Behaviour (Fogg B=MAP)
Explicit Prompt
Notification, button, email, timer
What it is
An Explicit Prompt is a direct call to action in the moment — the information about what to do next is contained within the prompt itself.
Why it works
In Fogg''s model no behaviour occurs without a prompt, however motivated and able the person is — and he is precise about which prompt to use when. A spark is for high ability but low motivation and must carry a motivating element. A facilitator is for high motivation but low ability and must make the action easier. A signal is for people already motivated and able, and only needs to indicate timing. Most failed prompts are the wrong type for the state the user is in: sending a motivational message to someone who is willing but blocked, or a simple reminder to someone who does not care yet. The other requirement is that the prompt transmits the action itself. A prompt that describes a feeling rather than naming a next step gives the user nothing to do.
How to apply it in design
Place the prompt at the precise moment motivation and ability intersect. The prompt must say what to do, not describe a feeling. Specific verb plus specific object.
Where you'll see it
- A specific verb attached to a specific object, in the button and the notification
- Prompts timed to the moment the action is actually possible
- A single primary action per screen, visually distinct from everything else
- Notification copy that states what changed and what to do about it
- Deep links that land on the action rather than on the home screen
Example
A push notification at 9am with "Your wine club ships in 6 hours — pick this month's add-on" is an explicit, timely, action-specific prompt.
Failure mode
Vague prompts ("Don't forget about us", "We miss you") with no clear next action have effectively zero conversion. They're noise dressed as urgency.
When not to use it
An explicit prompt is wasted when motivation or ability is missing — prompting harder is the standard reflex and the standard mistake, because a prompt cannot manufacture either. If users are not converting, the fix is usually upstream. Explicit prompts are also wrong when the user is mid-task on something else; interrupting a focused flow to prompt a secondary action costs more than it gains. And frequency is self-limiting: past a certain rate, prompts stop being read at all, and the channel is spent.
The ethical line
Interruption is a cost borne entirely by the user, so the prompt has to be worth it from their side. Prompts engineered to create urgency that does not exist, or timed to catch people at moments of low resistance — late at night, immediately after a frustration — are optimising against the person they are addressed to. The structural abuse is asymmetry again: an obvious, repeated, well-timed prompt to upgrade, and no prompt at all when a subscription is about to renew at a higher price. Prompt the things the user would want prompted.
What to measure
Measure conversion per prompt sent, not total conversions, and track it against opt-out rate for the same campaign. A prompt that converts well while raising mutes is borrowing from a channel you will need later.
Frequently asked questions
What is an explicit prompt in the B=MAP model?
An explicit prompt is a direct, in-the-moment call to action — a button, notification, email or timer — that carries the information about what to do next inside itself. In BJ Fogg's model no behaviour happens without a prompt, regardless of how motivated and able the user is.
What are Fogg's three types of prompt?
A spark, for users with high ability but low motivation, which must include something motivating. A facilitator, for users with high motivation but low ability, which must make the action easier. And a signal, for users who are already both, which only needs to indicate that now is the moment.
Why do my notifications get ignored?
Usually because they are the wrong prompt type for the user's state, or because they do not name a specific action. Sending motivational copy to someone who is blocked, or a bare reminder to someone who is not yet convinced, both fail. Volume then compounds the problem by exhausting the channel.
How do you write a good call to action?
Pair a specific verb with a specific object, so the user knows exactly what happens on tap. 'Pick this month's add-on' transmits the action; 'Learn more' does not. Then place it at the moment when the user is both motivated and able to do it.
Related skills
Source: Growth.Design — B=MAP (Prompt)
Practise Explicit Prompt on a real brief
Quest gives you a client brief that targets this skill and 60 minutes to ship an iteration.