Growing an email list can feel overwhelming when you’re starting from zero. But many successful creators didn’t start with large audiences—they built them step by step with the right email marketing strategy.
In this case study, we break down exactly how creator and lawyer Sam Vander Wielen grew her email list to over 60,000 subscribers, including the lead magnet strategy, landing page tactics, partnerships, and nurture sequences she uses today.
Sam Vander Wielen didn’t start with a massive audience. She started with 11 subscribers and a conviction that email was where her business would actually be built.
Today, her legal templates and training business serves 60K+ subscribers, generates multiple revenue streams, and runs with the kind of systems that keep working whether she’s at her desk or not. She’s been with Kit for eight years, through every stage of that growth.
Sam pulled back the curtain in a webinar with us on exactly how she has done this—the lead magnet strategy, the nurture sequences, the partnership plays, and the email flywheel that funds its own growth. Here’s what she shared.
Give them what they want. Deliver what they need.
Sam’s lead magnet philosophy comes down to a simple analogy: mac and cheese versus broccoli.
The broccoli is what your customers need. The mac and cheese is what they want.
To put this in real terms: Things like LLC formation and business contracts are the broccoli whereas the cheesy favorite is the freedom, protection, confidence that their business is set up right.
Most creators make the mistake of leading with the broccoli.
Sam leads with the mac and cheese, then blends the broccoli in. Her “Ultimate Legal Guide” is the mac and cheese version of her paid product, the Ultimate Bundle—high-value enough to attract exactly the people who’ll eventually want the full thing.
Sam’s lead magnet strategy is designed to grow an email list with the right subscribers, not just increase numbers.
The lesson: your lead magnet isn’t just a freebie. It’s a preview of your paid offer, built for the person who’s ready to buy it.
How to do this in Kit: Use Kit’s landing page templates or embed a form on your website. Configure the delivery email to send immediately. Add appropriate tags to help segment your audience and connect to your main welcome automation.
Your landing page has one job in the first five seconds
Sam is ruthless about landing page real estate, especially on mobile.
Her rule: the headline, the hook, and the opt-in button all need to be visible before anyone scrolls. “Most people are on mobile,” she says. “They shouldn’t have to scroll to find the download button.”
The upper third of her page does the heavy lifting: a headline that names the pain and offers the solution, immediate social proof, and a clear call to action. Everything below that builds trust for the people who need more convincing before they sign up.
The copy length question—how long should this page be?—gets a practical answer from Sam: as long as it needs to be. Don’t stretch it out, but don’t cut it short if you’re in a niche (like legal) where trust is earned, not assumed.
How to do this in Kit: Use Kit’s landing page templates or embed a form on your website. Track your landing page metrics so that you can learn from how your copy and layout converts.
Find the creators who share your audience but not your expertise
Newsletter cross-promotions and partnerships are one of the fastest ways to grow an email list because they introduce your content to an already-engaged audience.
Sam’s fastest subscriber growth hasn’t come from paid ads. It’s come from the right partnerships.
Her strategy: focus on “shoulder industries”, creators who serve the same audience but offer something completely different.
Pat Flynn at Smart Passive Income teaches business growth. Sam teaches the legal side. Their audiences overlap perfectly, which is why they recommend each other’s newsletters.
Recommend subscribing to potential partners first. Create a folder for potential recommendations, read their newsletters, and when you find one you genuinely love, hit reply and let them know.
How to do this in Kit: The Creator Network and Recommendations makes this easier by connecting creators within the same platform so you can find, vet, and partner with complementary creators without starting from scratch.
Why the first email matters more than you think
When someone subscribes, you have one immediate job: deliver exactly what you promised.
“That is a crucial moment of trust,” Sam says. She builds a nurture sequence that every new subscriber enters regardless of which freebie they downloaded.
She’s intentional about timing, too. Strike while the iron is hot. If someone just signed up, they’re looking for the solution right now.
She’s also careful not to overwhelm new subscribers. Tags in Kit mean someone who’s still in a welcome sequence won’t also get her weekly newsletter. The right content reaches the right person at the right moment, not all at once.
One of her most effective tactics is deceptively simple: a short email asking subscribers to reply with “Got it” to confirm they received their freebie. It starts a real conversation. It also tells inbox providers that her emails are wanted, which, she says, skyrockets deliverability.
How to do this in Kit: Set up appropriate Tags in Kit so that you can personalize your content for each subscriber’s unique needs. Set up the Welcome and nurture template from Kit so that you can easily implement a welcome sequence to filter your Tagged subscribers into.
Build an email growth flywheel
Sam’s business doesn’t just grow. It reinvests in its own growth.
Here’s how the cycle works: lead magnets bring in new subscribers, nurture sequences build trust, that trust converts to sales, and the revenue gets reinvested into reaching more people. New subscribers, more trust, more sales, repeat.
She accelerates this with a $7 tripwire offer (an email template) introduced early in her welcome sequence. It’s not a major revenue driver on its own, but rather it’s a way to recoup ad spend quickly, so her paid acquisition strategy can keep running.
Tools Sam uses
- Kit for email marketing and automation
- Creator Network for partnerships
- Landing pages for lead magnet delivery
- Welcome sequences for nurturing new subscribers
What Sam would tell you
Sam has been with Kit since she had 25 subscribers—before she had a business, before she had a strategy. Eight years later, the platform has grown with her.
“I didn’t join Kit because I had a massive list,” she says. “I built a massive list because I had Kit.”
But the real lesson she keeps coming back to isn’t about tools or tactics. It’s about perspective.
“If you have 11 people on your list, imagine them sitting in your office right now. That would feel like a lot. Don’t lose sight of the humans behind the numbers.”
That’s the foundation everything else is built on.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to grow an email list?
Many creators start with fewer than 50 subscribers and grow through lead magnets, partnerships, and consistent email marketing.
What is the best lead magnet for email list growth?
The best lead magnets preview a paid product or solve a specific problem for the target audience.
Do partnerships help grow newsletters?
Yes. Partnering with creators who share the same audience but offer different expertise can dramatically accelerate subscriber growth.
