How does Netflix Literally Forces You To Watch the Next Episode?
I think we have all done this. We want to go to sleep but keep clicking the next episode over and over again and when we see sunlight we realize that we didn’t even get any sleep.
If you can relate to this then this article is for you. The trick that Netflix uses is called The Cliffhanger Loop.
Each episode ends with a cliffhanger, which makes us curious about what happened to the characters, and forces us to watch the next episode even though we want to sleep.
And in the next episode, they close the cliffhanger loop in the first few minutes and move the story forward and by the end of this episode too they leave us with another cliffhanger and they keep doing it in every episode until we finish the series.
Sounds manipulative right? Yeah. It kind of is. Because as a human you are supposed to be curious and have an unhealthy obsession with getting answers and that is what exactly Netflix uses to cash in on your attention.
Even though it sounds manipulative and illegal. It’s completely legal and instead of worrying about how we should stop this. We should be thinking about How we can use it in our favor!
So, Here’s how you can use this “Cliffhanger Loop” in your email marketing campaigns:
1. High Drama Opening
The very first email that you send to your email subscribers should be a high-drama opening. Don’t start with “Once upon a time there was a king”. That format had died. It can’t hook people’s attention.
Start with “And after a blow to his heart, the king fainted and everyone thought he died but suddenly…”. See, If you read this you’re literally begging me to finish this story. You want an answer.
So, remember to always start with a high-drama sequence and fill up on the backstory later on.
2. Cliffhanger Loop
End the story you’re telling in the first email at a high-drama point and promise to finish the story in the next email. End at such a point, that it ignites a burning desire within the reader to wait for the upcoming email.
For example:- And then she stood behind the tree hidden from the creature and noticed that a few drops of saliva were falling on her head and when she looked up…
Noticed what I did there? I ended at a point that literally forces the reader to ask the question “what happened to her?” And to know that they need to wait for the next email.
3. Close The Loop
Close the loop you created in the first email in this email and continue the story in this email and also make sure to add another cliffhanger at the end of this email too. Such that it forces the reader to wait for the next email.
4. Repeat
Repeat this simple process as long as you want your email campaign to be. But I think if it’s a launch email campaign, It should be at least 5 emails long. You should make it longer but 5 emails are the ideal number to go for.
