Podcasting Problem Solver: Identifying Low Energy Podcast Episodes
Opening Thoughts: When Your Podcast Episode Feels "Meh"
Leah Bryant [00:00:03 - 00:00:55]:
[00:00:03] Welcome back to the Podcasting Problem Solver. [00:00:05] I'm Leah Bryant, your go to Podcast growth Strategist, here to investigate your podcast growth problem so you can stop guessing and start converting. [00:00:14] Okay, so you ever listened back to an episode and it's, you know, fine, like you said what you wanted to say, nothing necessarily went wrong, and you followed your outline, but something's still off. [00:00:30] It feels kind of meh or maybe rushed or just disconnected somehow. [00:00:37] And then you check the numbers and yeah, people dropped off. [00:00:42] Nobody's clicking anything. [00:00:44] And the retention is being weird. [00:00:46] This is when podcasters start looking at their hooks, their editing, and their call to actions, when actually the problem started way before that.
The Real Reason Behind Low Podcast Retention
Energy: Your Secret Strategic Input
Leah Bryant [00:00:57 - 00:01:38]:
[00:00:57] It started with the energy that you had when you hit record. [00:01:01] So most people think, like, low retention means they need better tactics, right? [00:01:05] Or sharper hooks or tighter pacing or fancier intros. [00:01:10] And sure, those things will help, but there's this other little thing that happens, and it's so much sneakier when you record tired, or maybe you're rushing or it's that time of the month, sorry, fellows. [00:01:24] Or just not quite right. [00:01:27] It creates these structural problems that your listeners can immediately pick up on. [00:01:33] They could hear it. [00:01:34] Yes. [00:01:35] And they won't say, oh, she sounds tired.
Leah Bryant [00:01:38 - 00:02:10]:
[00:01:38] They'll just think, maybe this isn't for me, and they'll leave. [00:01:42] Okay, stay with me here, because I know that question quote, unquote, energy sounds like some woo woo mindset thing. [00:01:49] And that's not what I'm talking about, okay? [00:01:51] I'm talking about energy as a strategic input. [00:01:55] And this is why it matters so much. [00:01:57] Okay? [00:01:57] Energy issues don't just affect one part of your episode. [00:02:02] They actually kind of create a cascade. [00:02:04] So let's walk through what really happens here, okay? [00:02:08] You sit down to record. [00:02:09] Ensure you're tired.
How Depleted Energy Impacts Podcast Structure
Leah Bryant [00:02:11 - 00:02:34]:
[00:02:11] Maybe you've been in client meetings all day. [00:02:13] Maybe you just need to get this episode done and go to bed. [00:02:16] Maybe the kids have been banana pants. [00:02:20] Maybe the weather is even more banana pants. [00:02:24] You get the picture. [00:02:25] So you just sit down and you hit record. [00:02:27] And when you're recording from a depleted place, there are patterns that show up every single time. [00:02:33] All right, so let's talk through this.
The Patterns of Low Energy Podcast Episodes
What Breaks Down First: Episode Intro
Leah Bryant [00:02:35 - 00:03:07]:
[00:02:35] First is your intro. [00:02:37] You know what you want to say, but you're not quite committing to it. [00:02:41] So you may circle, you may add qualifiers. [00:02:45] Maybe you're like, so today I kind of want to talk about. [00:02:49] Or you may say something like, I've been thinking about this and already your listener hasn't leaned in yet. [00:02:55] They're still Trying to decide if they even care. [00:02:58] Second is your authority, because when you're not grounded, you actually start over explaining. [00:03:04] You may add more context, more caveats, more proof.
Undermining Authority and Losing Your Audience
Leah Bryant [00:03:08 - 00:03:47]:
[00:03:08] And when you over explain, listeners start questioning whether you really know what you're talking about. [00:03:15] Even though you do, your delivery is actually undercutting your expertise. [00:03:20] Third is your best content. [00:03:22] So you finally get to the good stuff, right? [00:03:24] The insight you wanted to share, the thing that is really going to help them. [00:03:29] But because your intro was weak and your authority was kind of shaky, they're not really paying attention anymore. [00:03:35] They may be multitasking or they're scrolling threads, or maybe they're half listening to you. [00:03:41] And then your best content doesn't land because the setup didn't earn their attention. [00:03:46] Fourth is your transitions.
Choppy Transitions & Rushed Call to Action
Leah Bryant [00:03:48 - 00:04:28]:
[00:03:48] So you're trying to move from one point to another point, but your brain's tired. [00:03:53] So the connections feel kind of like all over the place. [00:03:56] The flow gets choppy, and suddenly you're three minutes into a tangent and you can't remember how you got there. [00:04:04] I mean, we've all been there. [00:04:05] I get it. [00:04:06] And last but not least is your call to action. [00:04:08] By the time you get to your call to action, because you've saved it for last, because your energy is low, you've got nothing left, right? [00:04:15] So you're either going to rush through it, like, okay, if you want to work together, the link's in the notes, or you soften it so much it kind of barely registers with your audience. [00:04:25] And then you end the episode thinking, sure, that was fine.
How Listeners Experience Podcast Energy
Why You Can't Hear Your Own Energy Gaps
Leah Bryant [00:04:29 - 00:05:12]:
[00:04:29] But the listener, on the other hand, they get off the ride somewhere around minute four. [00:04:33] Here's what makes this so hard to catch. [00:04:36] You, my friend, can't hear this in your own episodes because you know what you meant to say. [00:04:43] You know the connections you were trying to make, and you know the content is solid. [00:04:48] But when the listener doesn't have that context, they only have what you're delivering. [00:04:53] And when your energy is off, that structure is going to break in ways that you cannot see yourself. [00:05:00] This is one of the first things I look for when I do an audit. [00:05:03] Not just the energy piece, but, like, how it's cascading through the whole episode structure because once you see the full pattern, you cannot see it.
Fixing Upstream Problems for Podcast Growth
The Power of an Energy Audit
Leah Bryant [00:05:13 - 00:05:56]:
[00:05:13] And when you fix the upstream, well, then everything downstream just gets easier. [00:05:18] So if this is landing for you, book your audit today. [00:05:21] That link is below. [00:05:22] I had a client not long ago who has, like, a really strong podcast, great topic ideas, you know, consistent publishing. [00:05:30] They were like Perfect on paper, right? [00:05:32] But her episodes weren't really converting and the retention was like slipping away. [00:05:38] So as I do with all of my audits, I listen first and within the first three minutes I could hear it. [00:05:44] Every intro had this hesitation to it. [00:05:47] Lots of so today we're kind of talking about or she said, I wanted to touch on xyz and it was just kind of like qualifying everything.
Real Client Story: Transforming Podcast Retention
The Hidden Impact of Late-Night Recording
Leah Bryant [00:05:56 - 00:06:54]:
[00:05:56] Right. [00:05:57] And when I asked her about her recording process, she told me she was batching late at night after client work, after the kids went to bed, after she'd already made like a thousand decisions that day. [00:06:09] And I get it, but that's where the energy issue was. [00:06:13] So here's what I showed her when we went through the audit together. [00:06:16] Those late night recordings weren't just affecting her intros, it was creating this whole chain reaction, right? [00:06:23] Because when she was starting uncertain, she was adding way more teaching than the episode needed. [00:06:29] Like a 10 minute episode would have been 15 minutes of explanation crammed in, which meant she was either running long and losing people at the end, or she was cutting the call to action or skipping it to save time. [00:06:44] And because her transitions weren't on point, the episode didn't really feel like it was building toward anything. [00:06:51] It just felt like three separate ideas that she happened to record in one session.
Strategic Fixes and Results: From Hesitation to High Conversion
Leah Bryant [00:06:55 - 00:07:32]:
[00:06:55] So the listeners weren't really thinking, oh, I should work with her. [00:06:59] They were thinking, oh, gosh, that was a lot. [00:07:03] I don't even know what I'm supposed to do next or what I'm supposed to do with this. [00:07:06] So here's what I fixed for her. [00:07:08] First, we changed when she recorded, moved it to the mornings shorter sessions, and had her make a task of one topic per episode fully developed. [00:07:19] But we also restructured how she was opening her episodes. [00:07:24] I want you to lead with the problem and instead of circling it, name it. [00:07:30] That's when you're gonna get people's attention.
Leah Bryant [00:07:32 - 00:08:16]:
[00:07:32] We cut our teaching down to one clear framework per episode. [00:07:37] So that way it felt more focused instead of super overwhelming and our brains are like gonna explode. [00:07:43] We tightened her transitions so that the episode was building that momentum on top of each other, right? [00:07:49] Instead of like wandering here and there. [00:07:51] And then last but certainly not least, we embedded her call to action earlier so it didn't feel tacked on at the end. [00:07:59] It felt natural. [00:08:00] And not only did it feel natural, but it was the next step. [00:08:04] So now the structure was supporting the conversion instead of working against it. [00:08:11] And within two months, her episodes to inquiry rate went up to 40%.
Taking Action: How to Audit Your Own Podcast Energy
Steps to Self-Evaluate Your Podcast Performance
Leah Bryant [00:08:17 - 00:08:48]:
[00:08:17] Because the structure was finally matching her strategy. [00:08:20] Here's what I want you to remember forever and always. [00:08:24] Please and thank you. [00:08:26] Get a pencil. [00:08:29] You can start listening for this in your own episodes. [00:08:32] Yep. [00:08:33] But, you know, there's always a but. [00:08:35] You're going to be limited in what you can hear, because when it's your voice and your content and your ideas, you know what happens? [00:08:44] Well, your mind's automatically going to fill in the gaps because you're hearing what.
Leah Bryant [00:08:48 - 00:09:36]:
[00:08:48] What you meant to say and not actually how it landed. [00:08:52] But there's always another but. [00:08:55] Here's what you can try. [00:08:56] I want you to listen back to an episode where the analytics were weird, where people were dropping off, or maybe like an episode that didn't get any clicks. [00:09:06] I don't want you to ask yourself, is this good? [00:09:09] Nope. [00:09:10] I want you to ask yourself, where did I lose momentum? [00:09:14] It wasn't in the edit. [00:09:15] It was in the recording. [00:09:17] And then I want you to ask yourself, am I leading my listener anywhere, or am I reacting to what I think I should say? [00:09:25] And then I want you to ask, does this feel like it's building towards something, or am I just covering topics? [00:09:34] And then this is the big one.
Leah Bryant [00:09:37 - 00:10:25]:
[00:09:37] So please come back to me if you have wandered off. [00:09:42] What state of mind was I in when I recorded this? [00:09:46] Because if you were tired, rushed, distracted, stressed, anything other than feeling amazing, I can almost guarantee you there's a structural breakdown somewhere that you're not seeing after five years. [00:10:00] I'm telling you this happens. [00:10:02] And this is why strategy is the first phase of my seamless podcast framework. [00:10:07] Because you cannot optimize any execution if the foundation is missing. [00:10:13] Right. [00:10:13] You can't attract the right listeners if your structure's working against you. [00:10:18] Low energy is just one of the structural patterns that I look for in an audit, but they're almost always connected to something else.
Why Podcast Structure and Strategy Go Hand-In-Hand
The Ripple Effects of Podcast Structural Issues
Leah Bryant [00:10:26 - 00:10:58]:
[00:10:26] Like your topics are too broad, or your call to actions that aren't positioned right, or teaching that's overwhelming instead of clarifying. [00:10:33] It's all connected. [00:10:35] Yep, it is. [00:10:37] And that's why the investigation of it all matters. [00:10:40] If your episodes sound fine, but they're not landing, if people are dropping off and you can't figure out why, well, this is exactly what I dig into in a podcast. [00:10:49] Gross audit. [00:10:50] I don't just tell you record when you have more energy. [00:10:55] No, I show you the full structural breakdown.
Leah Bryant [00:10:58 - 00:11:35]:
[00:10:58] Right. [00:10:58] Like where the cascade starts, what's missing, and what to fix first. [00:11:03] So you're not guessing, because this is one issue. [00:11:06] There are usually five or six working together and you need trained ears and eyes to spot them. [00:11:13] So if this sounds like what you need, the link is in the show notes below for my podcast Growth Audit. [00:11:19] Let's figure out what is missing and if this episode clicked for you, follow the show for me. [00:11:24] Share it with another podcaster who needs it. [00:11:26] And remember, keep your podcast purposeful, keep recording when your energy aligns, and above all else, keep your growth seamless and I'll see you next time.
