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A behavioural approach to strategic communications

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Reading time: 15 minutes

How to use behavioural science to make your communications more strategic, outcome-focused and effective.

Applying behavioural insights

Behaviour change is fundamental to all government communications, regardless of discipline. Communications is not simply broadcasting the work of government after the fact. It is one of the five levers government uses to achieve its aims and deliver public policy, alongside legislation, regulation, taxation and public spending. 

The success of policy inevitably involves people starting, stopping or changing behaviours. That means our work must be focused on behaviour-based outcomes and insight. 

Communicating strategically means directly aligning your communications objectives with your policy objectives and maximising the overall effectiveness of everything you do. This is achieved through early collaboration with colleagues outside communications and involvement in the initial decision-making process. This ensures that as communicators we: 

  • Contribute our expertise and audience insight to diagnosing policy problems 
  • Advise on the most effective ways communications can help realise policy objectives 
  • Ensure all available levers have been considered when strategies are produced, and that the most effective combinations are chosen 

This guidance draws on rigorous academic research. It combines core principles of behavioural science with existing good practice across government into a simple, practical approach that all government communicators can apply to their work. It works alongside the OASIS framework, and shows you how to: 

  • Consider the policy context, and identify policy objectives in terms of behaviours 
  • Set objectives and use audience insight, using the COM-B model to identify barriers to the desired behaviour 
  • Score and evaluate your communications activities in terms of behavioural outputs 

Most communication activities will have specific behaviours they are targeting. But this approach is still useful where that is not the case, because it helps frame the question: why is this communication ultimately being done? 

For example, media and press teams frequently engage in reputation management. Reputation matters because it can become a barrier to effective policy delivery. If the public does not have confidence in public health advice, they will not respond to prompts to give up smoking. Good internal communications matters because it supports organisational effectiveness. If employees do not believe their views will be acted on, they will not fill in staff surveys. 

Even where you cannot identify clear behaviours to target, you can still examine what barriers you are proactively removing or reducing for colleagues. 

These principles represent a continuing commitment to behavioural communications. They are part of a collective journey to make government communications ever more outcome-focused, insight-driven and evidence-based. 

Defining behaviour

A behaviour is an action that is observable – who does what, when and how. 

A behaviour is not a change in attitude, awareness, engagement,  culture or social norm. These can be important steps towards behaviour change but are not the end goal or outcome.  

Depending on what you want your audience to do, you may be trying to influence them to: 

  • Start or adopt a new behaviour, such as joining the military or attending a training course 
  • Stop a harmful behaviour, such as drink driving or posting harmful content on social media 
  • Continue or improve upon an existing positive behaviour, such as paying tax on time or remaining opted into a workplace pension 
  • Change or modify an existing harmful behaviour, such as drinking less alcohol or modifying abusive behaviours in a relationship 
  • Refrain from taking up a harmful behaviour, such as breaching security regulations or becoming involved in knife crime 

Policy context

To set effective objectives for your communication activities you must make a clear distinction between policy objectives and communication objectives.  

Policy objectives set out the overall purpose of the policy. Communication objectives set out how you will drive specific behaviours that will help realise the wider policy aims. 

When considering the policy context, you must answer two questions: 

  • What policy objective will your activities support? 
  • How will people behave if those policy objectives are realised? 

Communication activities do not happen in a vacuum but are carried out to support the realisation of the government’s objectives. Policy objectives typically include policy development, delivery and reputation management.  

You need to identify which specific behaviours are necessary to meet the wider policy objective. This should be done in collaboration with your policy and analytical teams so you understand the broader context you will be working in.  

Communications will have an important role in influencing those behaviours, but it will not necessarily be able to influence all of them. It will work alongside other interventions for the behaviours it can help drive. 

Example: Cutting childhood obesity 

Policy objective: Halve the number of obese children by 2030 

Policy objectives may be broad in scope with a long-term timeframe for implementation. 

Interventions to support delivery 

There will usually be a number of interventions put in place to support the successful delivery of a policy. Each intervention will aim to change one or more specified behaviours and by doing so  contribute to the overall success of the policy objective.  

Communication activities should form part of the delivery plan for some or all of the interventions. 

In this example, they might include: 

  • Increased regulation of the food and drink industry 
  • Changes to advertising regulations to prevent harmful foods being advertised to children 
  • Getting children to exercise more 

Specify behaviours for each intervention 

For the intervention of getting children to exercise more, a specific behaviour could be: get primary school children to exercise for 20 minutes per day as part of their school day. 

This behaviour is clear, specific and links to the intervention. 

Objectives and audience insight

Having identified the behaviours that meet the wider policy objective you can assess which ones your communications can influence. This will form the basis of your communications objectives. 

Do this by identifying barriers that might stop your target audience from engaging in the desired behaviours, then judging which ones your communications can help overcome. Some barriers can not be overcome by communications alone, so this step helps you focus on where you can make the most difference. It will also help you understand where communications will have to work in  partnership with other teams to successfully overcome barriers. 

Your objectives should be C-SMART: challenging, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. For example: ‘X% of primary school head teachers agree to create 20-minute daily slots for exercise in the school timetable.’ 

You should use insight from existing research, previous campaigns and your insight team to set meaningful targets. Read the Evaluation Cycle for more guidance on setting quantitative and qualitative targets. 

Before developing your strategy, also define your overall audience as specifically as possible. This will help you identify the most relevant audience insight and make your strategy as targeted as possible. 

Using the COM-B model 

The COM-B model helps identify barriers in a systematic and effective way. It says that three conditions must be met before a behaviour takes place: capability, opportunity and motivation. The barriers to overcome are anything that prevents those conditions being met. 

Capability 

Does your target audience: 

  • Have the right knowledge and skills? 
  • Have the physical and mental ability to carry out the behaviour? 
  • Know how to do it? 

Opportunity 

Does your target audience: 

  • Have the resources to undertake the behaviour? 
  • Have the right systems, processes and environment around them? 
  • Have people around them who will help or hinder them to carry it out? 

Motivation 

Does your target audience: 

  • Want to carry out the behaviour? 
  • Believe that they should? 
  • Have the right habits in place to do so? 

For each condition, ask yourself and colleagues outside communications what prevents people from engaging in the behaviour, and whether there is existing evidence about these barriers. The questions will vary based on the behaviour you are working on. 

Example: Getting children to exercise more 

The questions below illustrate how to apply the COM-B model. They use the childhood obesity example to show the kinds of barriers you might identify and how communications can help address them. 

Capability

1. Understanding of the issue

  • Barrier: Do they understand the issue?
  • How to address: Explain why it matters to them – both now and in the future – in ways that resonate directly with them, as well as key influencers like teachers and parents.

2. Physical readiness

  • Barrier: Are they physically fit enough to do it?
  • How to address: Ensure a varied range of activities is available to cater to different fitness and ability levels.

3. Clarity of Instructions

  • Barrier: Do they understand what they are expected to do?
  • How to address: Provide clear, straightforward directions on expectations and steps.

Opportunity

1. Time constraints

  • Barrier: Do they have enough time to do it?
  • How to address:
    • Make participation a core or compulsory part of the timetable so headteachers allocate dedicated time during the day.
    • Communicate the key benefits to teachers and headteachers to encourage them to prioritize time for participation.

2. Equipment and resources

  • Barrier: Do they have the right equipment?
  • How to address: Highlight the value of the initiative to teachers and leadership so they are motivated to provide and allocate the necessary equipment.

3. Physical space and feasibility

  • Barrier: Is there enough space in the school for the activity to take place?
  • How to address:
    • Keep exercises simple and practical so they can be done without changing out of school uniform.
    • Create a standardised, adaptable programme that any school can easily implement regardless of facilities.

Motivation

1. Personal engagement

  • Barrier: Do they want to do it enough?
  • How to address:
    • Design a reward system to incentivize and celebrate participation.
    • Focus on keeping the sessions enjoyable and fun.

2. Perceived importance

  • Barrier: Do they see the need to do it?
  • How to address: Provide regular, engaging reminders about why taking part matters.

3. Habit formation

  • Barrier: Can this be turned into a lasting habit?
  • How to address: Schedule exercise sessions at the exact same time every day to build routine.

4. Social support and peer influence

  • Barrier: Do others around them encourage the behaviour?
  • How to address:
    • Prompt teachers and parents to actively support and praise children’s participation.
    • Empower children to encourage and motivate their peers.

5. Self-efficacy and confidence

  • Barrier: Do they believe they can do it?
  • How to address:
    • Reassure children that exercise is inclusive and meant for everyone.
    • Structure sessions so everyone can participate at their own pace, and offer consistent praise for effort and taking part.

Once you have identified the ways your communications can overcome barriers, you can set your communication objectives. Summarise the roles that you have identified for communications across capability, opportunity and motivation. In the childhood obesity example the roles were: 

  • Capability: Show children, and those who influence them such as  parents and teachers, why exercise is important and the benefits. 
  • Opportunity: Make head teachers and teachers aware of the need to make time for exercise in the timetable (in this example, we’ll assume that there has been a change in policy). 
  • Motivation: Encourage children to motivate their peers, parents and teachers, and reassure children that exercise is for everyone. 

Before you finalise your communications objectives, check that your proposed interventions will drive the desired behaviour and are the most effective way to do so. For example, make sure you are confident that lack of exercise is not a minor contributor to childhood obesity compared to diets. 

Asking the right questions  

When you’re thinking about what questions to ask and how you might overcome barriers, draw on existing research and data help by you or others. Ask your insight team, colleagues in policy or behaviour or data specialists in your organisation. 

Communications and opportunity barriers

You will normally find the behaviour you are targeting faces barriers in all three conditions from the COM_B model. Communications can  directly address capability and motivation barriers, but if there are still significant opportunity barriers your communications are unlikely to drive behaviour change. 

When identifying what barriers exist for your audience, any opportunity barriers you identify should always be fed back to your policy team. You can also examine whether communications can help indirectly remove opportunity barriers.  

Opportunity barriers for some audiences might relate to capability or motivation barriers faced by others, which communications could target. In the childhood obesity example, children lacked opportunity because they had no time in the school day to exercise. This was addressed by motivating head teachers to change the timetable to give the children more time to exercise. 

Strategy and implementation

A good communication strategy contains: 

  • A clearly defined target audience  
  • A proposition 
  • Clear messages 
  • A channel strategy 

When creating your strategy, you may need to segment your audience. This does not have to be based on demographics. Use whatever distinctions make the biggest difference to how your communications will be received. For example, when encouraging school children to exercise more, the type of school they attend may matter more than their age. 

When running communications in new areas or with large budgets, build pilots into your strategy. This lets you test your approach before full rollout. 

Scoring and evaluation

A full evaluation of any communications can only be completed once the activities have ended, but you should plan evaluation from the start and begin measuring as soon as implementation begins. Your evaluation will tell you if you have successfully met your original objectives; but you can test and evaluate your campaign before or during implementation. 

Set a baseline for any numerical targets before you start. This is the level you would expect without any communications activity. In the childhood obesity example, the baseline is the percentage of head teachers who would already agree to create exercise slots, without any intervention. A completed evaluation compares your outcomes against this baseline to show what difference your communications made. 

Good evaluation also serves as audience insight for future communication activities. It provides evidence as to what behaviours people have and how they respond to your activities. This is particularly important if you regularly communicate with particular audiences. 

Read the Evaluation Cycle for more guidance on evaluating your communications, including example metrics for inputs, outputs, outtakes and outcomes. 

Further reading

Acknowledgements

This guide was written by Laura De Molière (Department of Work and Pensions Behavioural Science Team) with Catherine Hunt (Cabinet Office), Lester Posner (Health and Safety Executive) and David Watson (Department for International Trade), with contributions from Nathan King (Cabinet Office) and Sarah Jennings and Pete Farrand (Business Energy and Industrial Strategy). 

It draws on the work of Susan Michie, Lou Atkins and Robert West of University College London. 

We would like to thank members from across Government Communications for providing case studies and the rest of the Department for Work and Pensions Behavioural Science Team, particularly Carla Groom, for their guidance. 

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