This post covers how organisations can get more people to apply to their programs. We break down a case study of how to entice students to apply for an education achievement award. We show how to design an effective message to attract applicants, as well as how to improve the application form and customer experience.

Summary

• I worked with an education organisation to increase applications to their awards program
• The organisation sends students a SMS encouraging them to apply for the award. This includes a link to the application form
• I undertook research, including a customer journey map, to break down each step of the application process. This identified barriers and opportunities that impact the students’ decision to apply
• The application process had many barriers that may demotivate students from applying. This includes making it too hard to act on the spot, the length of the SMS, lack of clarity on what’s required, poor incentives, complex eligibility, and a cumbersome form that’s tough to read on a mobile phone
• Behavioural science can improve each step of the application process. Personalising a short and easy-to-read SMS, and demonstrating the benefits of applying for the award, will incentivise people to consider the application
• Simplifying the form and optimising it for mobile phones will increase people’s motivation to fill in the application
• Making the application quick and easy with an online template will increase application completions
• Social science helps improve applications by identifying solutions that businesses might test. In this case, messages that appeal to receiving recognition, helping others, and increased self-confidence.
• Social science also provides scientific ways to measure the effectiveness of current processes and providing advice on how to improve outcomes for customers.

Background

An organisation, whom we’ll call Education Network, runs an annual awards program recognising the achievements of students around the state. Individual students as well as organisations can be nominated for awards, under various categories. Education Network seeks to increase the number of individual applications. Students must be nominated by a teacher, an employer, or an industry body.

Most organisations do not realise the hidden costs of getting people to consider a new decision, such as the time, effort, and unnecessary steps that put people off from completing a task (friction costs). Forms and applications have many seemingly insignificant sub-steps that organisations overlook, forgetting that customers are not immediately motivated to take up a new service, even if it would improve their lives.

What We Did

I worked with Education Network to consider what their students value and the benefits of applying for the award. I then identified the barriers and enablers to encourage completion of the application.

My advice focused solely on crafting the SMS and setting up testing of the messages.

How We Did It

I did a quick literature scan, to see how other similar awards were promoted across the sector. I also reviewed behavioural studies that focused on motivating people to complete forms.

I reviewed existing student feedback and other communications materials from Education Network, to see what students value.

To identify behavioural barriers and enablers, I undertook an analysis of the application process using a customer journey map. This involves breaking down each stage of the application, to demonstrate each step that is required. This allows us to examine the behavioural barriers and enablers to completing the desired outcome. In this case, completing award applications.

I co-designed a few message options for the SMS, working with education support staff and managers.

I provided advice on how to test the SMS. This includes tracking clicks on application links using Bitly, and using a messaging platform to track student responses to the SMS.

What We Found

I mapped every step of the application:

• Receiving the message
• Clicking on the link for more information about the award
• Finding the link to the application on the opened webpage
• Completing and submitting the application.

At every step along the way, there are several behavioural barriers that may prevent students from considering the application.

Time is the greatest barrier to action. SMS have a higher open rate than email, but people are increasingly distrustful of messages from unknown numbers as well as malicious links. People must receive a message at an optimum time, when they are able to read and complete the instructions on the spot.

Overly long messages are often deleted without being read. People are overwhelmed with messages at work and in their personal lives. Every day, we field hundreds of emails, phone calls, and messages on our phones and other devices. A message asking people to do something different from an external organisation is competing for attention in a crowded life.

Messages that do not spell out the desired behaviour, such as what you need to do to apply, why, when, and how, are unlikely to be acted upon.

Messages must motivate people with what they deeply care about. The Education Network Awards have no monetary prize. There are no other direct career or educational benefits. The application process is time-consuming. It potentially exposes students for rejection, either by not meeting the requirements, or from the person they approach to nominate them. To make the prospect of applying more attractive, the message might therefore appeal to external rewards and benefits (extrinsic motivation), or personal goals and interests (intrinsic motivations).

Complex rules on eligibility as well as a complicated sign-up process stops people from signing up for services and programs that might otherwise benefit them. At every step of the application process, students must work out if they qualify for the award. Simplifying the eligibility, or taking the guess work out of the process, might increase applications. For example, Education Network can use their administration records to target students who meet eligibility and encouraging them to consider applying for the award.

When people carry out tasks on a smartphone, they are more likely to have distractions and be multitasking. Research shows that people will fill out surveys and forms conscientiously on their phones, so long as the questions are easy and the layout is formatted for small touchscreens. The Education Network award webpage is dense with information, such as the background to the award, multiple award categories, and multiple links to other webpages, including another link to the application form. The application link then loads a PDF. The PDF asks nominations to be submitted in a separate document, along with five attachments.

People seek to avoid the hassle of unnecessary steps and extra effort when considering new options (friction costs). Many people are put-off from opening PDFs. They often take longer to load than html webpages. They are cumbersome to navigate on a phone. Additionally, PDFs cannot be easily completed on mobile. Employers who spend their days on a worksite may spend little time in front of a computer. They will need to remember to send themselves the SMS link to their computer. They will need to allocate time to return to the PDF later, start a new document, and follow the instructions. This creates multiple hurdles where the applicant may drop off. Organisations often presume that people will be motivated to chase information later. That’s not the case. People lose links. People get annoyed by having to click multiple times to complete an action. Employers prefer to avoid unnecessary documentation.

Friction costs include the financial and non-financial costs of taking action. Time is money, and small operators have little time to spare. The application requires a lengthy written nomination on a separate document (nearly 2,000 words) as well as multiple attachments with supporting evidence. This demotivates busy employers who are on-the-go, or small businesses that have no human resources or assistants to help.

The following behavioural techniques can address these issues to improve the application process at each step of the customer journey (Diagram 1): receive the SMS, clicking on the link in the SMS, find the link to the application, and completing and submitting the application.

Receive SMS

As Diagram 1 shows, once students receive the SMS, there are several sub-steps they need to take in order to consider applying for the award. This starts with recognising the phone number, then deciding whether or not to read the message on the spot, understanding the meaning of the message, and then understanding the call to action (click on the application link to apply).

Personalising the message will improve this step (personalisation).

• Add personal details to the SMS to increase legitimacy, such as the student’s name and their qualification.
• Sign off from a trusted messenger, such as their local Education Network manager.
• Use a SMS service that shows the organisation’s name as the SMS sender, rather than a random mobile number.
• Use a link shortening service, to track the number of clicks to your webpage. You can custom the URL name, to make the link more meaningful. This will also reduce the number of characters in the SMS. E.g. http://bitly.com/EduNetworkAward

Keep it short and simple (simplification). The message needs a behavioural prompt that will convince people to take action. In this case, to take interest in the award and click on the link to apply.

• Use Plain English. Avoid acronyms, jargon, and big words. Microsoft Word and other programs can check the readability of your message using the Flesch-Kincaid score. Aim for a Flesch Reading Ease of 60 or above (easily understood by people aged 13 to 15 years), and a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of eight or below (able to be understood by someone with a Grade 8 level of education)
• Keep it under 500 characters, including spaces. The shorter the message, the more likely that it will be read. To comply with the Spam Act, all message campaigns must provide a way for recipients to opt-out of future messages.

Make the desired action attractive:

• Spell out the benefits of applying. Education Network has the opportunity to test a couple of messages, to see which leads to more clicks to the application. I drew on case studies and testimonials of past award winners. Below are three behavioural prompts with examples of the corresponding SMS messages.*
• Ego-centric: People are motivated by getting recognition of their workplace accomplishments, especially when employees are shown how their skills are valued.
  • ‘Hi Jane. I’m John from Education Network. Your traineeship in aquaculture qualifies you to apply for the Education Network Awards. Create new employment opportunities and grow your business network by applying today: http://bitly.com/EduNetworkAward Reply Stop to opt out’
• Pro-social: Helping others can be highly satisfying for individual self-esteem.
  • ‘Hi Jane. I’m John from Education Network. Your traineeship in aquaculture qualifies you to apply for the Education Network Awards. Meet like-minded people who share your passion and inspire others along the way by applying today: http://bitly.com/EduNetworkAward Reply Stop to opt out‘
• Self-efficacy: Studies show that award winners value the increased confidence they receive as a result of winning.
  • ‘Hi Jane. I’m John from Education Network. Your traineeship in aquaculture qualifies you to apply for the Education Network Awards. Grow your confidence, learn new skills, and be recognised for your achievements by applying today: http://bitly.com/EduNetworkAward Reply Stop to opt out‘

Clicking on the link in the SMS

The sender must make a decision to click on the link in the SMS, which then takes them to a webpage.

Optimise for mobile: People are receiving the SMS on their phones, so the webpage they’re taken to needs to be easily read on a small screen. Research shows that people are more likely to complete forms and surveys when they are optimised for mobile.

Simplify the webpage: The original Education Network webpage includes excessive information about every award. The page also has multiple links you can click, which diverts attention from the application. I provided advice on how to keep the text and webpage easy to read. The information should reinforce each of the messages being tested. There should be no other links on the webpage.

Find the link to the application

Simplify the application process: Include the application as a simple online form on the same webpage as above, to minimise the number of clicks, and so that people can easily preview and submit the requirements in a standardised way.

Maintain motivation: The application is daunting. Students must decide whether they meet eligibility, whether they are good enough, and whether they want to submit themselves to scrutiny from people close to them (nominator) and strangers (the award judges). Ensure the application and webpage is positive and encouraging, such as what students get out of applying, even if they don’t win (gain framing). For example: are all shortlisted students flown to the awards night? Are they provided support along the way?

Completing and submitting the application

Keep it quick: Research shows that people are more likely to complete forms and surveys when they are short and easy. Tell people what they have to do and set an expectation of how long it will take. Otherwise, they may overestimate, or underestimate their efforts, either of which may demotivate them from completing the application. For example, your application instructions might say: ‘This application will take you 30 minutes to complete.’

Provide a simple online template: Reduce the number of requirements for the application to ensure a diversity of applicants. For example, include the application as an online form on the same page as the award application, and reduce the number of attachments required.

How Social Science Helped

Social science theory: I used social science to deliver a quick literature scan that identified solutions from previous studies. This includes behavioural biases and opportunities that impact program applications.

Social science method: I used social science to measure potential blockers to award applications (the customer journey map). I provided evidence-based advice on how to improve SMS messages, as well as the application process. I also provided advice on how to test multiple messages and increase clicks on links and application completions.

Notes

*These messages have been updated for illustrative purposes.