Constituent email lists
Unlike other vendors our basic record contains the complete voter file information in your state (name, postal address, gender, age, county, etc.) and of course an email address.
We can even add up to 200 additional fields such as ethnicity, education, parents, veterans, farmers, small business owners, etc. and even hobbies and interests!
All of our data is already opted-in for your outreach and verified valid, so you don’t pay for emails that don’t work. We provide a 30-day warranty if emails turn out to be “bad”, we take full responsibility for not cleaning out those emails and will refund you for them.
Data Matching
If you already have a constituent contact list, we can enhance your list with emails, phone numbers or any other additional fields.
If you only have the email addresses and nothing else, we can deliver the rest of the constituent’s contact information to your file.
ConstituentMail 2.0 & E-newsletter Service
The Sargent At Arms Office has approved ConstituentMail 2.0 for use by Senate Offices. Now the most powerful and user-friendly commercially available email sending system can be used for your official communication. Getting a new system approved is a rigorous and time consuming process – which is the reason why many of the other vendors are still offering versions of the 2007 systems they used when they first contracted with the Senate.
But in the meantime, commercial email marketing has gotten quantum levels better. Which is why with best of that new technology, ConstituentMail 2.0 can revolutionize your e-newsletter program!
- ConsituentMail 2.0 makes creating an email, segmenting and A/B split testing so easy even the Senator could do it! (Not that you would want them to – but you get the idea.)
- ConsituentMail 2.0 is intuitive – Help follows you through the process and automatically checks your work every step of the way.
- ConsituentMail 2.0 provides the in-depth reporting and analysis you need to have the best possible communication program.
- ConsituentMail 2.0 integrates seamlessly with your social media outreach.
- ConstituentMail 2.0 Uses the latest Blue Hornet technology and backbone, so you can send millions of emails quickly and still have them arrive in your constituents’ in-boxes.
- ConstituentMail 2.0 has extra layers of security, so you never need to be afraid any unauthorized people are accessing your data or system.
Best Practices for E-Franking in the Senate
Message Frequency and Timing
Send emails frequently enough to keep subscribers up-to-date, but not so up-to-date that readers instantly delete, unsubscribe, or flag your message as spam. Check to see when your emails are opened most frequently versus when your organization emails the list. If your organization sends out a high volume of small content emails to its list, subscribers may appreciate if that information is synthesized into a weekly newsletter package. Remember every constituent is different. You can ask individuals through a survey how often they would like to receive emails and be sure to listen to their preferences. Offer them options to receive a weekly, monthly, or quarterly newsletter.
Be sure to include an unsubscribe link. It will help your office enhance its credibility with remaining subscribers
When to Send
Tuesday and Wednesday are the best days to send out emails. It is believed that on these days, particularly in the afternoons, subscribers are more likely to read content and visit embedded links. This is primarily because on Mondays people are catching up from email sent over the weekend, and by Thursday and Friday potential readers may be too focused on the upcoming weekend to devote any extra attention to their inboxes.
Types of EFranking Messages
Although most eFranking messages take the form or newsletters, we recommend that you mix up what you send out. Some popular emails are:
- Surveys:
Surveys receive the highest open rates and response rates of any emails. They also establish that you are interested in and responsive to what your constituents think. Respondents can also be segmented based on their responses. Finally, we recommend following up with an email that gives the results of the survey.
- Constituent Services:
At least once a year, you should use email to let people know what services you can provide them through your office. You can also include numbers for other government services.
- Disaster Preparedness:
When an natural disaster has struck or is about to strike, you can aid your constituents by providing them with up to date information on how they can access the services they need. This truly takes advantage for the speed and immediacy of email and will also be something they remember for a long long time.
- Town Hall Meeting Invitation:
Segment by city, county, zip or other geographical fields to send out invitations to build attendance at the Senator’s Town Hall or other in-state events. The geo-targeting can be combined with other data in the system to reach specialized audiences to invite – so you can invite Parents to an Education Town Hall or farmers to your meetings on agriculture.
- Guides to Important Changes in Federal Law:
Inform your Constituents of changes in tax or other laws that will immediately affect them. These sort of communications help establish your emails as trusted sources of important information.
- Links to Floor Speech Video:
If a Member has made a speech that their constituents should be aware of, post the video on your website and send a link to it. Remember not to send it as an attached file as most virus protection software will block any mass mailed attachments as potential viruses.
Subject Lines
We recommend coming up with a subject that is less than 50 characters. The subject line should catch the attention of your constituent and encourage them to be engaged with your office. Segment your list and try different subject lines to see what resonates with your subscriber base and earns you the highest read rates.
Personalize
Recipients want to feel like they are more than just an email in your database. Make sure the data you have includes name, address, and age so you can personalize your emails. Personalizing subject lines or content is an easy way to increase constituent’s interest. Be personal. Example: “Hi [Subscriber_Name].” Using first names has proven to significantly increase open and click-thru rates by enhancing relations. Additionally, personalized salutations help circumvent spam filters.
Tailor Your Message To List Segments
Generally, the more narrowly you tailor your message to your recipients, the higher open and click-thru rates you can expect from them. Try segmenting your list and vary your mailing’s content by recipient demographics such as age, geographical location, and policy interest. The top reason recipients unsubscribe from newsletters is because the content is not relevant. The more you treat your constituents like individuals, the more engaged they will be. One great way to find out each recipient’s interests are to send a survey asking what issue is most important to them. Use this information to further target your message to recipients by segmenting without importing your list again.
Store Demographics of recipients
There is a strict prohibition against having party ID even as a field in your database or in your official computer systems. BUT you can have most other data — so all the voter file fields, including street address, age, gender, and even vote history. You can also append other information that could indicate ideology but not necessarily party — there are gun owners, or environmentalists in both parties and you may want to send out specialized messages to them. Many offices also have data on veterans, farmers, homeowners, parents etc. appended. The more data you have the greater ability you will have to segment and send relevant information.