← All working docs

CTA brainstorm — the action ladder

Working doc for the 8/18 review. Organized as a ladder (per the funnel/ladder-of-engagement model Adrian raised): each rung is a bigger commitment than the last, and the site's job is to move people up one rung at a time — never to dump the whole list on a first-time visitor. Adrian: please fold in / mark up candidates from your doc — this is deliberately over-generated so we can cut.

For each: what it is · what we capture · effort · notes.

Rung 0 — 10 seconds (first visit)

1. Sign the statement — name + email + country. Capture: email, the count itself. The default primary CTA; the count is quotable ammunition ("184,000 people have asked for time").
2. Join the briefing list without signing — for people not ready to put a name on something public. Capture: email. All three drafts already have this as the soft alternative.

Rung 1 — 1–2 minutes (same session, post-sign confirmation screen)

1. Send it to two specific people — prewritten message, copy button. Two named sends beat one broadcast; this is how counts compound. Already built in /1.
2. Share pack — one-tap post text + image for X/IG/TikTok with #slowdown. Capture: reach, hashtag volume.
3. Profile-picture frame — Team Human synergy; visible-membership social proof. Cheap to add if TH already has the asset pipeline.

Rung 2 — 5–10 minutes (email #1, or returning visit)

1. Write your representative — the /3 generator: jurisdiction-aware letter, one personal sentence, copy & send. Capture: self-reported sends by district — the number staffers actually weigh. The direct answer to "activists link Control AI's email-your-rep tool."
2. Call script — same generator, phone version. Calls outrank emails in most offices.
3. Comment on live proceedings — rotating "this month's action": open comment periods, hearings, consultations (FTC etc.). This is the rung that makes the site continually useful rather than one-shot — it's the retention mechanism, not just an action.

Rung 3 — 30+ minutes (email sequence, weeks 2–4)

1. Make a #slowdown video — creator kit: prompts, stats, footage. Feeds Dan's gallery; the gallery feeds the movement. Prompt formats from the drafts: "read the statement out loud," "ask five people if AI is moving too fast," "nobody asked me."
2. Read the case / take the course — the educational track: objections one-pager → longer materials → AISES course. Capture: an informed advocate.
3. Host a conversation — printable discussion guide for a classroom / reading group / dinner. From the letter draft's enclosures list; cheap to produce, high depth-per-person.

Rung 4 — standing commitment (the movement layer)

1. Join a local/affinity group — route to Humans First / Irreplaceable chapters rather than building our own. Slowdown.ai is the funnel; they're the community.
2. Show up — Team Human day and campaign moments, announced through the list. The list is the asset; this is what it's for.
3. Pledge — e.g., "I will raise this with every candidate who asks for my vote." Durable identity-level commitment, zero infrastructure.
4. Donate — only via the entity that can legally take it (C4 question, Tier 0.1). Not at launch.

Deliberately NOT doing

• Petition-to-nobody — a petition without an addressee is a mailing-list form wearing a costume; the statement (with a public count and named audience: governments + labs) does this job honestly.
• Auto-generated spam to reps — offices discount identical form letters; the one-personal-sentence design in /3 exists precisely to avoid this.
• A forum/community platform of our own — moderation cost is a trap at this team size; route to partner communities instead.

Measurement (so we know rungs work)

Per rung: conversion from the rung above; email-sequence click-through per rung; district-level rep-letter counts; hashtag volume weekly. The tooling choice (Tier 3.1, Rochelle) should be made with per-rung tracking in mind.