There’s no doubt the 2024 election is generating a high amount of interest, but motivating voters to take meaningful action, whether it be donating to your campaign or just getting them out to vote, will continue to be a challenge through Election Day.
Let’s acknowledge a couple of realities that are impacting both major political parties in this environment: 1) This election looks way different today than it did three months ago, requiring both sides to continually adjust. And 2) despite the changes at the top of the ballot, political donor burnout remains a concern, particularly down the ballot.
For campaigns in ’24, it means maximizing voter outreach will be critical to success. That’s anchored by data that’s both accurate and reliable.
We spoke with Dong Vu, director of list and reference data at Melissa, for his take on how campaigns and issue organizations can set themselves up for success this year.
Q: We’re in a difficult fundraising and voter contact environment right now. How should campaigns be thinking about getting their data to drive what they need to achieve between now and Election Day?
A: Whether you have voter lists from your clients or third-party sources, Melissa can assist in pinpointing voters who are reliable contributors to political campaigns. Using our Melissa Data Service Bureau, we can match donors using various identifiers, ensuring accurate ID and appending. So, the first thing when it comes to fundraising, is making sure you’re not looking at the wrong targets.
But voters are also facing a lot of incoming this year with lots of campaigns and outside groups trying to get them to take some sort of action. So, if you can cut through that noise with better data and a better approach, you’re going to have an advantage in this environment.
Q: Let’s talk about that. Independent voters are crucial this year, as is getting the messaging that goes in front of them right. So how do you cut through that noise effectively?
A: From a data perspective, think about interest-based touchpoints. As you said, this isn’t just going to be about putting a message in front of a voter. It’s about putting the right message in front of the right voter at the right time. And truthfully, that’s getting harder.
Our data encompasses non-partisan voters, party-affiliated voters, and provides comprehensive voter demographics and interests. So, when we think about targeting independents, for example, we might be able to get much better cut through on a message with interest targeting. Think about interest areas like hunting, fishing, outdoor activities, investment, sports, or current affairs as a way to finely-tune messages in a way that helps you command that voter’s attention.
Q: Texting has exploded over the last few campaign cycles. What are your recommendations for how to text voters effectively?
A: Text messaging is key to reaching more voters than ever before. In 2022 more than 15 billion political text where sent, so you can imagine how big the number will reach in 2024. And bulk SMS for political campaigns has been shown to be more effective than other channels. According to a 2022 study, political texts get opened from 70-98% of the time and in 40-50% of cases, people actually respond. If you have an existing voter list of names and addresses, or names and email addresses, Melissa’s Personator service can look to match those contacts with associated mobile numbers in our vast dataset of billions of consumer records. Armed with a verified, callable mobile number you can take advantage of text messaging and robocalls.
Q: With so many options to communicate with voters, where does direct mail still fit?
A: Mark Twain once responded to a journalist asking about rumors that he was dying by saying “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” The same can be said of direct mail. It’s still one of the most effective ways to reach voters. In fact, according to a study done by the USPS, 53% of national voters agree that direct mail is more trustworthy than television or online advertising. However, with inflation and the rising cost of postage, you need to make sure you are using direct mail conscientiously. It’s crucial that you start by considering various demographics such as age, location, political affiliation, voting history and whether a donor is high-frequency or an occasional donor.
Next you want to make sure you are sending direct mail to the right recipients. The USPS does a great job of providing this information as part of their National Change of Address database, but did you know that up to 40% of voter moves are not reported to the USPS through a change of address request. That’s why campaigns should use a service like Melissa’s Proprietary and Multisource Change of Address services which can identify movers that didn’t file a change of request with the USPS, but did update their mailing addresses for magazine subscriptions, or with insurance companies and credit bureaus for instance.
Q: For a lot of campaigns, data is coming from various sources to build out data models. Talk about how campaigns can ensure those models are as complete and accurate as they need to be?
A: Incomplete coverage data can render data modeling ineffective. For instance, while you may receive positive responses from certain zip codes, neighborhoods, or carrier routes, without knowing the percentage of your campaign coverage, it’s challenging to assess its overall effectiveness. Utilizing Post Office data can provide a total count of deliverable addresses within carrier routes, offering insight into campaign coverage.
At Melissa Data, we maintain a comprehensive list of all active and inactive addresses in the US, including over 5 million addresses not found in the USPS database. These addresses may not receive USPS deliveries but are serviced by other couriers. Additionally, we can identify vacant or inactive addresses, enabling the creation of precise campaign reports. Our Global Address Dataset can also flag drop boxes and vacant addresses, ensuring the highest level of data accuracy for analytics purposes.
Q: Particualrly for down-ballot campaigns, talk about leveraging those who are engaging with the campaign’s online presence. How can campaigns track visits aside from using cookies?
A: A campaign website serves as a valuable tool for enhancing engagement with your social media profiles, showcasing the buzz surrounding your campaign to the community. Visitors to your website represent an untapped opportunity to schedule qualified meetings and accelerate pipeline growth.
Identifying your website visitors can unveil high-intent voters and donors. In addition to tracking visitors through cookies, you can track them using their IP addresses. Leveraging the Melissa IPConsumer RESTful web service, you can input an IP address and retrieve matching contacts (including name, mailing address, email, and phone) associated with that IP.
