How Valerie’s Email List Is Fueling Her Growth—and What You Can Borrow From Her Strategy

Let’s talk about one of the sneakiest roadblocks to growth.

You’re doing all the things—making great products, sending solid emails, running some ads, showing up on Instagram—and yet…
Your sales are stuck.

Not terrible. But not growing either.

That’s where Valerie DeVito found herself.

She runs Gilded Olive Apothecary, a handmade soap and candle brand with a roaring 1920s vintage flair. She’s a solo founder, a three-time Reliable Revenue alum, and a longtime Inner Circle member.

So trust me—this woman does the work.

When we sat down for a coaching session, Valerie told me her big goal:

“I want to double my sales this year.”

She’s got the systems. She’s got the voice.
But she didn’t yet have the volume.

And once we dug into her numbers?
It was clear exactly what was holding her back.

Let’s break it down—because if you’ve been stuck at the same sales plateau for longer than feels good, you’ll want to steal these insights.

The Real Problem Wasn’t Sales. It Was New Customers.

Valerie’s email marketing is strong.
73% of her total sales come from email. Her welcome flow works. Her popup converts. Her list is warm.

So what was the issue?

Too many returning customers. Not enough new ones.

64% of Valerie’s sales were coming from repeat buyers.

That’s amazing retention—but a red flag when it comes to growth.
If you want to scale, you’ve got to bring in fresh eyes. And that starts with email list growth.

But not just any growth.

Valerie’s a big-time list cleaner, so she needs a steady stream of engaged new subscribers—not giveaway chasers who ghost when they find out they didn’t win.

Step One: Get Specific About the Goal

The first thing we did was ditch the vague goal of “grow my list.”

Valerie’s real number?
Grow her engaged list from 1,300 to 2,000.

That gave us clarity.
And it gave us something to track.

Once you have that number, everything else gets easier.

Step Two: Double Down on What’s Already Working

This is where most store owners get stuck.
You’ve done the hard part—built the flows, made the products, run the programs—but then you don’t know what to do with it all.

Here’s what we found in Valerie’s setup:

✅ Her main popup:

5.04% submit rate
Offer: $5 off your first purchase
Solid performance—but limited by site traffic.

✅ Her Instagram link-in-bio landing page:

33.61% submit rate
Same $5 offer—just a different path.
But she was only posting about it 2–3 times every 12 weeks.

Fix: Post about it once a week. Minimum.
Same CTA: “Check the link in bio to get $5 to spend.”

People won’t get sick of it. Most of them barely know you exist.

✅ Her gated sales page:

77.13% opt-in rate
This is a page that teases sale products—but requires an email address to unlock them.
It’s exclusive. It’s simple. And it converts.

But again—Valerie was only promoting it during sales events.
That means maybe one week a month was doing all the heavy lifting.

Fix: Promote it weekly, whether there’s an event or not.
Make it a standing feature. “See what’s new in the retired collection” or “Unlock this week’s sale picks.”

Step Three: Try a Few Smart Tests

There were a few other opportunities hiding in plain sight:

A blog post with SEO potential

Valerie has a post on “1920s Relationships” that gets organic traffic.
So we added a flyout form with a giveaway offer. But the submit rate was only 2.8%.

Here’s what to test next:

• Run an engagement ad to the blog post
  
• Use a curiosity-driven hook (“Ever wonder what dating was like in the Roaring Twenties?”)
  
• Try swapping the giveaway for the $5 offer
  
  

You don’t need a whole quiz funnel or new opt-in strategy.
Just find where people are already paying attention—and make the signup irresistible.

Step Four: Track What Actually Matters

Valerie had run a 1-in-100 giveaway and brought in 626 subscribers in just one week.
But here’s the kicker—she hadn’t set up her Klaviyo report to show new customer sales.

So we couldn’t see how many of those 600+ people actually bought.

Don’t skip this step.
Before you go hunting for new leads, make sure you’re tracking:

• Who’s signing up
  
• Who’s converting
  
• What entry point they came from
  
  

That’s how you stop spinning your wheels.

Why Reliable Revenue Made This Possible

Let’s be honest: Valerie didn’t get to this point by winging it.

She’s been through Reliable Revenue [Link] three times.
She’s done the work.
She’s implemented every single play—popups, welcome flows, gated pages, lead gen promos, weekly campaigns.

That’s why this coaching call was possible.
Because the system was already built.

All we had to do was find the levers to pull.

Want to Grow Like Valerie? Here’s What to Do Next.

If you want to double your sales this year, it’s not about finding the next shiny tactic.
It’s about turning up the volume on what’s already working.

Here’s how to start:

• Pick a specific list growth number. Make it measurable.
  
• Audit your current entry points. Where are people opting in? What’s converting?
  
• Post more often about your best offers. Repetition wins.
  
• Use your Klaviyo reports. Look at what’s driving new customer sales.
  
• And if you don’t have a system yet—get one.
  
  

That’s what Reliable Revenue is.
A repeatable, flexible system that grows your list and turns subscribers into customers. If you’re ready for this type of marketing engine behind your business, Reliable Revenue starts soon. Get on the waitlist, CLICK HERE

RELATED LINKS:

Check out the landing page that converts at 33%: https://www.gildedolive.com/pages/subscribe-here

Valerie’s website: www.gildedolive.com

Make your business run without you. Here’s how. https://www.thesocialsalesgirls.com/blog/make-your-business-run-without-you-heres-how-episode-201

How to 2x Hayley's Online Sales https://www.thesocialsalesgirls.com/blog/how-to-2x-hayleys-online-sales-episode-296

Louise is getting sales. How does she build a profitable business? https://www.thesocialsalesgirls.com/blog/louise-is-getting-sales--how-does-she-build-a-profitable-business-episode-297