Hi there,

Remember last month when I yelled about all the ways I’m investing in my business this year? Well, the journey continues, and I’m sharing an update.

ICYMI, I’ll be sharing these monthly updates, as well as some behind-the-scenes footage to show you what dashboards look like, what’s working, what isn’t, and my honest reviews of whether the juice is worth the squeeze. 🍋

Beehiiv

Beehiiv* has been my most successful tool choice to date. This month, I migrated my Substack and Flodesk newsletters to Beehiiv, as well as Strange Salt’s list (the newsletter migration is in the works).

The migration process was fairly easy. Beehiiv has great documentation. I took two hours on a Friday and got everything set up.

I’m still working to understand some of the features (Automations! Segments! Ads! Oh My!) and navigating how best to serve paid subscribers given these changes.

You may have noticed I’m now sending a weekly email with a writing prompt (formerly published in Substack chat), which feels a bit overwhelming for me (AM I BOTHERING YOU?!). But it seems like these prompts are reaching you, and I can’t say the same for chats.

I merged my two newsletters of about 150 subscribers each into one. Naturally, my audience grew because of this merge. I thought it would shrink when I announced the change, but I got exactly ZERO unsubscribes with the announcement. My audience has grown by 8% in 17 days.

I’m not attributing all of this to the move, but I will say that because I’m excited about the platform and the way I’ve been able to use it, I’m talking about it more and investing more of my energy here.

It’s been technically difficult to get off of Substack. I now have a sign-up page that says “Don’t Subscribe Here” (hat tip to Lex Roman for that idea), and people continue to subscribe. I’m considering shutting it down altogether, but I’m worried about losing backlinks from other publications and notes.

Metrics I’m Tracking

• Subscriber Growth: 8% increase

• Audience Engagement: Open Rate - 62.84%; CTR - 8.65%

• Cost Savings: $23.28/mo (Cancelled two Flodesk subscriptions for $62.28 total; Subscribed to Beehiiv for $39.00)

• Revenue: No New Paid Subscribers

• Workflow Efficiency: Decreased due to new features, tools, and migration.

Next Steps

• Explore Tools and Features: I am continuing to explore Beehiiv’s capabilities and want to dig in on automations that can help convert free subscribers to Burnouts (especially because I have some events coming up!)

• Ad Testing: As a paid subscriber, you receive ad-free content. I am testing ads with a friend in March to see how they perform. This way, I can understand metrics and pitch additional partners and sponsors.

• Decide If I Should Delete My Substack Account

Senja

My Senja* implementation has also been successful, but maybe not as sexy as I’d hoped (is any tool as sexy as we dream of? Probably not).

It’s been great for displaying testimonials on my site and sharing them quickly for social content (Time-savings! We love it!), but I haven’t been able to tell if it’s moving the needle on decision-making.

I have been more aggressive about asking for testimonials because Senja makes it easy by providing a link I share with anyone I work with. I’ve included this link in all my client off-boarding communications (especially Brand Quick Fix clients!) and have seen a great adoption rate. I’ve also shared it when I do brief, in-kind consultations within communities. I did five 5-minute brand audits in Fractionals United, and 3 out of 5 of those people left positive reviews (the fourth and fifth had all great things to say but didn’t leave a review, which is fine).

The coolest thing about Senja is its Analyze feature. Using AI, Senja mines insights from customer reviews and turns them into key points I can use in messaging. This is gold! I’ve used this to update website copy, and one Brand Quick Fix client said they booked because “It felt like you were reading my mind!”

Metrics I’m Tracking

• Client Adoption: 50% of Clients Left a Testimony

• Impact on Conversion: One client (16% of my bookings in February) mentioned testimonials as a factor in her decision to book.

Next Steps

• Implement Senja for Brand Burnout: I want to include testimonials on my newsletter sign-up page. The first step will be sending out a request for testimony (and maybe building that into an automation here in Beehiiv).

• Include testimonials in proposals: This will be an ongoing task as I work to refine my processes and may switch proposal software this quarter.

• Stay the course: Keep asking for testimonials and evolve messaging according to my findings.

Warm Welcome

Warm Welcome has been the sexiest update to my brand but the least impactful. I don’t have much to say about it so far, and it’s worth noting that I’ve only scratched the surface. I’ll just come out and say it—I’m having buyer’s remorse.

I’ve also reached out to their team several times to talk about features and opportunities to work together (lots of folks have reached out to ask if I have an affiliate link—I don’t) and haven’t gotten a response.

While I am getting video views, the only conversations I’ve started are with folks I already know telling me it’s cool and testing it out themselves (no shade, these brighten my day!).

The videos are a great feature on my site, and several folks have mentioned them in our initial conversations. But they haven’t helped me capture any leads. I’ve only seen one “video watched” notification that I can directly tie to a Brand Quick Fix booking.

I think I can do a better job with the videos and use them as a tool to go deeper into my process. I also want to refine the calls-to-action and maybe figure out a way to give a freebie or sneak preview to my process for folks who respond to the videos.

Overall, I’m feeling meh about his investment. But I’m in it for the long haul (or at least the calendar year).

Metrics I’m Tracking

• Conversations Initiated: 3% of Plays (All conversations from business friends!)

• Conversions from Conversations: N/A

• Video Impressions: 2,841 Impressions

• Video Plays: 56 (or 5% of page views)

Next Steps:

• Updating Videos: I’d like to update my videos to be more in-depth and showcase my work and process. I’ll also update calls to action and would like to find a way to automate resource delivery for folks who respond to certain videos.

Thanks for tuning in to this update!