Valentina Akpan: Founder of Rellatech, providing administrative and operations support to executives, founders, business owners and teams. Her background combines technical support, customer success, administration and operations.
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The Starting Point
The client is a published author with an existing website and a Kit (formerly ConvertKit) account already connected. The form codes were embedded on the site, and changes made inside Kit did appear on the website, so the plumbing was in place. The problem was that the email system behind the forms was incomplete, and the most important flow, the advance reader (ARC) application, was not safe to leave on autopilot.
The author needed a specialist to correct the setup, finish the automations, style the embedded forms so they stopped displaying as oversized boxes, and test every route end to end before the next book launch. This was not a beginner project and not a website redesign. It was a focused Kit build with strict rules around who receives the book and when.
What I Did
I mapped the three signup paths first: the general newsletter, the bonus content form that delivers a PDF and adds the reader to the newsletter, and the ARC application. The newsletter path only needed light polish. The bonus content path needed the delivery email and the newsletter add-on wired correctly so a reader receives the PDF once and then joins the ongoing list. The ARC path was rebuilt from the ground up because the book must not go out to an applicant without a review.
For the ARC flow, the application form only tags the subscriber as an applicant. Nothing else happens until I add a single approval tag by hand after the author reviews the application. That approval tag is the entry trigger for the delivery automation, which sends the book PDF link and starts the branching reminder logic. This keeps the approval step simple enough for the author to manage on her own after handoff.
I added a Kit link trigger on the book PDF link so every click is recorded as a tag on the subscriber. The branching automation uses that click as the switch. Readers who have not clicked the link receive a short series of timed reminders that stop when the click tag is applied. Readers who have clicked move onto a separate timed review-reminder route. A click shows the reader opened the link; it does not confirm the book was downloaded or read. Every branch has stop conditions written into it, and in the test runs each route stopped when the next tag was applied.
For review confirmation, I built a Google Form to Zapier to Kit connection. When a reader submits the form, Zapier tags them in Kit as having submitted the form, stops any remaining review reminders through Kit's automation stop conditions, and triggers a thank-you email. The form records that the reader says a review is posted; it does not check the review itself. The author does not have to do anything for that step.
The embedded forms on the site were displaying as oversized boxes. I corrected the styling inside Kit's form editor for the parts controlled there, and coordinated with the author's web developer on the small portion controlled by the site's CSS, so the forms now fit the page naturally on desktop and mobile. Finally, I ran end-to-end tests using test subscribers with temporarily shortened delays, walked every route (application, approval, delivery, no-click reminders, click, review reminders, confirmation, thank-you), then restored the real delays before handoff.
What Went Into the Build
Three signup paths, three flows
A general newsletter form, a bonus content form that delivers a PDF and adds the reader to the newsletter, and an ARC application form that has no delivery step of its own.
Manual approval for ARC applicants
The ARC application collects the reader's details but does not send anything until I add a single approval tag. That tag is the trigger that starts the book delivery automation, so the book is not sent until the application has been reviewed.
Subscriber tags organized by book title
Every tag is scoped to the specific book (applied, approved, sent, clicked, reviewed), so reader history carries cleanly into every future book launch without having to rebuild the structure from scratch.
Link trigger on the book link
A Kit link trigger records when the reader clicks the book PDF link. The click does not confirm the book was downloaded or read; it is the signal the branching automation uses to stop one route and start another.
Branching automation with stop conditions
Readers who have not clicked the link receive timed reminders that stop when the click tag is applied. Readers who have clicked move to a separate timed review-reminder route. In testing, each route stopped when the next tag was applied.
Google Form to Zapier to Kit for review confirmation
When a reader submits the review confirmation Google Form, Zapier tags them in Kit, stops the remaining reminders, and triggers a thank-you email. The form records that the reader says a review is up; it does not check the review itself.
Form styling cleanup
The embedded signup forms displayed as oversized boxes on the site. I corrected the styling inside Kit and coordinated with the web developer on the small portion controlled by site CSS, so the forms fit the page on desktop and mobile.
End-to-end testing with test subscribers
Every route was tested with test subscribers and temporarily shortened delays: application, approval, book delivery, no-click reminders, click, review reminders, review confirmation, and thank-you. Delays were restored before handoff.
Why It Matters
For an author, the ARC list is not just a mailing list. It is a curated group of readers who agreed to read an early copy and leave a review. If the book goes out automatically to anyone who fills the form, the value of the list collapses and so does the review pipeline. The manual approval tag protects that, without forcing the author to log in and send anything herself.
The reminder logic matters for the same reason. Nothing damages an author's relationship with early readers faster than a "did you get the book?" email arriving three days after they already downloaded it, or a review reminder landing after they already left one. Every branch was built so that when the tag for a reader's next step is applied, the reminders for the previous step stop. That is what the test-subscriber runs showed.
The point of a Kit build for an author is not more emails. It is fewer wrong emails, and one clean approval step the author can manage between books.
Tools Used
Who This Is For
This case study is worth reading if you are:
- ●A published author running Kit or ConvertKit with an ARC or bonus content flow that has to stay under manual review
- ●Running any application-based signup where the person cannot automatically receive the deliverable
- ●Using timed reminder sequences and losing readers because the wrong reminder keeps firing after they already took action
- ●Connecting Google Forms to Kit through Zapier and needing a clean tag, stop, and thank-you flow
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