Don't leave important calls-to-action to the very end

Daily Podcast Tips... in about a minute

If there’s something you’d really like your listener to do, don’t leave it ‘til the very end.

I see it every month when I create reports for clients: the end-of-episode drop-off, where listeners reach the point where they’ve wrung all the value they can out of an episode, and are ready to hop to the next one. Not everyone does it, but as your audience grows, you’ll see that drop-off increase.

If you’re asking your listener to do something that will help grow the show, or make you money, don’t leave it ‘til the very end. Think about weaving it into your content, or if you’re doing a traditional interview show, consider popping in half-way or two-thirds of the way through the episode, to have a discussion with the listener, and invite them to take action like subscribing to your newsletter or rating the podcast, before resuming the interview.

If you’re invested in your podcast, you shouldn’t be using a cut-and-paste intro and outro. So if you are, now’s the time to rethink it. Everyone’s skipping the outro, and your intro is probably already too long… but that’s a tip for another day.

If your call-to-action can’t live anywhere but the end of your episode, try not to signpost it too much. Don’t start your music cue as you’re inviting your listener to take action. Make it feel as part of the episode as everything else. That will help keep the listener’s curiosity loop open, and while it won’t have a double-digit effect on your growth, it’ll likely capture a few who might otherwise have dipped out before they could repay you the value you’re showing them.