The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.
Today’s Campaign Corner question: I have built up quite a large number of emails for residents in my ward and I’m expecting a close fight in May. How can I get the most out of emails to them?
Subject lines matter: the subject line on an email is rather like the headline on a Focus leaflet – it needs to give people an instant reason to read on and should get over your key message so that they get it even if they hit delete rather than reading on. As a result, often the most effective subject lines therefore are short, clear and factual.- Timing of emails matter: not everyone has an organised inbox, and for many people if an email is not near the top of their inbox when they check their email it does not have much chance of being read. So you need to time your emails to match up to when your recipients are most likely to be logged in to their email system.
- You need to track email performance: you can only know if you are succeeding at #1 and #2 if you are tracking your email performance statisics: what is the open rate on your emails and how many people are clicking through on links in your emails?
Got any other tips? Please do share them in the comment thread below.
Want to know more about local campaigning? Campaigning In Your Community by myself and Shaun Roberts should be right up your street. It’s available for only £4 from ALDC and you can read an extract for free here.
Previous Campaign Corners have included:
- Should you still target during a PR election?
- What to do on the doorstep
- How to make Focus leaflets looks better
You can read them all here.
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5 Comments
I think that Campaign Corner is an excellent series but should it not be in the Members’ Forum section of the website?
“I have built up quite a large number of emails for residents in my ward and I’m expecting a close fight in May. How can I get the most out of emails to them?”
I’d suggest that any political campaigner planning to make use of a list of email addresses they have “built up” should be particularly aware of the Information Commissioner’s guidance for political parties:
“You must have the individual’s prior consent to communicate with them in this way. In addition in all such communications you must identify yourself and provide an address that individuals can use to object and request that you do not send them any further communications.”
http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/sector_guides/~/media/documents/library/Data_Protection/Practical_application/PROMOTION_OF_A_POLITICAL_PARTY.ashx
And this is why I no longer open emails or click on links from the party. If I wanted to have my mail reading habits tracked by third parties, or have my browsing stalked by my own party, I wouldn’t be a Liberal Democrat. I’ve been told by the Department for Elections & Skills that they won’t provide any opt-out from their stalking and “everybody does it”, so I guess they don’t want people interested in privacy as campaigners.
@paul hunt:
“I think that Campaign Corner is an excellent series but should it not be in the Members’ Forum section of the website?”
Mark is such a Liberal that he believes our opponents need as much training as we do. 🙂
@Dave Page
Really? You don’t open any emails from the party as they ‘stalk’ you?
Do you read emails from Tesco, Amazon, Play, BBC and so on?
I think you’re being a bit over the top to be honest – exactly why do you object?