53 Newsletter Subscribers at $1.35 each... but I’m not sure I’ll ever do it again

Yesterday, I ran a solo ad for my public speaking newsletter and the results were astonishing… but not in the way you’d expect.

In case you’re wondering, a solo ad is when you pay a newsletter owner to send an email promoting your offer to their list.

I mostly target executives, founders, and consultants who give lots of presentations. So, I bought an ad from someone who runs a newsletter for people in finance and entrepreneurship.

Here’s how it went:

• I paid for 100 clicks (100 visitors to my newsletter signup page).

• The guy over-delivered and sent me 115 clicks.

• Out of those 115 visitors, 53 signed up for my newsletter, exchanging their emails for my 25-page lead magnet.

At first glance, it looked like I’d struck gold. I mean that’s a solid 46% opt-in rate!

For a couple of hours, I thought I’d unlocked the secret sauce.

But then… crickets.

Not one of those 53 new subscribers confirmed their email address.

I even updated my signup page mid-campaign to remind people to confirm their subscription, but still, nothing.

The number of new signups kept climbing, but no one confirmed their email.

It’s been two days now, and guess what? Still nothing.

What does this tell me?

Something smells fishy.

But before I throw in the towel, I’ve got one last trick up my sleeve.

On my signup page, I require people to tick a box agreeing to receive emails. It’s a little anti-spam measure that makes me think these signups might actually be real people.

I also know from my tracking links that most of them are based in the US.

So here’s the plan:

I tagged all these subscribers in my system when they signed up. Now, I’m going to send them a direct email asking them to:

1. Check for their confirmation email.

2. Confirm their subscription to access the lead magnet.

I’ll track the open rates to see if they engage.

If this works, I might consider running another solo ad.
If it doesn’t? It means I need to revise my process.

What about you?
Have you ever run a solo ad or considered trying one? I’d love to hear about your experience.