for each qualified subscriber she sends their way.
That’s something that just runs on the backend and that I don’t lift a finger for, but it just keeps generating revenue month by month.
Sinem is on a $125/mo Kit plan and says that the just under $100/month she’s making via Paid Recommendations does a lot to offset her Kit costs.
It’s actually pretty cool to know that I can easily offset what I pay for Kit with Paid Recommendations.
The Result: 5,000 new subscribers (and thousands in sales)
Within three months of using Recommendations, Sinem finally surpassed her goal of 10,000 email subscribers.
We’re at nearly 13,000 subscribers now.
Then, she did her first live launch since using Recommendations.
I just finished a live launch, and we have tags on to see which subscribers came in through Recommendations and 10% of our buyers are actually subscribers who came in through Recommendations!
She says because of that, she’s already made about $6,000 from using Recommendations as a growth channel.
And that’s just people who’ve been on the list, who’ve been pitched. And that’s just one live launch. We’ve got people buying our evergreen stuff, too, through the funnel. We see that happening month by month, week by week.
She’s grateful for the way the Creator Network has grown her list and her business, but she’s also grateful for how it has grown her connections with the creator community.
Recommendations is just the easiest way to support each other. It’s literally a few clicks, and it’s all set up. You don’t have to go back and do anything about it ever, and you still help each other tremendously.
I feel like it’s a win-win-win situation. I make money, I help creators who I love gain more visibility, and I help my audience discover really great content.
