What’s up everyone,

This week I’m back with another newsletter helping you build, grow and monetise your podcast.

Content is the backbone of your podcast.

All the other stuff simply doesn’t matter if your content sucks.

Or as Alex Hormozi calls it, “sucky fluff”.

So I’m going to break down 5 key elements to improve your episodes flow, engagement and conversation.

On my show Kickoff Sessions, I average a 50% retention rate on all episodes released.

That means, for everyone who listens to an episode, 50% of them listen to the FULL episode all at once.

My episodes are frequently 90 minutes long, and 50% of listeners consume the full length of the episode.

Wild.

They don’t listen because of flashy marketing; they listen because of the content.

Here’s 5 ways you can improve your episodes retention:

1. High Impact Clips

I start every podcast with 3 high impact moments of the podcast. I select different segments that are 15 seconds at a maximum.

This spikes curiosity and interest in the content.

Users are bought in instantly and get a flavour for the episode.

We create an open loop in the viewers’ mind that needs to be satisfied by viewing more.

To spice it up, I like to add b-roll footage from the guest’s content to add more context.

2. Question Styles

I was guilty of double-barrelled questions for far too long.

These are questions with two, or even three, questions loaded on them. Example:

“How did that feel and what did you do next and what would you have done differently?”

Sounds silly.

But every podcast falls into this trap from time to time.

It completely derails the attention of guests and guess who else?

Yup, the listeners.

Instead, keep things short concise and on point. Example:

“How did you feel?”

In the book Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini, he mentions ‘What’s Focal is Causal’. Whatever is put in the center for an audience to view is going to be believed to be more important and casual to whatever is being discussed.

Therefore, to keep viewers, we want to focus our attention on one simple question at a time.

3. Bridge Topics

Every podcast, me included, does a complete handbrake turn between topics from time to time.

This is switching between two topics that have a low correlation.

Leaving the guest and the viewer confused and leading to lower retention. Example:

- Discussing scaling a business

- Switching to relationship advice

- There’s no link between the two topics.

Instead, you need to bridge the two topics together. Example:

- Discussing scaling a business

- BRIDGE: Affect of business on family members

- Switching to relationship advice

With the bridge, this is a natural conversation flow that makes sense.

Without it, it’s just a little strange, right?

4. Switch From Q&A to Conversation

The best podcasts don’t create a Q&A session, they guide conversations.

The goal is to turn the episode into a healthy conversation. This relaxes the guest as they feel the conversation is more balanced, rather than an interrogation.

Viewers feel like they’re at the table with you.

Guests even ask you questions from time to time.

That pattern interrupt is refreshing when the same style conversations are recorded again and again.

5. Opinions & Perspective

For a long time, I never added my opinion to podcasts.

It was clear - the engagement was low, and no one got to know me.

However, through experience, you form your own opinions, which add value to a conversation.

Every now and again, sprinkle in some ideas and opinions, even if it’s only a sentence or two.

Wrapping this together creates a powerful podcast that listeners want to sit down and listen to.

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That’s all for today everyone, see you next week internet friends!

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

→Schedule an Introduction Call: Voics is the straightforward podcast agency that creates, markets, and scales your podcast in a “done-for-you” model.

→Podcast Accelerator: Remove the stress, pressure and countless hours of growing a podcast. This comprehensive course will teach you the system I used to grow Kickoff Sessions and record with the sharpest minds in the world.

→Listen to Kickoff Sessions: Learn from 145+ entrepreneurs who have scaled businesses to millions in profit that will help you on your journey.