Michael Cohen continued his webinar series on constituent engagement in this segment. He discusses how new tools can rapidly and efficiently increase constituent engagement while reducing the use of scarce resources. Michael reiterated his recommendations that driving two-way personalized communication and creating high-value engagement efficiently is an important way for elected officials to improve constituent satisfaction with their offices.
One of the most helpful ways to drive this improved satisfaction is utilizing personalized digital communication. Advanced tools allow emails and text messages to be created, read, and responded to much more quickly than phone calls and paper messages. Given the unprecedented challenges of the recent Pandemic, these tools help limited staff continue to connect with constituents with timely and impactful messages.
iConstituent’s GovText and Smart Messaging use SMS text messages to communicate rapidly with constituents. With a 93% read rate within 5 minutes of delivery, text messages are a game-changer in speed and engagement. Messages can be carefully targeted using a customized constituent database with demographic and voter data for each recipient. In a simple test done by one of our clients, they compared responses to a district survey, using both email and GovText. The comparison showed that the 160,000 surveys sent via GovText had a 1,100% higher response rate than the same surveys sent via email. This shows the power of text messaging in ensuring that critical communication and constituent engagement happens.
SMS messaging has also proven to be a “game-changer” in the case of making it easier for constituents to contact their elected officials. Smart Messaging allows offices to set up local numbers for inbound text messages allowing constituents to communicate with their elected officials instantly. Not only are their communication tied to their constituent database for appropriate response and documentation, but text messaging allows staff to quickly read and respond to condensed messages, rather than listening to sometimes meandering, barely understandable voice messages with missing contact information. Combining outreach and incoming messages with the power of text take elected officials to the next level of engagement.
Watch the webinar On Demand today to learn more about improving constituent engagement with next-generation tools.
by Samuel Santeliz