Substack recommendations can grow your list. They might also damage it.
Recommendations are one of the most powerful growth tools on the platform. They are also widely misunderstood. Here is the honest picture - including the data most writers never see.
I want to show you two sets of numbers from two newsletters I run.
The first newsletter has almost seven times as many recommendation subscribers as the second.
The second newsletter is performing significantly better.
Higher open rates. Higher engagement. Higher paid conversion.
Better in almost every metric that actually matters for building a newsletter business.
That gap is not a coincidence. It is the thing nobody tells you about Substack recommendations.
In This Issue
How recommendations actually work - and why the subscriber quality differs
Why recommendation subscribers behave differently from organic ones
When recommendations help and when they hurt
The right approach at each stage of growth
How to use recommendations without letting them damage your metrics