Case Study
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The Value of Targeted Email Outreach By Roger Stone M
ike Panetta, the “shadow” U.S. representative for the District of Columbia, had used his first two terms in this position as a platform to ad-
vocate for statehood and budget and legislative autonomy for the District of Columbia. Panetta knew he had been an effective advocate for those issues. Despite his belief that he was the right candidate for the job, he was a challenged incumbent who was facing the last few critical days in the election. There is an old adage that the one thing that campaigns cannot buy more of is time, but they can invest in online outreach services, specifically, targeted email outreach. In certain scenarios, that can be a game changer in a race that is coming down to the wire.
Reaching Voters at the Click of a Button Panetta, like many, searched for a solution to meet his last
minute needs. Perusing multiple voter engagement plat- forms, Panetta discovered Advocacy Data’s newly launched platform VoterVendor. The platform not only contains the email addresses of over 30 million registered voters, but is also a do-it-yourself solution that activates at the click of a button. In many cases, VoterVendor can be more cost-effective
than direct mail since direct mail remains prohibitively expensive for many races. Given the flood of mail that was being received from candidates for mayor, council chairman, and city council, Panetta literally did not want to fall in with all the clutter. Robocalls were also not an option, since he realized many voters were receiving nearly 10 calls a day. The self-service VoterVendor platform allows candidates to identify key voters, format their email and send out a message. Using VoterVendor gave Panetta the ability to
62 Campaigns & Elections | Canadian Edition
send an informative email message directly to over 37,321 registered voters for a few cents per send. Like many candidates that Advocacy Data works with,
Panetta was hesitant to try email outreach. Emailing a large list of registered voters just before an election is a risk, since it could alienate voters who would have voted for you. Due to Panetta’s track record, he knew he just needed to remind voters who he was and that he was on the ballot. His email was an effective “for your information” reminder versus a “hard sell” or an email that “goes negative.”
[Targeted e-mail outreach] can be a game changer in a race that is coming down to the wire.
Personalized Emails Act As Useful Last Minute Reminders Panetta elected to draft two emails to be sent out in the
week time period before the election, sending one on the Thursday the week before the election and one on the Monday before the Tuesday election. Neither email had a strong “vote for me” message, but VoterVendor’s interface allowed Panetta to customize his emails with his name and campaign logo, coming directly from his own email ad- dress. Panetta believes that this approach made the public see him as someone who was providing useful information and, having already been through two election cycles, it
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