Generate more curiosity, more engagement and drive more consumption of your content by using “open loops”. In this episode I’ll share when and where to use them.

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Big Ideas

The Power Of An Open Loop [1:12]

An open loop is a way in which you begin delivering a bit of information, but before you complete the thought, the idea or whatever it is that you’re sharing, you move on to something else. Your audience wants closure, they need to complete and close the loop, and as a result, it creates more interest.

For example, before going to break, the radio announcers would often tease what they’ll be talking about when they come back from the break. Then they go into something else and leave you hanging, and that’s an open loop. Another great example is the show 24. I remember my wife Amy and I going to bed and planning to watch just one episode. But inevitably, Jack Bauer, the main character, does something to save the day right before something catastrophic happens at the end of the episode. And you’re so excited to find out what’s going to happen next that you can’t help but watch another episode. That’s the power of an open loop.

How To Use An Open Loop In Your Business? [2:49]

One of the best people who have taught the concept of an open loop in a different way is the legendary Jeff Walker, who used it in the Product Launch Formula. For example, there are multiple videos in a launch, in each video you want to speak about a problem and provide the solution to that problem. Then right at the end of that video, present another problem. The only way people can close the loop is to watch the next video, where you provide the solution to the previous problem. Then at the end, you provide another problem, and another solution. The final solution would therefore be to buy your product, offer, membership, course, service or whatever it may be.

At the end of this episode, I’m going to give you a tremendous resource that could help you generate millions of dollars in the next 12 months. That’s an example of an open loop! I’m talking about this tremendously valuable resource that I’m going to give you, but now I’m going to move on, so you’re not going to get that closed loop until the end of the episode.

Where To Use Open Loops? [5:18]

So where do you use open loops? I would recommend you use them in places like Instagram stories and Facebook Live, where you can get people to watch all the way through by opening and closing loops. So the beginning of a Facebook Live or a story is where you deliver a hook, a new problem, and create curiosity for people to watch the next piece of content. And when you incorporate open loops into that hook, it becomes super effective. You can use it in Instagram stories, Facebook lies, launch videos, YouTube videos, your webinars, podcasts, presentations, when you’re presenting to people live. Or you can use it in your opt-in pages, your sales copy and even your books.

The Ultimate Open Loop [8:33]

Speaking of content, another super powerful way to use an open loop is to drive consumption of your content, whether it be in a course or in a membership. I first experienced this being a member of a high priced membership that helped people create content very quickly. The offer provided a new book every month that we would have the recording rights to. At the time I was looking to generate more revenue in my speaking business. One of the ways that I was learning to do that was by having my own information based products, but I didn’t have any. And here comes this amazing offer, which is essentially going to put information products in my lap, so it was a no brainer. However, because I was just starting my career, and I was shoulder deep in student debt, I told myself that I’m going to join for the first month, get that first book, and then cancel.

The first month after I signed up, the speaker not only gave me the first book as promised, but half of the second book. And once I started reading the second book, I realized how amazing it was. But the only way to get the second half of the second book was to continue on with the membership for another month, so I decided to hang on for one more month. The next month, he delivered the second half of the second book, as well as the first half of the third book. Talk about the ultimate open loop, right? I kept paying as a customer month after month, so think about how you can use open loops to drive more consumption of your content, whether it be in a course from lesson to lesson, or in a membership from month to month.

The bottom line is that open loops work, all you have to do is start a thought, an idea or a question and then complete it somewhere else. The in-between space is what drives more curiosity, interest and consumption. And that is what makes it such an effective marketing strategy.

A Powerful Source That’s Going To Transform Your Business [12:22]

At the beginning of this episode, I told you I’d share a tremendously powerful resource. So now I’m going to close the loop. In the last 12 months, I went to the people from my Impact mastermind, all running tremendously successful memberships. I asked them what is the number one way they have grown their membership in the last 12 months, and we filmed the entire thing. Not only that, but we distilled all their answers into this incredible resource that you can go and download for free from membershiptips.com. In that resource, my impact masterminds are going to tell you their best ideas for attracting new members for a membership, converting new members into prospects, and keeping members happy and paying month after month.

Memorable Quote

“Open loops work. All you have to do is start a thought, idea or question and then complete it somewhere else. It’s the in-between space that drives more curiosity, interest and consumption.”  – Stu McLaren

Resources

Episode 80 – A Simple Technique for Boosting Conversions
Episode 156 – An Old Marketing “Trick” Produces A Flood Of Buyers
Episode 64 – Our $73K Facebook Ad
Membershiptips.com

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