Overview
With Impactive, there are a variety of action types you can create to engage with your volunteers. Here we'll walk through a brief explanation of all these types, as well as some best practices and pro tips for each.
Peer to Peer Texting
Peer to Peer texting allows you and your staff or volunteers to send one-on-one messages to thousands of campaign contacts and manage replies in real-time. Check out our Peer-to-Peer Actions (for Admins) page for a comprehensive guide on P2P actions.
Use Scripts
It’s worth your time to write multiple scripted replies so your volunteers know what to say in different situations.
When writing scripts, make them engaging and not transactional.
We don’t recommend using links in initial scripts, but if you do, consider getting a shortened custom domain such as Bitly.
Fill Reports
Train your volunteers to fill reports on all their conversations. Most importantly, Impactive will remove contacts that have been tagged as "Opt-Out" from receiving messages in the future, so you can automatically avoid repeatedly messaging people who no longer wish to be contacted.
Multimedia Messages
Multimedia messages (MMS) are different from regular text messages in that they have a small image attached. We recommend only using MMS strategically since they often have higher impressions, but lower response rates.
Did You Know?
Over 90% of SMS text messages are read in the first 3 minutes!
Friend to Friend Texting
Multiply volunteer impact by taking advantage of friend and family networks. With Impactive, volunteers can easily match their phone contacts to the National Voter File and see if their contacts are:
Registered to vote
Affiliated with a political party
Important Note: If you do not want party affiliation to appear for users' contacts reach out to us at [email protected]
A frequent or infrequent voter
Read more about F2F texting on our help page Friend to Friend Overview.
Build Your Network
Promote your campaign on social media and through your website, then send out your campaign link or join code to your supporters to grow your network.
Using Scripts
Make sure to write scripts for each contact type (Text, Email, Phone Call, Social Media Messages) in case your volunteers choose to use them.
Write scripts in a casual voice because your volunteers will be sending these messages to folks they personally know.
Teach your volunteers how to edit the scripts inside the action so they can customize a more personal message to their own contacts.
Filters
Train and encourage your volunteers to use filters in the app to distinguish their friends’ political affiliation, voting frequency, and more.
Batch Tagging
Your volunteers can “batch tag” multiple contacts in the app and use the filter icon to later locate those contacts using the same tag. Just enable the “Filterable” toggle in a tag’s settings.
Go to the DATA section in your dashboard menu
Click on the “Tags” sub-section
Find your tag and click on the “...” to select “Edit”
Check the “Filterable” box and Save
Did You Know?
A single text from a friend makes a voter 10% more likely to turn out to vote!
Canvassing
Canvassing actions allow volunteers to report and outreach to a list of contacts shared or assigned to them by the campaign, using a contact list similar to peer-to-peer, and outreach methods like friend-to-friend. To learn more about Canvassing actions, visit Assigned List Canvassing and Shared List Canvassing.
Choosing Lists
We recommend using lists of people who are likely to support your cause, but would be most swayed by a personal touch. Think about it like the second ring outside of your personal contacts.
Use Filters
Teach your volunteers to use filters for their contact list! Soon volunteers will also be able to look through a list and filter it by various fields, allowing them to comb through a large list much more easily.
Canvassing
Train your volunteers on canvassing through the Impactive app. If a volunteer would like to share information about a friend or family member to your campaign, they can log that person through the canvassing action, even if their contact is not in the VAN.
Did you know?
You can find the network reach of your supporters by clicking into USERS > Lists > All Users. You can filter both your network and your networks' network. On average, your supporters know 500 people each, and some of them may live in your district.
Broadcast
Broadcast messaging allows campaigns to send mass text messages to your volunteers and/or a list of contacts who have opted in. To learn more, visit our help page Broadcast SMS: Getting Started Guide.
Trainings & Events
We recommend using Broadcast actions to engage your volunteers and organize them for trainings and events.
If you’re hosting a Zoom meeting or other online event, include the link in your message.
Video Stories
With Impactive, your volunteers can upload a testimonial by sending a selfie, short video, or writing a personal note that you can then share with your campaign. To learn more, visit our help page Video Stories: Overview.
Create Engaging Content
We recommend using the video stories you receive in your email newsletters, digital content, and to shout out supporters on social media.
Did you know?
User-generated content posted on social media yields 28% higher engagement rate than other content.
Surveys
Impactive surveys allow you to collect information from your volunteers on a regular basis. You have full control over what questions you'd like to ask, and how responses are stored as tags or fields. For example, you can:
Survey or poll your users.
Ask users to sign a petition.
Let users sign up for an event or volunteering opportunity.
To learn more, visit our help page Surveys Overview.
Pro Tips:
Sync your form fills to NGP VAN, PDI, and other CRM providers.
Customize which tags can be filled within each survey question.
Easily follow up with respondents based on their answers to the form.
Social Sharing
Social Share actions allow you to ask your supporters to share a pre-written post across their social networks. To learn more, visit our help page Social Share: Overview.
Pro Tip:
Include a push notification and a broadcast message to your users when you send out a social share action to remind your users to share your message to social media right away.
Open A Webpage
Open A Webpage actions allow your supporters to send external links to their contacts. Some common uses include links to RSVP to events or sign a petition; as long the ask is on the webpage, we can support deep-linking to a site from Impactive.
Pro Tips:
Include only one link per action.
Link directly to the page the ask is on.
Concisely explain where the link goes.
Link to your donation page.
Custom Voter Registration
Impactive’s custom voter registration feature allows campaigns to motivate their volunteers to register voters by leveraging a branded voter registration page.
Whether you’re a political campaign, or non-profit looking to increase voter registration, use the new custom voter registration page to create engaging, gamified and thoughtful registration actions this campaign season. To learn more, visit our Help Center article, Custom Voter Registration.
Next recommended article: Actions Overview