N is for…

N is for… Nurture Journey

7 Reasons Why Listicles Are a Valuable Part of Your Nurture Campaign

Yes it’s true. What was once the province of weird and wonderful clickbaity-sounding lists, such as “10 Major Cities Being Swallowed By The Earth”, and “10 Weirdly Specific Conspiracies from the 90s”, has become a valuable way of imparting useful knowledge without boring your readers to tears.

As part of my research into this topic, I ended up falling down a bit of a listicle black hole, which pretty much confirms its effectiveness as a format. All the components are geared around capturing your attention and keeping it. The headline draws people in, partly because it’s so simple. The “chunking up” of information is music to the ears of those with short attention spans. And the numbered list… well, who doesn’t love a list?

All of this makes a listicle the perfect way to engage your prospects with your brand, product or service, when they may not really have the time or inclination to delve that deep. There’s a fine line between imparting key information without scaring them off. It’s a line the listicle treads well – from the snackable content that appeals to those both short on attention and time, to the well-established format that informs without overloading.

So without further ado, let’s dive in:

1. A listicle is literally an article in list-form

The name “listicle” is quite literally a smash up of “list” and “article”. Even though listicles are hardly new on the scene (the format has been tried and tested for years now), their popularity is down to the fact they’re pitched perfectly for an audience facing constant distractions.

So if you’re trying to draw in prospects with an article, chances are it’ll work even better in this bullet-pointed format.

2. You can use a listicle for (almost) any topic

The listicle goes way further than Buzzfeed’s smorgasbord of examples. Nowadays, you’ll see it embraced in news stories, government websites, blogs and even books – although that last one might be a step too far. This makes it a valuable content marketing strategy, as well as a reliable source of engagement and shareability. So don’t think that a listicle is filled with fluffy nonsense – many of them have some very serious content.

3. They’re easy to read

These compact packages of content are literally designed to make the reader’s life easier. A predictable structure makes them enjoyable to read, not least because you feel right from the start that you won’t be wading through a novel’s worth of content. With a listicle, everything is laid up front, from the headline (which let’s face it, couldn’t get more self-explanatory if it tried), to the numbered list that guides you along your merry way. It’s comfort food in the written form.

Some say listicles might be overly reductive for this reason, “replacing complex arguments and reasoned transitions with snack-packs of bullet points.” But if your readers aren’t sure they can justify the time spent tackling vast chunks of text, then the payoff of breaking that text down so neatly, seems to be worth paying.

4. They’re easy to write

While your readers are enjoying an engaging read that isn’t too taxing on their brain cells, your content team are happy that they’ve been able to create engaging content quickly. Easy to craft and deliver, the listicle is king, because once you’ve done the initial research, it sort of writes itself. Just be careful you don’t get too trigger-happy with the format at the expense of using other forms of content (see point 7).

5. They work a treat for SEO

Here’s how you can win brownie points with your SEO strategist – write content that’s loaded with keywords to help with search engine optimisation. By their very nature of doing-what-they-say-on-the-tin, a listicle is prime real estate for SEO words, which can flow naturally through the content.

The length of a listicle also helps writers optimise their list for search engines, plus if they’re good quality, they can earn you valuable click-throughs.

6. They can simplify complex subjects.

If you’re guiding prospects through a nurture journey, then you’re more than likely to be explaining your wares in quite a lot of detail. And while you want to explain the benefits of your product or service, you also need to bear in mind the fact your audience just might not be that engaged in what you have to say. You need to be informative while keeping those interest levels high.

Part of the power of a listicle is that it can tackle topics just like this with aplomb. The inviting headline and chunked up content helps your audience understand and engage with a potentially complex topic – perfect for your nurture journey needs.

7. They’re favoured by Large Language Models (LLMs)

As algorithms evolve and customer searches shift, listicles are rising to the top of the search lists of LLMs such as Copilot and ChatGPT. Why? Because the listicle’s structured format allows AI search engines to scan and process the information quickly.  And as LLMs summarise, frame and compare key information into a narrative for the audience, formats that make this process quicker will trend more in the results.

8. You can use a listicle for almost anything… but that doesn’t mean you should

We do seem to have reached peak listicle. There is literally one for everything, even the ironically-named “10 reasons why you should never write a listicle.”

In all seriousness though, there is a strong argument for not turning all of your content into a list format. If nothing else, your headlines will become exceptionally predictable. A listicle doesn’t give you a great platform to tell a story (even though plenty of people have tried). And storytelling is a fundamental part of your content strategy, so you have space and depth to delve into the nitty gritty parts of your brand.

The trick is balance. If variety is the spice of life, then your listicles should be part of a nice, varied content offering that covers several formats across different channels. Use them like the proverbial sprinkling of fairy dust to add an extra layer of magic to your content plan. Otherwise life is going to get very boring for your audience.

To sum things up

Anything that makes a prospect’s nurture journey that little bit smoother is a winner. The listicle’s succinct and no-nonsense approach is a great way to help engage those prospects and guide them along the funnel. Pitched right, you’ll get good quality content in a format that’s built around those who need facts fast.

If you’re still unsure whether your content would work as a listicle, consider whether any of the following apply:

• Your audience is short on time

• You’re covering a big topic that needs to be broken down

• When you’re looking for a cheeky engagement boost (use sparingly)

• When you’re targeting SEO with specific keywords

• When you have a product/service you want to promote