How I Personally Nurture New Subscribers & How You Can Too! [Ep 203]

In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on what actually matters after a big list growth moment - whether it’s a summit, bundle, podcast feature, or your own launch. Because here’s the truth:

List growth isn’t the problem. It’s what you do next that matters.

So if you’ve just had a wave of new subscribers join your world, this episode will walk you through the exact nurture strategy I use to turn fresh leads into warm, ready-to-buy humans.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The biggest mistake most business owners make after growing their list
• How I personally onboard and nurture new subscribers after a bundle or summit
• 3 things you must do within 7 days of someone joining your list
• Why trust (not automation) is your most powerful conversion tool
• How to shift from “list-building mode” to sustainable connection and conversion

Plus, I’ll share why I’ve swapped out traditional welcome sequences for a “Start Here” email - and how that one simple change has created deeper engagement right from the start.

If your list just grew (yay!) - let’s make that growth mean something.

Links Mentioned:

• Ep 144: How To Nurture Your Email List & Start Conversations with Sophia Parra

📌 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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Transcript

Kylie Kelly [00:00:00]:
Because as I said before, trust has a shelf life. And without nurture, it expires fucking fast. So if your list, if your audience isn't converting right now, don't overhaul your funnel, don't scrap your offer, don't assume you need more people. Start nurturing the ones you already have.

Kylie Kelly [00:00:20]:
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. 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.

Kylie Kelly [00:00:51]:
Hey. Hey. Welcome back to the Email Growth Show. If you're new here, welcome. I'm Kylie Kelly, visibility coach, email strategist, and your very real, slightly sweary biz bestie, helping you grow your audience and your income without dancing on reels or burning yourself the fuck out. Now, let's be honest. If your email list just grew, maybe it was from a summit, a bundle, a podcast guest spot, or something else fun and collaborative, which is how we roll around here. I want to ask you, what are you doing now with those new people? Because here's the truth.

Kylie Kelly [00:01:24]:
List growth often isn't the problem. It's what you do next that matters. Many people work their butt off to grow their list. They pitch themselves to summits. They write juicy freebies, they SW with biz besties. And then when new subscribers actually join their list, they freeze. They ghost. They get stuck in I don't know what to say land.

Kylie Kelly [00:01:44]:
Or worse, they wait until their next launch to email that list and suddenly they show up in their inbox going, hey, Kylie, buy my thing. Look, we've all done it, right? But this doesn't work, and here's why. And I think you know. But trust has a shelf life. And if you're not showing up soon after somebody joins your world, the connection goes cold and so do your sales. So I wanted to walk you through how I personally nurture new subscribers post event. And I want to talk real numbers for a sec. After Inside the Inbox Season 2, I welcomed over 700 new subscribers in just a few days.

Kylie Kelly [00:02:19]:
And you better believe I had a plan in place. This is what I did, and you can please borrow it or adapt it for your own list. Now, the first thing I did is I had a Start Here email instead of a full welcome sequence. Now, I know you've heard me talk about welcome sequences before and honestly, they do still have their place. But right now I'm testing something new. A single Start here email that gives my new subscribers everything they need to hit the ground running. Why? Because I send a lot of real time fucking emails. Podcast drops, behind the scenes updates, offers.

Kylie Kelly [00:02:51]:
And I don't want my newest people stuck in a 5 email funnel when all the magic is happening live. So instead I send one curated email with a short welcome and what I'm about. A Start Here section with links to my best resources, a personal behind the scenes note to build connection, a direct invitation to reply because yes, I read each and every reply I get in my inbox. And a soft intro to the email growth club, my membership or headline. A mastermind, if it fits. Now this Start Here email, it's quick, it's human, it's flexible as fuck, and it keeps everyone in flow with what's happening now, not stuck in a pre written sequence from three months ago. Now, if you don't send as many emails as me, if you're like, holy hell Kylie, I don't know if this would apply to me, that's okay, it doesn't need to. You, you can feel free to test this yourself if you like, or if you're the kind of business owner who doesn't send as many emails as me, maybe you do just send one a week.

Kylie Kelly [00:03:45]:
Then please stick with your traditional welcome sequence. But I just wanted to share. Having something to welcome people in, set expectations and start that relationship off on the right foot is key. Now the second thing I did, I referenced their behavior. So if somebody came from a speaker like Kat Griffin, hello bundles. I sent a follow up resource about list growth. It's relevant, it's personal, it shows that I'm paying attention. I then gave them something bingeable.

Kylie Kelly [00:04:12]:
So it was a podcast episode, a case study, a behind the scenes email. Something that deepens the relationship and positions me as the trusted guide. And I invited them to reply. Literally a simple hit reply and let me know moment that turns this from just a plain email into a conversation. So again, whether you do this just all in one email, like my start here email strategy, or you break this up over three, four or five emails in traditional welcome sequence, does not really matter. The main thing I want you to get is that you're welcoming them, you're making them feel seen, you're referencing where they've come from, you're Giving them more value and you're inviting them to start a conversation. This is how we make a fantastic first impression. So if you're like, oh my God, Kylie, that feels really overwhelming.

Kylie Kelly [00:04:57]:
I wanted to break down what you do next. So the next time that you are going to be in a summit a bundle, you have a podcast guest spot coming up, you're doing a freebie. So whatever it looks like for you, I want you to make sure that every new subscriber gets a personal welcome email. Make sure that your email service provider is set up to use their first name if possible, share something behind the scenes. Invite them to tell you where they're at. Start the conversation. If you can, send them to one high value resource, something that shows your personality and helps them think. A fun quiz, a mini training, a case study, a podcast episode, don't overthink it.

Kylie Kelly [00:05:34]:
But one high value resource is, is what you should be linking them to. And then I want you to also introduce your paid work gently. Not a hard sell, but a soft like if this resonated, you might also love. We're not hiding the fact that we sell things right. We are a business, we are not a hobby. We are here to make money. If we can get money into the hands of more great women, I know great things will happen. So we want to make sure that we are making it very clear that we are here to sell as well.

Kylie Kelly [00:05:59]:
So make sure you are introducing your paid work gently and let them know this is how I can help you. Here's what that looks like and here is what to do next. Don't overthink it. Keep it simple, human and strategic. And if you need to follow this step by step, if you need to look at the notes, please go over to the show notes for this episode on my website because I have listed this out step by step in a blog post for you. Now, I see a lot of people focusing on email list growth, on audience growth, which is fantastic as what I teach. Highly recommend that you were growing your audience, especially in between your launches or in between your selling periods. Right? But not all email lists convert, even when they're growing.

Kylie Kelly [00:06:40]:
And I wanted to call that out with love, but also with honesty. It is not your open rate, it is not your lead magnet, and no, it's not the size of your list either. The real problem I see far too often is that you haven't nurtured the relationship. I see it all the time. And babe, let me say this with zero judgment because I've absolutely been there. But you do the thing. Maybe you speak at a summit, you join a bundle, you run a free challenge or launch that shiny new quiz. Your list grows, you're riding that fucking dopamine wave high.

Kylie Kelly [00:07:08]:
And then crickets. You don't email them for a week and then it's two. Or maybe it's been three months and suddenly you're asking people to buy from you and you're shocked when they don't. It's not a launch issue, it's a relationship issue. You wouldn't meet someone once, ghost them for months, and then ask them to invest in your signature offer. And yet, that's exactly what most business owners do with their email list. So what does real relationship first nurture actually look like? Let me give you some ideas that you can literally swipe and use this week. It's a behind the scenes build with me email, right? Tell your email list what you're working on, what's messy, what's coming up.

Kylie Kelly [00:07:43]:
This is going to build anticipation and trust. Maybe it's a quick win tip that's hyper specific. Not three ways to grow your email list, but something like the exact subject line I use that got a 51.2% open rate last week. Obviously that's my own example. But think about how you can get hyper specific and include a quick win tip in your next email. Maybe it's a podcast episode that deepens the conversation. For example, episode 144 is all about how to nurture your email list and start conversations with Sophia Parra. If you haven't listened to that one, please do now.

Kylie Kelly [00:08:16]:
This is an example, but this is actually true. In that episode, Sophia shares some brilliant ways to invite replies, create intimacy, and use your emails to spark real conversations. Not just clicks, but actually connection. So again, I think you should go and listen to episode 144 after this. Maybe you choose to nurture them with a voice note style email. Something raw and real that starts with I wasn't going to send this or Can I be honest with you? Or maybe it's a story led email with a soft call to action. Tell a short true story and gently point to how your offer solves that deeper pain behind it. Subtle, not sleazy.

Kylie Kelly [00:08:50]:
The bottom line is nurture doesn't have to mean 52 weeks of mapped content, but it does mean showing up. It means being in their inbox when you're not selling. It means building a relationship where people want to hear from you, not just tolerate your next p. Because as I said before, trust has a shelf life. And without nurture, it expires fucking fast. So if your list, if your audience isn't converting right now, don't overhaul your funnel, don't scrap your offer, don't assume you need more people, start nurturing the ones you already have. And of course, if you want support doing that, this is exactly what we do inside the email growth club. There's a whole module in there about relationship based nurture, including how to write re engagement emails, how to repurpose content from your podcast or blog, and how to use simple frameworks that save you time.

Kylie Kelly [00:09:36]:
Your people are waiting to hear from you. Please, for the love of Taylor Swift, do not keep them waiting. And lastly, I just wanted to talk quickly, before we wrap this up, about how your list is not a number. We need to talk about this because it is so easy, especially when we're in a growth season, to reduce our list to a dashboard stat. 327 subscribers. 3,000 subscribers. 10,452 subscribers. Like whatever it is, right? But here's what I need you to remember.

Kylie Kelly [00:10:03]:
Your list is not a number. It's not a vanity metric. It's not just a launch audience. It's not just email real estate. It's living, breathing humans with inboxes full of noise, with families and full calendars. With hopes, fears and decisions they haven't even made yet. With goals that they're scared to say out loud, but that your work could actually help them reach. And every time that you show up in their inbox, you have a choice.

Kylie Kelly [00:10:27]:
You can either be more noise or you can be the one email they actually want to open. You can either ask for the sale without context, or you can build that kind of relationship that makes the self feel like it's the next right step. Your words are powerful. Your stories are sticky. Your voice is fucking magnetic. And when you treat your email list like the community that it is instead of a cold marketing channel, everything will change, babe. Everything. Because trust doesn't happen from one launch.

Kylie Kelly [00:10:55]:
It doesn't come from a perfectly polished funnel. It doesn't happen when you write like a marketing robot trying to get one more sale. Trust is built one email at a time, one story at a time, one perspective at a time, one real moment that makes someone and go like, ha, she gets me. So no matter what your list size is today, I want you to zoom in. Don't write to your audience. Write to her. That one woman who's thinking about giving up, that one woman who's craving some clarity, that one woman who needs to feel seen and not sold to. That is the magic of email.

Kylie Kelly [00:11:27]:
That is what we're here to do. And if you've been stuck in the trap of my list is too small to matter, please hear me when I say it matters more than ever. Show up, serve, speak like you, speak like a human. And trust that those 327 people, they're listening and they're the exact right foundation for everything that you want to build Next. So if you've just grown your email list, congrats. Now let's make that growth mean something. If you need support crafting your nurture sequence, planning your email content, or just figuring out what the heck to say next next, come and join me inside the Email Growth club. Or if you want one on one eyes on your strategy.

Kylie Kelly [00:12:05]:
I would love to invite you to apply for a free visibility audit where I can help you map out what to send, what to skip and what will actually move the needle. Both of the links are in the show notes. More than anything, I want you to stop wasting list growth and start turning those subscribers into super fans. Thank you again for being here, my love. I have so much love for you. I am cheering you on always and I see you next week. Bye for now.

Kylie Kelly [00:12:28]:
Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Email Growth Show. I hope you found valuable insights into the next steps you can take to grow your email list and boost your business without relying on social media or paid ads. If you enjoy this episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show and share it with others. Your feedback helps me reach more female entrepreneurs just like you who are ready to say goodbye to social media and leverage email marketing to grow their business and make a bigger impact. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you in the next episode.