EAST framework – Part 1: defaults, friction, message clarity, chunking.
Summary:
A few weeks ago I downloaded the EAST framework, developed by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT). It maps four conditions that make a behaviour more likely: Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely. I decided to write four articles about the principles within each letter.
The whole point is that if you want to encourage a behaviour (yes, with your marketing strategy), make it easy, attractive, social and timely (EAST).
This is Part 1 and it covers: defaults, friction, message clarity, and chunking.
This series is a lens, not a formula. Context always matters, and no single principle works in every situation. But as a way of asking better questions about why people do or don’t respond to your marketing, it’s worth knowing.
[Part 1: Easy] | [Part 2: Attractive] | [Part 3: Social] | [Part 4: Timely]
The power of defaults
People have a strong pull toward whatever option is already set for them. Why? Because changing requires effort, and effort has a cost. Behavioural scientists call this the default effect, and it’s one of the most consistent findings in the field. Defaults are everywhere in how a product or service is experienced, and they are almost always a design decision, whether someone made it consciously or not.
Friction has a cost
Daniel Kahneman called this the law of least effort. People take the path that requires the least energy. Sounds familiar? Every extra click, scroll, or moment of confusion adds to that cost, and those costs are rarely as invisible as we think.
It’s worth looking at your own customer journey with this in mind. Ask yourself: “where does it get harder than it needs to be?” The places where people stop are almost always friction points, and they can be fixed if someone looks at them.
Message clarity
We are bombarded with information, every-single-day. And we have learned to filter most of it. The default is to scroll past.
So, how do we stop people from ignoring our marketing? Clear, simple messages get more response, and BIT found they also feel more credible. When something takes effort to understand, the brain registers it as harder to trust. Cognitive ease and credibility are linked.
A few simple tips: key message first, plain language, one ask per message, remove everything else. But what happens when simplicity gets ignored? What BIT found is that a simple message explaining why something matters to you specifically outperforms one that doesn’t. Simple and relatable seems to be the combination that works.
Chunking: one small next step
If I ask you to “improve your health”, what would you do? Probably very little, because the goal is too large and undefined. It sits in the category of things people intend to do and don’t, because the brain doesn’t know where to start.
The goal to eat more healthily produced minimal behaviour change. The goal to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day can produce more. Can you see the difference? Same ambition, but smaller, specific, actionable version of it. The same applies to any call to action: not “reach out when you’re ready” but “book a 20-minute call using this link.” Not “think about your strategy” but “answer these three questions.” The more concrete the next step, the more likely it happens.
What we’ve learned
Most marketing strategies focus on what to say, to whom and where. We are all guilty of that. The E in the EAST framework stands for Easy = Make it easy.
How easy have we made it for someone to say yes? Defaults, friction, clarity, and the size of the ask are all design decisions we should consider when working on a marketing strategy.
Part 2 covers the A – Attractive. How attention works, why framing changes behaviour, and what makes something worth stopping for.
