🧠 Supercharge Your Reminders with Visual Cues

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Topic: What’s More Effective — Text or Visual Reminders?

🎓 Researchers:
— Todd Rogers, Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University
— Katherine L. Milkman, Professor at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Who is this for?
Teams in Public Sector, Marketing, Communications, Design, Product, UX Research, Human Resources, Financial Services, Sustainability, Health and Wellbeing.

📚 The Evidence

In crowded settings, visual reminders can be more effective than written ones. Rogers and Milkman’s research shows that associating intentions with distinctive visual cues—like icons or images linked to specific actions—helps overcome forgetfulness, especially in environments filled with competing information. This approach, called "reminders through association," is a powerful way to prompt action at crucial moments, outperforming text-based reminders.

Article: Rogers, T., & Milkman, K. L. (2016). Reminders Through Association. Psychological Science.

Read the full paper - DOI: 10.1177/0956797616643071

📊 Key Results

In Study 3: Written vs. Associative Reminders in a Crowded Signage Context, Rogers and Milkman tested associative cues against written reminders, with participants shown either a toy alien image or a written note in a crowded setting.

• Associative cue (alien image): 92% follow-through

• Written reminder: 78% follow-through

• Control (no reminder): 71% follow-through

💡 Vishal’s Strategy for Evidence-Based Communications

👉🏾 Adopt visual cues: Standout cues can make reminders more memorable. For sustainability messages, try using a green leaf icon as a visual prompt for eco-friendly actions, reinforcing sustainable choices without relying solely on text.

👉🏾 Tie cues to actions: Associating specific icons with desired behaviours boosts follow-through. For example, displaying a small piggy bank icon next to savings options reminds people to stay committed to financial goals.

👉🏾 Use novelty to boost recall: Try pairing unique images with action-oriented goals to improve recall. A bright shoe icon, for a public health message, could act as a nudge to encourage daily exercise routines.

🧪 Footnote on experimentation

Evidence evolves over time and rarely works across all contexts—start with a small experiment to find out what works for your specific challenge and audience.

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