Behavioural Science (BeSci) is the scientific study of how people think, feel, and act. Most assume that people think and make decisions like Mr Spock — rational, logical, and always ready to make perfectly reasoned decisions. But, in real life, decisions often look a lot more like Homer Simpson’s — emotional, impulsive, distracted, and influenced by what’s around us far more than we realise.

"Thinking is to humans as swimming is to cats.” Daniel Kahneman, psychologist, Nobel Prize winner, and author.

Kahneman wasn’t trying to insult us, he was just pointing out a truth about the human brain. We don’t like thinking too hard. It’s hard work, so we take shortcuts.

This is where nudges come in — subtle, effort-preserving interventions that steer behaviour toward better outcomes.

You can use them in your pitches to make them wholly more compelling to journalists.

A gentle push

Any PR will know that pitching is no easy feat. Journalists openly share that they receive hundreds, if not thousands, of emails a day from comms professionals — with all of us trying to reach the same goal of coverage.

So, standing out is not just advisable, it’s critical.

Everyone is susceptible to BeSci nudges because evolution has hardwired them in our nature. We think often about how to use psychology in marketing and our communications strategy but considering it at pitch level is also important. But, how do we make the most of those precious few seconds of journalist attention, and compel them to read on?

BeSci-powered tips:

You want your pitch to be easy, attractive, social and timely. This is known more commonly as the EAST framework, coined by the Behavioural Insights Team.

1. Chunking. Chunking is a cognitive technique that breaks down large and complex information into bite-sized chunks to help aid retention. This would be good to consider at pitch level — how can you make your email easiest for the journalist to read? This could be amalgamating key points at the top of your pitch, or highlighting key topics throughout.
2. The ‘cocktail party’ effect. This BeSci principle is based around the idea that people are able to process pertinent information, such as hearing their own name, even amidst a lot of noise and chaos. Good PRs will know including a journalist’s name and beat within a pitch is important anyway, but can you go further to encourage this nudge by referencing recent articles, or their media title, to cut through the noise?
3. Loss aversion. This is a ‘make it attractive’ style of nudge that can be applied to pitches too. Offering journalists an exclusive, or a press release under embargo, shows them that they have first refusal, but only for a limited time. This can increase your chance of securing timely coverage — just don’t embargo for embargo’s sake.
4. The messenger effect. This plays on any existing cognitive bias that causes us to judge the validity or relevance of information based on its source. Be sure to profile any experts front and centre — and ensure you’re verifying them too amidst the rise in ‘fake experts’.
5. Social proof. This bias centred on how we look to the actions of others to determine how to behave. In theory, if you can demonstrate present popularity around your topic to a journalist, they may be more compelled to cover it.
6. Present bias. This nudge plays on the idea that people prefer instant gratification rather than waiting for a pay-off. It’s one to consider when placing a long embargo, – and is often the reason why super long embargos tend to get lost. You need to strike a harmony between using present bias and loss aversion, to demonstrate urgency versus pitfalls.