A lot of groups rely heavily on email campaigns as their primary online grassroots strategy. According to congressional research reports and staff accounts, email is an effective means of communicating with congressional offices — assuming you can bust past the Spam filters and your message actually gets read.
Below are some tips for effective email advocacy:
- Omit needless words (Eliminate Repetitive Verbiage)
- Messaging over imaging: Rely on text more than images. Messages with excessive images will often be blocked or marked as a concern.
- Include an unsubscribe link. Messages without one are more likely to be blocked by spam filters.
- To comply with CAN-SPAM standards, include a physical address for your organization
- Identify yourself clearly in the message to prevent recipients from marking you as spam
- Keep your subject line to less than 50 characters or FIVE words. Either way, the message is clear. Keep it short.
- DO NOT USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
- Avoid excessive punctuation !!!
- Avoid excessive use of symbols (@#$%^&!)
- Avoid words often found in spam mail such as “free” and “guarantee”
- Ask recipients to add you to their address book
- Be consistent by using the same address
