How this solopreneur uses email to build trust and fill seminars
Two decades into an engineering career, Olivier felt a pull in a different direction—toward something he was passionate about and that genuinely helped people.
He retrained and founded Voz Viva: a voice and singing school based in Spain that uses vocal exercises to help people heal emotionally, communicate better, and grow in confidence.
My disguise is to be a singing teacher, but my real aim is to fix people—curing their voice by curing the emotions stuck inside the body.
15 years in, Voz Viva runs seminars in Barcelona and Madrid, sells 13 online courses, and operates with exactly one employee: Olivier himself. He is the teacher, the CEO, the secretary, the accountant, and the marketing manager.
As the business's only employee, he needed tools that worked as hard as he did. MailerLite became the platform he runs his entire business on—from nurturing subscribers to selling his courses without a separate platform.
We sat with Olivier to learn more about his business and how MailerLite helps him.
Choosing email over social media from day one
From the very beginning, Olivier built his marketing strategy around two things he could own: his website and his mailing list. Social media never felt right to him.
I was not happy with putting my assets in Mark Zuckerberg's hands. It doesn't belong to me.
That decision has paid off in ways he didn't fully anticipate. His website draws in leads organically. His mailing list keeps them warm, sometimes for years.
Some people have been on the mailing list for seven years and come to their first seminar after seven years. If there is no mailing list and no regular activity, I will not get those customers.
For a business built on trust and personal transformation, this long-game approach makes sense. People need time to decide they're ready. Email gives them the space to take it, without the pressure of an algorithm deciding what they should see next.
Olivier uses the drag & drop editor to create newsletters, choosing formats, colors, and more.
Olivier runs a welcome sequence that introduces new subscribers to Voz Viva over weeks.
Olivier uses 5 to 6 subscriber segments across locations to send relevant emails.
Olivier uses this feature to consistently capture an extra 15 to 20% of total opens per send.
Why Olivier switched from Mailchimp to MailerLite
For years, Olivier relied on Mailchimp's free plan. When Mailchimp changed its free plan limits, he started looking for alternatives.
MailerLite stood out for its reputation, its usability as a sending platform, and its pricing. The results were immediate. After switching from Mailchimp to MailerLite, his open rate climbed from around 30% to 35%. Currently, it hovers at around 38%.
When I moved to MailerLite, I happily saw my open rate increase from 30% to 35%. And since then it has been maintained there, so it's not just a honeymoon effect.
For a solopreneur where every touchpoint matters, that difference is significant.
Migrating 13 courses in a couple of hours
Before MailerLite, Olivier paid for two separate platforms: one for email marketing and one to sell his online courses. When MailerLite introduced digital product selling, he decided to consolidate.
He had tried other course platforms before. Some had rigid image specification requirements. Others struggled to keep up with changing technical standards. The migration to MailerLite was different.
The process was seamless. It was virtually a couple of hours moving 13 online courses to MailerLite. I had my courses done, I had my descriptions, I copied from one place to the other and it was so easy.
Now, new customers discover him through his website, click a MailerLite product link, and buy directly. Post-seminar, he offers students discounted course access through Stripe.
Olivier no longer needs to manage separate platforms or reconcile two subscriber lists. Everything lives in one place.
A newsletter builder that he actually enjoys using
Olivier writes every email himself. He always has and always will. It is a matter of principle.
When I see the same email prepared by someone else, the energy is different. I prefer to go slower in growing my business but be myself.
That makes the tool he writes in matter. MailerLite's drag-and-drop newsletter builder is the feature he returns to most, and the one he is quickest to recommend.
The builder is very nice to use, very friendly. It's so easy to put whatever you want—the format, colors, and the text format.
For someone managing an entire business alone, that ease is not a small thing. It is what makes consistent, high-quality communication possible on a regular basis.
Sending the right message to the right person
With subscribers across Barcelona, Madrid, and online, each at a different stage of their journey, Olivier uses segmentation to make sure the right email reaches the right inbox.
He currently runs 5 or 6 segments. Barcelona beginners get messaging about what to expect from their first seminar. Barcelona regulars get a warmer, more direct tone. Madrid has its own equivalent segments. Advanced seminars go only to subscribers who are ready for them.
I saw from the start that overwhelming the leads will cause them to erase themselves from the mailing list. If I send emails every second week, many people will want to be deleted from the list.
His send frequency reflects this. He emails roughly once a month, sometimes every two months. Enough to stay present in their minds without overwhelming them.
I prefer to establish a relationship of trust. If they take 6 months to come, they'll take 6 months. I don't want to be obsessed with marketing and sucking people's money. I try to help my people so that they feel in a place where they are respected and they can breathe.
It's the same philosophy he brings to his teaching: respect people's pace, build genuine trust, and let the relationship develop naturally.
Automation that works efficiently in the background
Running a business solo means Olivier cannot manage every subscriber touchpoint by hand. Automation fills the gap.
When someone new subscribes, a welcome sequence kicks off automatically—a series of emails sent over the following weeks that explains what Voz Viva is, what makes it different, and what they can expect.
Automation to send emails after people register is quite a good tool. I'm using it less than I would like, but I really like it.
He also uses MailerLite's resend-to-non-openers feature consistently. When a campaign goes out and some subscribers miss it, a follow-up lands in their inbox with a refreshed subject line.
I use the resend feature a lot. The second email usually gets 15 to 20% of the total opens. It’d be a pity to miss it.
He applies some judgment here too. If a campaign performs unusually poorly, he skips the resend to protect list health. But as a general rule, it is one of his most reliable ways to extend the reach of every email.
What 15 years of email marketing taught Olivier
After more than a decade of sending, Olivier's most unexpected insight has nothing to do with promotions or product launches.
The highest open rate email was always the Happy New Year email. I was surprised! It's where I was selling nothing and just sending a warm message, but people were happy to read it.
The lesson he took from it: relationships come first, and people can tell when you mean it. He now occasionally adds a light commercial mention at the end of his non-promotional sends, but the principle holds across everything he does.
Voz Viva has grown not by pushing harder, but by showing up consistently, speaking authentically, and giving subscribers the time they need. Email, it turns out, is the perfect medium for exactly that.
Run your whole business from one place
Managing email, digital courses, automations, and subscriber relationships as a solopreneur doesn't have to mean juggling platforms. MailerLite brings it all together, without the complexity or the cost.
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