How campaigns can adapt to declining landline usage

Campaigns have historically relied on landline phones for a large part of their voter-ID efforts. There are two reasons for this – campaigns can easily buy and match landline numbers with voter files; and phoning is more efficient than door-knocking. Focusing campaign resources on phoning made sense because almost every household had a landline. As political involvement and volunteering declined, campaigns made a logical decision to put more money and manpower into phone-banks. It is not uncommon to see campaigns devote half their budget to phoning, either in-house or outsourced to call-centres.

But technological trends point to a growing problem. Landline use is on the decline. It is estimated almost 1 in 7 Canadians do not own landlines, with this number rapidly increasing. Young and mobile Canadians are especially unlikely to own one. It begs the question – as political participation and volunteerism decline, and landlines become scarcer, how will campaigns reach an increasingly large segment of the population that is not on the grid? Why are campaigns focusing so much money and resources on phoning, when they are reaching a smaller and smaller universe of voters?

Advancements in technology offer the key to voter identification without relying on landlines.

Online advertising

Internet usage is on the rise. In 2010, over 80% of Canadians were online. A recent study showed that Canadian’s spent more time on the Internet than any other OECD country. That amounts to an average 43.5 hours per month spent online. Many of these users are younger voters who are usually ignored by campaigns.

Unlike normal advertising, online advertising has the ability to sophistically target users based on a wide range of factors. Search advertising platforms such as Google Adwords offer a cost-effective strategy to reach a large, targeted audience. Facebook advertising offers granular level targeting based on demographics, political orientation and many other segmentable issues. A well-planned digital ad spend can have a major impact on name recognition and issue-awareness.

Campaigns should develop a robust, online ad strategy that targets specific users who a) are unlikely to be reachable through normal voter-ID efforts and b) fall within the campaign’s target audience. Unlike TV, radio or print, online ads are inexpensive and reach a highly targeted audience. Employing online advertising even makes sense for smaller, local campaigns that may otherwise not spend money on ads.

Social media

Social media is not a gimmick. In Canada, over 50% of the population is on Facebook. The largest amount of time spent online is devoted to social media. These people are more likely to be connected, young and impossible to reach through standard campaign call centres. But social media is not just limited to voters. Women and voters aged 50+ are some of the fastest growing groups on Facebook.

Until recently, campaigns did not have the technological know-how to engage and identify their desired social media audience. Yet new tools are being developed to harness social media as another voter-ID tool. New technologies like NationBuilder can match Twitter followers and Facebook fans to voter-files, providing a new way to communicate directly online. Companies like VAN-NGP sync your Facebook friends with your voter list, giving you the ability to personally contact them. Campaigns are increasingly using personalized political communication from friends and acquaintances to maximize outreach efforts.

Cell phones

Mobile phone usage has risen dramatically over the past number of years. Over 34% of Canadians own a cellphone and as many as 1 in 7 no longer have landlines.

Campaigns need to develop a strategy to identify, collect and contact cellphone-carrying Canadians. Online tools such as petitions and sign-up forms provide a cheap and easy method to harvest cellphone numbers in large quantities. Petitions should be deployed frequently and coincide with high-profile events to maximize audience interest. Campaigns should microtarget petitions to a specific, engaged audience in order to increase completed actions.

A new generation of connected voters are being bypassed by campaigns relying on old, outdated technology with a dwindling user rate. Overcoming this hurdle will not be easy. A whole industry exists to identify, target and engage these users. To succeed, campaigns will need to develop a more diverse toolkit that engages voters in different and unique ways.