I’m not a marketing expert. Don’t claim to be one. In the course of my career, however, I’ve certainly done the job and I at least know enough to recognize good versus bad with respect to marketing efforts.
I say this because I’m about to complain about a piece of this cycle’s Democratic marketing strategy – although calling it a “strategy” is perhaps giving it too much credit.
As I’ve previously noted, I’ve donated to several campaigns and committees this cycle and I’ve sent multiple donations to some of them. All of my donations have been made via ActBlue. In addition to functioning as a great conduit for the money transfer, ActBlue collects donor contact information, as required by law, and obviously shares that information with the recipients. The campaigns, in turn, are free to independently contact their donors. That’s fair – as long as the data isn’t abused. Yeah.
In one 7-day period, I received just shy of 300 emails from the campaigns to which I donated. That’s over 40 emails a day. On average, each campaign sent me 5 emails every single day. The well-behaved Justin Nelson campaign averaged 1 email a day; the overly communicative Jacky Rosen campaign averaged a whopping 11 emails a day. [ As an aside, the DCCC also sent me 12 texts during my test week. No. Just no. Don’t do that. Bad donkey! ]
First, some disclaimers:
- I realize that the sheer volume of emails is at least partially my own fault since I donated to multiple campaigns.
- I realize that prior donors are a sweet spot for getting additional money.
- I realize that sending emails costs the campaign nothing.
- I realize that Republicans may be just as bad at this and maybe even worse.
That said, here’s just a few helpful hints (read: irritated complaints) directed at the campaigns:
- Don’t spam me. One email a day from each campaign is a lot; more simply guarantees I’m hitting “Delete” with increasing force.
- Don’t just constantly ask for money. I’m not your dad.
- Don’t lie to me. About half of the 300 emails contained the word “deadline”. Don’t tell me there’s an absolute deadline for contributions (usually midnight of the day of the email) and then produce a new one immediately after that one expires. That’s not a deadline. That’s the passage of time.
- Don’t get basic facts wrong. If you include poll numbers to bolster your message, make sure they’re correct. You know I’m on a computer, right? I can check them myself. I did. You were often full of shit.
- Don’t make it look like you’ve never seen a computer. While there’s nothing nearly as bad as the Cruz attempt at using Facebook Live, I did receive 17 emails from one campaign with subject lines over 80 characters long. Seriously?
- Don’t base your entire message on beating the Republicans. I get it. I know why that’s important. But your message is mostly “I need to win because my opponent needs to lose.” Occasionally, you need to tell people why they should vote FOR you.
- Don’t claim that Senate/House control rests solely on your race. Your race is important, but so is every other race.
- Don’t regularly tell me that Armageddon is upon us. Listen, Chicken Little, you’re depressing the hell out of me. You could well be right, but some folks might just decide not to vote since, apparently, we’re all going to die. Try some humor, for God’s sake!
- Don’t be so damn pathetic. “We don’t have much time” … “We’re IMPLORING you” … “We’re PLEADING with you” … “We’re BEGGING”. Have some pride, people. This is embarrassing.
- Don’t focus your outreach entirely on television. Almost all of the pleas for money are to buy more TV ad time. While television is an important part of the equation, younger voters (a demographic you really, really need) use Netflix. They’re much more reachable via digital strategies. I haven’t done the analysis to see how well you’re doing in that arena but I sincerely hope that your overall digital strategy is better than your email strategy.
Folks, I’m a political junkie and donor who desperately wants you to win and, yet, you’ve managed to over-saturate me. Not good.