When we think about effective communication, timing is everything. After all, there’s no point in having a well-crafted message delivered by the most appropriate messenger if you show up at an irrelevant time.  

When thinking about moments that matter, it’s common for communications to concentrate on major life events – think buying a house, moving or having a baby. For some industries, these milestone moments are critical because these life events are disrupting habits – they cause people to reconsider long-held behaviours.  

Life milestone moments, however, happen infrequently across a lifespan – our recent research has shown just how infrequent these events are for most people – and, when they do happen, audiences are typically bombarded by information, communications and advertising. With so many organisations trying to own this space, it’s easy for messages to get lost amongst the busyness and overwhelm associated with major life changes.

Shifting from a macro to a micro focus

So, what if organisations looked to the less crowded moments that matter?  

We conducted a study to identify the opportunities not just across major life events, but in everyday events too. The smaller, more frequent occasions and milestones. By focusing on the micro-events, there’s a greater opportunity to build stronger associations or prompt a desired behaviour change. This can be achieved through the practice of habit stacking.  

In the field of behavioural science, ‘habit stacking’ or ‘piggy-backing’ is the practice of establishing a new behaviour, a healthy habit, by attaching it to an existing one. Think of it as a nudge. Take, for example, those who are trying to read more. To piggy-back or habit stack, somebody could pair the act of reading with their nighttime routine, such as by reading once in bed. In doing so, they are creating a prompt for their new desired behaviour. Without this kind of prompt, it’s easier not to follow through with an intention – something that’s called the intention-action gap, the gap between what we want to achieve and what we want to do.

So, what are the existing habits or behaviours that we can tap in to? The moments that happen time and time again. To find out, we asked New Zealanders ‘Which life events did you experience in the last year?’.

‍

Applying the findings

For brands and organisations looking to use habit stacking during a moment that matters, the trick is identifying the right existing habit to pair with a desired behaviour.  

Let’s take a commonly desired behaviour change – encouraging people to walk or cycle to work. An effective example of habit stacking would be to prompt people checking tomorrow's weather forecast by sending them a reminder to walk or cycle if the weather is sunny.  

Or, perhaps we are looking to encourage healthier drinking habits. Instead of waiting for a major health event or a new year’s resolution, what if we prompted healthier drinking habits when people are at the gym or playing sport?  

Clearly, there’s opportunity in the micro-moments. It’s a chance to prompt new behaviours outside of the often overwhelming major life milestones that we experience. The research outlined a list of opportunities for taking a new approach to building new associations or habits.  

‍