What if you could add over 300 people to your email list in a single month without running a single ad, creating anything from scratch, or spending more than a week on execution?
In this solo episode, Dr. Sapphire breaks down the exact collaboration strategy she used in March 2026 to grow her list by 307 people, using the International Women's Day as the hook, eight community partners as the distribution channel, and a free bundle she already had sitting in her email marketing school.
This is the full behind-the-scenes breakdown, numbers, data, what worked, what she would do differently, and exactly how you can replicate it for your own brand.
INSIDE THIS EPISODE
Why list growth has to be intentional and what it looks like when you actually plan it
The collaboration outreach strategy that turned 11 messages into eight successful partnerships
How she productized existing content into a high-value free bundle without creating anything new
What the landing pages looked like and the conversion rates that surprised even her
The audience data she collected from 307 cold leads and what it revealed about who is looking for
email marketing help
The friction mistake that cost her signups and how she would fix it next time
What she tracked, what she missed, and the metrics she wishes she had from the start
Why leveraging a season, a day, or a moment is one of the most underused list growth strategies
How to turn a one-off collaboration into a long-term brand partnership that keeps growing your list
NEW: The Email Clinic is open!
If this episode got you thinking about your email marketing, imagine having a community where you can get help 24/7. The Email Clinic is where freelancers and service providers come to start, grow, and sharpen their email marketing skills together. Live copy reviews, live training, community chats and more.
👉 Join us here: https://sapphirelearninghub.nestuge.com/
EPISODE TIMELINE ⏱️
[00:51] – Introduction: how Dr. Sapphire grew her list by 307 people without ad spend
[01:07] – Why list growth must be intentional and the question she gets asked most
[01:41] – The International Women's Day idea and how it started
[03:03] – How she productized existing content into the Email Marketing Career Bundle
[03:56] – The outreach process: 11 messages, 9 yeses, 8 collaborations
[04:37] What the cold outreach email actually looked like and the reply that came back
[08:31] – The infrastructure: landing page, Google Drive assets, captions, and graphics
[11:46] – The numbers: 307 signups, two landing pages, and conversion rates of 40% and 48%
[13:57] – Audience insights: who signed up, where they came from, and what they struggled with
[16:05] – Geography: Nigeria, US, Ghana, UK, Kenya, Finland, Brazil and more
[18:29] – What she would do differently: deeper alignment, less friction, more tracking
[20:15] – The email metrics for this new cold audience: 32.76% open rate, 4.79% click rate
[21:09] – The 12% drop-off rate and what it means for list quality
[24:45] – Why leveraging a season or international day is one of the smartest list growth moves
[25:47] – The importance of vision and message alignment to get partnership
CONNECT WITH US
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.sapphire_/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayebanoabenwari/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@dr.sapphire_
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/sapphirelearninghub/
Website: https://sapphirelearninghub.com/
