In partnership with
Insideletter
Get what you want from TV advertising
What you want from TV advertising: Full-screen, non-skippable ads on premium platforms.
What you get: "Your ad is on TV. Trust us."
Modern, performance-driven CTV gets your TV ads where you want with transparent placement, precision audience targeting, and measurable performance just like other digital channels.
TV doesn't have to be a black box anymore.
Hi 👋🏻
I’m sorry I’m late in your inbox today. So instead of talking about anything else, let me get straight to the point.
Today, we’re talking about a system that increases your subscribers on autopilot. We try 100s of ways to increase our subscribers, but you’re overlooking the easiest one, which can help you grow your subscriber base while you sleep.
The mechanism
A viral loop = reader → shares → new subscriber → becomes reader → repeats
You don’t grow from content alone. You grow from incentivised sharing.
The system:
Add a referral tracker
Use Beehiiv, it has an inbuilt system unlike others. Each subscriber gets a unique referral link.Install a reward ladder
Keep it like this: (Substack has it built in)
3 referrals → exclusive resource
10 referrals → premium issue
25 referrals → private access (community / AMA)
No physical rewards. Digital only (physical only works if your audience is a demographic-specific one)Show progress in every email
At the bottom:
‘You’ve referred 2 people’ (beehiiv will do this for you)‘1 more → unlock X’
This is the trigger. Visibility drives action.Make sharing one-click
Buttons:
Copy link, Share on X / LinkedIn
No friction = more distribution.Reinforce weekly
Every issue should include:
Leaderboard (optional)
Reminder of rewards
CTA: ‘Forward this or share your link’
What actually works
Immediate rewards outperform anything that you promise to give later. If you clearly highlight the milestones, complex systems won't derail the flywheel.
And status elements like leaderboards increase top-tier referrals because they feel the urgency and competition.
What to avoid: vague rewards (‘cool stuff coming’), high thresholds early (which kill momentum), and physical merch due to logistical friction.
Benchmark targets: 20–40% of subscribers share at least once, 5–15% bring in at least one new subscriber, and 1–3% become ‘super referrers.’
Will you apply it?
If your newsletter doesn’t have a referral loop, you’re relying on constant top-of-funnel effort. If it does, growth compounds.
Over time, this shifts your growth from manual to automatic, where each new subscriber increases your reach without additional work.
Thank you! See you on Saturday, champ.
Anirban ‘teaching you viral loop’ Das
Anirban ‘breaking down Milk Road landing page’ Das
