Engaging supporters with messages from Hillary
The Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign bolstered support through event appearances and digital content.
2 in read | Illustration by Lívia Prata
The 2016 presidential election was unprecedented in terms of how both sides in terms of the innovative use of technology. Both sides used social media to connect with different segments of the public. Direct marketing in the form of text messages from Hillary became one of the most powerful tactic to raise donations from Democratic supporters.
Lloyd was able to envision and execute a program in a way no one else could. He is the thought leader in this field, hands down.”
— Jess Morales Rocketto, Digital Organizing Director
Challenge
Supporters’ experience of campaigns are usually fragmented and impersonal
The digital campaign organizers wanted to offer supporters a more direct line to the campaign than what social media platforms like Twitter could offer. They wanted their audience to have a more unified experience of the Hillary Clinton campaign, rather than the fragmented experience they usually had interacting with various stakeholders.
Solution
Exclusive content and localized messages drove online to offline engagement
To create a more coherent experience, we established a persona who would be the singular voice behind Hillary Clinton’s text messages. The innovative campaign included fun exclusive content, behind-the-scenes peaks, as well as invitations to local activations like office openings and rallies.
By creating a safespace to ask questions, the team was able to answer 100,000 questions about elections in multiple languages in the 4 days leading up to the election, encouraging people to hit the polls.
Results
Supporters subscribed to Texts from Hillary donated 20% more
SMS combined with email subscriptions proved to be more effective at driving supporters to action than email subscriptions alone. Throughout the campaign, 50% of SMS subscribers donated at least once, and 40% of them stored their credit card number information in order to make quick donations
We raised 9 times what we spent on the campaign.”
— Jess Morales Rocketto, Digital Organizing Director