Contents
Overview
The Contact Sync feature encourages your volunteers to reach out and activate their personal networks through Friend to Friend actions. Impactive matches your contacts’ information with the National Voter File in order to provide more information on their voting habits. There are two ways to sync contacts: on the mobile app and on the web-app.
Mobile App: Sync your personal contacts from your phone’s contact book to import names, phone numbers, and email addresses
Web-App: Sync your Gmail contacts from your Gmail account to import contact’s email addresses
To learn more about Friend to Friend actions visit our Help Center article, Friend to Friend Messaging.
How To: Sync Your Contacts
On Mobile:
Within the mobile app, Users can match their contacts’ information with the National Voter File in order to provide more information on their voting habits
To sync your contacts for the first time on your Impactive mobile app:
Navigate to the contact book icon in the bottom navigation menu.
Click on SYNC MY CONTACTS to match your contacts’ information with the National Voter File. This step might take a few minutes.
On the Data Security Policy page, click CONTINUE, and matched contacts will appear with emojis next to them indicating their voter status.
If a contact wasn’t automatically matched to the voter file, you can manually do so. To manually match a contact to the voter file click on the contact name, click on SEARCH THE VOTER FILE, enter their information, select SEARCH VOTER FILE at the bottom of the screen, select the corresponding voter, and click SAVE THIS MATCH.
On the Web-App:
From the web app, Users can match their email contacts to the National Voter File.
Navigate to CONTACTS on the side menu.
Click on Sync my contacts to import your email contacts and match your friends and family to the National Voter File.
Sign-in with your Google Account.
Click on Continue and press Next on the My Contacts page to sync your Google contacts.
From the My Contacts (Other) page you can select or deselect contacts by utilizing the checkbox to the left of each contact as well as the Deselect All button. When you are finished, click the Next button in the right hand corner.
From the My Contacts page confirm that you want to sync the selected contacts by clicking “Sync # Contacts”
Emoji Key
This table serves as a key for the different emojis which appear next to your contacts.
Resyncing Your Contacts
To resync your contacts on the mobile app, click on the gear icon at the top right of the CONTACTS page. Then select Resync Contacts, doing so will update your contacts to reflect your phone’s current contact book.
FAQ
What happens if my synced contacts don’t match to the Voter File?
If your synced contacts don’t match to the Voter File you can search the Voter File and match them.
Here’s how on the mobile app:
Click on the contact who you want to match to the Voter File
Click SEARCH THE VOTER FILE and enter the contact’s information - their legal name, state, and zip code, the more fields you can accurately submit the better your chance is of finding the correct voter
Select SEARCH VOTER FILE at the bottom of the screen, select the corresponding voter, and click SAVE THIS MATCH.
Here’s how on the web app:
Click Search to the right of the contact you want to match to the Voter File
Enter the contact’s information on the Search Voter File page. Pro-Tip: The more fields you can accurately submit the better your chance is of finding the correct voter
Select Search at the bottom left of the screen, view the Results and click View File if it is a match select Save This Match.
What is the National Voter File?
The National Voter File is a public national database. Its records contain the information from the voter registration form, what party that individual was registered with, and whether someone voted in a given election. They do not indicate for whom an individual voted because the US uses a secret ballot system, meaning that ballots do not contain information about the voter or their demographics. Impactive uses contacts’ name, age, and location to pair that information with their voter file data. This matching process gives volunteers context on the political involvement that contact has had.
What if I want to remove certain people from my synced contacts?
If you want to remove certain people from your synced contacts, select the checkbox to the left of a contacts name, then select the delete button at the bottom of the screen, and finally confirm you want to remove these contacts from the app by selecting Yes.
Pro-Tip: You can delete multiple contacts at once by selecting the checkbox next to each name before selecting the delete button.
What if a contact was wrongly matched to the Voter File?
In the case that a contact was wrongly matched to the Voter File you can update the match by clicking on the contact, selecting REMATCH INFO to the right of the VOTER INFORMATION heading, entering the contact’s information and clicking SEARCH THE VOTER FILE, once you have confirmed you have found the correct match you can choose SAVE THIS MATCH. You can read more about how the voter matching algorithm works here.
Why does Impactive need my contacts?
Impactive's contact sync feature is a tool to further your outreach as a volunteer. Impactive does not share or sell personal contact information, or use it for any other purpose than what is strictly necessary to allow you to conduct outreach to your contacts.
Administrators for the campaign you're volunteering for can only access your contacts' information if you conduct outreach to that contact, and/or if you fill a report on that contact.
How do I know it's safe to sync my contacts?
We protect your data and give you full control over it. You are able to pick and choose which contacts you want to sync before sending any messages, and you can delete contacts after importing individually or in bulk. Additionally, you can close your account at any time to automatically delete all your contact data from our servers.
Of course, if you don't feel comfortable syncing your contacts, that is okay! You can still volunteer with Impactive by completing other action types like Peer to Peer, Phone Banking, Canvassing, and more.
Why is contact syncing different on the mobile app and on the web-app?
Different devices have different capabilities. Because not all computers have access to messaging through text, the web-app focuses on the most used communication method on computers, email, instead! Hence, the web-app pairs with Gmail contacts to make emailing seamless. Rather, mobile devices have a larger range of capabilities. So, when importing contacts on the app, phone numbers and email addresses are utilized to reach out to them via text and/or email.
What if I don’t have a Gmail account to sync my contacts with on the web-app?
At this time, if you do not have a Gmail account, you can only sync contacts on the app, not the web-app. We are working to change this process soon, so check back later on this progress!