Getting engaged

Nothing beats getting ‘lost’ in a good book. And by ‘book’ I don’t mean the weighty tome that props up your bedside table; or the Kindle in the ziplock bag that you keep within reach of your bath. I mean printed publications in general, and the way they draw you in, one wonderful word at a time, until you are completely captivated by an idea or story.

It’s a level of engagement that we need, and miss, more than ever in the business communication environment.

The demise of print – a long, slow process hastened by Covid-19 and the daily proliferation of instant chat and social platforms – has seen business communicators grappling with the double-edged sword that is digital communication. In the last few decades, technology has provided many cheaper, faster and more direct ways to deliver messages to employees and customers. But the content that is instantly delivered is often as quickly deleted, because it comes via channels that are more invasive, less liked and less trusted.

At a time when, more than ever, we need communication to engage and connect us, our messaging channels seem to be achieving the opposite.

How do we change that? How do we create ‘pull’ for readers in a generation that spends more time online than they do sleeping? I believe the reason is as simple as it is complicated: User Experience.

Printed communication has one thing that is richer, more personal and more tangible than almost any online version, and that’s the tactile experience that comes with it.

Consuming printed media is a multi-sensory affair: you go somewhere to buy, fetch or borrow a publication. You touch it, see it, flick through it. Talk about it. You notice the curled pages from the last reader. You choose your moment to read it, the seat you sit in, the window you’re next to, the coffee you’ll enjoy while you read. These tactile activities increase the memorability of and your sense of connection to the message. The very process of consuming the information triggers simultaneous decisions and pleasure centres in your brain, resulting in an experience that you choose, shape and remember.

The online experience, on the other hand, is one-dimensional at best. The principles sound the same – you can opt in or out of the news you receive, select which device you view it on, as well as where and when (battery life permitting) you consume it. But the single-click, one-finger scroll that takes place (usually while you’re doing something else at the same time) delivers a very thin slice of the print experience.

So, what does this mean for the business professional who has a toolbox with predominantly digital communication options, but increasingly disengaged colleagues who need a very different type of experience in order to absorb and ‘fall in love’ with your message?

Lessons learnt

I’ve had the good fortune of spending more than a decade of my career focused on agency-developed print work, and almost the same amount of time managing technology communication within a large corporate – two worlds that couldn’t be more different.

While these audiences’ preferences are poles apart (from the employee who only trusts a message delivered in-person, to the techie who feels two WhatsApp notes is too much social interaction for one day) one thing remains true for both: the impact of communication depends on a person’s experience of it.