IMPACT – 8.5/10

Most marketing tactics intend to reward audiences for acting fast, paying immediate attention, and making quick decisions.

The problem is that many of these tactics aren’t followed through honestly.

When a deadline passes, and nothing closes, or a “last chance” email is followed by another, people learn that timelines are flexible, urgency is performative, and ignoring you is safe.

This leads to drops in engagement and climbing unsubscribe rates. Teams usually respond by increasing pressure, reinforcing the very pattern that caused the problem.

And let’s face it. Even people using these tactics honestly miss out because no one believes them anymore.

Marketing shapes behavior over time, often contradicting stated values.

Attention ethics makes these effects visible and intentional.

PLAY – 7.5/10

Pick one active tactic you are using right now (an email sequence, a landing page, a paid ad, a webinar funnel, an onboarding flow). Then run this four-step audit.

Step 1: Name the tactic in plain language (2 minutes).
Example: “5-email launch sequence with daily reminders and a 48-hour deadline.”

Step 2: Identify the normalised behaviors (8 minutes).

Fill in these three lines:

1. This tactic rewards: What does someone get for engaging? (Speed, constant attention, fear of missing out, replying quickly, staying anxious, etc.)
2. This tactic normalizes: What starts to feel “standard” in your relationship? (Pressure, noise, performative urgency, dependency on reminders, etc.)
3. This tactic discourages: What becomes harder or less likely? (Careful decision-making, boundaries, stepping away, asking questions, trusting their timing, etc.)

Step 3: Decide what you want to reinforce instead (5 minutes).

Choose one replacement behavior that matches your stated values and growth goals. Examples:

• Thoughtful decisions over FOMO
• Clear expectations over constant chasing.
• Mutual fit over mass pressure.
• Rest and return over endless engagement.

Step 4: Make one swap you can implement today (5 minutes).

Use one of these swaps based on your tactic:

• Swap urgency language for clarity language: Replace “last chance” with “here’s the timeline and what happens after.”
• Swap repetition for a single strong choice: One clear CTA, with an easy “not right now” path.
• Swap frictionless capture for consent-based pacing: Offer frequency options (weekly, monthly, only launches).
• Swap performative scarcity for honest constraint: If seats are limited, say why. If they are not, remove the theatre.

Implement the swap immediately, then watch what happens to both engagement and your own nervous system.

Keep it Going:

The audit works best when it’s not a one-off exercise. Here’s how to keep using the Attention Ethics System:

1. Create clear ethical boundaries. Decide in advance which behaviors your team will not rely on (fake scarcity, endless reminders, pressure language).
2. Add an “ethics line” to your campaign briefs: “This campaign is designed to reinforce ___.” If you cannot say it, you’re likely defaulting to whatever the platform rewards.

These remove guesswork, reduce debate, and make the system easier to maintain.

SUSTAINABILITY – 9/10

The Attention Ethics System is sustainable because it lowers the cost of decision-making.

Instead of debating tactics in the moment, it gives you a shared way to evaluate them.

1. It replaces gut checks with a clear question. Before launching, teams ask one thing: What behaviour does this reinforce if repeated?
2. It prevents escalation loops. When engagement dips, the default response is often “add more urgency.” This system interrupts that reflex by making the long-term effect visible, so teams don’t fix short-term numbers by creating future problems.
3. It creates alignment without constant conversation. Once a team agrees on which behaviors they want to reinforce, fewer decisions need debate.

That’s what makes the system sustainable: fewer reactive decisions, less internal friction, and marketing work that doesn’t exhaust the people doing it.

Takeaway

Your marketing is always teaching people how to respond to you.

It teaches whether urgency is real.
Whether timelines mean anything.
Whether paying attention is worth the effort.

Ensure that what you’re reinforcing aligns with your values.

Did you find this system helpful? Hit reply and let us know!

Until next recess,
Sarah & Jamie

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