How I Turned My Newsletter Into $300K  ## Metadata - Author: [[The Amy Porterfield Show]] - Full Title: How I Turned My Newsletter Into $300K - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/f760fb6e-b242-4bcc-b454-fefd6ac7439e ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Human Newsletters Outperform Pure Promotion** - Amy Porterfield found her top-performing newsletters were the most human and story-driven. - Personal storytelling became her most powerful business strategy for connection and conversion. Transcript: Amy Porterfield When I look at my top performing newsletters overall, there's a really clear pattern. The ones that perform the best, the ones that get the highest open rates and the most clicks are always the most human. Your personal story is the most powerful business strategy that you have. ([Time 0:00:11](https://share.snipd.com/snip/8e556005-8a76-4712-8d64-c59f5070f846)) - **Pivot From Podcast Blasts To Heartfelt Newsletter** - Amy recounts switching from a podcast-broadcast email to a storytelling newsletter when open rates dropped. - Rebuilding it made the newsletter the heartbeat of her brand and improved engagement. Transcript: Amy Porterfield Every Thursday, I'd send out a new email broadcast saying, Hey, I've got this podcast coming out. Go take a listen. And it worked for a long time until it didn't. And then I started to see my open rates just plummet. We started hovering around 20%. One time we hit 15% and I'm like, okay, no, no, no. I want 40%. And I know some of you are getting even more than that. Good on you. But 40% open rate would be really stellar for me. And so that's what I wanted. And I was very far from it. And it felt like my team and I were pouring time and energy into something that just wasn't really giving much back. So when I decided to completely reimagine it, to rebuild my weekly newsletter from the ground up, I had this vision for what it could be. Something more personal, more story driven, more just me. And right around that time, my copywriter went on maternity leave. It was like perfect timing because if she didn't, I don't think any of this would happen because I love her. She does a great job. I would have leaned on her for this, but she was on maternity leave and it was like this perfect storm. We had a fairly new CMO, Caitlin. If you read my newsletter, she's the one who wears jeans while she works from home. And we think that's really wrong And so Caitlin, the jean wearing CMO, she also was fairly new and like saw our open rates plummet. And she's like, we have to stop the bleeding. Amy, just put it together. Just make it scrappy. It doesn't need to be perfect. And like within like one week we decided, okay, we're doing this new newsletter, which is not our style. Usually we plan. It takes a few weeks. We get all our ducks in a row. It really, my old style would have been, let's wait till Emery comes back, my copywriter, then we'll work with her. But Caitlin just had this urgency about her. Like I knew she realized we are really going to suffer here. If we don't re-engage our list, just, just do it and we'll do it messy. And, and I tell my students to do that. And so the fact that I did that, I love that I can walk the talk. And so that's what we did. So my newsletter, uh, I mean, my copywriter was on maternity leave. So that meant I was stepping in to write it. Now, at first I kept thinking, okay, here's one more thing on my plate. Like I already don't have enough time. How the heck am I going to have time to write this newsletter? But sometimes the universe hands you a moment that forces you to step back into your message. Because the more I wrote the newsletter myself, while my copywriter was out, the more I realized it wasn't just about filling in for someone else. It was about finding my voice again, the tone, the stories, the little personal moments. They were things only I could bring to it. And that's when it hit me. This was something I was meant to be doing in my business. This was worth my time. Even before it started to work, I felt that way. So it's easy to say this is worth my time when we start to hit 40% open rates and lots of engagement and some really cool things I'm going to share with you right now. But I actually felt that way. And I think Caitlin and Jaws, the three of us did this together. I think we felt like it was right, right from the beginning. So the newsletter went from a, I should do this task to the heartbeat of my brand. ([Time 0:04:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3814bde1-3b2c-4134-9285-bc18424eaf83)) - **Write Weekly, One At A Time** - Write each newsletter one week ahead and create them one at a time rather than batching lots at once. - Schedule writing on Sunday or Monday and expect two hours from concept to send. Transcript: Amy Porterfield So my goal is to write it one week in advance. So today's Monday. This morning, I wrote the newsletter that will come out next Tuesday. So one week in advance is where I'm working. And I'm not batching three or four in a row. I'm doing one at a time, which when I need to be creative and create from scratch, I'm not the best at batching in those situations. Now, if I have to do three podcasts in a day and I have outlines, that's one thing. The outlines have already been worked on. But when I'm looking at a blank Google doc, I'm not going to batch a bunch in a day. Plus, I actually like to make them as timely as possible, like in the moment. So again, I write them either on a Sunday or Monday. If I have Monday, I'm doing it. If for some reason I'm traveling on a Monday or I have too many meetings, I'll do it Sunday night and doesn't even bother me. Like I actually really enjoy it, even if it's a Sunday. And it takes me about two hours from start to finish. In the beginning, it took me three hours, but I'm getting it down to two hours. It's become such a creative outlet for me. ([Time 0:10:09](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1ed80308-e885-4591-bdf2-518ebcf3f868)) - **Lead With A Personal Story** - Start every newsletter with a short personal story that ties to a business lesson. - Use stories to make concepts land in the reader's heart, not just their head. Transcript: Amy Porterfield Every single one of my newsletters starts with a single story and it's always something personal. So for example, some stories that I've told in my newsletters, like the time I shared about having one too many margaritas and realizing it wasn't really about the drinks. It was about people pleasing. And that moment turned into such a powerful lesson on leadership and boundaries that I shared in my newsletter. So margarita led to a business lesson or the story about Hobie and me when I was traveling for work and we both felt a little disconnected or maybe a lot disconnected. Things were really crazy at the time. So I started sending him a daily text about one thing that I love about him. And then it was so cheesy, right? And then he started doing the same thing about me. And then when I got home, it was like we hadn't missed a beat. And so I just talked about how sometimes you need to kind of do something creative or a little bit different in order to connect with people that mean the most to you. And then there was the one where I told my audience about finding a pair of my mom's underwear in my sweatshirt sleeve on the way to the bus stop when I was in fourth grade. Mortifying. But I used it to talk about how I was so scared all day people were going to find out and how in business, sometimes I'm scared people are going to find out that maybe I'm not as good as they Think I am. So like I'm always, sometimes maybe it's a stretch. Sometimes I just want to tell you a funny story, but I always trying to find a way to, to tie it back to my insecurities. That might be your insecurities, the things that challenge me that might challenge you as well. And so if you, uh, now if you want to see all these stories, I, I have a link for you, amyporterfield.com forward slash newsletter. That's where you can sign up for my newsletter. But the point here is that I always start with a story and I've always felt that I'm bad at stories. Here's like something I've come to the conclusion because I suffer from being a people pleaser. I try very hard not to be, but it still shows up that people pleasers tend not to be good storytellers, in my opinion, because we don't want to go too long. We don't want to take up too much time. We don't want to be too indulgent. Let me not make it all about me. So we rushed through the story and tried to like, let me just get this over with. Well, unlike my husband, Hobie, who likes to drag out a story for two freaking hours, a story that I've heard three times, he said, if I'm a good wife, I'll listen to it again. But I have to say he's a much better storyteller than me. He makes it rich and interesting and adds the details. So I've been trying to become a better storyteller and you know how you become a better storyteller? You start telling stories on a consistent basis. So if you're anything like me, let me tell you, you can get better at it. I feel like I'm getting really good at it. Okay. So anyway, if you want to go check out my newsletter, you can see like the full rhythm of how it all comes together. What I realized is that stories are the bridge between what I teach and what people feel, how you take a concept like consistency or visibility or courage, and you make it land in someone's Heart, not just their head. And stories allow people to get to know me more. The more you know me, the more you understand me, you know my values, the more you'll trust me as your guide. So when I sit down to write, I'm not asking, what can I tell them? I'm asking, what have I lived that they might need to hear today? What have I lived that they might need to hear today? Because that's where the real connection happens. And it anchors the teaching I do later in the newsletter because people remember stories more than they remember steps. ([Time 0:11:24](https://share.snipd.com/snip/11a4cbc7-f670-4025-aa6e-310e7d5f5b5e)) - **Use AI To Clarify, Not Replace Voice** - Use ChatGPT as a creative partner: record your spoken story and ask it to extract the key parts. - Always rewrite and own the voice; AI should speed clarity, not replace authenticity. Transcript: Amy Porterfield Then step two is I use ChatGPT for my copy, but not in the way that you might think. I'm not just prompting it to write my newsletter. So I use it as a creative partner to help me connect the dots, to take my story and pull out the meaning or the value that my audience needs from it. So basically, once I have the idea of the story in my head, now remember, I have trained my chat GPT on who I'm writing for, my writing style. I fed it every newsletter we've written that for these new newsletters. So I feed the final one into chat GPT and it has been trained on all of my lessons, all of my stories, all of my IP essentially, but more importantly, my voice. And so what I do is, you know, on chat GPT where you can dictate. So you click that little microphone and it basically you talk and then it writes out everything you just said and you can hit send. That's what I do. So I hit that little microphone and I talk for my story only for about 10 minutes. Like literally I just go on and on. And then I'll say, I want you to take the story and pull out the most important parts. Remember who you're writing this for. And I remind chat GPT and I want it to be 350 words. And so it takes my whole story, pulls out the best parts of it. And then of course, whatever it spits out, I'm reworking it, changing it, making it better. But I want to be clear, all the copy and the stories, it all starts with me. So if I were just handing everything over to AI, I promise you I'd get this done in 30 minutes and I'd lose all the heart of my newsletter. I want it to feel like me. So it has to come all from me. And so that's how it starts. So that's why it takes me two hours because I'm not just like it out in AI. ([Time 0:15:19](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1d5eea8f-ec66-4275-84ee-f25b848fbd31)) - **Curate Two Valuable External Links** - Include two curated articles or videos each newsletter that will interest your audience. - Delegate research to a team member who scans media daily and sends relevant links. Transcript: Amy Porterfield I'm using AI in the way I just shared with you. And then the second section is that I always have usually two articles that I link to that I know my ideal audience who's reading this newsletter will find valuable. And it's funny, it's usually articles about AI or anything about social media that tends to grab my audience's attention. It's just two things I think that you would love to read or you would love to watch. So it might be like a short YouTube video or from someone you love like Mel Robbins or just anyone really that you find valuable. I'm usually researching who you all are talking about, finding great videos and articles about them or from them or tips from them, or just articles on the psychology of why people buy Online or how AI can help you or hurt you. So it's things like that. And actually this part, I don't do myself. So my CMO, she has this practice of every morning, she subscribes to tons of newsletters and tons of media outlets. And every morning she spends a good 30 minutes just educating herself. So she stays really nimble in the marketing arena. And so she always sends me a few articles. She thinks, because she knows my ideal audience really well, that she thinks our audience would find valuable. I look at them, I read them, I agree. And then I'm like, all right, let's go. So I do get help with the two articles. And if for some reason, I don't think they're going to hit, I just find other ones. But that's the second section. ([Time 0:19:00](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1af81824-ead9-4ff0-8317-8758ac18a8bb)) - **Teach One Actionable Lesson** - Teach one actionable lesson in each newsletter drawn from your existing content or membership teachings. - Make every email deliver usable value so readers leave ready to act. Transcript: Amy Porterfield So I tell the story, then I do the two links to great articles or videos. And then I teach something that I maybe have been teaching inside my mastermind or inside the Millie Club or inside Momentum, which is my membership, or just something that I've taught In the past that I'd love to kind of revive or something new. So for example, some things that I've taught in my newsletter recently, how to re-engage a cold email list without starting from scratch, why batching isn't just about productivity, It's about protecting your creativity and how to do it right, Or why you're in between seasons of launching matters so much more than the launch itself and how to use those in between Seasons, those quieter moments to nurture your audience and strengthen your systems. I also did a teaching moment of how to choose the right bonus for your next campaign. So usually they're related to building your team, marketing smarter online, or being a better leader. And, you know, I've got years and years of content that I can share here. And I'm always looking for like, what would be the most valuable right now? And, and I, I want people to think every time I open one of Amy's emails, I learned something that helps me move forward in my business. That's my goal. So there's never going to be any of the fluff. Like I want you to walk away from my newsletter. Like, dang, that's good. I'm going to try that. So that's what I do next. ([Time 0:20:38](https://share.snipd.com/snip/57cba9ca-e898-4472-9c7f-e828fc350edc)) - **End With A Personal Find And Subtle PS** - Finish with a short personal find and a PS linking to your podcast or relevant resource. - Keep promotions subtle and focus on delivering value over hard selling. Transcript: Amy Porterfield And then at the very last section, usually the shortest section, I share a personal antidote or personal finds or something that I'm loving. So this one's kind of silly, but I just recently wrote one about my three favorite high protein pumpkin treats, because right now I'm obsessed with working out and lifting really heavy Weights and getting all my macros in. I know obnoxious, right? But, um, I love pumpkin and I love fall. So I shared the three things I'm loving or like three travel hacks that have saved me so much time and money. Or I might share like my three favorite Netflix series I'm loving or three books or three podcasts, or it's not always three. I don't know why I keep saying that, but essentially it's a little peek behind the scenes of my personal life, not just my business life. A lot of times in the stories you get my, my business life. And in the very end, you usually get a little of my personal life. So those are just some things that I share and I mix it up and you never know what you're going to get. And then I always sign off and I add a PS. And usually the PS is a link to my podcast. And we get a lot of clicks on that PS of people going to listen to my podcast. So I took an email broadcast that came out every Thursday that was only about why you should go listen to my latest podcast episode. And I turned it on its head. That email became a little PS. ([Time 0:22:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e55e659f-8d22-4724-8907-1ba59816bec1)) - **More Relevant Links Boost Clicks** - More links can increase engagement: a test showed five links beat three by 152% in clicks. - Each link should serve a purpose to turn passive readers into active ones. Transcript: Amy Porterfield And here's the best part that really surprised me. When we tested the number of links, the difference mattered. So in an A-B test, we compared one version of a newsletter I sent with like five links to another one that just had three links. And the version with five links saw a 152% increase in click-through rate during the testing period. So yeah, I share a lot of links and I think it matters, but each one serves a purpose and they turn passive readers into active readers. ([Time 0:24:54](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b06c5d85-06f1-46af-802d-7670666fc914)) - **Make Subject Lines Curiosity-Driven** - Write subject lines that spark curiosity and feel like something you'd say out loud. - If a subject line feels slightly uncomfortable, that tension often predicts higher open rates. Transcript: Amy Porterfield So I've got to start with the one that surprised me the most, subject lines. So for years, my subject lines were things like three ways to simplify your next launch. They were clear and clean and safe and they worked. Then we started testing what I call our spicy subject lines, like the ones that made me a little bit nervous to send out. And wouldn't you know it, those were the ones that people actually opened. So a few examples of some of my best performing subject lines were, one was, dang, this AI prompt should be illegal. So right now we're getting around a 35% open rate. My goal is 40, so we're not there yet. Sometimes we hit 40, but on average around 35%. So that one had a 35% open rate. We had another one that says, we love the taste of blood in our mouth. It was a story from another entrepreneur that I told. That one had a 39% open rate. And then there was one that said, text, I would send Hobie from the hotel. And that one had a 34% open rate. And then I had another one. I don't remember the open rate, but I remember it was high was something about how I give zero Fs. I didn't spell out the F word, but I said zero Fs. I'm not one to say the F word on my podcast. Yes, I do say it in private, but regardless of that, I know that you've got kids in the car when you're driving to school and stuff. So I just try not to, but I put that in the subject line and that one was a little spicy and did well. Some of you are laughing at me like Amy, none of that is spicy. You're so vanilla. I get that, but you have to remember I've always had a professional persona online. So when you get more personal, I think that professional persona kind of gets stripped down. And for someone like me, that has always kind of been a little bit more buttoned up. It feels like you're naked sometimes. And so these are little baby steps, which I'm hoping I'm giving you permission to have baby steps stepping into more of who you are as well. And some people will laugh at you thinking it's no big deal, but we know it is to us. So this was a big deal to me. So here's what the data taught me. And that is that curiosity powerful. So in my subject lines, curiosity is powerful. A great subject line doesn't just describe what's inside. It invites someone in. It makes them wonder, what is she talking about? Or one of my subject lines was your cringe, but the your was Y-O your cringe instead of you are cringe. And it was referring to what someone sent me. They sent me a message telling me I'm cringe, but they used why you are. So I use that in my subject line. That one was a good one too. Cause people are like, does she know that she just did that? People are still walking around thinking that I made that mistake, which is like the fatal mistake. It wasn't me. It was someone else. So anyway, I want people to be like, what is she talking about? Or what is this about? So when you're writing your next email, ask yourself this, would this make me curious enough to click? Does it sound like something I'd actually say out loud? Or if your subject line feels slightly uncomfortable to send, that's probably a good sign. ([Time 0:26:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/15e46e3b-3645-449d-a7e2-ae5578415348)) - **Storytelling Drove $300K In A Launch** - During a Digital Course Academy launch, Amy's storytelling newsletters generated significant revenue. - One newsletter drove $191K and another $92K by leading with relatable stories rather than overt sales copy. Transcript: Amy Porterfield So during a big promo like Digital Course Academy, we send a lot of emails. And every year, I know what's coming. Open rates drop as the launch goes on. It's totally normal. I expect it. But here's what surprised me this time. We actually sent out the newsletter, even though we had all those promos going on. So even while all the sales emails were going out, my personal Tuesday newsletter, the one that's story-driven, conversational, and genuinely me, it held strong. And we almost didn't send it because we're like, one more email. This is going to get lost in the mix anyway, but it didn't. So for example, in my September 16th newsletter, so this is when the launch was kicking off. I hadn't yet opened the cart. I shared how I was completely overthinking my launch plan, second guessing every detail from the timing to the strategy to whether it was big enough. Shared how I realized I was making it way more complicated than it needed to be and that the real magic happens when you simply start small and serve deeply. At the end of that email, I invited readers to join my course-confident bootcamp. And that one newsletter alone brought in $191,000. All I did was share a real story about what was happening in my own business, how I was overthinking my launch, and then invited my audience to join the very bootcamp that had inspired The story in the first place. Then in my September 23rd newsletter, when the cart was open, I shared a story about the time I accidentally deleted Tony Robbins' very first webinar. And I used that story to show that failure, as painful as it feels in the moment, is often what drives the most growth. From there, I invited my readers to join my own free webinar that I was running. This one email alone generated over $92,000 in revenue from my digital course launch, all from people who clicked to register for the masterclass from the newsletter PS and then went On to enroll in Digital Course Academy. It worked because it didn't feel like a sales pitch. It felt like a story and a lesson because it was. And I reminded my audience that mistakes don't disqualify you. They prepare you. And that message resonated and it built trust and it inspired them to take the next step. These weren't flashy emails. They were storytelling-driven newsletters. So looking at those numbers and seeing what my newsletter added to this launch was the proof that I needed. A personal story-driven newsletter isn't just good for engagement, it drives real revenue. ([Time 0:30:16](https://share.snipd.com/snip/8e0c3cfd-e150-45dd-a8cc-d6a3a33ba12e)) - **Position Your Newsletter As A Lead Magnet** - Treat your newsletter like a lead magnet: explain what readers will get and let them preview it. - Use a signup page and consider running ads to grow the list strategically. Transcript: Amy Porterfield Again, I'm kind of embarrassed since years ago I used to say a newsletter wasn't enough. That if you really wanted to grow your list, you needed a strong lead magnet, something valuable and irresistible. No one wants to read your newsletter. I literally said that. Like I cringe thinking about it. But that back then just inviting people to join your newsletter wasn't enough to get their attention. And while I still believe lead magnets are an important part of your list building, I mentioned this at the beginning and promised I would share this with you. I still don't think you should say, just join my newsletter. I think you should have a page that tells them what they're going to get and treat it like a lead magnet. What's in it for them? Why should they be tuning in? And what can they look forward to? If you go to amyporterfield.com forward slash newsletter, you'll even see an option to check out a newsletter before you even sign up for it. ([Time 0:33:43](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e3f66a0f-8900-4f56-9ded-8052115f487a)) - **Newsletters Are Back And Evolving** - Newsletters are resurging because they combine personality with value and build loyal communities. - New tools and networks are making newsletters easier to grow and monetize today. Transcript: Amy Porterfield So if you're already reading my newsletter, you matter to me just as much as the new person that just signed up for it. I want you to hit reply when I encourage you to in my newsletter and tell me what's going on in your world. So I care just as much about you staying in my world and connecting with me and having real conversations as I do trying to get new people on my list. And I think that comes out in my newsletter. I think you can feel that I care about both of the things. So newsletters are in and they feel new again. They become a space for real connection where personality meets value and where community actually can truly grow. So in this new era of online marketing, I now talk about my newsletter the same way I would a lead magnet because it's become one of the most effective tools for growing and engaging with My audience. And it's not just about me seeing results. Newsletters are having a real moment right now. You can tell because new tools and platforms are popping up everywhere to support them. ([Time 0:34:59](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5cb9d7a8-cca1-41e0-aff7-c0af5e7682f9))