Client: Cialdini Institute (CII)
Industry: Influence, Psychology & Online Education
Offer: Online Influence Workshop + Influence Lab
Primary Objective:
Re-engage workshop participants to gather feedback, book strategy calls, and convert high-intent users into product trials.
The Challenge
The Cialdini Institute regularly attracts thousands of professionals to its workshops on influence and persuasion. While registrations were strong, a familiar challenge emerged after the events:
- Many attendees consumed the content but didn’t take the next step
- Traditional follow-ups felt transactional and underperformed
- Feedback collection was inconsistent
- High-intent participants were not being systematically identified
The team needed a post-workshop engagement system that could:
- Feel personal, not promotional
- Re-open conversations at scale
- Surface intent naturally
- Create multiple conversion paths (feedback, calls, trials)
Our Initial Approach (What Didn’t Fully Work)
The first iteration focused on direct post-event outreach with a generic follow-up message asking attendees if they enjoyed the workshop and inviting them to explore next steps.
While replies came in, we noticed two problems:
- Responses were often short and non-committal
- Many people replied emotionally (“Loved it!”) but didn’t convert
The insight was clear:
People were willing to talk, but not to be sold immediately.
The Strategic Shift: Conversation Before Conversion
We reframed the campaign entirely.
Instead of treating this as a conversion problem, we treated it as a conversation and validation problem.
Key Changes We Made
1. Feedback-First Messaging
We rewrote outreach to remove all sales pressure.
The message focused purely on curiosity and improvement:
“Were you able to watch it? And more importantly — did you find it valuable?”
This unlocked honest, thoughtful replies and lowered resistance dramatically.
2. Updated ICP Segmentation
Based on early responses, we segmented participants into:
- Active viewers with strong engagement
- Partial viewers who needed a nudge
- Missed attendees who still showed interest
Each segment received slightly adjusted follow-ups, rather than one blanket message.
3. Soft Conversion Paths
Only after engagement was established did we introduce optional next steps:
- A free strategy conversation with Bas Wouters
- Access to valuable Influence Lab resources
- Trial-based exploration instead of hard CTAs
This allowed conversions to feel earned, not pushed.
4. Human, Conversational Tone
Every message was designed to feel like a real 1:1 check-in, not a campaign.
Emojis, warmth, and openness played a key role in maintaining trust at scale.
Results
The re-engagement system delivered strong, measurable outcomes across multiple campaigns.
Beyond the numbers, the campaign proved something more important:
- Feedback loops became a growth lever
- High-intent participants were clearly identifiable
- Strategy calls and trials emerged naturally from conversations
- Brand trust was preserved while scaling engagement
Why This Worked
This campaign succeeded because it respected context and psychology.
Instead of assuming everyone was ready to buy, we:
- Met participants where they were
- Prioritized listening over pitching
- Used conversation to qualify intent
- Introduced conversion only when earned
By shifting from “follow-up” to “dialogue,” the Cialdini Institute turned post-workshop engagement into a repeatable pipeline system.
Final Takeaway
Workshops don’t fail because of weak content – they fail because engagement stops too early.
This case study shows how feedback-driven, conversational outreach can transform workshops from one-off events into long-term revenue and relationship engines — without ads, pressure, or trust erosion.
