What if you could master a powerful technique that would keep your audience engaged with your content and watching/reading/listening all the way to the end?
If you’re creating content, then it’s essential to have your audience consume all of it and this technique is going to help you achieve just that.
Before we get to the details of this technique, let’s figure out if audience abandonment is a problem you need to solve. Your data holds the answers. If you’re sharing videos, look at your view percentage, if you’re podcasting, Apple data will show you how much of your show people listen to, and if you’re a blogger, compare your page view time with the average read time of your post.
There are two key reasons why you want people to stay engaged with your content. Firstly, the more of your content people consume, the more they value what you have to offer. The more they consume, the more they feel they know you and trust you as an expert, which makes it far more likely that they will connect with you, work with you, or buy from you. So, the more they consume, the more effective your content is. Woohoo!
The second reason why you want people consuming all of your content is because you’re probably putting your call to action at the end. A perfectly crafted call to action won’t matter if your audience abandons your content before they get to the end.
Now, let’s dive into the main topic of today’s blog post – how to get people to watch, listen, or read all the way to the end.
One powerful strategy is to use something called an “open loop.” The open loop requires you to start a discussion or an idea without providing the conclusion right away. For example, you might start telling a story, implying that there is an important lesson at the end, and then pause that story to provide additional information.
The power of this technique is that it builds curiosity and suspense. We’re all hardwired to want to get to the answer.
To use the open loop effectively in your content, you need to create enough suspense – the conclusion or information you are promising to share later needs to be something that the audience cares about. You also need to close the loop. Make sure you don’t get in the habit of leaving people hanging! Boooo!
The open loop is a mainstay in storytelling. Great movies, books, and TV shows use the power of suspense to keep the audience rapt.
To create enough suspense, you need to tease your audience with an exciting outcome and then take them on a detour. The conclusion or information you are promising to share later needs to be something that the audience cares about.
In this video, I give you an example where I share about a time when I was hanging, motionless on a wire in the middle of a very deep gorge with nobody to help me. I use the ‘open loop’ technique in telling this story so be sure to watch the video to see how I use it (and to find out how I made it to the other side!
To use the open loop effectively in your content, you need to create enough suspense, and the conclusion or information you are promising to share later needs to be something that the audience cares about. You also need to close the loop. Make sure you don’t get in the habit of leaving people hanging (no pun intended!)
So, if you want your audience to consume every word of your content, use the open loop to create curiosity and suspense and then close the loop to leave them satisfied and loving what you have to offer. Remember, not only will the get the full benefit of your content, you’ll also be much further along in building a relationship with them — which is exactly what you want as an entrepreneur.
I’d love to know if you already use this technique or if you’re excited to try it with your next blog, video or podcast. Comment here.