Day 23: The Customized Onboarding Strategy

Passive subscribers from recommendation networks can hurt your deliverability—unless you treat onboarding like a growth strategy.

Welcome to Day 23 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.

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Dylan Redekop had a good problem: hundreds of new subscribers were joining his newsletter, ​Growth Currency​, through the Kit Creator Network.

But there was a catch—those subscribers didn’t behave like his organic audience.

They hadn’t read his posts, didn’t know his tone, and hadn’t chosen to subscribe through a landing page. So when he resumed sending his newsletter after a brief hiatus, his open rates dropped and unsubscribes spiked.

To fix it, Dylan rebuilt his onboarding flow specifically for recommended subscribers—and the results transformed his deliverability.

🔍 How Dylan Does It

Instead of treating all subscribers the same, Dylan created a custom onboarding experience for people joining through the Kit Creator Network.

Here's how he did it:

• Tracked open, bounce, and unsubscribe rates separately for recommendation-sourced readers to monitor the health of that segment

• Tagged new subscribers by source using Kit's visual automations: any new subscriber who joined via Kit's Creator Network form was tagged accordingly

• Sent tailored welcome emails to those subscribers explaining who he was, why they were getting the email, and the kind of content they’d receive

• Set expectations up front so new readers weren’t surprised or confused when the first full issue hit their inbox

• Added a large 'unsubscribe' button to get anyone who wasn't interested or mistakenly subscribed (via the Recommendations form) to easily opt out

(Dylan makes the unsubscribe option VERY obvious)

This change turned recommendation traffic from a silent churn risk into a sustainable growth channel.

📊 Results

• 1,700+ subscribers gained from Kit's Creator Network

• After making improvements, bounce & unsubscribe rate dropped from 4% to 0.5%

• Open rates from Creator Network subscribers improved to 37.5%

• Blended list open rate is now closer to 50%, with healthier retention across the board

🧠 Why It Works

• Re-established relevance: Custom messaging helped bridge the gap between passive opt-in and true interest

• Protected the core list: Segmentation ensured high-bounce or low-engagement subscribers didn’t hurt the overall sender reputation

• Set clear expectations: Passive subscribers are more likely to stick if they know what’s coming

• Warmed inbox behavior: Clicks and replies early on improved future deliverability

• Used the right tech stack: Platforms like Kit made the onboarding flow possible with minimal effort

💡 How You Can Implement It

1. Create a separate welcome sequence for subscribers who come from recommendations. Explain who you are, what kind of content they’ll receive, and give them a clear opportunity to opt out. The only thing worse than an unsubscribe is a cold subscriber.

2. Prime engagement early. Ask for a reply, include a clickable link, or invite them to choose what type of content they want.

3. Measure bounce, open, and unsubscribe rates separately from your main list. This helps you identify if a specific growth channel is hurting or helping your list health.

4. Make changes as needed.

💡 If you’re enjoying this series, would you mind taking a second to let me know? 🙂

🛠️ Tools

• Kit or Beehiiv for recommendations platforms, and for segmentation.

Subscribers who find you through recommendation widgets didn’t ask for you directly – they were referred.

This isn't inherently a bad thing, you just need to treat them accordingly.

If you want them to stick, show them why they should.

See you tomorrow,
Chenell

P.S. Check out Dylan's ​Growth Currency newsletter​ for great content about building and monetizing your newsletter.

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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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