The preliminary interaction/call-to-action plan provides a detailed narrative description of the elements identified on the user journey diagram. This plan should highlight the calls-to-action of each key interaction.
The four elements of the call-to-action are a simplification of the structure of perceptual opportunities outlined by Earnshaw and Vince (Earnshaw & Vince, 2001, pp. 27-34). They are also consistent with the elements of Dena’s Primer → Referral → Reward model of CTAs (Dena, 2007). The four elements of the call-to-action also address the three questions asked by Pratten (Pratten, Getting Started with Transmedia Storytelling, 2011, pp. 31-32):
- What’s my objective in having audiences cross platforms?
- How can I motivate audiences to cross platforms?
- What’s the reward then they get there?
A call-to-action serves as a signal through which narrative paths are located by the author and discovered by the user. A call-to-action should persuade and guide a user to traverse the interconnected media and stories of a transmedia narrative (Dena, 2007). The call to action can be as simple as a button on a web page that says “Click Here” or as complex as scattered clues that point to an alternate reality’s “rabbit hole”.
Transmedia narrative designers need to be highly conscious of the “design appearance, content, and manipulation characteristics” of the call-to-action to ensure they match users’ needs respectively in the sensory, cognitive, and physical actions taken (Hartson, 2003) as they progress through the narrative. The sensory, cognitive, physical, and functional affordances identified by Hartson should be applied to the design of the elements of the call-to-action. The effectiveness of a call-to-action can also be enhanced by applying affective affordances to it. Each call-to-action should have an attractor, motivator, connector, and retainer.
The transmedia narrative designer should have a clear understanding of the purpose of each call-to-action. Jumping from one story segment to another or from medium to medium without a solid reason is poor design. Each jump should have a purpose that progresses the narrative and keeps the user engaged.
The designer of the call-to-action must determine if the content at the far end of a jump is essential to the coherence of the narrative or to unlock or make available other interactions. Dena calls this “dependency” (Dena, 2007). Essential content should be treated differently than non-essential content. For example, essential content should use a media platform the average user has. Optional content, on the other, can be placed on more “exotic” platforms that a sub-section of the user population has.