How to leverage P2P Texting for Campaign Donor Acquisition

Relationship-building peer to peer texting can help take your political fundraising to the next level via targeted donor prospecting!

Cultivating meaningful relationships with prospective donors and supporters is crucial for successful fundraising, regardless of your political campaign or organization's size. Unfortunately, campaigns can only go so far on hopes and dreams.

Fundraising efforts for the 2024 election cycle are already ramping up, and second-quarter reports show vulnerabilities for candidates across the country at every level. Donor acquisition and supporter identification are vital in today’s fundraising environment, but what is the best, cost-efficient strategy a campaign can implement? 

It’s simple: these campaigns need good data, accurate targeting, and a robust, relationship-curating peer-to-peer (P2P) texting program to see campaign donations pour in.

Let’s dive right in to explore both why these elements are essential and how you can start today with a step-by-step sample texting program.

Why use P2P texting for political fundraising?

The rising cost to run a successful prospecting program through traditional means, such as direct mail, canvassing and phone banking, and the decreasing returns on investment seen this past year require fundraisers to look to new methods to engage their donor base.

According to industry estimates, the average American household receives approximately 848 pieces of junk mail per year. It’s almost a miracle if your direct mail piece catches the attention of a prospective donor or supporter strongly enough for them to take an action, such as contributing to your campaign, signing up for a newsletter, etc. 

P2P texting has emerged as a powerful tool for political campaigns, nonprofit organizations and community initiatives to connect with potential donors and supporters. The texting medium enables personalized, one-on-one conversations that help build relationships and engage individuals on a deeper level, all for less than the cost of a stamp.

Unlike direct mail, texting allows for you to hear back from the contact and gather immediate feedback and metrics. In addition, you can quickly scale outreach via texting, which is much harder to accomplish with canvassing and phone banking. 

“Good Data” makes the difference for political campaigns

One of the challenges that smaller campaigns in particular often face is finding “good data” to work with. The success of any texting campaign relies heavily on high-quality data to ensure that your messages reach the right people, increasing the likelihood of positive responses and engagement. 

Not only is it essential to text your contacts at the correct phone number, but it’s also critical that your audience is carefully curated based on reliable targeting criteria. 

Requesting quality data directly within the RumbleUp portal is simple and easy, thanks to our partnerships with reputable data providers such as L2, RNC Data Hub and GOP Data Trust. Whether you are just starting or need to supplement your existing contact lists, our partnerships give you access to an easy-to-navigate mobile data request system.

We also offer automatic, free landline scrubbing upon contact upload to verify the phone numbers you send messages to can receive text messages. Landline scrubbing ensures high project delivery rates and saves money on undeliverable texts.

You have your data… now what?

Once you’ve secured high-quality data, you need to leverage these contact lists to find potential supporters through a minimum P2P texting sequence of three texts. If you don’t know where to start, don’t worry! Our team of expert messaging strategists can help you develop a superior texting program in no time. 

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out this simple three-text launch strategy:  

1. Let’s get to know each other!

Your first text should focus on introducing your organization or campaign while collecting information about your contact through a "soft ask." With our Tap-then-Send Response and tagging features, we've made it easy to thank contacts for their response and associate them with specific issues for future targeted messaging. 

Example:
"Hey! Sarah here with People for Better Schools. With the new school year starting next month, I would like to know your thoughts about our community's education system. Are you happy with how our schools are being run?”

Your first text should focus on introducing your organization or campaign while collecting information about your contact through a "soft ask." With our Tap-then-Send Response and tagging features, we've made it easy to thank contacts for their response and associate them with specific issues for future targeted messaging. 

2. Are you free this Thursday?

For a second text, consider inviting your contact to an in-person event. Events are a great way to increase your contacts’ “buy-in” and meet like-minded community members who will walk away more energized about the campaign or organization’s mission. You can even use Tap-then-Send Responses and tags to track RSVPs for follow-up texts.

Example:
"I wanted to make sure you knew about this... People for Better Schools is hosting a community forum to discuss the current state of our schools this Thursday at the Community Center starting at 7 PM. Can we count on seeing you there?"

3. Prompt follow-up is key!

We recommend following up with your event attendees 1 - 2 days after the event. This will ensure that their experience of the event is still fresh in their minds and will make your “hard ask” in text #3 much easier. Be sure to run a check-in list at the event and cross-check it with those who RSVP’d via text for accuracy.

Example:
"Emily here with People for Good Schools! I'm glad you were able to make it to our community forum. We are working on planning our next event and are looking for someone to sponsor our coffee and donuts. Can you chip in $50 to help us have another successful event? You can donate on our website here: <LINK>"

If you don’t have an event coming up, your follow-up can be in response to any call-to-action completion, even if you are not asking for a donation. Some examples of good follow-up to a newly identified supporter might be to request a personal call, sign a petition, complete a survey, or join the campaign as a volunteer. 

Check out these real examples from a client’s donor acquisition program. 

Real conversations with supporters

Targeted, relationship-curating texting like this is how you maintain and grow your donor and supporter base to make future requests much more effective!

Bottom Line

RumbleUp is a powerful peer to peer campaign texting service for finding new campaign donors and engaging potential supporters. By leveraging good data, accurate targeting and personalized messaging, you can build meaningful relationships that lead to greater campaign success. With the right outreach plan and using the right tools, any budget project or campaign can find new and prospective donors through P2P texting.

Ready to transform your donor prospecting strategy with texting? Contact our sales team at (833) 530-4400 or sales@rumbleup.com to get started with RumbleUp!