Messaging

Make it easy to read, ask for one specific act, show what people like the reader actually do, make the benefit concrete and send it just before the reader can act. In US tax letters, a simpler notice raised claims from 17 to 23 per cent, and showing the amount owed raised them to 31 per cent.

What the report found

1. Make it easy to read. When the US tax authority simplified a letter about an unclaimed tax credit, 23 per cent of recipients claimed it, against 17 per cent who got the standard version. Plain words are not a matter of style; they change what people do.
2. Ask for one clear act. Telling people exactly what to do, and treating silence as a choice rather than an oversight, nearly doubled repayments to a UK government agency, from 12 to 23 per cent.
3. Show what others do. Telling people that most others pay on time raised tax payments in large UK trials. But a norm can backfire on people already doing better than average, unless it also signals approval.
4. Make the benefit concrete. Showing the actual amount a person was owed raised claims to 31 per cent. Whether to frame a message as a gain or a loss matters much less than popular advice suggests.
5. Reach people at the right moment, as people. Reminders raised savings by 6 per cent, and by 16 per cent when they named the saver's own goal. A handwritten sticky note raised survey returns. Timing and a personal touch turn intention into action.

Who it is for

For anyone who writes a letter, email, text or notification that asks someone to act.

How we work

Field Guides turn behavioural science into practical principles, each with the evidence, a worked example and what to watch out for. Every claim is graded Established, Emerging or Untested, and where researchers disagree, as they do on loss-framed messages, both sides are set out before we say where we stand.

Cite this report

The Why We Project (2026) Messaging: Writing words people act on. Field Guide No. 03. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com