Growth Newsletter #075

The bar for engaging content on YouTube is rising. And YouTube’s algo continues to improve to surface the best, most relevant videos for its users.

If you’re creating content for YouTube, here’s a list of counter-intuitive insights (and how you can use each) adapted from VidCon 2022:

Insight: YouTube is beginning to value quality viewer experience over straight watch time. YouTube is running more surveys, and increasingly weighting responses to those surveys, to figure out how happy/inspired your videos make people feel.

What to do: Map out the emotional experience you want your viewer to have. The goal should be to help your viewers through a transformation, not just burn their time.

Insight: YouTube's discovery algorithm is driven by two major factors, performance and personalization. Performance can be summed up by the question, “did people enjoy this video?” and personalization by, “who is the right person for this video at this exact time that they open up their device for a YT session?” Most people forget about personalization, which is driven by video watch history, channel watch history, and factors like time of day and device type.

What to do: Clearly define your audience and value propositions. Simple, but most brands and creators miss the mark here. If YouTube can’t interpret who your video should be for, it's because your script and delivery aren't clear, and YT will not find the best viewers for you.

Insight: Most people know how important intros are, but the last 30 seconds of your video are critical as well. Recency bias (as well as the peak-end rule) point to the fact that viewers will put a lot of weight on the conclusion of your video—so much that they often judge the quality of the entire video based on their feeling at the very end.

What to do: End your videos with a laugh, some kind of joke, or a valuable takeaway.

Insight: The optimal rhythm for retention is not “the fastest paced video possible”—it’s more like a rollercoaster with a dynamic pace.

What to do: Find opportunities to slow down the pace after a high speed segment and inject an emotional story if possible.

One of the biggest paradoxes in marketing?

Popups.

People hate them, yet many companies still use them since they often lead to more conversions.

So marketers who want to capture the conversion benefits of popups need to figure out a way to do so without irritating potential customers.

One tactic to try: trigger popups only for warm users.

According to one study, 92% of first-time visitors to a website don’t make a purchase. But 75% plan to return and buy something on their next visit.

So instead of enabling popups for all users by default, consider showing them only to returning visitors with a demonstrated interest in your business.

For example, trigger a free shipping exit popup only for returning visitors with a minimum basket value (say, $50). The key here is minimum basket value. If you show a popup for free shipping for orders over $75 but a visitor only has $10 in their cart, your popup probably won’t be very effective.

And by only triggering the popup for returning visitors, you don’t bombard first-time, low-intent visitors with intrusive popups.

When you're down to the last 48 hours of an email campaign, chances are good that all you have left are the "tire kickers." And if they still don't buy, it's usually for one of two reasons:

• They aren't interested, or
• They don't feel confident in their decision to buy your product

For the second type of prospect, marketers often resort to scarcity/urgency tactics to drive a final burst of sales. This can work. But if buying your product feels like a giant leap to on-the-fence prospects, "pushing" them with countdown timers and FOMO may not instill the confidence they need to take action.

To make your product feel like a natural step forward, try "coaching" prospects through their objections with a minimum viable commitment (MVC).

Here’s how Copy Hackers used this tactic in their closing course launch email:

Notice how instead of provoking anxiety with ultimatums, the copy relieves it with a stress-free offer—the MVC. When you empathize with your prospects’ current emotional struggle, you set the bar just high enough so they feel good about their ability to clear it.

Consider testing this formula in the CTA of your closing promotional email:

1. Maybe you’re [time or value objection]
2. Maybe you’re [unsure of being a fit objection]
3. Either way, you totally appreciate having [guarantee length] to put [Product] to the test to see if you can [achieve most desired outcome or overcome most crippling pain]