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The Email Growth Show | Email Marketing Tips for Women Coaches, Course Creators & Online Business Owners
Are you frustrated with the endless grind of marketing your online business on social media and seeing minimal results for your efforts? Do you wish you could grow your email list in a way that feels good to you - and actually works - so you can start to make reliable revenue? Imagine having a business that’s not only easy and fun but also aligns with your life, allowing you to be the mother - and woman - you want to be…
Welcome to The Email Growth Show - the podcast for ambitious female business owners who want to build an online business in integrity and alignment with their life - and they want to see results fast.
Long gone are the days of putting a freebie on your website & waiting 5 years to build a large, engaged email list. Who wants to wait that long? Certainly not me - and that’s why we do things differently around here.
Through valuable & honest conversations we dive deep into relationship-based strategies to help you grow your email list WITHOUT relying on social media or paid ads. Get ready to discover alternative options you didn't even know existed, to help you grow your email list and make money in a way that feels aligned with your values and vision.
I’m your host, Kylie Kelly, a visibility and email marketing strategist, who’s passionate about ditching the social media hustle and doing things differently. Why? Because as a solopreneur & mum of two little boys, my time is limited and I need to make sure that I implement strategies that actually move the needle in my business.
In the last 2 years, I’ve grown my own email list from zero to almost 10,000 subscribers through the very same strategies I teach here: summits, bundles, freebie swaps, podcast guesting and so much more! Now, I can send an email and make sales - and that’s what I want for you too. Together, we’ll uncover the secrets to building an email list full of your ideal clients that will drive your growth & success faster than you thought was possible. If you’re a coach, course creator, or online business owner looking to grow your email list & elevate your email marketing, this podcast is for you.
You'll find answers to questions like:
- How can I grow my email list without social media?
- What should I send to my email list every week?
- How do I build trust with my email subscribers?
- How can I monetize my email list effectively?
- How do I write engaging email subject lines that boost open rates?
- How do I find potential partners to collaborate with?
Tune in for actionable email marketing tips and simple strategies to grow your online business without getting frustrated or burnt out. With a mix of solo episodes and guest interviews, you will walk away feeling empowered, inspired and equipped with practical steps to build a thriving email list and make social media optional.
Ready to ditch the overwhelm and start to actually grow that email list - and have fun at the same time? Hit play on the latest episode, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and share with a fellow entrepreneur! Oh and don’t forget to grab my must-have collaborations guide to get you started right away!
🔗 Your -
https://kyliekelly.com/guide
The Email Growth Show | Email Marketing Tips for Women Coaches, Course Creators & Online Business Owners
How Allison Hardy Grew Her Email List from 4K to 10K Without Ads or Social [Ep 201]
In this episode, I’m joined by email marketing queen Allison Hardy for a behind-the-scenes look at how she grew her email list from 4,000 to over 10,000 subscribers - all by leaning into bundles, using my Bundle Like A Boss dashboard, and getting support inside The Email Growth Club.
No ads. No burnout. No social media hamster wheel.
Just one smart strategy, executed consistently - with massive results.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Why Allison ditched expensive ads for high-converting bundles
- How she grew her email list by 6,000+ in under a year
- The exact system she followed using the Bundle Like A Boss dashboard
- The real difference between generic bundles and high-converting ones
- Why niching your bundle might actually get better results
- How list growth led directly to increased membership sales (yes, cha-ching!)
Connect with Allison:
- Website: https://www.allisonhardy.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allison_hardy_
- $80,000 Email Template: Click here!
📌 Want to go deeper?
Apply for a free 30 minute Visibility Audit with me!
Join The Email Growth Club or apply to join my mastermind Headliner to grow your audience with aligned, relationship-first visibility strategies. Click here for more information about Headliner!
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Allison Hardy [00:00:00]:
So that's why I wanted to do bundles. That's why I, like I enrolled in your membership was because I was like, I need to grow my email list because I want to make more money. I want to help more people. And I finally felt like I had a program that I know is good. I know it helps people. I know I can scale it, just need more people to see it. That's why I was interested in bundles to begin with, because I could get that growth more people buy. It's a simple numbers game sometimes.
Allison Hardy [00:00:20]:
So, yes, as a direct result of the bundle, more enrollments have come 100%.
Kylie Kelly [00:00:29]:
Are you a female business owner frustrated with battling the algorithm and looking for growth strategies that don't involve awkwardly pointing or dancing online or throwing cash at paid ads? Welcome to the Email Growth Show. I'm your host, Kylie Kelly, visibility and email marketing strategist. I grew my email list from zero to almost 10,000 subscribers in less than two years, and the same is possible for you, too. Are you ready to build your email list and start making more money in your online business? Let's head into today's Episode before we get into today's episode, I have to tell you that if you're ready to take your email marketing to the next level and you want real strategies, expert coaching, and a supportive community to help you grow, then you need to be inside the email Growth club. Now, this isn't just another membership. It's a space where I share what's working now in email marketing and you get my personal guidance on how to grow, nurture, and monetize your list in the smartest way possible. If you're tired of guessing what to send or you're struggling to make sales from your emails, this is where you need to be. I would love for you to join us.
Kylie Kelly [00:01:35]:
Now, the link is in the show notes below. Now let's jump on into the episode. Alison, welcome back to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today. Before we dig into all the things we're going to talk about, I would love if you would just tell us a little bit about yourself for anyone that might not know you.
Allison Hardy [00:01:50]:
Yeah. So hi, thanks for having me. I'm Allison Hardy. I'm an email marketing strategist. I live in Arlington, Virginia with my two kids and my husband. I always say I help people sell their offers on autopilot through the magic of a strategically written email funnel and email marketing system.
Kylie Kelly [00:02:06]:
My goodness, I'm here for that. We were just talking before we hit record about boring Businesses, Right? Like, come on, let's. Let's build the boring businesses that sell without us. I'm here for that 100%.
Allison Hardy [00:02:15]:
What a pleasure. What a privilege, right, to have a boring business that does stuff for you while you're, you know, you're living your actual life.
Kylie Kelly [00:02:21]:
Absolutely. So today we're talking all about digital bundles, and I wanted to have you on the podcast to talk about this because I have seen what they have done for your email list growth, and I'm so excited to share that. With everyone tuning in. Let's rewind a little bit. Can you tell me a little bit about what your email list was like before you started hosting digital bundles?
Allison Hardy [00:02:41]:
Yeah. So I have leaned into Facebook ads pretty early on. Like, I remember when ads came out and I was like, oh, I can pay to get in front of other people. Like, yes. Because I've never gotten a ton of reach on social participating and hosting things like summits. Like, you get, like, some traction, but it was never like this massive email list growth. So, like, you know, things were growing, but I wish and wanted them and quite honestly needed them to grow faster. And so the only way I could figure out how to do that was by spending more money on Facebook ads or hosting bigger, like, summits.
Allison Hardy [00:03:15]:
Either way, it was either like, you are sacrificing a ton of money or you're sacrificing a ton of time. And so, like, pick one, pick your poison, and like, go for it. So it was kind of like this weird, like, back and forth between the two kind of modalities. And, you know, they worked to a point, but I really wanted things to grow faster.
Kylie Kelly [00:03:34]:
Yes, I love that. So when did bundles come across your radar for the first time?
Allison Hardy [00:03:38]:
You. You hosted a bundle. You invited me to be in it. And I think I was in, like, two of your bundles before. I was like, kylie, tell me about this bundle magic. Because I think one of them, I got like 150 opt ins. And I was like, oh, that's the most amount of opt ins I've ever gotten from, like, participating in something. And I was like, okay.
Allison Hardy [00:03:55]:
And then I think you invited me in another one. And I think I got like 300. And I was like, all right. Sold. Like, I love this idea of participating in bund, but I also had this, like, thought that was like, what if I was the one that hosted them? If, like, my contributors are getting a 300, like, what does that look like for me? And I had realized my, like, biggest lever that I could pull in my business. Was like getting more people into my funnel. So like, what does that look like? So that's when bundles became like super attractive to me.
Kylie Kelly [00:04:25]:
Oh, I love that I had to ask that question because I wasn't 100% sure it was my bundle to start with. So I'm glad we could say that.
Allison Hardy [00:04:31]:
I think, and I think I had been in like a couple of bundles to that point. Point, like I'd been in, you know, I had seen results, but I think I really started paying attention when you started hosting them because I was like, this is, number one, I know you and I like you and I trust you. And number two, I was getting more opt ins from it. So like your bundles, I was like, something, something magical is going on here.
Kylie Kelly [00:04:50]:
And I love that you point that out too because I think that there is, in the online space right now, there's a lot of bundles. Right. But there's a difference between a really niched, intentional bundle, which I think we both do really well now when compared to like a more generic one that just attracts anyone. So did you find the leads coming through from my bund when you're a contributor were really aligned?
Allison Hardy [00:05:08]:
Yes. I could see a direct correlation between membership enrollments and participating in your bundle. Yeah. And even if people didn't enroll on that, like first, you know, pitch of the membership, they would come to the other things that I hosted and then eventually, like they would either be really engaged or open all the emails or click on all the emails like they were doing stuff and then they would come to the events and then, you know, a normal conversion rate from there. But like the quality was higher and people wanted, like, I felt like people wanted to hear what I had to say.
Kylie Kelly [00:05:37]:
Yeah, amazing. So, okay, let's talk about the very first time you hosted your first bundle. What was that like? Did you love it? Talk me through how that felt and what that was, what that was like.
Allison Hardy [00:05:46]:
Yeah. So I'd hosted things like summits up to that point. And I mean, you both know and your listeners know, like they're, they are a ton of work and they're valid. They have a place and a time and like that's great. But when I first hosted my first bundle, I wanted to be, I was doing it all myself. So I was like, this needs to be like streamlined and it's to be simple and it needs to actually produce results for me. And so I hosted my first one and I had your, I think it was your dashboard that I used and I just followed that thing step by step, like I never, whenever I enroll in a course or membership or anything, like, there's certain things I want out of it. And I wanted this gosh darn dashboard.
Allison Hardy [00:06:25]:
Cause I was like, this is going to tell me how to actually do this. And you organize it so beautifully. And it was so easy to do, but I just worked through step by step by step and did exactly what you told me to do. I went to the membership and asked you questions every now and then. But, like, really, it was all laid out for me right there. Super easy to follow. I had to get, like, the hang of it. You know, there's always like that learning curve.
Allison Hardy [00:06:42]:
But once I got that learning curve done and I, like, figured out the process, it was easy to not only use your process, but also, like, adjust it to be more of like me. So we'll have different styles so, like, I could apply, like, my perspective and how I wanted to run things to it. And it just made it so much easier.
Kylie Kelly [00:07:00]:
And what was the results like? Do you remember what the number of signups were from that very first bundle that you did?
Allison Hardy [00:07:05]:
Yeah, so it was December 2023, so a little bit. And I think it was 1200 opt ins, because I remember we passed the thousand mark, like the last day, and I was like, holy guacamole. Like, we did it. Like, we got a thousand people in this gosh darn thing. And I think we finally ended it at 1200, like, when the bundle expired. And like, I had never seen that kind of growth ever in that. Especially in. In, you know, literally five days.
Allison Hardy [00:07:32]:
So it was. I was. I was very happy with those results.
Kylie Kelly [00:07:35]:
And did that make you like, okay, I need to do this more often? Was this, like, the sign that you were.
Allison Hardy [00:07:41]:
Oh, yeah. For the amount of work that I put in, if we equate that to, like, money, I, like, it was like tenfold, like, yes, we're gonna do more of this. So in 2024, I hosted. I think it was eight bundles. And yeah, that sounds like a lot. But because I had your system and I was able to plug it in and then I was able to, like, make it my own, it made it a lot easier to execute. And I did some, like, broader ones. I did some more niched ones, and they all got different results, which is fine.
Allison Hardy [00:08:08]:
So it was cool to, like, be able to, like, kind of play with, like, the different focuses and the different contributors and the amount of contributors and to really see, like, what works best for conversions.
Kylie Kelly [00:08:18]:
So tell me about your email list now. So what are you. Where Were you and what are you at now? No one's sharing.
Allison Hardy [00:08:23]:
Yeah. The end of 2023 I was at 4000, which I was very happy with. I was like, okay, that's good. The end of 2025, I ended with, I believe it was 10,100.
Kylie Kelly [00:08:36]:
That's fast growth, right? And imagine like you said at the very start, imagine if you had to use Facebook ads to grow like that amount, what that would have cost, right?
Allison Hardy [00:08:44]:
Yeah. And I still run Facebook ads, you know, they have like a very specific part of my business. But if I really want to grow things quickly and get in front of a lot of people, the answer is a bundle. And again, like now that I have a system, it's a lot easier to run one. Like I'm running three in the next two months because I'm like, I've got this, like I have the network, I have the system, I had the process. And I know that because of these bundles it's gonna produce a much higher ROI and a faster roi.
Kylie Kelly [00:09:09]:
So if you were going to start over again today, if you were running your first bundle, anyone tuning in that wants to run one, is there anything that you do differently?
Allison Hardy [00:09:16]:
I would get more niched. So I ran a couple broader ones in 2024 and they were fine. They got massive, massive amounts of leads. Like one, I think I had like 2500 people in it, which is great. But I would argue those not every single person who registered for that bundle was my ideal client. And that's fine, you'll have that. Right. So I did see a lot of unsubscribes.
Allison Hardy [00:09:36]:
I did see a lot of you're probably not for me type of people, which is fine. So like in 2025 this year I'm running these really like focused, niched bundles and I am anticipating them not getting as much of a reach and as much opt ins because they are more niche, but I'm anticipating the quality being a lot higher. So while numbers are awesome and great and wonderful, I think sometimes it's also a matter of like the quality of leads. So if you're going to run your very first bundle you're trying to bundle again, like just get really, really niched and clear as to who it's for and then make sure those contrib in your bundle have that same focus and ideal client.
Kylie Kelly [00:10:14]:
Yes, I love that advice. I think as well, like knowing from my own experience. You remember Kylie's birthday bash that I did last year, right. Where it was like open slather, it was like B2B and B2C and just all my friends and how fun and yeah I got a lot of signups but my goodness they were the most random signups I've ever had in my life as opposed to when I do my email marketing bundles that are like for my ideal client. Yeah the list growth is as much but they're all the people that want to know about email marketing so it's like a no brainer that that's the right move. So I love that you share that.
Allison Hardy [00:10:44]:
Yeah, I'm in the middle of the bundle right now. It closes tomorrow and it's called Emails that make bank. So like very very. We are teaching you how to read emails that sell like very specific and I did also did like a birthday one and I did one at the end of 2024 that was like 6 figs and 25 and same it was got lots of lots of opt ins but lots of unsubscribes and lots of like non ideal clients. So yeah I think the niching down and being very specific with who it's for and then of course like having those contributors that like align with that mission I think is. I think it's very, very important.
Kylie Kelly [00:11:15]:
Do you have an ideal number of contributors? Like how many do you normally want in each of your bundles now?
Allison Hardy [00:11:21]:
Yeah, I love 40. It's kind of like my sweet spot. I find it easy to like invite that many people to get the yeses to set up the thank you page and everything with all the stuff. I'm doing one next month and it's going to be smaller, it's going to be about 30 because it's just more niche down and it's a newer topic, it's on a high so I'm interested to see how that one performs because it's so new I think people are really curious about it so I'm interested to see even though it's a smaller contributor number it's around 30 if it produces the same amount of subscribers to it. Because again topic is so new and people are super curious about it.
Kylie Kelly [00:11:59]:
Yeah, I love the fact that what I'm getting from you as well as you're as you're talking all this through it's like once you have the system it gives you the freedom to play. Right. You get to play with different niches and topics and like contributors and. And you're just following that same system every time.
Allison Hardy [00:12:12]:
Yeah. And something I've been doing that I never thought of doing but like somebody suggested to me and I was like, oh my God, it's such a good idea is when someone applies for a bundle, I ask them if there are other people that they would recommend would be like a great fit for this bundle. And it helps me. People, like, are so happy to help with that. Right. They're so happy to help their friends out and to recomm people, but it's barely been helping me. Like, I can take those people and expand upon them, invite those people. They get invited and they invite someone and it's just a whole, like, beautiful, like, web of invitations and it's them doing the work for me, which I feel weird saying that, but it's like, it's helping me to get.
Allison Hardy [00:12:47]:
Just get in front of new audiences. Yeah.
Kylie Kelly [00:12:49]:
And bust out of that bubble. Because I think it's really easy when we are in like a bubble of who we know in our own network. It is hard to bust out of that without the hard work of actually going out and pitching people. So I love that.
Allison Hardy [00:12:59]:
Yes. And so, like, for the AI bundle, it's been super helpful because I am not an AI expert. I don't network with a ton of AI people. I love AI. I use it all the time. But, like, I don't know a ton of AI experts. So, like, having the experts that I do know recommend other experts has been wonderful in getting in front of new audiences.
Kylie Kelly [00:13:15]:
Yes. Imagine just how many new people will be, you know, more aware of your brand and your business and. Yeah, super aligned, which is really exciting. Have you noticed as well as you've grown your email list, you're making more money? Like, you know how there's a direct correlation between revenue and email? The size. Have you seen that as well in this growth?
Allison Hardy [00:13:31]:
Yeah. So that's why I wanted to do bundles. That's why I, like I enrolled in your membership was because I was like, I need to grow my email list because I want to make more money when I help more people. And I finally felt like I had a program that I know is good. I know it helps people. I know I could scale it. I just need more people to see it. So that's why I was interested in bundles to begin with, because I could get that growth more people buy.
Allison Hardy [00:13:52]:
It's a simple number scheme sometimes. So, yes, as a direct result of the bundle, more enrollments have come 100%.
Kylie Kelly [00:13:59]:
And I love that I played a small part. I feel really happy knowing that I played that small part helping that happen.
Allison Hardy [00:14:04]:
You did. Yes. Of course you did. Yeah. I mean, I learned the entire process through so yeah, you had a massive part.
Kylie Kelly [00:14:11]:
Oh, I love that. Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing so transparently with everyone. I hope that anyone tuning in. Here's what you're saying about the magic of bundles, obviously comes and joins the membership, but, you know, just gives it a crack because that's the thing. I think sometimes we hold ourselves back because it is something new or because we don't feel confident, I guess, in, in putting ourselves out there. But look at what can happen.
Allison Hardy [00:14:31]:
Yeah. And it doesn't have to be this massive thing. It could be 10 people. I'm sure you have 10 friends you could reach out to be like, hey, I wanted to try out this crazy thing, like, let's see what happens. And then it's all an experiment. So, like, try it out, see what happens. And then if you're like, hey, this, this might have some legs to it, enroll in the membership and get all of Kylie's resources.
Kylie Kelly [00:14:50]:
I love that. All right, so anyone listening? Alison. That's like, oh, I'm going to go and check out this selling on Autopilot. Where can we send people to connect with you or even join your next bundle?
Allison Hardy [00:14:58]:
Yeah, so you can always find me on Instag. Allison Underscore. Hardy Underscore. Or you can download my free resource $80000 email template. It's allisonhardy.com forward/80000 template and it's the email that brought in $80000 in sales last year. So you'll get access to it, you get a plug and play template and you get like a brief little ditty about why the strategy works.
Kylie Kelly [00:15:22]:
Amazing. Well, I will put all the links in the show notes, but thank you again for sharing with us.
Allison Hardy [00:15:26]:
Thanks for having me.