When planning our awareness campaigns, it is advisable to take into account a series of best practices in order to create a relevant experience for the end user.

What is an awareness campaign?

We define an awareness campaign as a specific educational or reinforcement action using Interactive Modules, Newsletters, Quizzes, Surveys, Videos or Educational Moments, which aims to achieve a change of habits in the organization’s end users.

Start date

The end user must perform a myriad of activities in their workday, with awareness campaigns being one more voice competing for their attention. In addition, each campaign assigned to an end user means at least one email in his inbox and the responsibility to complete reading it.

That is why it is recommended to distribute in time the desired campaigns. This implies selecting different start dates for each one and avoiding that a user has more than one campaign assigned at the same time.

If several campaigns are set up with the same start and end date, the end user will find himself with a lot of work ahead of him (which can be demotivating), and therefore, we run the risk of him dismissing these activities.

Duration

The ideal duration of each awareness campaign assigned to an end user is 1 to 3 weeks.A shorter durationleaves no room for the person to plan the best time to review the assigned content. In addition, campaigns collect statistics only while they are in force, so in a campaign with a very short duration we can lose valuable information.A duration longer than 3 weeks can lead to the opposite situation, where the end user relaxes too much and forgets to read the content.

Notifications

It is recommended to always notify users about those campaigns to which they are assigned, both at the beginning and throughout the period in which they are active, through specific reminders.

In addition, customizing notifications to adapt them to the organization’s image and internal standards is a good practice so that the user sees the awareness program as an integral part of the organization’s communications and actions.

Test campaigns

E-mail is the primary means of communication between the awareness program and the end user. Therefore, we must ensure that messages are always received in their inbox. It is recommended to follow a whitelisting implementation process so that the platform used coexists in a friendly way with the organization’s security tools.

Before launching a real campaign within the organization, it is advisable to schedule test campaigns. This will allow us to ensure that users receive the relevant notifications correctly and can perform the entire life cycle of each campaign without any inconvenience.

Awareness period

When thinking about an awareness strategy, it is advisable to plan campaigns for periods of six months to a year. Such an extension allows us to clearly organize in time the different types of campaigns we wish to assign to end users.

Number of campaigns in a year

Each year, users should receive a moderate number of campaigns, so that they find the awareness actions an added value and not a nuisance or a waste of time.

To determine the ideal number of campaigns to send, it should be taken into account that Interactive Modules, Surveys and Quizzes campaigns usually involve more time for the end user than Videos or Newsletters.

With this in mind, the general recommendations are:

First year

• 1 monthly Interactive Module.
• 2 monthly Newsletters or Videos.
• A bimonthly Test or Survey.

Second year

• Make adjustments to programming based on feedback from end users during the first period, and on reports and analytics provided by the integrator partner.
• Change the order and topics of training and awareness campaigns.
• Send specific campaigns to users who did not meet the objectives of the previous period.

Next years

• Segment users by groups, functional areas and hierarchical levels.
• Perform granular actions according to risk levels.
• Maintain the continuous improvement awareness plan within the organization in general.

Closing

By using a flexible awareness platform, we will have at our disposal many customization options to adapt the campaigns to our organization. These options should be used without losing sight of the fact that we must provide the end user with a pleasant and positive experience with the program, which will ultimately allow us to successfully achieve the program’s objectives.