Day 19: The Surprise-to-Sale Funnel
New subscribers get a high-value gift, and a fast-track offer that’s converting 14% into paid members within a week.
Welcome to Day 19 of the 30 Days of Growth. This is a pop-up newsletter put together by Chenell from Growth In Reverse. I've pulled 30 creators together to help give one short, actionable way you can either grow or improve your email list.
Josh Spector, creator of the For The Interested newsletter, was seeing steady growth with his membership – but wanted a more clear funnel from free content to paying customer.
🔍 How Josh Does It
To fix this, he launched a new two-step system:
Give a free Skill Session (surprise bonus) to every new subscriber
Follow up with a time-limited offer: join the membership within a week and get a free ad placement in his newsletter
Skill Sessions are exclusive 1-hour trainings normally reserved for members. When a new subscriber joins his list, Josh lets them pick any one of these for free.
Once they receive it, he sends a simple offer:
“Join within 7 days and I’ll give you a free ad in the newsletter.”
That’s it – no funnel gymnastics. Just a helpful resource, a deadline, and a relevant incentive.
He’s also mirrored this same sequence on LinkedIn, where he DMs people who engage with his posts and offers them the same Skill Session + fast-action bonus.
📊 Results
~14% of people who go through the 7-day surprise offer funnel convert to paid members
16 new members added in one month from just 117 people
Both email and LinkedIn channels are producing fast conversions from cold to paid
New member growth is now more consistent and predictable, with no extra ad spend
🧠 Why It Works
Surprise & delight – Subscribers don’t expect the gift, which builds trust and excitement (remember Katelyn’s reverse lead magnet?)
Immediate value, no gatekeeping – The free Skill Session shows what the membership offers
Relevant bonus – A free ad in a newsletter about getting clients? Extremely on-brand and valuable
Time-limited – The 7-day deadline creates urgency without pressure
Efficient repurposing – Uses internal resources (past trainings and newsletter ad space) as conversion tools
💡 How You Can Implement It
Choose a high-value asset your audience would love. Make it exclusive – something typically gated or paid (like a course module or private session).
Offer it after someone subscribes (or engages on social). Surprise works better than expectation. Deliver it in your welcome email or via DM.
Add a clear, relevant bonus for fast action. Tie it to your core product. In Josh’s case: “Join now, get a free ad.”
Make the window short (but friendly). One week is enough to motivate without pressure.
Test it on other channels. Josh used this on LinkedIn DMs too – where conversions were even higher.
💡 If you’re enjoying this series, would you mind taking a second to let me know? 🙂
🛠️ Tools
Your ESP for welcome email delivery and follow-up
Google Forms or Notion to let people choose their bonus session
Newsletter ad space as a built-in reward (or something that requires no new asset creation)
LinkedIn DMs or Chat tools to extend the funnel outside your list
I like this one because it flips the typical creator sales process from automated email sequences to a more personal message.
You just need a surprising gift, a timely offer, and a way to fulfill the promise your content already made.
See you tomorrow,
Chenell
P.S. You should check out Josh’s newsletter, For The Interested, to get daily ideas on improving your content and getting more clients from it.
Want to Win Some Prizes?
In case you didn’t know, this is what’s up for grabs in the giveaway:
5 annual licenses to Senja
5 annual licenses to RightMessage
5 annual licenses to Tella
Justin Moore’s Brand Deal Wizard course has been added for 2 lucky winners
Custom newsletter audits
And more to be announced soon! 👀
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