Make new friends, but keep the old

Whenever we embark on a new cycle, we are given a fresh start; a new chance to talk to voters and make meaningful change. With that comes the inevitable reinventions of the wheel. New tech, tactics, and messages are considered and tested. But, this email isn’t about that.

Mail is the oldest form of paid political communications. Thus, campaigns either take it for granted or consider it antiquated. We hear it all the time – does anyone read this stuff? Does it still move voters? Here are the results of a study that we conducted with one of our partners that proved the effectiveness of our creative product.

Let’s talk about WA LD30…

In 2016, we led the Independent Expenditure campaign in WA LD30 targeting incumbent State Rep. Linda Kochmar (R).

As part of the effort, we engaged in a number of tests designed to measure the effects of the Direct Mail communication.

Washington state is one of 8 states with contiguous state house and senate districts, meaning that each voter can vote for the same one Senator and two members of the House of Representatives. This makes testing very interesting and measurable.

This mail was done at a time when none of the four campaigns were spending any media money and there was no Independent Expenditure campaign against Rep. Hickel, the other Republican State Rep. running for reelection in LD30.

This is the rare opportunity to see exactly how effective we are at our jobs…

Our in-cycle polling, conducted by Myers Research before and after mail was sent, showed that our Direct Mail program had a net -12 negative effect on Kochmar. GOP Rep. Hickel, who had the exact same voting record in the same district, did not see any measurable effect in the same period, including no increase in negative feelings.

But the only poll that matters is Election Day. By Election Day, Kochmar underperformed fellow incumbent Teri Hickel by over 3 points and lost her seat.

Colorado Accountability Project

In 2016, we ran a similar program in Colorado with two rounds of testing. After our first round of Direct Mail, our poll showed that our targets moved an average of 8% across three districts; after our second round of direct mail, we moved our targets an average of 9%.

Democratic candidates won all three districts.

All that to say, direct mail is still one of the most effective ways to spend your money. It has 100% penetration, works as both a persuasion and a mobilization tool, and is useful for communicating with any and all demographics. In fact, the group who loves mail the most? Millennials. According to polling, Millennials use mail as the jumping off point for their own candidate research.

CN4 has a mission to maximize the effectiveness and reach of mail. From the targeting to the messaging, we test our work and hold ourselves to the highest standards. We even embrace new programs like Informed Delivery. We want to help you get the most from your mail program. Reach out today and see how CN4 can help you succeed at every level.