During a pandemic that is accompanied by an infodemic, pretesting social and behavior change materials is more important than ever to ensure the content and images are accurate and credible and will motivate the behavior changes needed to prevent the spread of the disease and mitigate its impact. With so much conflicting and ever-changing information, as well as the propagation of rumors and inaccurate information, pretesting is essential to ensure messages are perceived as credible.

This technical brief presents workarounds—tips and tricks to use digital platforms—to conduct pretests virtually. In this document, two instances for virtual pretesting are presented: the development of SBC materials and the development of job aids. Both use similar processes, but with specific differences that are highlighted in this document.