Five tips to change behavior with your communication

Behavioral change here, behavioral change there. As a communication or marketing professional, you can no longer avoid it these days. And that's not so strange. With your message, you often want to change the behavior of your target group. However, the field of behavioral change is large and nowadays there are many different behavioral change techniques and strategies. So do you really have to call in a specialist or can you start with behavioral change yourself? We'll reveal the answer in advance: yes, you can also get started yourself. In this article, we will teach you how to arrive at the right strategy relatively quickly to change people's behavior with your communication.

The (outdated) basis of behavior change

First, let's briefly go back to basics. If you studied communication, there is a good chance that you were taught the classic communication model of Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior (KHG). Briefly summarized in an example: when people receive information about how good a muesli bar from company X is (knowledge) and as a result develop a positive attitude towards the product from company X (attitude), they will buy the product (behavior). We now know that this model is outdated and that more is needed to really encourage people to actual behavior. This is because people make many choices via fast unconscious processes in the brain.

How to navigate the sea of ​​behavior change tools

Behavioural psychologists are increasingly designing techniques and strategies to ensure that behavioural change of the target group actually takes place. But here we need to pause for a moment. It is important to ensure that you choose the right tool(s) that fit your desired behavioural change.

Let's take a look at a popular behavior change technique called nudging. With nudging you give people strategic subtle 'pushes' to influence their unconscious behavior. This behavior change strategy can be useful. For example, think of 'discount crackers' at the beginning of each shelf in the supermarket. People buy more than they need because of these dazzling offers. However, when it comes to sustainable and long-term behavior change, for example, you achieve little with nudging, because it is context-bound. Think of a government that tries to nudge by increasing cigarette taxes. The sale of cigarettes always decreases for a while, but does not result in a permanent decrease in those sales.

In short, it is important to first know which strategy, technique or tool you need to use to change the behavior of your target group. For large behavior change campaigns, communication agencies often use extensive analyses to see how to influence the target group. But that is not always necessary, as long as you take a number of important things into account. Below we will further elaborate on these things in the form of five tips.

Five tips for behavioral change based on a case study

To get a real feel for how you can use the tips, we will discuss them using a difficult but current case. Too often, women (especially) experience being stared at, whistled at, or even followed. Perpetrators are often men. The big question: how can you use communication to ensure that people no longer engage in street intimidation? On to the tips & tricks!

1. Do basic research

Before you even dare to think of certain strategies, it is first important to find out what you want to achieve and for whom. Ask yourself the four W questions:

What is the target behavior?

The target behavior is the behavior that you want people to exhibit. It forms the absolute basis of your strategy. Make this as concrete as possible. In the case of the case, the target behavior is: people do not (anymore) engage in street intimidation. Note that in this case, it is about the target group stopping something. Usually, you want your target group to do something, but now you want them not to do something.

Who is the target audience?

Of course, it is important to determine who your target audience is. In the case, it would be useful to focus on a certain age group, for example people between 18 and 25 years old.

Where and when should the target group exhibit the target behavior?

These are also questions you need to consider when determining your strategy. In our case, quite easy: they have to do it on the street, every time they encounter a potential victim.

2. Start with behavior, but also keep knowledge in mind

As we explained in the introduction, the KHG model is outdated and behavioral psychologists often look at behavior first. They do this because people make 95% of their choices on autopilot. That is why it has often proven successful to turn the KHG model around and start with behavior. For example, show what street harassment does to women and how nice it is for victims when the perpetrators of street harassment do not do that.   

You are not finished yet. Because before you start to play on those unconscious processes, you must first see if there is a lack of knowledge and if so, whether that is bad. We will take our case as an example again: from recent research Plan International shows that perpetrators often do not even know what street intimidation is. That is why they do not see the seriousness of it enough. In short, try to focus on influencing unconscious decision processes, but do not lose sight of how much the target group needs to know. Because you can show that victims find catcalling terrible, but if perpetrators do not understand why it is so bad, they will rather resist the message.

3. Take environmental factors into account

During your analysis, you should not only consider what people should think of your product or target behavior or what they should know. You should also look at external factors that may influence them. Often, these factors play into unconscious choice processes and, as we indicated in the previous tip, they are oh so important! A major environmental factor in our case is the social norm. From research turns out that street harassment is a way to present men's masculinity to other men, which creates a bond between the men. For the case, you could arrange for social role models who emphasize that street harassment is not okay.

4. Think about how you motivate people

It is important to know whether you can motivate people intrinsically and/or extrinsically. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are two driving forces that influence our behavior. Intrinsic motivation comes from within: you do something because you like it, find it satisfying or right. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside: you do something because of an external reward and/or punishment. To control behavior, it works better if you motivate people intrinsically. Behavior that results from intrinsic motivations is then maintained for longer.

For our case, an extrinsic motivation has been added since last July, namely the fact that street intimidation is punishable. If you can ensure that perpetrators actually start thinking that it is good and right to stop intimidating women on the street, then you will change their behavior based on intrinsic motivation.

5. Take into account the resistance that a target group may offer

The last and perhaps most important tip we want to give you is that you need to be aware of the resistances that the target group can offer. We will discuss two:

1. People find it annoying when they are aware that an attempt is being made to persuade them. This is because they perceive this attempt to persuade as an attack on their freedom of movement. As a result, they are more likely to oppose the recommended behavior. So make sure that the target group is as unaware as possible that you are trying to persuade them. In our case, you could do this by avoiding forceful and negative language. For example, instead of saying “stop street harassment now,” say “it could have been your sister.” 
2. People need to believe that they can actually display the desired behavior. There are many ways to achieve this. For example, show that other people do it or provide a perspective for action. For our case, you could use that social role model for the first tip and show how to deal with women on the street for the perspective for action.

Conclusion

Choosing the right behavior change strategy can feel like a daunting task. But, as you’ve seen, the key is doing your research and carefully tailoring your approach to your specific situation and audience. Whether it’s tackling street harassment or promoting sustainable behavior, the success of your communication depends on how well you understand what makes people tick and how you can influence them in subtle and effective ways. With the five tips above, you’re now better equipped to develop a behavior change strategy. Good luck!