One of the biggest full-service shops on the right is getting into the self-service mail game.
Axiom Strategies is now offering down-ballot clients “touchless” mail design and distribution through its Candidate Command platform. Axiom’s Jeff Roe told C&E how he watched firms on the left like Petel & Co’s Custom Campaign Mail and SpeakEasy Political roll out their DIY mail offerings over the past five years.
“We watched what they did, and we watched how they developed their product, how they rolled out a 2.0 and a 3.0, and we’ve also watched how they became at least equally digital,” Roe said of SpeakEasy. “It gets a little bit scary when you’re first to market.”
Roe envisions his product also expanding to offer DIY digital ads, similar to SpeakEasy, as well as self-service online surveys and robocalls. “This is 1.0,” he said.
For now, the mail service is the product — with clients able to send a single mail piece or an entire campaign and hit from 30-30,000 households. They don't get access to Axiom's strategic advice, but there is a blog with helpful tips.
Moreover, clients also benefit from Axiom’s years of research on the effectiveness of its own mail and print advertising.
“Every cycle we test probably 30 or 40 different pieces using eye tracking to understand how people interact with the piece,” said Nick Schulte, an Axiom VP overseeing Candidate Command. “We run different tests in terms of how to organize bullet points.”
One thing they’ve learned: people are really drawn to faces.
“We know that people really read headlines and they generally read the first bullet really well. When you get to the second and third bullet, you can see the intensity drop off.”
Now, clients can choose from some 30 mail templates, 10-15 door hangers and 10-15 palm cards, but can request something specific from Axiom if they don’t see what they need.
“It’s not exhaustive,” said Schulte. “I could have put 10,000 pieces up there, but it would be unwieldy for people to sort through that stuff. We went up with what we think is most effective.”
One thing candidates will have to provide on their own is data. Schulte said they eventually plan to offer some broad models, included in the price, but for now it’s BYOD-ata.