What evidence-based strategies can you use to more effectively craft communications with practical purposes, so that busy people respond and take needed action? We get insights from Dr. Todd Rogers (@Todd_Rogers_), a behavioral scientist and professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. His work applies behavioral science insights and methods to understand important social challenges and to develop interventions to mitigate them.
Among the topics he’s explored is how to improve written communications with practical purposes. His recent op-ed in the Boston Globe, co-authored with Jessica Lasky-Fink, is called “Write shorter messages.” As a preview of their insights, they find that keeping communications short, simple and skimmable makes it more likely that people will respond or take action.