Message Mapping

"By analyzing first-hand accounts from administrators of emergency notification incident management systems, the behavior of end users and recipients of broadcasts, and expert insights from industry professionals such as Dr. Robert Chandler, author of Emergency Notification, one can glean the best practices behind the science of message mapping. The key is to get the right message to the right person at the right time and elicit the right response."

Based upon the work of Dr. Robert C. Chandler, this document focuses on message construction for crises. It recognises the current proliferation of notification and management systems that can broadcast broadly and advises on what to broadcast, given the array of audience considerations, for example, "attention span, reading level and contact path of the recipient are all things that must be taken into consideration for a successful broadcast."

The document breaks message mapping into 13 steps that include: planning prior to the incident, being sure to brainstorm worst-case scenarios; crafting and testing the messages carefully - the suggested formula is 3 message points in 3 sentences with no more than 30 words for the key information - for the recipient; crafting messages for the stages of the event; choosing the model for sending and considering receiving a return message that may be useful in the next stage; and being careful of tone and intent, among others.

The methods suggested for sending include:

• "Short Message Service (SMS), also called text messaging, uses the mobile or wireless network to deliver a message.....
• Pagers...often deployed where cell phones service is poor or non-existent.
• Email....
• Instant Messaging (IM), ...real-time direct written language-based online chat....
• Social Networking, ...messages by Twitter or Facebook."

The author's organisation, Everbridge, has created messages for a variety of scenarios listed in the document and provides, for a fee, interactive communication and mass notification solutions to organisations, as well as crisis management information.