What our research for Amnesty International UK can tell us about how people take action online

People rarely start their journey on the homepage

Most participants didn’t begin their journey by navigating directly to Amnesty’s website. Instead, they arrived through Google, email or social media, often in response to a specific issue or moment.

This is something we see consistently across the charity and NGO sector. People don’t tend to follow neat, linear paths. They arrive with intent, often mid-journey, and expect to quickly find what they need. Even participants who knew specific content existed on the site would search for it externally rather than navigate to it.

If you’re trying to drive action online, this shifts the focus away from homepage-first thinking. Entry points are distributed, and journeys need to work wherever people land.

In practice, that means prioritising:

• strong SEO and discoverability
• clear pathways from content into meaningful actions
• making it easy for people to pick up a journey wherever they enter the site

Low-friction actions are far more likely to convert

Participants consistently described completing quick, mobile-friendly actions such as signing petitions or making donations.

These actions were most successful when they included:

• a strong emotional hook
• a clear explanation of impact
• a simple next step

When those elements were missing, motivation often dropped away quickly.

The research also surfaced an important nuance: for some people, these small digital actions are their primary form of activism.

For teams planning campaigns, this shifts how low-friction actions are understood. They are not just a stepping stone to deeper engagement, but a valid and important form of participation in their own right.

Digital participation makes activism more accessible

For some participants, particularly those with health conditions or access needs, digital participation provided a way to contribute without needing to attend physical events.

This highlights that digital participation is not just about convenience. For some, it is what enables participation in the first place. It also underlines the need to design for a broad range of needs and recognise that quieter, desk-based actions are a vital part of how people engage. Accessibility is fundamental to participation, and for some, digital channels are the primary way they are able to take part.

Organisational structures are not always clear, or important, to supporters

This is consistent with patterns we've seen across research for other large international NGOs. When an organisation has multiple entities, brands or layers, users struggle to distinguish between them. They are focused on completing a task, not understanding internal structures, so clear navigation, contextual information and strong search functionality is critical.

People stay engaged when their actions feel meaningful

One of the clearest findings was how important recognition and feedback are.

Participants said they were more likely to stay involved when they could see:

• what their action contributed to
• what changed as a result
• what they could do next

This points to a real opportunity for organisations running ongoing campaigns. Showing impact, even in small ways, can help people feel part of something bigger and encourage continued participation. When people can see the difference they are making, they are more likely to come back and do it again.

Warm supporters behave differently to new audiences

The research revealed clear behavioural differences between existing supporters and new audiences.

External participants often engaged reactively, prompted by emotional content they encountered on social media.

Existing supporters behaved differently. They tended to:

• engage more intentionally
• actively search for resources
• contribute repeatedly over time

This is a pattern we see across the sector, and it has real design implications. Rather than building a single journey, organisations benefit from creating different entry points depending on intent. What works for a new audience discovering you for the first time is not always what keeps long-standing supporters engaged.

Private sharing is more common than public posting

A consistent pattern in the research was how frequently participants shared content privately rather than publicly.

Instead of posting on social media, many participants preferred to send content through:

• WhatsApp
• email
• private group chats

This was especially true for politically sensitive issues, where people felt uncomfortable sharing publicly but were still motivated to discuss or recommend content within trusted networks.

If your strategy relies on people spreading the word, this has clear implications. Sharing does not always happen in public, so experiences need to support peer-to-peer sharing as well as visible amplification.

Many people do not see themselves as “activists”

Several participants described taking meaningful actions such as signing petitions, sharing information and attending events, but still hesitated to describe themselves as activists.

For some, the word “activism” suggests protests, expertise or high levels of commitment. This creates an opportunity to broaden how activism is framed, helping more people recognise that small actions can still contribute to meaningful change. It also points to a gap between behaviour and identity, where people may already be contributing without seeing themselves as activists.

Belonging comes from people, not just causes

Participants who felt most connected to Amnesty often had personal connections to others within the movement, whether through local groups, educator networks or digital communities. These relationships helped create a sense of belonging that sustained engagement over time.

This is a reminder that digital platforms are not just about content and actions. They also play a role in connecting people to each other. For organisations building movements, that sense of connection between supporters can be just as important as their connection to the cause itself.

Clear, contextualised content helps people stay engaged

Participants frequently said they switched off when content felt overwhelming, overly technical, or full of insider language and acronyms. They engaged more with content that was written in plain language, clearly structured, and connected to a clear next step.

For organisations working in complex areas like human rights, this is a key consideration. Clarity does not reduce complexity, it makes it possible for more people to engage with it.

Designing digital platforms that support participation

Taken together, these insights helped shape the thinking behind the platform we designed and built for Amnesty International UK. The goal was not simply to build a website: it was to create a digital infrastructure that supports participation in many different forms, from quick online actions to deeper involvement over time.

We're sharing these findings because we think they are relevant to a wide range of organisations working in campaigning, advocacy and movement-building. If any of this resonates, or if you're thinking about how your digital platform can better support the people you're trying to reach, we'd love to hear from you.