Helping Smokers Break Away from the Pack: Leveraging Behavioral Patterns in Weekly Periodicity through Digital Promotions

Background:  Many tobacco cessation groups could have a larger impact by disseminating messages when audiences are most receptive to them. Recent studies have demonstrated a consistent pattern of Monday “surges” in cessation Google searches and calls to 16 state quitlines, dropping off at the end of the week. People seek help to quit smoking more on Monday than other days of the week, and Monday is the most popular day for people to choose as a quit date. Quit & Stay Quit Monday (QSQM), a free smoking cessation campaign, leverages the power of Mondays using online communication tools to engage with individuals when they are most receptive. 

Program background:  From late 2014 to 2015, the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI), in collaboration with the state health department’s Louisiana Tobacco Control Program (LTCP), piloted a “Quit with Us on Mondays” campaign to encourage smokers to make quit attempts on Mondays. The goal was to increase utilization of cessation resources in Louisiana, particularly the state Quitline and the Louisiana cessation resource website, Quitwithusla.org, by incorporating QSQM resources and Monday messaging and strategy into its digital promotions. This included content updates to the website and frequent posts on tips and other messages to LPHI’s Facebook page and Twitter account.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  LPHI measured the success of the campaign by tracking Quitline call volume, website and social media analytics, and fax-referrals received through the Quitline on Mondays. Social media analytics specifically monitored data such as post reach and impressions. Website data included numbers on website visitors and pageviews. Through their statewide QSQM campaign, LPHI increased calls to the state tobacco quitline and significantly boosted engagement with its web and social media channels:

• Over the campaign period, there was an overall 15 percent increase in call volume to the quitline compared to past comparable time period.
• Twenty-nine percent (29%) more visitors to the website compared to the previous year.
• Social media content generated a large number of impressions:.
  • Campaign posts on Facebook resulted in nearly 25,000 impressions.
  • Campaign posts on Twitter resulted in 4,784 impressions.

Conclusions:  LPHI’s promotional tactics were a success and demonstate the importance of promoting services when target audiences are most receptive and the large impact of incorporating QSQM elements, and particularly Monday messaging, into the marketing strategy of existing tobacco cessation programs.  

Implications for research and/or practice:  This pilot demonstrates that Monday promotions can provide a boost to cessation efforts, and organizations should consider using Monday as a leverage point for service promotion. Doing so can potentially increase visits to websites and engagement with quit resources. Additionally, organizations can leverage the collective Monday mindset to connect quitters in their community and around the world through the power of the Internet. Every Monday, millions of smokers around the world are contemplating quitting. We need to connect them, support them, and let them know they’re not alone! Lastly, focusing deployment of precious resources when people are most likely to quit can help reduce the waste of resources when they’re not paying much attention.