How To Grow Your Email List On Autopilot With An Ambassador Program?

(Spoiler alert: by rewarding your users to grow it for you)

This case study is for you if:

- you have a newsletter or an email list
- you’d like to grow it from inside i.e. leveraging your current subscribers to share it and spread the word out for you
- you don’t have an Ambassador/Referral Program yet but you are interested to know how others have set theirs up and are having their brand marketed and shared by their subscribers

This is how TheHustle is doing it (Disclaimer: I work at Maître, the growth tool that theHustle is using to run their Ambassador Program and I have access to their stats - and their permission to share their numbers with you).

You know TheHustle, the millennial-focus business newsletter right?
You should as it’s grown from zero subs to millions of subs over the course of a few years.

They were able to get where they are because:
- they kick ass and publish daily newsletter that goes to the point while being entertaining
- they incentivize their subscribers to share it with their peers by having an “Ambassador Program” that track how many new subs they are driving and reward them accordingly

This is how it works:

- a new ambassador signs up and he’s prompted to share the personal referral link through email and social media
- the Ambassador Program tracks how many new subscribers sign up through that unique
- the ambassador is rewarded based on how many new referrals he sends

These are the rewards theHustle offers, depending on the number of referrals:
- laptop stickers
- hand-screened t-shirts
- inspirational socks for the true hustler
- hustler hats
- hustler hoodies
- free theHustle Events for life

If you don’t have an Ambassador Program, if you are not asking your subscribers to share your message and you are not rewarding them for the bother, you’re leaving growth potential on the table.

Sure, you’ll still have to drive traffic on your front-end but your efforts will be backed by your users turned ambassadors who will drive traffic on their own and lower your acquisition costs.

What do you think about Ambassador Programs?
What experience do you have with them?