Part three: why the chaotic nature of being a human makes everything really hard

The topic of today’s installment of marketing funnels are silly series: HOOOMANS ARE CHAOS MACHINES

In the first installment, I broke down why marketing funnels encourage company-centered decisions instead of customer-centered ones.​

The second one, I showed y’all how marketing funnels create tunnel vision, leaving companies sans happy customers and/or fewer customers overall.

The thesis throughout this series is that marketing funnels are a valiant, yet failed attempt to simplify the complex.

Marketing is complex.

Because humans are complex.

And yet, there is no world where a marketing funnel is an accurate representation of how humans make decisions. Maybe, like, 1% of the population. And maybe that’s why average conversion rates are 1-2%. (just me over here throwing shade)

We know humans are chaos machine.

Hell, this newsletter was supposed to go out two weeks ago and on a Tuesday.

Here we are, on a Wednesday, a couple of weeks late. ✌️ Because life happens.

Humans will make decisions when they want to… unless a company is using manipulative persuasion tactics that hijack nervous systems. (listen to our episode with Tarzan Kay about this)

So how in the world do you make decisions around marketing?

What framework do you use?

How do you honor the chaotic nature of humanity without creating digital products and websites that… look and function like this… 🫣

You do it by stop trying to honor the complexity.

And stop forcing simplicity.

The hard work of growth and retention is finding the balance between the complex and the simple.

It’s knowing when and where to allow humans to be chaotic - and where that chaos would break your product or system.

This installment is a bit shorter for this series because it’s got lots of homework for you.

📝Homework:

Make a list of must-haves for your customer journey.

As in, they MUST experience and/or but this before they can do this.

Be sure to explain why!

A great example is from the board game world.

We have a client who is running a Kickstarter campaign for the 2nd edition of their game and an expansion.

Board game expansions don’t work without the base game.

You have to own the base game in order to play the expansion.

That’s why, on the Kickstarter pledge tiers, there is no option where you can simply buy the expansion. It always comes with the base game.

​Check out how the pledge tiers are structured here. 👀

The base game is a clear MUST for the customer.

The customer doesn’t HAVE to buy the expansion.

They can just buy the base game.

We’re not making them buy both.

Honestly, most Kickstarter tiers are PERFECT examples of must-haves vs want-to-have.

The most successful ones are extremely customer-centered.

You gotta know what your audience really wants and make it SUCH a good deal they will jump on it.

Right.

Scratch that last homework assignment.

📝Here’s your real homework:

Take a look at your products or offers.

If you had to lay them out as Kickstarter pledge tiers, would they be enticing?

Is it what people would want? Would they support your campaign?

Next week we’re talking systems, my favorite topic!

Cheers,

Anna (they/them)

🏳️‍⚧️✊🏳️‍🌈✊🇵🇸

Marketing funnels are silly, the series

• LAST WEEK WEEK: What it means to have company vs customer-focused marketing strategies
• LAST WEEK: How to get out of marketing tunnel vision
• THIS WEEK: Why the chaotic nature of being a human makes everything really hard
• NEXT WEEK: Creating a system that works for you

What I'm reading

​Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie​

Book three! LET'S GO.

A podcast about rethinking how business works - and who it should work for.

Episode 14 features the one and only Tarzan Kay talking about consent-based marketing.

​You wanna listen to it, I guarantee it.​