CASE STUDY: Symbol
60 days
28 min
to hit 100% funded
on launch day
$81K
raised in the first 20 days
of the campaign
9.5K
email subscribers, up from 5K before working together
CASE STUDY:
Symbol
60 days
28 min
to hit 100% funded
on launch day
$81K
raised in the first 20 days
of the campaign
9.5K
email subscribers, up from
5K before working together
THE CLIENT
Sofo Sarellis, Founder of Symbol
THE CLIENT
Sofo Sarellis, Founder of Symbol
THE CHALLENGE
Sofo was building Symbol — a startup sneaker brand designing anatomically shaped training footwear — almost entirely by himself, while working 70-hour weeks on a clinical rotation as a physical therapist.
THE CHALLENGE
Sofo was building Symbol — a startup sneaker brand designing anatomically shaped training footwear — almost entirely by himself, while working 70-hour weeks on a clinical rotation as a physical therapist.
“My time demand during my clinical rotation was pretty high. I was in the facility around 5:30, 6:00 in the morning and I wouldn't leave sometimes until 6:00 in the evening.”
- Sofo Sarellis, Founder of Symbol
Jake thought he was doing "okay" with email marketing — until a friend asked how often he actually emailed his list.
“I’d slap together a quick email whenever cash got tight. It was unsophisticated and irregular.”
SPECIFIC PROBLEMS
SPECIFIC
PROBLEMS
He had an email list of around 5,000 people signed up for VIP access, but no way to actually convert them. The reservation flow existed, but it wasn't getting used.
On top of the time crunch, email wasn't his skill set:
In his words, before working with GrowMyMail, Symbol's "email list, copy, and design was very, very, very basic."
He had an email list of around 5,000 people signed up for VIP access, but no way to actually convert them. The reservation flow existed, but it wasn't getting used.
“We knew we had a lot of people that had signed up but just didn't understand how to actually go through the VIP process... it was a one-click thing, but the way we had set it up just wasn't very fluid.”
On top of the time crunch, email wasn't his skill set:
“I don't have the expertise to constantly create campaigns and different emails and understand the strategies of how to get people to open, how to get people to actually purchase.”
In his words, before working with GrowMyMail, Symbol's "email list, copy, and design was very, very, very basic."
WHY HE CHOSE GMM
Sofo found GrowMyMail through Upwork around the end of January/beginning of February, while preparing for a Kickstarter launch and looking for help with email campaigns.
His biggest hesitations going in were whether an agency would actually understand a startup — not just "buy this now" messaging, but the longer trust-building journey a Kickstarter backer needs to go through before pledging:
He also wasn't sure an email specialist would have startup experience specifically:
Once he shared what he needed, that concern eased quickly.
Sofo found GrowMyMail through Upwork around the end of January/beginning of February, while preparing for a Kickstarter launch and looking for help with email campaigns.
His biggest hesitations going in were whether an agency would actually understand a startup — not just "buy this now" messaging, but the longer trust-building journey a Kickstarter backer needs to go through before pledging:
“It's not your typical like, 'hey, buy this now.' It's more taking a customer through a journey... they have to be bought into what you're trying to do as a brand, because you're not immediately getting a product.”
He also wasn't sure an email specialist would have startup experience specifically:
“One of the things that I was concerned with was, if we're working with an email marketing specialist — do they have any experience working with any startups?”
Once he shared what he needed, that concern eased quickly.
THE EXECUTION
THE EXECUTION
We built the campaign around Symbol's actual bottleneck: a warm but underutilized list that needed a reason — and a reminder — to act.
Key steps included:
Building a continuous reminder campaign that walked the existing 5K-person list through the one-click VIP reservation flow, instead of a single one-off blast
Writing copy and designing templates in Figma for Sofo to review and lightly revise, rather than build from scratch
Collecting reservation data (sizes, colorways, quantities interested) to hand off to the manufacturer ahead of the Kickstarter close
Taking subscribers through a story-driven journey — educating them on the product, the "why" behind the shoe, and what their reservation was actually for — rather than a single hard sell
Running consistent, async communication over Slack so Sofo always knew what was shipping and when
THE RESULTS
We built the campaign around Symbol's actual bottleneck: a warm but underutilized list that needed a reason — and a reminder — to act.
Key steps included:
Building a continuous reminder campaign that walked the existing 5K-person list through the one-click VIP reservation flow, instead of a single one-off blast
Writing copy and designing templates in Figma for Sofo to review and lightly revise, rather than build from scratch
Collecting reservation data (sizes, colorways, quantities interested) to hand off to the manufacturer ahead of the Kickstarter close
Taking subscribers through a story-driven journey — educating them on the product, the "why" behind the shoe, and what their reservation was actually for — rather than a single hard sell
Running consistent, async communication over Slack so Sofo always knew what was shipping and when
“As soon as we had gotten started, we dove right into the action plan... within just a couple of days, we already had some templates on Figma written out, and I had some time to review those, make some small revisions.”
THE RESULTS
First campaign: 80 reservations, instantly
Day one: funded in under 28 minutes
20 days: $81K raised
Against an internal goal of $60K, the campaign closed its first 20 days at roughly $81K raised — well past target, and well past the public Kickstarter goal of $10K.
1. Foundational Email System:
Built and optimized core flows for retention and repeat purchases
Ensured flows worked cleanly across multiple countries and languages
Established consistent sending after long inactivity
First campaign: 80 reservations, instantly.
“One of the first emails that you guys had sent out — we got something like 80 reservations on the spot. I just remember looking at my phone and seeing all the reservations coming in, and I was like, 'Oh my god, what just happened?”
Day one: funded in under 28 minutes.
“We were funded in less than 28 minutes, which was incredible to see.”
20 days: $81K raised.
Against an internal goal of $60K, the campaign closed its first 20 days at roughly $81K raised — well past target, and well past the public Kickstarter goal of $10K.
“We've gained something like $81,000 within our initial 20 days. Our day one, we absolutely crushed it.”
WHY IT WORKED
Symbol's list was already warm — the gap wasn't interest, it was follow-through. Sofo had the product story and the audience; what was missing was a system to consistently turn "signed up" into "reserved."
We plugged that into a repeatable, low-effort-for-Sofo process:
Continuous reminders instead of one-off sends
A journey-based sequence that educated backers instead of just pitching them
Data collection built into the flow, so the reservation process also fed the manufacturer
Fast async revisions over Figma + Slack, so Sofo's review time stayed minutes, not hours
WHY IT WORKED
Symbol's list was already warm — the gap wasn't interest, it was follow-through. Sofo had the product story and the audience; what was missing was a system to consistently turn "signed up" into "reserved."
We plugged that into a repeatable, low-effort-for-Sofo process:
Continuous reminders instead of one-off sends
A journey-based sequence that educated backers instead of just pitching them
Data collection built into the flow, so the reservation process also fed the manufacturer
Fast async revisions over Figma + Slack, so Sofo's review time stayed minutes, not hours
“Because I'm not an email expert or marketing specialist, you guys added your expertise into it — 'hey, we'll add this call-to-action button here, we think this is going to be more powerful.' And I was like, oh man, that's actually a great idea.”
WHAT SOFO LOVES ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP
WHAT SOFO LOVES ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP
Constant, clear communication over Slack
Fast turnaround on designs and copy via Figma
Didn't need to become an email expert himself
Freed up time to focus on manufacturing, school, and the Kickstarter page itself
Constant, clear communication over Slack
Fast turnaround on designs and copy via Figma
Didn't need to become an email expert himself
Freed up time to focus on manufacturing, school, and the Kickstarter page itself
“It was really helpful to work with a team because this is a bootstrap business. I've been doing this myself for a couple of years, and once you guys came in, it was like — alright, perfect, I have somebody who's willing to communicate, somebody who is focused on the goal.”
WHAT HE’D TELL OTHER BRANDS
WHAT HE’D TELL OTHER BRANDS
“Don't even second guess it. If you're somebody who's very busy, you have other priorities for your startup brand and you don't have the time — go right ahead, start working with GMM.
Your concerns are going to immediately be put at ease because you guys are going to handle it, and the communication is going to be there.”
WANT RESULTS LIKE THESE?
WANT RESULTS LIKE THESE?
Email is likely your most underutilized sales channel.
Symbol isn’t an exception — it’s proof of what’s possible.
Get a free audit + 90-day roadmap from GrowMyMail.
One day, or day ONE. You decide.
Email is likely your most underutilized sales channel.
Symbol isn’t an exception — it’s proof of what’s possible.
Get a free audit + 90-day roadmap from GrowMyMail.
One day, or day ONE.
You decide.
Let’s get introduced!
Stop the Cost Per Acquisition leak per customer. Warm your visitors up with emails that turn leads into loyalty.
In just a quarter-hour, you'll get clear next steps for driving steady and dependable online success for your business via email marketing.
Perfect for businesses ready to:
Scale beyond $50k/month.
Partner with a trusted email marketing team for the long term.
Leverage proven expertise and witness tangible, trackable results.
Let’s get introduced!
Stop the Cost Per Acquisition leak per customer. Warm your visitors up with emails that turn leads into loyalty.
In just a quarter-hour, you'll get clear next steps for driving steady and dependable online success for your business via email marketing.
Perfect for businesses ready to:
Scale beyond $50k/month.
Partner with a trusted email marketing team for the long term.
Leverage proven expertise and witness tangible, trackable results.
We make our partners an average of $1214.88 per day. Why wait to book a call till tomorrow?
