THIS IS A BIG CATCHY TITLE
Using Behavioural Science to Build More Effective Everyday Communication.
Do you pronounce it potayto or potahto? Are you more likely to click on a big green button or a big red button? Would you rather make a monthly payment of $10 or a one-time payment of $120?
Behavioural science is all about our cognitive biases and the funny quirks that influence human behaviour. It gives us a/the framework to understand why we behave the way we do. The better we understand the science behind why we make decisions and choices — and form habits — the better prepared we will be to create everyday communications that cater to what consumers actually want to see, hear, and do.
I know you’re thinking:
We don’t want to learn about science!
But stick with me, because no matter what type of work you do, if you ever work with people or create anything for people, it’s helpful to understand what makes them tick. A lot of the things that affect our willingness to receive and act upon communications come from the ways that our minds work subconsciously. Plenty of our audience will willingly sign up for the newsletter because they want to, or buy the promoted cruise because they just really love cruises. Plenty of our audience will also refuse to add travel insurance to their ticket or purchase a shore excursion no matter what we do. But what about the people who are in between? What can we do to help “nudge” them in the right direction?
We can use behavioural science to stack the deck.
A recent WARC Best Practice article by Crawford Hollingworth and Liz Berker (2018) outlined some key concepts in behavioural science that we can use to optimize our everyday communications. Each one can be leveraged in the travel and hospitality industry to increase goal completions, and help meet KPI goals by improving the way we communicate.
1. Choice Architecture
The order, physical structure (size, shape, etc), and visual layout (colour, brightness, etc) of a set of choices we are presented with have a significant impact on what we ultimately choose. We can use knowledge of choice architecture to nudge consumers in the “right” direction.
The idea of opt-in vs. opt-out is important when making decisions about effective communications. We know that for reasons including fear, distraction, and simply laziness, many people will take the path of least resistance, and make the choice based on what option requires the least effort.
“Another technique is to prompt a decision from a customer, asking them to choose between two or more options — this is known as active choice” (Barker & Hollingworth, 2018).
This method works best when you avoid putting the word “no” anywhere visible and therefore removing the most simple and painless option. This type of technique generally leads to opt-in rates of 60–70% (Barker & Hollingworth, 2018).
If you were using an on-screen pop-up to try to get people to register for a contest to win a trip, while they’re looking through your website, it would look like this.
Check one of the following options:
- Yes, I would like to register now.
- Ask me again later.
- I am already registered.
If you’re trying to get the user to do something in addition to their current action, you can pre-check boxes as a default, still offering them the opportunity to uncheck.
This idea is frequently used to steer consumers toward a specific decision in goals such as newsletter signups, renewable subscriptions, and add-ons to your flight including baggage or travel insurance.
This works best when you offer something of value to the consumer, a travel guide to a top destination, an insider’s local view to restaurants in a major city, tips and tricks to flying with kids, etc. That’s why when you sign up for something, there’s usually always two or three pre-checked boxes at the very bottom. Chances are, many people won’t bother. This will be more effective than offering a prompt for people to opt-in or sign up on their own. When we make it so that the consumer’s choice to do nothing leads to our desirable end goal, it can persuade many of these users who tend to choose the path of least resistance to do exactly what we want them to.
If you need your audience to make a choice, brainstorm at least three different ways you could present it to them. This exercise in choice architecture can only take a few minutes, but can make all the difference!
2. Salience
Salience is the quality of being particularly noticeable or important. If something is salient it’s very prominent. This concept is used in effective communications to increase ease and understanding of information.
“We pay attention to information or objects that stand out and catch our eye. In communications, this means our attention will automatically be drawn to what’s dominant on the page or screen — imagery, colour, larger, bolder fonts or symbols.” (Barker & Hollingworth, 2018).
This is why important information is often bolded, or put into bullet points.
Research has shown that the placement of information on a page or screen is key. Putting your action points, or key information first or to the left side if there are columns is most effective at catching attention. If you were placing a native ad on a webpage for a promotion of $50 off one night stay in your resort, it would likely get noticed more if it’s placed on the left side of the screen vs. the right. Keep in mind that this applies to most languages and cultures, but not all: Arabic and Hebrew are read/written from right to left for example.
You have to find a good balance between salience and creativity. While it’s fun to make the headline for our ad “Sleigh the Holidays This Season” sometimes it would be more effective to say “Win a Holiday Vacation for Four to Greece!”. We have to find ways to stand out, while still bringing the important information to the most accessible placement.
When you’re looking at a communication piece that doesn’t have a deal, promotion or event information that needs to be highlighted, you should still be looking for opportunities to increase salience. This is also true for more creative content and situations where you want to be more fun than straight to the point. What immediately stands out to you? What information piques your interest most? These are the things that should be bolded, coloured, or put in bullet points because that’s where the readers' eyes will go first.
3. Framing and Anchors
The way that information is presented to us can alter how we perceive that information. This can include strategies like using influencers in advertising to make a product appear credible and trendy, like the Away brand partnering with Dwayne Wade to create a line of luggage. Another way to influence how an audience perceives your communication is using reference points or points of comparison known as anchors. These can greatly improve how appealing the information is.
Imagine you see a promotion for a walking tour of NYC that’s on sale for a cheaper price.
This is using a frame of reference, by showing you what the original price was. If it only said “$20” you wouldn’t be as inclined to think that it’s a good deal.
This is commonly seen in three-tiered services such as basic, advanced, and super packages, or bronze, silver, and gold packages. Think of these packages in relation to hotel rooms. The bronze package would be a single room with very limited amenities for a low price. The silver package would be a room with some added amenities (complimentary snacks, a free drink at the hotel bar, a bigger bed, etc) for a slightly higher price. The gold package would be a large room with luxurious amenities (incredible view, large bathtub, king size bed, etc) for an even higher price. The idea of this system is to use the highest price to make the middle one look more affordable while using the lack of amenities in the lowest one to make the middle one look like better value for the money.
“We can also use language to help identify the potential risks of failing to take action. People will typically make greater effort to avoid a loss than they will to realise a gain.” (Barker & Hollingworth, 2018).
This can mean framing a benefit to your product as a shortfall of a competitors, or framing a promotion as “don’t miss out” vs. “enjoy great deals”. It is important to find a balance of emphasizing that your communication requires an audience’s attention without scaring them too much, or pointing the finger at others.
4. Cognitive Ease
Have you ever read something and just thought “huh?”, or given up completing something because it took too much effort, or was too confusing? You probably had to engage your System 2 mode of thinking, which happens when it takes greater effort to comprehend information. This means that people are less likely to take any action, and may give up on trying to understand what you’re asking them to do. In everyday communication, you should strive for high levels of cognitive ease, making information as easy as possible for anyone to understand and respond to.
“When information is presented in a way that requires minimal cognitive capacity — mental effort — and lets someone make decisions using more of their System 1 thinking — automatic, intuitive, effortless — we can say it’s high in ‘cognitive ease’.” (Barker & Hollingworth, 2018).
This doesn’t just mean the information you’re giving to your external audience. Internally cognitive ease is just as important between departments to ensure that all insights and context are understood and passed on correctly. What seems like common knowledge to some may be completely foreign concepts to others.
If you’re targeting a group of people who may live in a different area, speak a different language, or have different customs than your own, it’s crucial to do the research and know what they’re familiar with.
Did you know that people who live in the UK don’t really use the word vacation? They use the word holiday.
Or that the word sobremesa is a Spanish noun that means the time spent socializing with family or friends after a meal. Typically, this word is used to describe conversations that will happen sobre la mesa, or “over the table” which is a very warm and common event for Spanish people.
When describing a family-friendly vacation rental to a Spanish audience, using sobremesa will elicit a very positive emotion and could make all the difference in convincing them to book.
It’s often very small things that can instantly give greater context to your communication. It’s always worth a quick look!
When targeting a broad audience, minimizing jargon and acronyms is a crucial step in optimizing your everyday communication. It can be difficult to put ourselves in consumers’ shoes and know what they will or won’t understand. It’s helpful to try and share the information with someone completely unfamiliar with the topic and see what they interpret from the message, and then tweak it if it isn’t clear. Reducing the number of words, pages, or steps that it takes to get through your information will make it easier for your audience to make it through the whole thing.
“Sometimes however, a long information pack is unavoidable and legally necessary. In this case, research suggests it can help to put a summary sheet up front, so people can access key information easily.” (Barker & Hollingworth, 2018).
Behavioural science gives us these, and more, insights that are some of the most effective tools for enhancing our everyday communications. Keeping these points in mind the next time you’re creating a communication piece will help you obtain the desired response from your audience.
Reference:
Hollingworth, C., & Barker, L. (2018, September). Seven key behavioural science-based concepts for optimizing everyday communications: https://www.warc.com/content/article/bestprac/seven_key_behavioural_sciencebased_concepts_for_optimising_everyday_communications/123274
Cassey is a Content and Paid Social Media Coordinator with VERB Interactive a leader in digital marketing, specializing in solutions for the travel and hospitality industry. Find out more at www.verbinteractive.com.
