Five GOTV Messages Proven to Work

Voting has already started. Are you texting yet?

This year has been a challenge for campaigns to navigate through as normal campaign tactics and events have been interrupted across the country. However, many campaigns have been able to adapt and utilize tools such as peer-to-peer (P2P) texting to prompt genuine interactions with voters, rally engagement from their supporters, and most importantly, get out the vote!

Many of our clients have already been using our industry leading battle-tested platform to send unique GOTV messages that have returned real results.

We have compiled five message examples pulled directly from successful texts our clients have sent to showcase effective GOTV messaging and inspire your campaign to send similarly successful messages of your own.

Rhode Island State Representative Primary

Our first example highlights a campaign who utilized the strategy of sending multiple messages leading up to election day. The effectiveness of a GOTV text on election day is drastically increased if you establish a presence in their texting inbox first. The text you send on election day will not mean as much to someone if it is the first and only text they have ever received from you. Establishing a relationship with the voter is essential — and this is super easy to do via text!

We recommend sending at least one or two texts leading up to election day focused on engagement, and then sending up to three reminder-to-vote texts starting 7–10 days out. It is also very smart to combine a request to vote with helpful information such as COVID precautions being taken at polling places or where their nearest ballot drop-off box is.

In the screenshots shown here, you can see how this campaign sent four messages leading up to election day. They sent out their first introductory text asking people to call the candidate with concerns or just to chat a little over two weeks before the primaries, then sent out three GOTV reminder texts in the days leading up to the primary with helpful information on when and where to vote along with COVID safety requirements.

100% of the 1035 messages the campaign sent got delivered, with a 12% reply rate. The industry standard for a good reply rate is 8%, and a great reply rate is 20%. The campaign used a custom area code and tags to identify who replied to their messages and if they had a positive response.

County Commissioner Race

Our client running for County Commissioner also did a great job with their messages by sending more than just one reminder to vote on election day. Like our previous example, their messages used a custom area code and encouraged engagement with a phone number to call the candidate directly, and different tappable links to learn more about the candidate. Their team received a reply rate of 9% with the message shown.

However, where their campaign really stood out was with their utilization of the features available in the RumbleUp portal.

Tagging is a powerful tool available to all clients that can be used to keep track of the types of responses you get and help plan follow-ups based on the information people share. This team used the tagging feature to make sure they stopped texting the people who responded that they had already voted! Pestering your supporters with follow up texts they no longer need makes it seem like you are using blast-messaging platforms, and it takes away from the opportunity of engagement you unlock when using a P2P platform.

A great lesson can also be learned from this campaign — only 91% of the 7771 messages this campaign sent were delivered due in large part to hundreds of the contacts in their audience being landline numbers!

At RumbleUp, we understand how important it is to have reliable contact data, so while we offer campaigns the opportunity to upload their own data, we also have our breakthrough L2 integration and GOP Voter File integration to make it easy for campaigns to purchase clean, comprehensive cell phone lists for any target audience.

This particular campaign won their election against three other candidates with almost 40% of the vote!

State Assembly Election

Our next client example utilized P2P texting for a vital element leading up to election day: fundraising! Even though traditional in-person fundraising activities like rallies are not possible due to COVID restrictions, it is still possible to fundraise during this time using P2P by including links to your donation platform in your outreach messages.

As of October 1st, this campaign had set fundraising records with over $230,000 raised since the beginning of the campaign!

The message shown here incorporates some key industry best practices that helped make this text effective. MMS attachments (pictures and videos) like the one included in this message are proven to significantly increase engagement with a message because they add something enticing to the message, so we recommended including them occasionally if you can.

Their message also includes a tappable link to the campaign website which can also help increase engagement. Both campaigns did a great job using the custom link shortener tool available in our portal instead of public/free URL link shortener like bit.ly which are associated with phishing scams and can end up getting messages blocked as spam.

100% of the 2672 messages this campaign sent got delivered, with a 2% reply rate. The reply rate is below industry average, but their team was still able to reach generous supporters like the one shown in the screenshots who were able and willing to support the campaign once provided the opportunity to do so. Sometimes it just takes getting to the right people!

Township Committee Race

While many people would love to go in person to cast their ballot in-person, many areas in the U.S. are very strict with COVID regulations and highly encourage mail-in voting. Therefore, your GOTV plan should consider mail-in ballot chasing!

One of our clients did an amazing job texting for mail-in ballots by sending a message that included both a tappable link to a resource answering questions about mail in ballots and an MMS attachment to increase legitimacy and engagement.

All across the nation ballots are being rejected for not being filled out correctly, so providing these resources will help make sure the votes of your supporters are counted.

Encouraging their audience to respond back with questions was another great move in regards to mail-in ballot chasing. Since so many people are using mail-in ballots for the first time this election and have questions and concerns, you should make your campaign available to help people fill out their ballots correctly, like this conversation shows.

The texter is able to answer the question the supporter had and ensured that the supporter knew exactly where to turn in their ballot and was confident in doing so.

100% of the 2298 messages their campaign sent got delivered, with a 7% reply rate. We look forward to the results of their campaign!

Mayoral Election/ Mayor’s Race

This campaign included an MMS attachment in their message to increase engagement like many of the previous campaigns. Unlike the others, however, the attached image included a picture of the candidate themselves! Not only does this establish legitimacy like normal MMS attachments, but it also facilitates face recognition and builds trust in your campaign and candidate.

Establishing a relationship with voters is much easier when they can put a face to a message they are receiving. In the absence of meet-the-candidate events, being able to connect with voters using this best practice that our client utilized is an excellent move.

100% of the 566 messages their campaign sent got delivered, with a 15% reply rate — the highest rate of the client messages listed so far! MMS and face recognition are powerful tools your campaign can also easily take advantage of in order to encourage responding from supporters.

Bottom Line

Election day is fast approaching, and there is still time for your campaign to start sending amazing GOTV messages to voters. If you haven’t considered P2P texting for your GOTV strategy yet, choose RumbleUp, the best peer-to-peer texting platform in the industry, to help guide your campaign to victory!

Related News:

• Dear Voter, Here’s Why Political Texts Are Blowing Up Your Phone  - WSJ

• Refused/Angry/Republican': How 2020 text campaigns learn from voters' replies - Reuters 
• Campaigns turn to texting as coronavirus spreads - Axios 
• Playbook : How did you think yesterday went? - POLITICO 
• Political texting draws complaints, but used more often in campaigns - Herald.Mail Media 
• Getting Lots Of Political Messages On Your Phone? Welcome To 'The Texting Election' - NCPR

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