Which Communication Channels Are You Forgetting About?

When you’re Behavior Designing a program, make sure you consider (and test) all the available communication channels.

Sometimes a multi-channel plan is most appropriate. Sometimes the best channel is not the one you first thought of.

Communication channels to consider:

1. Email: A very popular & powerful choice. But it’s also a heavily loaded channel. Some (younger) demographics don’t use email at all.
2. Micro-blogging platforms: Twitter and enterprise equivalents like Yammer, Jive & Chatter. These are not reliable triggers, but they can help build awareness & trigger quick responses (social support for example).
3. SMS & mobile messaging: Very effective channels, but very protected. It’s a great privelage to be allowed to communicate with someone this way. Get permission & don’t abuse it.
4. Instant Messaging: Google Hangouts, Skype Messenger, Slack etc.  Messages can get lost, but these are good channels for quick response triggers.
5. Signage: For enterprise, organizations and events, promoting a campaign via signs around the facility can be very effective.
6. Verbal Announcements: For enterprise, organizations and events, don’t forget to have prominent people provide motivation & triggers when speaking to an audience (including conference calls & video conferences).
7. App Push Notification: If participants have an appropriate app installed, you may be able to push notifications to their phones. This channel is very effective, but spam is not tolerated, so use it wisely.
8. Calendar Events: Sending a calendar invite to trigger a task in the future can be very effective within organizations with standardized calendaring. Of course it needs to be something that makes sense as a calender event. And you have to be able to identify a time that is appropriate for all/most people (say triggering a walk at lunchtime). For recurring triggers (say logging hours every day at 5), you can send a recurring calendar invite.
9. Intranets: If a corporate intranet is actually used, then a call-to-action (on a page that is actually used) can be help increase adherence if the message actually pops on the page enough.
10. Social Network Groups: Facebook Groups, Google Circles etc also have their utility, but they are not reliable triggers. They can only help support another more reliable channel’s messaging.

What am I missing?

Photo credit: Julius Drost on Unsplash