EPISODE 67 OF WHAT WOULD THEY DO? THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PODCAST FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
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Your audience is opening emails, watching the content, replying in the community and liking the posts.
So why does it still feel like nothing is actually moving forward?
In this bite-sized episode, I unpack a problem that affects memberships, courses, and online programs everywhere:
False momentum.
Because activity is not the same thing as progress.
And just because people are consuming your content doesn’t mean they’re taking action toward the transformation they actually joined for.
This episode explores the difference between engagement and real momentum, why relying on self-motivation is dangerous, and how to design experiences that naturally move people forward instead of keeping them busy.
What we cover:
The difference between fake momentum and real momentum
Why engagement metrics can be misleading
The hidden friction stopping customers from taking action
How to reduce decision fatigue inside your offers
Why self-motivation is not a reliable retention strategy
How to design experiences that naturally encourage continuation
Soundbites:
“Customer experiences combined with powerful messaging that taps into the language and the mindset your audience uses and is stuck in don’t rely on context and prior knowledge, they create clarity, trust and momentum right from the start. And when you intentionally design a customer journey, your audience just gets it because you’ve primed them in the lead up to that decision making point.”
“This question and the answer to it alone is going to give you a really good indication whether it’s the messaging and the positioning of your offer that needs to shift or whether the structure and the deliverables might have to change. Because often, your offer isn’t redundant. Often it’s the way your customer experiences it.”
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Episode Transcript:
Nadine Nethery (00:00)
Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode. In this week’s micro bite-sized episode, I’m going to recap a conversation I had with one of my retention lab members the other week,
she has a membership and her members seem to be paying attention. They seem to be doing all the things, but They’re not working towards that goal that made them join in the first place. And she’s showing up consistently, her audience.
is opening emails, they’re watching all the content they’re replying to her emails, they’re replying to threats in the community. But when she zooms out, it doesn’t feel like anything is actually moving, progressing. So first up, I want to reassure you that usually a lack of action or
progress has nothing to do with the effort you put into your offer, into your members, into your customers, but a lack of momentum or specifically a false momentum problem. Cause we often mistake, good email open rates, high number of likes, replies, or engagement on posts.
people consuming everything. So watching all the videos that you’re releasing in your membership with momentum
And while activity feels like progress, it only counts as momentum if it moves someone forward. So if it nudges them closer to their goal and your audience, your members, your customers can be super active, but still feel completely stuck because engaging on a post and liking a post doesn’t necessarily mean they’re taking action towards their goals.
So what your audience actually needs are clear next steps. They need visible progress. So they see that they are moving forward. They need less decision-making load. So you need to make it easy for them to take that next step. And they need a sense of, I’m actually getting somewhere. I am moving forward. I am a step ahead to where I was yesterday. Real momentum.
is all about making that next step and that next action feel easier than doing nothing at all. let that sink in. Fake momentum, liking posts, engaging in the community is more like consumption, right? People are consuming things and they leave it at that.
Real momentum on the other hand, comes with a level of continuation and action taking. So rather than just consuming and hitting like they are doing something about their situation. as business owners, it is just so easy to fall into that
where we are creating more, we’re showing up more, we’re feeling like we’re doing all the things. But the things we are doing are not actually encouraging real momentum. our content that we put out with the best intentions might be interesting, but it is not designed to take action. There’s no clear call to action. People consume it and they’re done with it. Our offers might actually be great.
on the surface, but they are not designed to support the customer to continue their journey and actually complete that transformation that we promised as part of the offer. The offer is designed to convert, but doesn’t lead to anywhere beyond that. And our customer experiences rely on self-motivation and don’t give customers the structure they need.
to see that real momentum and take action. It’s actually something that came up as a pattern as part of the recent retention games and was super crystal clear. The retention strategies that worked best for the contestants always involved clear structure for their customers to get results rather than relying on that motivation that comes after the point of purchase. And often,
Unfortunately, in business, we are trained to reward attention instead of action. So we are rewarding likes and comments, but there is no clear incentive or reward or little surprise and delight opportunity on the other side of actually doing the thing.
So whether you have a membership, a course or an online program, I would love you to carry out a quick audit. I would love you to check where are your people consuming as part of your offer right now without moving forward and where are they engaging
but not necessarily progressing after that engagement. And where does someone finish something? and then think, well, that was nice instead of that was so good that I want to do the next thing right now. So if someone goes through your content, your emails, your onboarding experience, your member portal,
Do they naturally move forward and are encouraged to take action or do they come to a halt after every action they take?
when I design experiences in my business I’m always trying to remove that moment where someone has to decide, do I actually keep going? Because the second someone has to rely on self-motivation, that’s where momentum drops and the level of involvement.
actually disappears. So the goal is to make continuing, as I said before, easier than doing nothing and make it the obvious next move, not something they have to convince themselves to do.
So whatever that looks like in your business, in your course, in your offer, in your membership,
come up with a structure that makes it easier to take action than to do nothing. So closing thought here for you,
I would love you to reflect whether the things you’re doing right now as part of your offer delivery and offer design, are they actually moving people forward or are they just keeping them busy and engaged? And that answer is going to tell you whether your offer is set up for success.
and whether it is going to set your customers up for real results because they are encouraged and motivated to take action. that’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I would love you to give it a follow, hit subscribe and I will see you for next week’s episode.
