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📮In this week’s newsletter, we invite you inside the IPI’s Transition Accelerator Bootcamp and down the audience funnel, the topic of our second day of training with Morten Ro. Catch up on the previous Bootcamp newsletter on audience research to get the full picture.

During the IPI’s Transition Accelerator Bootcamp in Vienna, our trainer, Morten Ro introduced the audience conversion funnel, giving the participants an opportunity to work on their specific strategy and open it up to feedback from the other teams.

The challenge: Mapping the reader’s journey

“The conversion funnel is the journey your audience takes before subscribing,” and designing a well-thought-out funnel is a critical step towards incorporating readers’ needs at all stages.

Here are the things to keep in mind for your funnel design process, from Morten Ro’s training:

• Use funnel design as an integral part of your organization’s strategy, starting with awareness-building and a consistent offer for readers to engage with your product.
• “Throughout the stages of the funnel, make a consistent offer to people to spend time with you and use your product” – How are you making a case for the people who are visiting you?
• Acknowledge the diverse paths users take in their journey, as they navigate through multiple channels and have varied needs. Adapting the funnel strategy accordingly will ensure a comprehensive approach.
• Reflect – how should you spend your energy on the different channels/stages?
• Consider alternatives to the funnel, like Richard Höchner’s concept of concentric circles which emphasizes the reader’s progressive journey towards a stronger connection with your organization.
• For those in the middle of workshopping big changes (like targeting a new audience), make a funnel for existing practice and a separate one for after the change. This strategy helps maintain focus and improves decision-making throughout the transition.
• Consider the post-conversion funnel and where your readers go next.

The Solution: Building towards a community

💡“It’s super useful to get a chance to sit down and think – usually we do not have the time for this. But it can be hard to adopt this product mindset if you are used to a journalistic kind of thinking”, said Iliana Papangeli, the Managing Director of Solomon.

It’s true, that for many small teams introducing this kind of strategic thinking can be difficult, but in the long run, audience research coupled with conversion funnel design can stimulate a path of organic growth. The process is not just transactional reasoning but building a sense of belonging, and community and nurturing your users is a big part of it.