Tag Archives: email campaigns
Are You Over-Relying on Email Advocacy?
Are you over-relying on email advocacy? In this 5-minute long podcast, learn more about how email advocacy should only be one tool in communications with your lawmaker.
[podcast]http://www.showaltergroup.com/videos/audio/tsg_episode_email_advocacy_part_1.mp3[/podcast]Grassroots Advocacy Groups Rely Too Heavily On Email Campaigns
In 2006, some House Members quietly erected an obstacle between them and their constituents.
They now required e-mail correspondents to solve a simple math or logic problem for their e-mails to get through. The electronic roadblock drew howls of protest from public interest groups and trade associations, who denounced it as a threat to democracy. The idea, of course, is to ensure that only actual people – and not mass-mailing computers of the kind often used by interest groups – send e-mails to the House from now on.
Instead of raising a ruckus, the interest groups can learn a lesson from this. E-mail campaigns have a place in today’s political process, but grassroots advocacy groups rely on them far too often, and…
Is Anyone Reading Mass E-mails Sent to Lawmakers?
Probably not, according to a survey by the Congressional Management Foundation. Most Congressional staffers polled – 75 percent – said they believe the cookie-cutter e-mails from constituents are sent without the constituents’ knowledge.
The staffers’ skepticism over the e-mails may be related to findings from another CMF survey. That survey found that the number of letters and e-mails received by Congress has quadrupled in the past 10 years. Meanwhile, the number of people hired to read them has stayed the same.
The good news is that e-mail is encouraging more people to participate in the political process, the staffers said. The bad news is the avalanche of electronic and postal mail isn’t improving the quality of the debate.
The smart grassroots organizers already…
