What do you want people to do as a result of engaging with the information you’ve shared? What paths are available? Identifying a clear and meaningful call to action starts with a sound strategy like you outlined in module one. If you’ve identified the group of people who are positioned to make a difference through action, creating a meaningful call to action should be much easier.
Effective calls to action are:
Specific. They translate your overarching goal into a specific, observable behavior that the actors you’ve identified can adopt. Abstract calls to action can leave people discouraged and stressed. Abstraction often means the burden of identifying a particular action falls on the individual, and too many choices can be overwhelming. Specific calls to action, however, increase psychological well-being by focusing people’s energy around a particular behavior, and, as a result, your actors will be more likely to follow through on the action.
Achievable. Self-efficacy is fundamental to strong calls to action–your actors need to believe their action will matter, and that they have the power to take that action. Counter-intuitively, researchers have found that people are less likely to help others when the number of those in need is high, because they feel their effort may be just “a drop in the bucket.” This state is called “pseudo-inefficacy,” which means that when they are confronted with large numbers, they are less convinced that their action will matter.
Easy. People tend to avoid information that requires them to do something they don’t want or know how to do. Build your calls to action around their skill sets, within the power available to them, and use “nudges” to keep them focused on acting.
Normative. People’s individual behavior is heavily influenced by their perceptions of what people like them will do. Consider how your call to action will connect to their existing identities by citing effective action people in similar roles have taken around the world. There are three kinds of norms you can employ:
Social norms, which are actions taken by people we perceive as being like us
Moral norms, which identify particular approaches as “right” or “wrong”
Transformative norms, which describe new approaches people like us are likely to take.
Affirming and aspirational. Effective calls to action affirm people’s identities by creating opportunities for people to be better versions of themselves.
They point toward solutions. Show that the problem you’re asking people to take action on is solvable by pointing to how people in other regions have solved similar challenges.
Use this worksheet to identify specific, achievable, easy, normative and affirming calls to action that can help others make a difference.
