sales-skills/sales-sparkloop

SparkLoop Platform Help

Step 1 — Gather context

If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.

Ask the user:

1. Which SparkLoop feature are you working with?

   • A) Referral program — subscriber rewards for sharing
   • B) Paid recommendations — earn money recommending other newsletters
   • C) Partner program — get other newsletters to recommend yours
   • D) Free recommendations — unpaid cross-promotion
   • E) Upscribe — post-opt-in recommendation widget
   • F) API / webhooks / custom integration
   • G) Not sure — describe your goal

2. What ESP are you using?

   • A) Kit (ConvertKit)
   • B) Mailchimp
   • C) ActiveCampaign / HubSpot / Klaviyo
   • D) MailerLite / Brevo / other
   • E) Custom integration via API

3. What's happening?

   • A) Setting up for the first time
   • B) Something isn't working right
   • C) Want to optimize / earn more
   • D) Exploring whether SparkLoop is right for me

Skip-ahead rule: if the user's prompt already contains enough context, skip to Step 2.

Step 2 — Route or answer directly

| Problem domain | Route to | |---|---| | Newsletter monetization strategy (not SparkLoop-specific) | /sales-newsletter {user's question} | | Growing subscriber list (strategy, not SparkLoop setup) | /sales-audience-growth {user's question} | | Affiliate program design (general) | /sales-affiliate-program {user's question} | | ESP-specific setup (Kit, Mailchimp, etc.) | /sales-kit, /sales-mailchimp, etc. | | Email deliverability issues | /sales-deliverability {user's question} |

When routing to another skill, provide the exact command.

Step 3 — SparkLoop platform reference

Read references/platform-guide.md for the full platform reference — modules, pricing, integrations, data model, workflows.

Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.

If the question involves the API, also read references/sparkloop-api-reference.md for endpoint details, webhook payloads, and authentication.

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Focus on the user's specific situation.

• Referral programs: Start simple — 1 reward tier at 3 referrals, digital reward (exclusive content or discount). Add tiers once you see engagement data. Monitor for fraud (same-IP referrals, disposable emails).
• Paid recommendations: Optimize by testing recommendation placement (post-opt-in vs in-email vs both). Higher-quality lists with US/UK/CA subscribers earn significantly more.
• Partner programs: Two tiers — Optimized starts at $100/mo, Custom at $2K/mo minimum. Set strict engagement criteria (30-day open required) to avoid paying for disengaged subscribers.
• Upscribe: Enable auto-pilot for hands-off recommendation matching. Pass country_code in API calls — earnings depend on subscriber geography.

If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.

Gotchas

Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about plan-gated features and integration gotchas that may be outdated.

1. Referral Programs are closed to new SparkLoop users (as of 2026) — existing programs still run, but new referral programs now go through Kit (ConvertKit)'s Creator Network. Historically a $2K/year add-on (free for Kit Creator Pro).
2. Partner Program has two tiers — Optimized at $100/month minimum and Custom at $2,000/month minimum (these are budget allocations, not flat fees). The old "$2K/month minimum" is now just the Custom tier.
3. Geo-restrictions on paid recommendations — most advertisers only pay for US, UK, and Canada subscribers. Non-English audiences earn significantly less.
4. Lead quality varies in Partner Network — monitor new subscriber engagement closely. Set engagement criteria (e.g., must open within 30 days) to filter low-quality referrals.
5. SparkLoop doesn't work with Ghost, Substack, or Flodesk — these platforms lack the API access SparkLoop needs.
6. Referral tracking issues — test referral links in incognito mode. Some email clients strip tracking parameters. The help center troubleshooting covers common tracking failures.
7. Acquired by Kit (ConvertKit) in 2023 — still works with 25+ ESPs, but deepest integration is with Kit.

• Self-improving: If you discover something not covered here, append it to references/learnings.md with today's date.

Related skills

• /sales-newsletter — Newsletter monetization — paid subscriptions, sponsorships, ad sales, paid recommendations
• /sales-audience-growth — Growing your subscriber list — lead magnets, cross-promotion, referral programs
• /sales-affiliate-program — Design and manage affiliate and referral programs
• /sales-kit — Kit platform help (deepest SparkLoop integration)
• /sales-paved — Paved platform help (newsletter sponsorship marketplace)
• /sales-buttondown — Buttondown platform help
• /sales-ghost — Ghost platform help
• /sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do

Examples

Example 1: Setting up a referral program

User says: "I want to set up a referral program for my newsletter on Mailchimp — how do I connect SparkLoop?" Skill does: Walks through Mailchimp integration (2-click setup), referral program configuration, reward tier design, and embedding the referral widget in emails Result: User has a working referral program with rewards configured and tested

Example 2: Low earnings from paid recommendations

User says: "I'm only earning $0.50 per recommendation — other people say they get $2-5" Skill does: Checks subscriber geography (likely non-US heavy), recommendation placement, and list engagement. Recommends optimizing for US/UK/CA subscribers and testing post-opt-in widget placement Result: User understands why earnings are low and has a plan to improve CPR

Example 3: Partner program ROI

User says: "Is the $2K/month partner program worth it for a 5K subscriber newsletter?" Skill does: Calculates expected subscriber acquisition cost vs alternatives, explains engagement criteria to ensure quality, compares to Beehiiv Boosts and Kit Creator Recommendations Result: User can make an informed budget decision with realistic growth projections

Troubleshooting

Referral link not working for some subscribers

Symptom: Some subscribers see the referral widget but their referrals aren't being tracked Cause: Email clients (especially Apple Mail Privacy Protection and Outlook) can strip or modify tracking parameters in URLs Solution: Check SparkLoop's troubleshooting guide. Test in incognito. Ensure the referral link uses SparkLoop's hosted hub URL rather than a custom domain with redirect issues. Verify ESP merge tags are rendering correctly.

Subscriber hit referral milestone but didn't get reward

Symptom: Subscriber made X referrals but the reward email never sent Cause: Referred subscribers may not have confirmed (double opt-in pending), or referrals were flagged as fraudulent (same IP, disposable emails) Solution: Check the subscriber's referral count in SparkLoop dashboard — "pending" referrals don't count toward milestones. Review the fraud prevention settings. Manually trigger the reward if it was a false positive.

ESP sync taking too long

Symptom: Subscriber data not appearing in SparkLoop after connecting ESP Cause: Initial sync depends on list size — large lists (50K+) can take hours Solution: Wait 24 hours for initial sync. If still incomplete, disconnect and reconnect the integration. Check SparkLoop's help article "How long will syncing my ESP with SparkLoop take?" for platform-specific timelines.