(YOUR WEEKLY NOTE FROM ANGELINE)

Hello Reader,

If you’re new here, welcome! In this newsletter, I write about lead gen systems for coaches and speakers to turn applause into prospects, and leads into future clients.

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I love doing something that most find draining: Auditing processes with my trusty checklist 😆!

My friend and fellow coach Sally Magee is launching her 31-Day Alcohol-Free Challenge. She's been diligently building her email list in Kit for over a year, and now she's automating the challenge sign-ups and daily emails. She wanted a thorough review before launching.

Sally found it very helpful, especially for peace of mind on the tech.
​So I thought I'd share my checklist with you too.

Once everything is built in Kit, here's how I conduct a thorough audit.

I take a two-pronged approach:

1) First, we create a test user and sign up as a participant to confirm the user experience. 2) At the same time, we're also checking Kit to ensure the steps are actually completed as expected.

Landing page

• Form submissions: are sign-ups successful and are the new emails showing up in Kit?
• Tagging: are participants labeled accordingly so we can send them Challenge emails?
• Friendly URL: is the landing page URL indicative of the challenge (and not a series of system-generated random numbers)
• Subscribers double opt-in setting: do we want to put people through the 2-steps process to sign up for the Challenge? (I normally recommend against this)
• Payment page: does payment transaction work? Hot tip: to test payment, create a 100% off coupon code.
• Confirmation page: Is there a message to let participants know what to expect next?

Email Sequence

• Onboarding series: are there emails leading up to Day 1 of the challenge to create excitement and energy?
• Email series content: are all 31 days of emails created with the right copy? Are the links working? Do emails look good on mobile?
• Timing for first email: when should the first email go out?
• Intervals for subsequent emails: are the subsequent emails set to send out 1 day after the previous email?
• Email status: are emails published/set to active?

Automation

• Criteria for triggering automation: what will trigger the automated email series to send? For a challenge, this is usually the tag that is added to participants when they sign up, and the challenge start date.
• Challenge completion: are participants tagged when the challenge is completed?
• Automation status: is it set to active?

Testing

Landing page testing can be done in minutes, but testing the daily emails can be more time-consuming. Here's a pro-tip on how to compress testing time:

• Temporarily change the email sending intervals from "daily" to "hourly", then let all the challenge emails run on autopilot without manual intervention.
• After testing is complete, remember to reset the intervals to "daily".

Promotion

• How is the challenge being promoted? Social media, email signatures, word of mouth?
• Promote to "Clickers": Are you tracking subscribers who clicked on the challenge promotion links in your emails? These are readers who have shown interest in the challenge. Consider sending targeted promotional emails to the "clickers".
• Add-to-Calendar: Consider using an Add-To-Calendar app like AddEvent and adding the links to the challenge onboarding emails.

Reusable parts

Many of the elements can be reused for future challenges with some minor tweaking. Though the list below is specific to Kit, the main idea is to document this now—not 5 months later when you've forgotten everything.

• Rules
• Snippets
• Automation
• Email templates and sequence

Sally and I ran through the checklist in just one hour. We reviewed, confirmed, tweaked, and tested her Kit configurations.

Now she has peace of mind that her Dry January Challenge sign-ups and automated emails can work in the background while she does what she does best: coaching people to go alcohol-free.

If you're launching a challenge, workshop, or event and want the tech handled right, hit reply to this email and let's talk.

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Let's talk newsletters for a minute

Now, that's pretty advanced stuff. Sally didn't start off building a challenge using Kit right off the bat.

She started by building her email list and sending a newsletter consistently. That foundation meant when she was ready to launch her Dry January Challenge, she already had people to email.

That's the power of a newsletter. It's about staying in touch, staying top-of-mind, and also having a direct line to your audience when you're ready to launch something.

Which brings me to this: I've got something cooking for 2026

"Build your First Newsletter" workshop

I run a hands-on workshop for coaches and speakers called "Build Your First Newsletter." The workshop has always been virtual, but in 2026 I'm looking to add an in-person session in the St. Louis area. Timing is around late January or early February.

If you're interested in either the virtual or in-person option, I'd love for you to join the waitlist. People on the waitlist will get first access to dates and best pricing.

→ Click here to join my 2026 newsletter workshop waitlist.

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Hubby and I went on a quick weekend trip to Starved Rock State Park (near Chicago) and we got lucky with several inches of snow!

I know I grew up in the tropics 🔆, but I love snow ❄️!

So grateful you're here. You'll get one more email from me next week to close out the year.

Until then, happy holidays!

May your strengths be with you always, Angeline Soon I help coaches and speakers turn applause into leads. Email marketer | CliftonStrengths Coach | IT project management. Are we connected? Send me a LinkedIn connection request!

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P.S. If your 2026 goals include starting a newsletter, don't forget to join the waitlist!