by Sarah Philipp, Nudge Coach
Nothing is more frustrating than pouring your time, heart and money into your programs only to end up underwhelmed with engagement. Thankfully, there are a few easy ways we can leverage content-based programs to keep users engaged while still freeing up your time to work on other things.
Create Specific Content
You might be thinking “specific to whom? I’m trying to scale my business!” Yes, this will help you scale your business more than a catch-all generic program.
We know we need to start with well-structured, valuable, and informative content. Next step is to take that content and have it speak to specific client personas and their unique pain points. Since we’re not leaning on coaching to make sure the content is relevant to the client’s life, we need to lean on targeted programming. This is how we can personalize without customizing, and participants are more likely to engage with a program that feels personal to them.
One of the easiest ways to make this happen is by duplicating a sequence to create a few versions of your program that each speaks to a different pain point of your target client persona. For example, a “Use Your Time Wisely” time management course may or may not keep a participant hooked. However, a “Use Your Time Wisely: Starting a Business as an Expat in your 60s”. Now, that has a hook. Try being an expat in your 60s trying to start a business and not stay glued to this course from beginning to end! No way. It’s made for YOU - or at least feels like it is.
These participants are more likely to stay engaged because where else are they going to find information this relevant without paying or making time for one-on-one coaching.
We call this your “Alignment Program(s)”, and there are a lot of great reasons to make one.
Outline Your Course and Objectives
Clearly communicating what our students will learn and achieve by the end of the course is not only important when getting folks to sign up for our program, but also another great way to increase engagement.
Knowing what to expect helps our participants stay motivated and focused on their goals. Let’s take a look at some examples of how we can map out or course.
First, I’m going to use an example from MasterClass. Although Ken Burns isn’t using Nudge (yet!), this is a nice example of how we can break down the details of a course in order to increase engagement. People know exactly what they can expect from this course, and will be mentally dog-earing the information they don’t want to miss.
Another example of this is with our own course “How to Nudge”. We’ve offered prospective participants a rundown of what will be covered and how, as well as who will be covering it.
Make your Content Interactive and Engaging with Visuals and Design
None of us want to look at walls of text day after day. That gets boring. Instead, incorporate various kinds of content like videos, quizzes, interactive exercises, and assignments. Utilizing as many of the different card components as possible keeps our courses dynamic and appeals to different kinds of learners.
Here are a couple of examples of cards that use many different components. We also cover this in an Office Hours recording on how to make your cards pop.
Community
Participants can interact with each other, ask questions, and offer encouragement in a community. You’ll still need to monitor the forum, but it’s a much more scalable way to create engagement than 1:1 coaching. You can also assign group projects in the community to encourage participation and discussion.
Another reason to make it clear during our onboarding for participants to turn on their push notifications so they won’t miss content or community happenings.
In addition to your community, try adding a leaderboard as a way to “gamify” your program. Prizes can be given to winners as an extra incentive.
Zapier Integrations
You might be thinking “how can I streamline onboarding and follow ups for these alignment programs”? Great question. Zapier can help us with both of these things. You’re able to integrate triggers like someone purchasing your program in Stripe with the action of sending them an invitation to that program in the Nudge platform.
Set filters to get folks on the right path (literally - there’s a Zapier feature called “Paths” for doing this).
Use delays for emails that align with where they are in the program.
*keep in mind that Zapier is not a HIPAA compliant platform, so use it accordingly.
Remember that every online course is unique, so you may need to experiment with different strategies and adapt them to your specific audience's preferences and needs. Evaluate your engagement regularly, and don’t be afraid to try new and different versions.
Final Thoughts
While keeping your users engaged with content only can be challenging, it’s a great way to scale your business. If that feels intimidating or like it’s not the right fit for your clientele, try a combination of coached and coachless programming. There are so many possibilities!
What are some of the ways you use the Nudge platform to provide value for your users?
While keeping your users engaged with content only can be challenging, it’s a great way to scale your business.