The fundamentals of political texting for campaigns: what it is, how SMS and RCS voter outreach works, and how to get started.
A conversion is when a recipient takes the action your text asked for, a donation, an RSVP, a vote plan. Here's what conversions are, why they're the metric that matters, and how to track them.
Phone append is buying phone numbers to attach to a voter file. It gives you numbers, not permission. Here's what phone append is, why campaigns use it, and why it's not a shortcut to a textable list.
Engagement rate measures how many recipients actually interact with your text, replies, clicks, actions, not just receive it. Here's what engagement rate captures, why it beats open rate, and how to read it.
An opt-in landing page is where a voter lands to subscribe to your texts, from a QR code, ad, or link. Here's what it is, what a good one includes, and why it's central to growing a clean, consented list.
An SMS API is the technical interface that lets software send and receive texts programmatically. Here's what an SMS API is, how it underlies texting platforms, and why campaigns benefit from it without touching it.
Texting is far more powerful when it's connected to your voter data. Here's what CRM integration means for a texting program, why it makes messages smarter, and what a connected setup enables.
Throttling is when carriers slow down your message delivery, often because of your registration or reputation. Here's what throttling is, why it happens, how it differs from filtering, and why it matters most at GOTV.
The platform you pick shapes your deliverability, compliance, and capabilities. Here's what to evaluate when choosing a political texting platform, the features that actually matter, and the questions to ask before you commit.
Peer-to-peer texting has specific vendor requirements beyond a general platform, genuine human intervention, a real reply inbox, and volunteer usability. Here's what to look for in a P2P vendor and the red flag to avoid.
A texting program isn't one tool, it's a stack, the platform, the data, the registration, the giving processor, connected together. Here's what's in a political texting tech stack and how the pieces fit.
Switching texting platforms mid-cycle is risky but sometimes necessary. Here's how to migrate without losing your list, your consent records, or your deliverability, and when it's worth doing.
Your texting platform reports a lot of numbers, but only some tell you what to do next. Here's how to read your texting analytics, which metrics to act on, and how to turn a dashboard into decisions.