engage communications for a new era

As a political media firm with an emphasis on online politics, we often receive inquiries from potential clients asking us to buy e-mail addresses matched from voter records. For a campaign or advocacy group, the prospect of being able to directly contact hundreds of thousands of voters can be very tempting.

Unfortunately, experience shows that what looks like an oasis of cheap, repeated voter e-mail contacts can often be a mirage of abysmally low open rates and angry voters who feel like they’re being spammed. As such, here at Engage, we’re now formalizing a policy we’ve long believed is just the right thing to do: We won’t sell e-mail lists.

Closing off this potential revenue stream is consistent with what we’re all about: to be a different kind of political media company that helps our clients build movements, and measures by results — the number of people who sign up to join your cause organically, money raised, and campaigns won.

That means our product isn’t e-mail addresses. It’s the ideas that generate buzz and spur people to volunteer their e-mail address on your website. That’s a lot harder to do than selling e-mail addresses, but it’s the only way to be truly successful online.

In 2003, Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act outlawing spam, but exempted itself (how typical). So, for those of you confused as to why political spam isn’t illegal, the answer is that it isn’t.

Our new policy will take us one step beyond what the law requires. But beyond a simple desire to abide by the highest ethical standards, the fact is that political spam just doesn’t work. Open rates on voter e-mail lists typically fall in the 3-7% range, well below the 25-40% you might see for an organically built list. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Those who do open respond much less to activism and fundraising appeals than those on an organic list. To top it all off, the spam complaints these lists generate often prevent your core activists (who will donate and get involved) from receiving your e-mail, as it’s been routed to their spam folder. It’s no surprise that most commercial e-mail vendors will refuse to send to lists that are not 100% opt-in.

We understand that political organizations and candidates have used these tactics in the past. This post is not to criticize them, but to point towards a better way moving forward. Everyday, we’re learning more about what works and what doesn’t, and part of our mission here at Engage is to share some of that knowledge with the political community so they can make smart, informed decisions about their online strategy.

In that spirit, we’ll happily update this post with the names of other political media & marketing firms who have taken a similar stand against selling political spam.