Peer-to-Peer Texting (sometimes called text banking) is a powerful tool to reach voters or other contacts where they are, on their mobile devices - over 95% of text messages are opened! Impactive offers a best-in-class Peer-to-Peer Texting interface that is well-suited for both complex, high-scale texting programs and smaller grassroots efforts. Peer-to-Peer Texting is an action type that is published to Impactive users, which they can access via the Impactive volunteer interface for web or mobile.

The below article offers specific details on all of the settings and components of running a Peer-to-Peer Texting action. But to begin, here's a general overview of the steps/prerequisites that are typically required to run a Peer-to-Peer Texting action:

To create a new Peer-to-Peer Texting (P2P) action, head to Actions > Peer to Peer and click + New Action in the top-left corner of the table. You'll be taken to the action's edit page.

Optionally, assign this action to one or more folders. Learn more here about using folders as an internal organizational system within Impactive.

A contact list is required; this is the list of contacts that will be texted in this action. Read more here about importing contacts.

Optionally, add an image that will appear alongside this action for users; users will see it in their action feeds (for web or mobile). We recommend uploading one to boost user engagement! Recommended dimensions are 1,000px x 1,000px, though images are sometimes shown as a horizontal rectangle, so center content within the center 3/4 (vertically) of the square; this article shares an example of these dimensions.

An action title is required. Users will see this title in their action feeds (for web or mobile). This title will not be seen by contacts; it is user-facing only, to give users context about the text bank they're participating in.

An action description is required; users will see it in their action feeds (for web or mobile), and it will not be seen by contacts. We recommend including high-quality information here to boost user engagement! Tell users what they're doing, and don't forget the why - why will this action be impactful?

Optionally, add a disclaimer that will appear when users open the action in their actions feeds (for web or mobile). A disclaimer isn't added very often; on rare occasion, it's used by clients who are fiscally sponsoring or otherwise providing in-kind to support to another campaign, and need to disclose that for compliance reasons.

Optionally, designate a different start button label for users to click when they open this action.

Optionally, select preferred area codes from the drop-down list. The drop-down is populated with the area codes designated in your Campaign Settings > Peer-to-Peer Texting; if needed, you can edit the list of available area codes for your campaign there. Impactive will use preferred area codes when available, but cannot guarantee area code availability. If left blank, random phone numbers will be used.

By default, assignments (of contacts to users) are made at random, on a first-come-first-serve basis when users start texting. This is the desired method for the vast majority of text banks. Optionally (and typically, rarely) you may choose to "keep assignments" so that users maintain their existing contact assignments; these existing assignments could be from a previous P2P or canvassing action, or were imported as a CSV column when contact data was imported.

The most important step! Write the initial script that will be sent to contacts during this text bank. Find our full guide to initial script writing in Impactive here.

Optionally, write response scripts (also known as canned responses) that users can send to contacts as they continue conversations after initial messages are sent; these response scripts are typically answers to frequently-asked questions, additional information to send to contacts who are interested in learning more, etc. Find our full guide to response script writing, including how to automatically apply a tag or custom field alongside a response script, here.

If you hope to capture data from texting conversations (which is usually the case!), use these Report Settings to designate which tags and custom fields will be shown to users for them to fill reports on contacts (in their inboxes, alongside their texting conversations). These Report Settings / Tags and Custom Fields drop-downs are populated with the tags and custom fields created in your campaign under Data > Tags and Data > Custom Fields. To edit the display names and/or the order of these tags and custom fields, edit the tags and custom fields themselves under Data > Tags or Data > Custom Fields. Impactive strongly recommends adding the Opt Out (P2P) tag to each of your texting actions, to facilitate manual tracking of opt-outs.

Note that you do not need to add the "P2P Messaged At" custom field to Report Settings here (and Impactive will not allow you to do so); that custom field is automatically generated and stored when texts are sent, it does not require a user report.

Optionally, set a date and time to schedule this action to be published to ALL users. This field is optional because you can still publish the action - whether to all users or a specific user list - anytime after the action is saved by clicking the Make Public or Send to User List buttons on the action's page.

Optionally, limit publishing of this action to only users who use either the English or Spanish version of the volunteer mobile/web portal(users choose which language they'll use when signing up). This is great for creating a Spanish-specific version of the action. Learn more about using Impactive in Spanish here.

There are several global P2P settings, designated under Campaign Settings > Peer-to-Peer Texting, that apply to all P2P actions created in your campaign; it's a good idea to review these when setting up a new P2P action. These global settings are:

If your script includes user's (volunteer's) first name (ex. "Hi, this is John from Impactive") and a volunteer's first name isn't available, this word/phrase will be used instead. Impactive recommends adding a fallback here to prevent any awkward-looking blanks in your scripts.

If your script includes contact's first name (ex. "Hi Jose, how are you?") and a contact's first name isn't available, this word/phrase will be used instead. Impactive recommends adding a fallback here to prevent any awkward-looking blanks in your scripts.

Designate the number of contacts that each user should be assigned to text at a time. Note that users can claim another bucket after they finish one (so this setting is not a limit on how many total texts that a user can send out), but buckets provide a natural pause that requires an additional click to resume texting.

If custom responses are disabled, users will not be able to send their own custom-typed response messages, only uneditable follow-up scripts that you designate.

These texting hours (in a certain time zone) govern when both initial and response scripts can be sent; users will not be allowed to send messages, whether initial or response, outside of these hours. They will see an error if attempt texting outside of texting hours.

If turned on, this setting prevents contacts from being texted with new initial scripts (i.e. from new Peer-to-Peer Texting actions) within 6 hours of receiving a prior initial script. Impactive strongly recommends toggling on this protection, to prevent any accidental list mess-ups.

These area codes are originally designated when submitting texting registration, but they can be edited, if needed, after registration is approved. These area codes will appear in the Preferred Area Codes drop-down when creating a Peer-to-Peer Texting action. Impactive allows up to four area codes by default; if your campaign requires additional area codes, reach out to [email protected] to discuss possibilities.

Once your Peer-to-Peer Texting action has been created, it's time to take the text bank live so users can get involved!

Our article here gives fuller information about the various options for sharing actions with users. But in short, you can:

Once the text banking action is shared with some or all users, they'll be able to send texts. (Unless it's outside of the texting hours designated in your Campaign Settings - more on that here.)

Find a full walkthrough of how users (i.e. volunteers) can participate in a text bank here. And don't forget - Impactive offers template training decks to help train your volunteers!

Our article here covers everything you need to know about Peer-to-Peer Texting results, including how to track performance, syncing data to VAN/EveryAction, and more.

Our article here covers everything you need to know about opt-out management, including both Impactive's automated opt-out management system, and how users can manually mark opt-outs if needed.

Reassignment is an important step at the end of most Peer-to-Peer Texting actions, particularly if volunteers (rather than a small number of staffers or admins) are the ones sending your text messages.

It's very common to reassign texting conversations/threads from one user to another. Perhaps one user sent the initial message, but a different user will be handling replies; perhaps a certain volunteer needs to leave a text bank early, so their conversations need to be taken over by someone else.

Find a full guide to reassignment here, including the several ways that you can reassign Needs Attention threads during or after a text bank.