The 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterms inspired record voter turnout
The United States set a modern record for turnout in a presidential election in 2020 with 66.8%.1
Voter turnout for the 2022 U.S. congressional elections was the second highest for a nonpresidential election year since 2000, with 52.2% participating.2
What does this mean for your campaign?More opportunities to get that plus-one vote that could make a pivotal difference, ultimately leading to a victory speech.
Why taking an omni-channel campaign approach matters
Constituents today are constantly tuned in to a
range of devices across multiple platforms, making it harder for candidates to stand out among the onslaught of
political advertising messages.
A strategy that integrates online (email, banners, social media) and offline (direct
mail, canvassing) channels can create maximum impact and deliver an experience that voters can’t ignore.
70%
of surveyed voters read political mail upon receiving it.3
It’s Not Just
Who You Reach—It’s How You Reach Them
Whether the goal is to educate, persuade, or
Get Out the Vote (GOTV), it’s important for campaigns to connect
with their target audience on a deeper, more personal level.
Winning their votes starts with understanding what drives them to take action.
Let’s explore the mindsets of four different
voters and the opportunities to reach, engage, and mobilize them along their journey to
the polls.
Select a campaign button to explore voter
profiles
Select a Profile
Party Loyal
Party affiliation can automatically sway this voter’s decision to one side. The challenge is to get Party Loyal voters
to the polls, in both the primaries and the general election. This presents a great opportunity for campaigns to
allocate resources toward messaging around the key party issues that these voters care about.
Campaign Opportunities
for the Party Loyal voter:
Awareness
Campaigns can use data such as voter registration lists to identify which voters are registered with their party. That
data can then be used to send a political mail piece with attention-grabbing messaging that imagines a world where the
other party takes control of the office.
Bonus
You can then use that same voter list for digital targeting to reach the same constituents across multiple channels.
Persuasion
Your mail piece helps drive constituents online, so your campaign can collect first-party data while communicating the
next chapter in your narrative—an optimistic message about a brighter future where your candidate is elected to office.
You can also guide voters to specific information, like the candidate’s donation page.
58%
of surveyed voters search online to learn more about that race after reading a mail piece.3
GOTV
Messages that lean into key party issues and platforms can be
particularly powerful for these loyalists. This can drive
primary and down-ballot voting decisions and also reinforce the
importance of going to the polls.
of voters find direct mail to be persuasive.3
Advocacy
Once the voter data is captured, your campaign could send
constituents a political Share Mail® piece before the election, thanking
them for their support and asking them to spread the word
to friends, family, and colleagues.
Share Mail is a customized direct mail product that works
like a word-of-mouth marketing tool. Constituents can
communicate and relay messages to each other through a
postcard or letter sent from a USPS® commercial mailer.
Instinct Driven
Instinct Driven voters tend to make decisions based on intuition. They typically trust their instincts and feel
confident in their decisions. The challenge is to deliver relevant messages to these voters, at the right time. They can
be influenced by like-minded groups, individuals, and candidates.
Campaign Opportunities
for the Instinct Driven voter:
Awareness
Campaign data is critical to reaching and precisely influencing an intuitive voter. You can mobilize new constituents by
leveraging first-party data to uncover key psychographic information about your supporters. With this information, you
can create multiple look-alike lists and then customize a targeted direct mail message to appeal to new voters.
Identify key organizations.
Choose organizations whose mission and values align with your target audience. Then create look-alike lists based on
their membership and associated trends seen in demographics and psychographics to expand your reach.
Persuasion
With this valuable audience data, your campaign can craft highly tailored messages that speak to key values or interests
for various groups. For example, you could deploy a political mail piece that highlights surprising commonalities
between the constituents and the candidate.
Informed Visibility® feature
Using this innovative feature, campaigns can coordinate direct mail with other political efforts such as social posts,
email outreach, and door-to-door canvassing to further amplify their message. An omni-channel strategy is important with
this audience to increase campaign visibility. 72% of marketers coordinate direct mail with email and 46% coordinate
direct mail with paid social.4
Informed Visibility is a single, near real-time source for mail aggregate tracking information from USPS data that can
help campaigns enhance direct mail performance through analytics and automation.
57%
of surveyed voters prefer political mail sent to their homes to get information on how to complete a mail-in ballot or early voting polling places and hours.3
GOTV
Once the voter is won over, your campaign can follow up with an additional mail piece that outlines voting information
in their respective district. Capturing these voters early while they’re motivated can increase voter participation and
ultimately win votes for your candidate.
Break Down the Barrier
Roughly two in five voters cite logistical concerns as a barrier to voting: a lack of transportation to the polls (41%),
being required to vote in person (39%), or not knowing how or where to vote (36%).5
Efficient Evaluator
Efficient Evaluators can allow their emotions to dictate their decision-making. They tend to gravitate toward a
candidate’s stance on the two key issues most important to them, spending little time digging into anything else. The
challenge is to deliver an authentic message to these voters that truly connects with them on a deeper level.
Campaign Opportunities
for the Efficient Evaluator voter:
Awareness
These voters tend to pay little attention to elections. Instead, they’re tuned in to what the people close to them are
talking about. By creating share-worthy experiences on social media, your campaign can increase visibility and capture
the attention of this particular audience.
73%
say access to the internet and social media has made them informed about current events.6
Persuasion
Messages that truly resonate with voters can motivate them to
click a link or share a post. For example, by driving voters to
your candidate’s website, you can request their name and ZIP
Code™ with a short form on the landing page. That
data can then be used to uncover key demographics and create
targeted mailing lists to areas with the highest number of
responders.
22%
U.S. adults ranked mail as the most persuasive form of political outreach.3
GOTV
As your campaign collects web page data, you can start creating look-alike lists. For example, you can use the ZIP Code
data to observe demographics in key regions and develop lists for voters in other areas with similar demographics. Your
campaign can then target those voters with a political mail piece that encourages them to take action at the polls.
Undecided Researcher
Undecided Researchers tend to be swing voters, actively seeking information across both sides to aid in the
decision-making process. These voters typically evaluate issues carefully and dig deep into the characteristics and
motivations of each candidate. The challenge is to get the right knowledge to these voters so they can make an informed
decision when comparing and contrasting candidates.
Campaign Opportunities
for the Undecided Researcher voter:
Awareness
Reach out to these voters in the early stages of the campaign
cycle to capture attention and make an impact while they’re
researching across the field. With a focus on swing voters,
you can send out an invitation to a local debate or a meet and
greet, helping to create a more personal connection with this
key segment.
Persuasion
Your campaign can glean first-party data by sending a digital
invitation to the event (via social post) that requires the
voter to provide their registration details. The event is a
great opportunity to stand out from the field and continue the
conversation with the voter in person.
GOTV
Following the event, your campaign can leave a lasting impression by reengaging the attendees. With the voter’s
information captured during registration, you can send out a retargeted direct mail piece that includes a follow-up
thank-you note and a link to your candidate’s website for more details as the voter moves toward a final decision.
Direct mail retargeting is an algorithm that collects data on website visitors and then delivers a personalized direct
mail piece soon after their online actions to the homes of prospects with the highest likelihood of converting.
Get multiple impressions from a single mail piece.
By including an Informed Delivery® campaign with your mailer. The voter sees the
postcard first in their Informed Delivery Daily Digest,
accompanied by a Ride-along Image that links to the
candidate’s web page.
Informed Delivery is a USPS® notification feature that gives users a daily digital preview of their mail and gives
marketers the opportunity to engage consumers through an integrated mail and digital marketing campaign.
67%
Informed Delivery has an average 67% open rate7 and 55M users as of May 2023.8
Get the Right Message to the Right Voters
Securing that plus-one vote can be the difference between victory and
defeat. By understanding what makes every voter tick, you can speak
directly to what matters to them most. It’s more imperative than ever
to connect with voters wherever they are in their decision-making
process to help drive action to the polls.
1. Nathan L. Gonzales, “Midterm Elections Could Set Another Turnout Record This Year,” Inside Elections, October 12, 2022.
2. “2022 Voting and Registration Data Now Available,” United States Census Bureau, Updated May 2, 2023.
3. “USPS Political Mail Post Election Research Analysis Report,” USPS, January 13, 2023.
4. “The State of Direct Mail Report,” Lob, 2023.
5. Taylor Orth, “What reasons do Americans give for not voting in 2022?,” YouGov, November 16, 2022.
6. Spring 2022 Global Attitudes Survey, Pew Research Center, 2022.
7. “Informed Delivery User and Household Data XLSX,” USPS, May 2023.
8. “Informed Delivery Year in Review Report, USPS,” January 2022-December 2022.
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