Welcome to ActBlue Field Tools (formerly Impactive)! We're honored you've chosen our platform to accomplish your goals, and can't wait to help you get started.
If you have any questions now or later when using Field Tools, don't hesitate to reach out to our best-in-class support team - you can contact us either by using the coral-colored messenger in the bottom-right corner of this page (also any other Help Center articles and throughout the Field Tools admin dashboard), or by emailing [email protected].
Basics of Field Tools
Let's begin with a few of the core building blocks that you need to understand about Field Tools, regardless of which feature(s) you'll be using.
Accessing Field Tools: There are three different Field Tools interfaces that you should be familiar with: the administrator dashboard (accessible on computers/laptops/tablets), the volunteer web portal (accessible on computers/laptops/tablets), and the volunteer app portal (accessible via smartphone, iPhone or Android). How heavily you use the volunteer portal(s) depends on which features you're using, but most clients and their teams will end up interacting with both the "admin side" and "volunteer side" of Field Tools. Some folks think about the administrator dashboard of Field Tools as the "backend," while the volunteer portals (web/app) are the "frontend."
Of course, some clients instead use paid staffers in place of "volunteers" - but we use the term volunteers to clarify the difference between the admin side and the volunteer side of Field Tools.
Users: Users are the folks that use Field Tools, i.e. have an Field Tools account. This includes administrative/staff users and volunteer users. You'll manage users (and user lists, teams, etc.) in a variety of ways - learn more about users here.
Contacts: Contacts are the folks that you're contacting via Field Tools - i.e. the people being texted, being called, etc. Our powerful contact management tools let you filter and segment contact lists to hyper-segment your outreach. Learn more about contacts here.
Data: All data in Field Tools - no matter which feature(s) you use - is managed in the format of tags and custom fields. You can also set up integrations with tools like NGP VAN/EveryAction, PDI, and ActBlue - but integrations are not required to use Field Tools.
Actions: Actions are the individual opportunities for volunteers to make use of Field Tools' features - ex. you'll publish Peer-to-Peer actions (a text bank), Phone Banking actions (a phone bank), and more. All features that begin with logged-in volunteer participation are published in the form of actions - that's Peer-to-Peer Texting, Phone Banking, Friends and Family Messaging, Canvassing, Social Sharing, and Open a Webpage.
Accessing Field Tools
Field Tools uses a sign-in code login system. Field Tools users do not have a username/password login - they simply input their email address, receive an email to that email address that contains a six-digit code, and enter that code in Field Tools to log in. This is true for all Field Tools users - admins and volunteers alike. It's true regardless of how you access Field Tools - on a computer (for admin dashboard/volunteer web) or on a smartphone (for volunteer mobile).
When you first accessed Field Tools - whether you signed up on your own at impactive.io, or whether you received an invitation from the Field Tools team or from a colleague - you received an email from [email protected] with your sign-in code. Everyone else you onboard to the campaign - whether admins or volunteers - will receive a similar email when they are invited.
Learn more about onboarding users here.
First Steps to Set Up Your Campaign
Here are our recommendations for the first steps to take when setting up your campaign:
Submit 10DLC Registration (If Texting)
If you'll be using Field Tools for any type of texting (Peer-to-Peer Texting, Broadcast Texting, and/or Automated Texting), 10DLC registration is mandatory. The form only takes a few minutes to submit, but keep in mind that registration takes 1-3 weeks to get approved. You cannot send a single text until your registration is approved - so we recommend submitting your registration ASAP. More on the registration process, including frequently asked questions on timeline, etc., here.
Personalize Your Campaign
On the Campaign Settings page, Basics tab, add your Profile Picture, Hero Image, Slogan, Description, and Website URL. These branding settings will appear for volunteers in the web/app portals, and will make them feel at home.
Set Up Integrations (If Applicable)
If you'll be integrating Field Tools with NGP VAN/EveryAction or PDI (popular CRMs used in the political/advocacy sectors), head to Data > Integrations to paste in your API key. More about setting up integrations here.
Set up Tags and Custom Fields
Any data you want to gather from your Field Tools actions will be stored in the form of tags and custom fields. First, you'll need to set up those tags and custom fields - for instance, if you want to track something like voters' support for your issue, you'll set up a custom field to receive and store that information. For more information on setting up tags, click here; for custom fields, click here.
Import Contacts (If Applicable) and Create Actions
Many features on Field Tools require the import of contacts. For example, you'll need to import contacts before you can create a Peer-to-Peer Texting action. (A Friends and Family Messaging action, where volunteers message their own personal contacts, doesn't require a contact import first.) If you'll be using actions that require contacts, you'll need to import them - more on importing contact lists here.
Now it's time for the exciting part - creating your first action on Field Tools. Head to Actions > choose the action type you'll start with. You'll see some sample actions that are pre-created for all new Field Tools campaigns, which can help you get a tour of the types of information required to set up each action type. When you're ready, click + New Action in the top-left corner. Follow the prompts on the page to input all of the necessary information for that action. More information on setting up certain action types can be found on these pages:
Invite Volunteers
Now that you're ready with actions for your volunteers to participate in, it's time to invite them. The easiest way to onboard volunteers is to send them the direct URL for your Field Tools campaign, which can be copy/pasted from the top of the Campaign Settings page in your admin dashboard. You can send them the URL to join on web or app, depending on how they'll participate. Full details on how to invite volunteers can be found here.
This was a basic tour of the fundamentals of Field Tools - use the more specific articles linked throughout the sections above to dig into users, contacts, and all of Field Tools' many action types. Reach out anytime with any questions - we're always here to help!