Is Door-to-Door Canvassing Working? The Era of Political Campaign Apps

January 16, 2019

Door-to-door canvassing has been an important technique in local political campaigns for generations. But is it still a powerful tool in a digital era? Is it time to ditch the door and embrace political campaign apps and software, or is door-to-door still working?

We take a look at the pros and cons of traditional canvassing, some alternatives, and what’s best for your organization.

Pros of Door-to-Door Canvassing

Sure, we live in a digital age, but personal interaction still matters. Having canvassers travel door-to-door in your community puts a local face on your campaign. It’s a great way to gain exposure with a personal touch.

The face to face interaction with canvassers is effective and has a strong recall effect. If you have the resources, it’s an effective tool, but it’s not very efficient.

Cons of Door-to-Door Canvassing

A worthwhile door-to-door approach requires a big team. Grassroots organizations and small field teams have neither the manpower nor the time to use this technique effectively.

For local political campaigns, going door-to-door is immensely time-consuming. Covering the area is a long process with a lot of rejection. Even when you do have meaningful conversations with prospective voters, they can be long and repetitive. If your organization is limited for time, this is an inefficient approach.

The size of your field team is another limiting factor, especially for small, grassroots organizations. Without a large volunteer base, the long hours required means you can’t cover much ground. In most cases, hitting a few streets isn’t enough to change the vote.

Fortunately, there are more efficient door-to-door canvassing alternatives for small teams.

Door-to-Door Canvassing Alternatives

To gain exposure and stay in touch with voters, small teams need to find an alternative to door-to-door canvassing. By taking advantage of modern technology, campaigners can harness the power of election apps to match the reach of large organizations.

Instead of wasting time canvassing neighbourhoods in-person, local campaigns can use alternative communication like texting and calling. This makes it possible to reach many people in less time.

It’s no longer just the youth voters who are reached through this technology – 80% of senior citizens use cell phones and that number is growing rapidly. Smartphone use amongst seniors has more than doubled over the past five years.

Today, everyone is reachable and election apps are the best ways to reach them. Mobile canvassing apps, like TenMoreVotes, minimize menial tasks and maximize efficiency.

Using Election Apps for Canvassing

By making use of an app, you avoid lengthy and expensive installs, as well as minimizing training time. Apps are intuitive and work right on the smartphones of your volunteers and staff. Each user gets 10 contacts at a time with custom persuasion scripts based on demographics and voter data.

Apps are the smart way to canvass with a small team or grassroots organization. In addition to providing easy communication and earning visibility among voters, this political campaign software also collects real-time data for analysis and intelligence.

Try The Best Door-to-Door Canvassing Alternative for Local Political Campaigns

Whether you are looking to replace or supplement door-to-door canvassing, TenMoreVotes is designed to get you in touch with more voters in less time, at lower cost, and with more effect. So before you hit the pavement, see what you can do on screen.

Learn more or contact us and start getting more votes today!