Wipe down your behavior change goals.
Campaign Refresh.
It’s a new year, and there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world, which means it’s a good time to wipe down, tidy up, dust off, and air out your behavior change strategy.
Wipe down your behavior change goals
After a year of implementation, our behavior change goals can get a little murky, grimy, and scuffed.
We may have veered slightly off course as the months went by and new demands crept in.
There may have been an urgent need to pivot or reprioritize, and it’s been hard to get back on track.
Or, things have been going pretty well, but we’re staring down a blank Gantt chart, Trello board, or Comms plan, trying to figure out where to go from here.
Which means, it’s a great time to start the campaign refresh process!
First things first: What were you asking your audience to do last year?
We are asking [insert audience here] to [insert actions, routines, or habits here].
Awesome sauce if you can answer this off the top of your head.
If you can’t, then conduct a rapid review of the outreach materials and talking points you shared with the audience, and note which behaviors you asked them to adopt.
Bonus points if you have last year’s strategy you can compare the list against to determine whether implementation efforts matched the plan.
Step 2: Assess how the year went.
Are you seeing momentum or results from last year’s efforts?
▢ It was a good year.
▢ It went OK, but there’s definitely room for improvement.
▢ Things did not go as hoped or planned.
If your strategy focused on a few actions last year, like signing petitions or making donations, you can assess whether the final numbers met your goals.
Unfortunately, it can take time to determine if audiences are adopting routines and habits, as that level of change is a process. If you don’t have data that shows the number of people changing their behaviors, you can track steps in the process as indicators of shifts.
For example:
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The number of people who downloaded a resource they need to get started.
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The number of people who watched the entire YouTube video to learn a new skill.
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The percentage of homeowners who responded to the mailed offer of a free consultation.
- The percentage of workshop attendees expressing an increase in confidence after joining.
What else has changed for the audience?
There are a lot of shifts happening in the world right now, which can impact our audience and the relevance of our behavior change strategy. This is a good time to assess the external conditions surrounding the audience to determine if the behavior change strategy also needs to shift.
▢ Things are relatively the same as last year.
▢ My audience is in a worse position to adopt the desired behavior.
▢ My audience is better positioned to adopt the desired behavior.
A few items to consider here:
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Are there new stressors that may make it more difficult for the audience to adopt the desired behavior?
Example: Rising cost-of-living pressures are forcing people to prioritize affordability when voting for candidates, ahead of climate change concerns (Globescan). -
Are there emerging sentiments and concerns you’re hearing about in the news and on social media that can present a new opportunity or angle for your behavior change goal?
Example: Consumers increasingly want to be healthier and more sustainable, without sacrificing one for the other (Globescan).
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What economic, political, or technological developments are occurring that may impact (positively or negatively) the accessibility or desirability of the solution you want people to adopt?
Example: Rising household heating costs may prompt more people to install solar panels. Alternatively, ending subsidies for EV buyers may deter people from switching from gas-powered vehicles.
Step 3: Adapt and adjust for this year.
Let’s have a little logic chain fun converting your step 2 assessments into a refreshed strategy for the new year!
Gentle cycle
If last year was a good year and your audience is in the same or better position to adopt the desired behavior, then:
→ Stick with the same behavior change strategy. Note: you will still want to refresh the key messages, which we’ll cover in post #3 on “dusting off your key messages.”
→ Identify new angles, connection points, or benefits to doing the desired behavior you can incorporate into the strategy based on what has been working well and related shifting conditions surrounding the audience.
→ Explore expanding the scope of the campaign since it’s working well. Expansion can include adding related behaviors to the strategy and journey, deepening engagement among committed audience members, and reaching additional audience segments.
Deep clean
If the strategy needs improvement and external conditions for the audience have changed (not for the better), you may need to scrub the strategy more than just wipe it off.
→ Critically examine the behavior change goal. Is what you’re asking the audience to adopt clear, or should it be simplified and streamlined? Is the goal realistic for the audience to achieve, or should it be more pragmatic?
→ Double-check alignment between your audience and the behavior change strategy. It’s possible that the audience you’ve been communicating with isn’t the segment that is most likely or able to adopt the desired behavior. Stay tuned for the next post on tidying up the target audience.
→ Review the barriers and deterrents that may be preventing action. Consider options for removing new barriers that have emerged, providing resources and services to lower barriers, and helping the audience overcome inertia caused by current events (life has really been lifing).
→ Evaluate the project’s implementation accuracy. Sometimes, low traction is not a result of the strategy being “off” but rather of it not being implemented as designed. Comparing plans against execution can highlight opportunities to maintain the same strategy with higher quality, consistency, and rigor.
Lastly, the strategy may just need time. If you see early signs of progress, it may be worth continuing the behavior change experiment to see whether another 6-8 months produces better results.
Extra spin: My recommended refresh exercise
A common challenge with behavior change programs is assuming that simple actions and steps are simple for the audience to complete. Yet, real life can get complicated real quick. Take this example of scheduling a doctor’s appointment, shared by Sparky Witte on LinkedIn.
For your extra spin cycle challenge, I recommend taking time to write down all the steps your audience must navigate to complete a single action or ask in your behavior change strategy.
This will help to identify the barriers and deterrents standing in their way and open the door for helpful solutions.
Congrats! You have now successfully refreshed your behavior change strategy.