The Data is Out There

How Absentee Voter Ballot Information Created a Highly Targeted Mail Campaign

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

By: Rebecca Jami, Chief Operating Officer

One of the things that I’ve seen proven time and again, is how important mailing lists are to the success of a campaign. Gorgeous graphics and perfectly worded copy are never effective if they’re not hitting their designated targets. Odds are, this isn’t a new idea I’m sharing. Most marketers have put in their time cleaning, merging and otherwise building strong outbound marketing lists for just this reason.

So What Aren’t Marketers Doing?

What I’m not seeing as much of is marketers getting creative about applying unique, but publicly available, data to level-up their outbound lists. For example, ACCESS was asked to create an outbound mail campaign for a recent state election. The mailer’s messaging needed to both get out the vote and promote a specific candidate.

The first round of mailers went out to a list of absentee voters that had requested mail-in ballots—data that was readily available. Using an absentee voter list for the campaign gave ACCESS the ability to target a group that was already demonstrating a strong likelihood that they would cast their vote. The message, “Remember, you can vote ANYTIME between July 10 and August 19” landed in the mailboxes of voters that were already equipped to do just that.

Round two is where the campaign went from targeted to micro-targeted. ACCESS was aware that every two weeks there was a published list of absentee voters that had already mailed in their ballots. This data was used to further refine the campaign’s outbound mailing lists. The second round of mailers not only targeted people who were more likely to vote, they also weren’t being wasted on those that already had.

Can I Use Absentee Voter Data for My Campaigns?

While not every state publishes early voting data, most do. The good news is that absentee voter data is just one of the many ways that ACCESS refines outbound mailing lists. So if your state doesn’t make this information available to you, there are still many ways to build a micro-targeted campaign.

If your state does publish absentee voter data, it’s important to begin your campaign as early as possible. Additionally, check state ballot deadlines before committing resources to the project.

And as always, let us know if we can help!