ENGAGE: Our Behavioral Innovation Process
Designing and field testing behavioral voter engagement innovations
The progressive movement needs new voter engagement tactics. To meet this need, the Vote Rev team designs and field tests behavioral voter engagement innovations that help Democrats win.
How we do it
All the best change-makers stand on the shoulders of giants, and our work is no different. Our six-stage ENGAGE behavioral innovation process draws on best practices from behavioral insights, human-centered design, lean experimentation, and campaign strategy. Here’s how we use the ENGAGE process to develop our voter engagement tactics:
Establish:
define the problem
First, we listen to voters and organizers – what problems are they facing? We synthesize what we hear, distilling what and whose behavior would need to change to solve these problems. Then we estimate the impact and feasibility of solving each problem and choose the one we’re best positioned to tackle.
Notice:
uncover the barriers
We observe and interview the people who are closest to the problem we’ve identified, like voters, organizers, and campaign partners. With their insights and through an equity lens, we pinpoint features in the environment that shape behavior and influence decision-making.
Generate:
develop design ideas
We review real-world learnings and academic literature to understand what has and hasn’t worked to overcome similar barriers in different contexts. Inspired by what we’ve learned, we brainstorm creative ways to solve the problem. Then we choose the most impactful and feasible ideas to prototype.
Actualize:
test and refine prototypes
We develop and pilot dozens of early versions of our ideas. To identify the most user-friendly and scalable designs, we gather rapid feedback at every level, from voters to organizers to campaigns. Then we refine our prototypes and repeat.
Gauge:
evaluate the impact
Once we have a refined prototype, we design a way to evaluate its impact. Evaluations are complex, so we start with a small-scale pilot (an RCTini!). If our pilot is a success, we develop it into a large-scale evaluation in the field – a quasi-experiment, mixed methods approach, or a “gold standard” randomized controlled trial. Then we analyze the results. Does it work? How well, and for whom?
Evangelize:
mainstream the tactics
If we find that our innovation is effective, we mainstream it. How? We train. For free. We advise our partners on best practices, we troubleshoot with them, and we continue refining our tactic right up to Election Day. We repeat until the tactic becomes an integral part of campaign strategy, cycle after cycle.
No tactic works forever. Time passes, the electoral context changes, the tactic loses power through overuse. When that happens, we shelve it, recommending that our partners prioritize fresh, impactful innovations.