47% of Her Sales Come from Email—But That’s Not the Impressive Part

Melanie’s been in business for 16 years.

She handcrafts magnetic beaded jewelry and sells it online through her store, Beads in Style. She’s not “everywhere.” She’s not chasing trends. And she’s not trying to grow at lightning speed.

What she is doing?
Making smart, intentional moves—and making them count.

When we sat down recently to look at where her business is right now, I was honestly blown away. Her numbers weren’t just good. They were the kind of numbers I wish more store owners actually knew about their business.

But I’ll get to that.

The reason I’m sharing this story now is because we’re getting ready to open the doors again to Reliable Revenue—our step-by-step system for setting up a profitable, scalable email marketing engine that runs in the background and brings in sales consistently.

Melanie’s done the program three times.

She didn’t just go through the motions. She built the whole system, piece by piece—and now she’s running a business with actual breathing room.

Here’s how that looks in real life.

First, Let’s Talk About the Goal

When I asked Melanie, “If you could change one thing in your business between now and January 1st, what would it be?”

She didn’t hesitate.

“I’d like to get my email list growing. I’d like to…have it full of people that are really engaged and really are my people.”

Smart. And completely doable.

Right now, her list brings in 47% of her total revenue. So every new subscriber she adds is likely to become a customer.

But when she said she wanted to grow her list from 300 to 750 new leads a month, she immediately wondered if that’s realistic.

This is the moment where most people either:

• Shrink the goal to something “safer,” or
  
• Inflate the goal without checking the math
  
  

But here’s the beauty of having real numbers to work with. You can stop guessing.

What the Numbers Showed Us

Melanie’s currently getting about 300 new subscribers per month. Most of those are coming from an evergreen giveaway (more on that in a minute).

She’s spending about $2,400 a year on Facebook ads—not lead ads, just basic brand awareness and product views.

And guess how many leads she’s brought in this year?

About 2,400.

So her cost per lead is $1.

No spreadsheets. No fancy attribution. Just divide your total ad spend by your total new subscribers.

If Melanie wants to double her leads, it might cost her another $450/month. She just has to decide if it’s worth it.

That’s what clarity looks like.

Now Let’s Peek Behind the Curtain

When I looked inside her email setup—her forms, flows, campaigns, and list health—it was clear she’s not just getting leads. She’s getting sales.

Here’s what’s working right now:

The Evergreen Giveaway Popup

This is the first opt-in people see on her site. It’s a reliable workhorse.

• Opt-in rate: 9%
  
  
• Revenue per subscriber: $1
  
• System: Cleaned monthly—unopens are removed
  
  

And yes, it still works, even after all this time. She keeps her list clean by dropping the dead weight monthly.

“I keep a segment that shows me who has not opened a single email since they signed up… I will clear them off, clean that outta my list… If they don’t even open the announcement of the winner—I don’t see the point in keeping them in.”

The Gated Clearance Page

This one’s brilliant.

She hides her clearance section behind an email opt-in. If you’re not on her list, you can’t see it.

• Opt-in rate: 58%
  
• Revenue per subscriber: $1
  
• Promotion: Occasionally mentioned on Facebook—but not advertised (yet)
  
  

Right now, this form converts like crazy, but she’s not actively driving traffic to it. We flagged this as a huge opportunity.

Exit Intent Popup

This is the popup that appears when a shopper is about to leave the site.

• Opt-in rate: 13.6%
  
• Revenue per subscriber: $20
  
  

Yep. $20.

But... she’s not getting enough people to see it. Based on her traffic (~5,000 visitors/month), this form should be collecting way more signups.

Product Page Signup

This one caught me by surprise—it’s genius, but I don’t see a lot of store owners using it.

Melanie added an opt-in for 15% off right on the product page. It sits below the product description right now, but we’re testing moving it above the Buy button to catch high-intent shoppers.

• Opt-in rate: 3.5%
  
• Revenue per subscriber: $7
  
  

It’s easy to overlook these bonus opt-ins—but they often bring in the highest-quality leads.

Why All This Matters

When we looked at all her forms together, here’s what we saw:

Nothing is broken.
Every opt-in is doing its job—and doing it well.

What’s missing isn’t strategy. It’s scale.

And that’s a very good place to be.

The question isn’t “What should I fix?”
It’s “What should I double down on?”

That’s the Reliable Revenue mindset. And it’s exactly what we teach.

So Where Does She Go From Here?

Here’s the plan we mapped out:

✅ Option 1: Increase ad spend

Melanie’s leads are converting. If she simply puts more traffic through the system, she’ll likely hit her goal.

✅ Option 2: Promote the gated page

Right now, it’s mostly organic. But she’s going to test:

• New messaging angles (exclusivity, scarcity, urgency)
  
• Tracking click-through rates
  
• Turning the best-performing posts into low-cost ads
  
  

✅ Option 3: Move the product page opt-in

We’ll test placing the signup right under the Buy button to catch high-intent visitors who don’t scroll.

✅ Option 4: Collaborations

Melanie’s joining our Brand Collab Bootcamp in September.
It’s a plug-and-play system for partnering with other store owners who share your customer base (not your products).
Think joint giveaways, list swaps, and shared promotions—with built-in tracking.

Like so many store owners, she had doubts at first. She thought her product was too niche to successfully team up with another shop. 

“When people think about collaborating, they think about the product. The real trick is to think about the buyers.”

Your customers are buying all sort of products that aren’t yours. Find out who they’re buying from, and you’ve got a long list of potential collaborators.

This Is What It Looks Like When Email Works

Reliable Revenue isn’t a “quick-win” course. It’s a system. You build it once, tweak as you go, and it keeps working.

Melanie didn’t launch a new product every month. She didn’t double her ad spend.
She set up a clean, high-performing email system—and now she’s in control of her sales.

Not just hoping for orders.
Not trying to “post more.”

She’s building a business that works without her constantly working it.

Want to set up your own Reliable Revenue system?

We’ll be opening the doors again soon.
Make sure you're on the waitlist so you don’t miss it: https://www.thesocialsalesgirls.com/reliable-revenue

RELATED LINKS

Check out Melanie’s website here: https://beads-n-style.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

A year of results that will shock you: https://www.thesocialsalesgirls.com/blog/a-year-of-results-that-will-shock-you-episode-120