Sup local newsletter nerds. This is your chief nerd speaking. Today we’re gonna cover my favorite growth tactic – the referral program.

But before that, today’s the last day before the 5-Day Local Newsletter Starter Kit jumps to $97. It walks you through everything from finding content to your first 100 subscribers to the first email. It saves weeks of headaches. Check it out.

Why do referral programs work so well for local newsletters?

Local newsletters have many growth disadvantages. We can’t use beehiiv boosts or Sparkloop. Reddit growth is capped. And there are limited influencers to leverage. But we have one huge advantage.

Our readers see each other and talk every day.

See all those Michelles? They’re talking about the latest Naptown Scoop.

“Are you going to Bands in the Sand, Michelle?”

“Of course. Todd and I bought VIP tickets.”

*Haughty noise* “That’s wonderful. Bryan and I are guests of the top sponsor.”

I’m exaggerating for effect but you get it. Local newsletters are super shareable because the content is social. You don’t go to the events you’re reading about alone. You invite friends. And those friends want to know how you always know about the cool stuff.

Great content = great sharing

The most important thing about a referral program isn’t your prizes. It’s your content. Let me tell you a secret.

Referral programs don’t make people share shitty newsletters.

They just encourage people to share content they already like. Focus on great content and shares will come even without a referral program. But the right rewards can supercharge sharing.

Overview

If you’re unfamiliar, newsletter referral programs give you prizes for sharing newsletters. Examples:

It’s like an airline loyalty program. The more miles you fly, the better perks you get.

Milestones and rewards

Here’s a dirty little referral program secret. The first milestone is the only one that matters.

My local newsletter has 17,700 readers.

• Only 10% have any referrals at all.

• The average is 2.4 referrals.

• Only 0.1% of readers hit milestone #2.

Moral of the story: Put all your effort into the first milestone. And I’m gonna tell you exactly what to make it.

Milestone #1 should be earned for 1–3 referrals. It should be free to you and fulfilled automatically. Which is why it should be a birthday shoutout.

It’s also a growth hack within a growth hack. When someone uses the shoutout for their friend, they’ll send it to the group message. Boom. 4 new subscribers – along with 3 you already got.

Milestone #2 should be earned for 10–15 referrals. Make it something you can fulfill for $10–15. See the correlation? Another great thing about referral programs is that you control CAC (customer acquisition cost).

My #2 is a custom coffee mug with our city’s motto.

Milestone #3 should be earned for 20–25 referrals. It should cost you no more than $25. My #3 is a tote bag with our city’s coordinates. Great for our little sailing town.

Btw, I spent about 15 minutes designing both on Canva.

Automate, automate, automate

Repeat after me.

I will not configure a referral program that requires more than 10 minutes per week.

Referral programs should be 99% passive growth. Like putting your money in stocks. You check in every once in a while, but it grows with zero input from you. Here are your tools:

• ESP with built-in referral program (beehiiv or ConvertKit)

• Typeform or Google forms

• Zapier

• Printful

For milestone 1, use Zapier to tie an online form to a spreadsheet you can check before publishing and copy and paste birthdays in less than 3 seconds.

For milestones 2 and 3, use Zapier to tie an online form to Printful that creates a draft order based on the shipping info from the form and emails you when there’s an order to fulfill. I couldn’t figure out how to automate the order with Printful or I would have.

I used to worry about fraud – which is why I didn’t automate the orders from the start. That was stupid. Nobody’s going to cheat your system to get a dumb coffee mug.

When should I start a referral program?

If you’re using an ESP with referral programs built-in for free (and you should be), start as soon as you want. Just don’t expect lots of results from it until your list is big. Remember, only 10% of your readers will refer.

What if I want someone to set this up for me?

I’ll do it for you. But only if:

• You have more than 1,000 subscribers

• You’re willing to pay $20/mo for Zapier

• You’re willing to pay $750 for the setup

Email me if that’s you.

If you share Life of Scoop, I’ll reward you.

• Get 2 folks to join and I’ll send you a PDF of all the tools I use to run my local newsletter.

• Get 15 and I’ll evaluate a writing sample and tell you how to improve.

• Get 100 and I’ll give you a free hour of local newsletter consulting ($350 value).

• And if you somehow get 1,000 I will fly you out to my newsletter’s annual party, put you up in a hotel, and make you the guest of honor.

Life of Scoop stuff

• I do local newsletter consulting. Click here to schedule.

• The 5-Day Local Newsletter Starter Kit (last chance at $77)

• beehiiv referral link (gets you 20% off)

• You can sponsor this newsletter (563 hungry entrepreneurs, 72% open rate). Email me to get up in here.