How to Convert Trial Listening into Habitual Listening

What new habits have you developed while spending a lot more time in your home? Cooking (hopefully, your pot looks better than the one above)? Learning something new? Finding new sources of entertainment? Listeners are developing new habits, too. And if one includes listening to your radio station, here’s how to convert trial listening into habitual listening.

Looking Under the Habit Hood

Habits are valuable. They help simplify lives through stress reduction, easier decision-making, task completion, and self-satisfaction. While not every newly developed habit will become part of people’s lives moving forward, some will.

Dr. Lauren Murphy, Director/Pragmatic Brain Scientist says, “Original habits may also be replaced or augmented during self-quarantines by behaviors that are more reinforcing.” She adds, “If the new habit continues to provide those benefits, the new behaviors will continue as well.”

But it’s not that easy. “Normal” habits that have been disrupted of late are not necessarily gone forever. Lieberman Research Worldwide reports that old habits simply lie dormant and many return just as strong as they were before their suspension.

That means we’ll have to work hard right now to convert trial listening into habitual listening.

It’s A Matter of Strength

Dr. Murphy points out that the strength of a habit – new or old – is a significant factor. That is, the stronger the old habit was before it became suspended, the more likely that habit is to return in the future. Likewise, the stronger a new habit becomes, the greater the probability that it will continue to be embraced going forward

For example, social distancing is likely to extend well into the future giving the term “personal space” a new meaning.

Few will be leaving the house without hand sanitizer.

That bowl of chips at a party? You’d better supply tongs.

Radio’s New Habits

While the crisis has generally reinforced loyalty to preferred stations, it has also created – out of necessity – experimentation. From altered schedules to disparate preferences of WFH partners, many radio users are being forced to try something new and may find they like it. That makes now a critical time to showcase our best efforts and take advantage of this forced experimentation.

When it comes to cultivating a new habit, the advice for radio should be the same for any brand or business. Here are four actions you can take immediately:

1. Use imaging to 1) subtly explain why listening to your station is a great new habit and, 2) to reinforce this new behavior.
2. Nurture the habit by using your most powerful benchmarks to “scheduling listening” and create a tune-in routine.
3. Encourage; spread sharable hope, lift spirits.
4. Take actions that assert and reinforce your relevance as many habits are likely to be reevaluated consciously or not.

In With the New

Building habits takes time. And the waiting – sometimes for months – for the habit to “take” can be the hardest part. However, this is a great time to work on strategies that can convert trial listening into habitual listening.

For example, accountability partners can help with breaking or creating new habits. A fun riff on that right now could be powerful.

Create a vehicle where you can provide positive feedback to newer listeners.

Or consider what ‘rewards’ for listening would make sense to new and existing users. Sure, there’s been a surge of interest in contesting that you could tap into, but something more permanent has a far greater and longer-lasting value.

Act Now, Not Later

Many routines are in flux right now which means there are significant opportunities to convert trial listening into habitual listening. However, this is a highly time-sensitive opportunity.

So while we’re speculating on will happen in the next few months, we can be in the habit of getting new listeners into our habit right now.

Related:

The Pandemic Has Allowed Radio to Prove its Value. Now it’s Time for Exit 19 (COVID019 that is)

Making Your Station Part of the Conversation

21 Things that can Help of Hurt Your Time Spent Listening

© 2020, Mike O’Malley, O’Malley Media Group, LLC

Photo by Doctor_Bob on Morguefile.com