Make Political Direct Mail More Democratic

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

Political Direct Mail

Tips to Make Political Direct Mail More Democratic Through Direct Response

We find it disheartening that as Democratic political direct mail consultants, the mail we see is often very undemocratic and lacks any direct response engagement tactics. Whether for politics or advocacy, it’s difficult to get real engagement from voters or constituents if you never  engage them. Political mail has traditionally been a one-way conversation With our political climate and media-saturated landscape, fostering engagement makes a ton of sense and is an overall good strategy. Here are some direct response tips on increasing voter engagement in your campaigns, fostering 2-way communication tactics/sign-ups, and making real democratic direct mail.

Map it Out: Maps are a simple way to get engagement in a campaign. For instance, we designed Democratic direct mail for a local election that used a map of our candidate's city, showcasing their accomplishments. We have used similar maps to show early voting locations or the consequences of a ballot measure. Whatever the purpose, maps allow voters to engage with political direct mail and can have a direct response component to get voters to look for and ask for more information.

Reply Cards: If you look around your house, I am sure you will find many little direct mail postcards asking you to fill out the info and send it back. Why? Because they are cost-efficient and can begin a genuine conversation with voters and members. A reply card can be for fundraising, advocacy outreach, and return engagements of all kinds.

Knock Knock: Following up with door knocks is one of our favorite ways to get real engagement. In these cases, we use walk cards with tear-offs or phones and tablets that collect real actionable information. The field information you gather could be helpful in small-run political direct mail, email, or phone calls regarding issues to follow up on. You can also send people a follow-up card that they filled out.

Handwritten: Neighbor-to-neighbor postcards are back in popularity for good reason. When you get follow-up from a neighbor, a fellow member, and even a stranger, who is an actual person,  can have a connective effect.

QR Codes: In a post-pandemic world, the QR code has become a mainstay in our lives - voters of all ages have engaged with QR codes, so adding a QR code (not five codes - just one) to a piece of mail can help increase engagement over time. If you have incremental expectations, you will likely see slow and steady growth when you thoughtfully use a QR code.

Letter Packages: Direct response letter packages are an important way to engage people - they get opened and usually have a high engagement rate; even self-mailers that look like letters do well.

Compare: Comparison pieces with clear, accessible, simple distinctions can make a real difference in the mailbox.

Less Rhetoric: Voters are overwhelmed and turned off by rhetoric. Being transparent and fair without using over-the-top language can engage audiences without shutting them down.

Make it Uglier: Ugly governmental and commercial looking mail works very well for a reason - voters believe they cannot ignore it - it gets opened, and with the right hook it gets read.

Have a Clear Call to Action (CTA): A call to action (sign up, join us, donate) are all things that work well in digital and commercial direct response mail – they work particularly well in politics – try it – it works.

Surveys: Yes, it is old school, but direct mail surveys for engagement still work, especially for an engaged mail audience.

Use Commercial Mail Practices: Try using the best techniques of commercial direct mail and use it in political direct mail. Follow up with voters by ensuring your political direct mail universes are phone-matched and cookie or IP-zone-targeted and create a real integrated engagement with voters. Depending on the mail you are doing, adding a current resident to the mailing address could make sense and could get your mail more views.

Test Test Test: There is a misconception that all political direct mail tests are expensive. The truth is, it does not have to. Using control groups, smaller anecdotal tests, and direct response results is a cheap and effective way to quantify your mail results and help increase engagement in the long term.

Use digital to test digital is a good way to test engagement: Digital is an efficient way to test engagement – if it works well digitally - a mail approach is worth trying (and vice versa). Often, the mail and digital parts of organizations are so siloed that folks don’t communicate, but there is much to learn from digital and mail working together.

Layer your mail with other mediums: Using mail to get a conversation going layered with digital, radio, phone, and TV can help create a two-way engagement that makes other mediums more accessible.

A Conversation Through Mail: Increasingly,  it is crucial to have a genuine conversation with voters and to engage in long-term relationships with constituents. And really, isn't that the democratic way?

Bottom line: Your political direct mail program can generate authentic engagement; it just takes creativity, planning, and strategy. Ensure you know your goals and have a program to evaluate your success. Please share how you utilize political direct mail and other direct response tactics to engage voters and make direct mail more democratic here.

Have questions? Reach out!