From Our Brains to Yours
Inspire Awe to Inspire Action
Last month, the NYT wrote about a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania that studied the most emailed articles from the Times over the previous 6 months. The purpose of the study was to see if there was a trend or “type” of article that drew readers attention and thus got passed along more. It turns out, there was, and the findings were a bit surprising…both to the article’s author and to us.
Working in the silo of politics, especially at a time when the national debate is so uber-focused on a few big issues (healthcare, anyone?), one might assume that articles about politics, Congress, issue debates, and the like would predominate among the shared links.
Or, setting politics aside, misery loves company, right? We assumed negative articles, or articles discussing negative topics (the Iraq War, the millions of Americans without healthcare, the appalling state of our public schools) might get passed around to friends, family or those whose opinions one might be trying to change.
Turns out, neither is the case. The study showed that “awe-inspiring” articles, especially about science, predominated the most emailed list.
We wonder if this finding doesn’t have broader implications for how causes communicate with the people on our email list, and whether we might do well to rethink how we mobilize our communities – or at least test some modifications.
The general “formula” for email messaging, at least specifically for “ask” messages, goes something like this:
A. Brief Introduction to the issue
B. Stark description of the problem (or what the opposition is up to)
C. The Ask – do this to help solve the problem!
D. Reminder of the problem
E. Ask Again
F. Inspiring closing line about how goodness and justice will prevail over evil because of their action
This is such an ubiquitous formula, that we had difficulty finding an email that didn’t utilize it, at least for the most part. And why not use it?
The NYT findings got us thinking: maybe, instead of focusing on the negative aspects of our issues, we should instead talk more about the amazing positive things that have happened lately, either because of the efforts of our organization or due to the act of secondary (or even unrelated) partners.
Backing into this theory is the old “peer pressure” adage that we also take advantage of when motivating action. “Join the thousands just like you who are emailing the President right now…”
What if we simply rethought how we utilize peer pressure and combined it more with the positive, awe-inspiring messages?
Instead of sending messages that regale readers with the vastness of the problem, and telling them that their email to the White House is the solution, why not share inspiring stories of success achieved through collective action that leads to an ask that calls on the individual reading your message to follow in the footsteps of those other ordinary citizens?
Have you tested this different approach in your communications? We’d love to hear your findings.