We all know that as compared with attraction and conversion, consumption is way harder. And yet it’s possible to create consumption–sometimes well over 100% despite changing very little.
In this simple case study, you’re about to see below, nothing changed.
The content didn’t change.
The training material didn’t.
The trainer stayed boringly the same 
The duration of the course didn’t change.
You get the drift, don’t you?
Now to say nothing changed at all, would be a little drastic. Even when we don’t notice it, things do change. But overall, nothing changed much–except one change right before the course started. But before we discuss that change, let’s look at the exciting statistics of consumption.
Yes, exciting…because when you are able to increase consumption, consumers/clients get a far greater benefit, and keep coming back for more.
But without more yada, yada, let’s get on to the proof of increased consumption…
Look at Graphic 1: Graphic 1 represents the Protege Program in 2006. The same number of people did this course. And were expected to use the associated Protege forum. And if you look closely, you’ll notice that there were far less posts (actually by a chunky 100%) over Protege 2007. So what’s different? What changed?
Year 2006: Protege Program. Note: The graphic is wrongly marked. You need to see the posts, instead of the topics.
Year 2007: Protege Program: For the same period, notice how much the consumption has gone up–without any change in numbers or requirements for the course.
As you can see in the graph above:
The discussions and questions for the entire year 2006 were 1140 posts. And copywriting for the entire year was 335. The discussions and questions for just Nov-March 2007 are already 2374. And copywriting questions (with a fair bit of the course yet to rollout is already at 535).
See the consumption? In dramatically shorter periods, with us comparing apples with apples, the consumption has jumped by over 200% in the first case (and we still have 9 months to go on Protege). And for copywriting, the jump in consumption is again almost 200%–again with at least 40% information—still to be finished on the copywriting course).
What makes this study interesting is:
1) Same number of Proteges
2) Almost identical content.
3) Different forum software, but identical means of posting/answering.
The only difference is the year: 2006 vs. 2007.
What’s interesting, is that the copywriting course is not yet over (we have 2-3 classes to go and then some) and already the posts and consumption is much higher in a shorter period.
What changed?
Increasing consumption is a tricky issue alright, and boiling it down to one factor is often extremely hard, if not impossible. But what changed here was the factor of barriers. The 2007 course had far more barriers in place, as compared with the 2006 course. You had to jump over far more hoops to get to the 2007 qualification stage.
And we’ll discuss barriers in the posts to come…
But how else would you increase consumption in a course? Let’s hear your ideas…
To see an example of a mini-barrier, click on the link below
http://www.psychotactics.com/websitemasterclass.htm
6 responses so far ↓
1 Dawud Miracle // Apr 17, 2007 at 8:20 am
Interesting? So are you saying that your consumption/participation increase because you did more pre-qualifying?
2 Sean D'Souza // Apr 17, 2007 at 9:58 am
Absolutely. The bigger the hurdles, and the more we qualified, the better the consumption. When we have zero-rules, we get zero-expectations. When we have more stringent rules, we get marvellous results.
It’s a hard lesson to learn, and harder to implement, but I’ve tried it back to back with two batches (e.g. Protege vs. Copywriting–which are now running at the same time–and Protege has far more uptake). The reason?
Consumption begets consumption.
3 Chris Garrett // Apr 17, 2007 at 11:56 am
You are absolutely right with your consumption concept Sean, just lately I have over subscribed to/purchased a bunch of info products and am unlikely to get 10% of the actual benefits through lack of time
4 Sean D'Souza // Apr 17, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Yes and no.
It depends on how the products are engineered. If you subscribe to the products, and they have a finite life cycle, then you’re kinda doomed.
E.g. You go to a restaurant, and order a meal, and it’s a buffet, so darn…you’re stuck. Eat like a piggie, or get less value than you expected. But hey, there’s also the concept of a takeaway.
Now if the restaurant (read: infoproduct) is built as a buffet, then you’re in big trouble. But if the restaurant is built as a normal restaurant, then there are two options. The waiter dumps everything in the bin–or you take home the food and eat it another day.
Everything depends on two personalities. The personality of the waiter. And the personality of the diner. But there’s one personality that has a little edge. The diner may be embarrassed to ask for the doggie-bag (or shall we call it piggie-bag?). In other words, the diner may not even ask to take away the food. But the waiter can control such a situation by asking specific questions, and thus enforcing consumption.
It’s almost a given, that if you can’t eat most of your meal at a restaurant that you won’t go back again. But if you are prompted to take away, you’ll eat most–if not all–and hence be more likely to go back.
With the Protege, and with many of the courses, products, books etc., we systemise the consumption process. So if you can’t eat your ‘book’ at one sitting, or don’t ‘eat it’, then we make sure to prompt you to ‘eat’ using many different systems of technology and psychology.
The core is value.
If you get value, you’ll come back.
But of course, most marketers completely focus on attraction and conversion, and forget about consumption.
And that’s their biggest ‘buffet’ mistake.
5 Dawud Miracle // Apr 19, 2007 at 6:34 pm
I’ve seen that a lot, Sean. It makes sense what you’re saying. I’ve often thought that it would be better for my business to work with fewer clients and help them ‘use’ my knowledge and get results then to simply work everybody I can and just give them my knowledge.
Of course, I’m speaking of services here and not products so much. And, of course, there’s a premium for working with me in that regard.
6 Sean D'Souza // Apr 19, 2007 at 9:53 pm
The Protege Program at http://www.psychotactics.com/protege.htm is largely group-consulting based (so it is service-oriented)–Come to think of it, all businesses are service-oriented, even if you sell products.
But we want to buck the trend. And have been doing so for a while.
Leave a Comment