VOTER OUTREACH FOR TEXAS CAMPAIGNS
Voter Outreach Services: P2P Texting, Email, Calls and Voter Data
Your campaign has a short window to reach the voters who will decide your race. We plan and run email, peer-to-peer text, robocalls and voter data as one program, with one opt-out list and one team answering for every send.
Galleria 713-703-3030 | Kingwood 281-852-8253
WE ACTUALLY WANT TO WIN
Why run voter outreach as one program?
A lot of outreach vendors answer every question with more volume. Ours is the plan most likely to win. Sometimes that means fewer messages, a smaller universe or a different channel, and we will say so.
Voter contact is a core part of our political consulting practice for candidates and committees across Texas. When email, texting, calls and data sit with four different vendors, nobody owns the result. The texting shop waits on the data vendor, the email vendor never sees the opt-outs from texts, and the voter who asked you to stop gets a robocall the next week. One team, one calendar and one suppression list fixes that.
Beth Guide’s view after decades of teaching marketing is that every channel is good at some jobs and bad at others. The fastest way to waste a campaign budget is to force one channel into a job it was never built for. So we start by matching each job to the right tool.
CHANNEL FIT
Which voter outreach channel fits each job?
Voter data sits underneath all three. Every list you email, text or call starts with a clean universe pulled from the voter file, with contact details appended where records can be matched. Start with voter data and email append if you need a list. Spanish-language versions of each channel are available.
P2P TEXTING
How does peer-to-peer texting work for voter outreach?
Peer-to-peer texting is the channel campaigns ask us about most, and for good reason. A person on our in-house team sends each text from your approved script, one at a time, and answers the replies. Under FCC rules, texts sent by hand that way do not need prior consent, which makes P2P the right fit for voters on the file who never signed up with you.
The replies are the value. Voters ask where to vote, request a yard sign, offer to volunteer or tell you exactly what they think. Those answers flow back into your voter records for the next round. Our political text messaging service covers P2P and MMS, including candidate photos, short videos and polling place maps.
Before the first text, carriers require 10DLC registration. Our political 10DLC compliance guide explains the rules in plain English, and our Campaign Verify and 10DLC registration help files it for you. Start early, because carrier review takes time and we cannot promise how long.
OUR SERVICES
What voter outreach services does Vertical Web provide?
Each service has its own page with details. They run as one program, so your email calendar, text schedule and call scripts all point at the same goal on the same dates. Political email marketing plans the calendar and writes every message in your candidate’s voice. Bulk email for political campaigns handles authenticated sending on a campaign subdomain so large voter-file sends reach the inbox. Political robocalls cover voice broadcasts, IVR polls and voicemail drops.
THE CASE FOR VERTICAL WEB ON VOTER OUTREACH
One accountable team for every send
TIMING
When should a campaign start voter outreach before Election Day?
Outreach works best as a calendar, not a scramble. We build the plan backward from Election Day, so each channel has a clear job in each phase.
- Before early voting. Introductions, endorsements and list building. Email carries the longer story, and texts invite supporters to events and volunteer shifts. It is also the time to finish carrier registration, because texting cannot start until your numbers are approved.
- During early voting. Reminders matter most. We sequence texts, emails and calls so a voter hears from you through the channel they prefer, without getting all three on the same afternoon. Where participation records are available, voters who already cast a ballot come out of later reminders.
- Election Day and after. Short messages: where to vote, when polls close, and a thank-you. Texas holds a runoff when no candidate wins a majority in a primary, so we plan for that possibility from the start.
OUR PROCESS
How does Vertical Web plan a voter outreach program?
- Define the universe. Likely voters, primary voters, new registrants or a set of precincts. That universe becomes the master list for every channel.
- Choose the channel mix and calendar. We match each audience and message to email, text or calls around early voting and Election Day, with you at the table on budget.
- Write the creative and the disclosures. Emails, texts and call scripts in your candidate’s voice, in English and Spanish where it helps. Your treasurer or counsel signs off on disclosure language.
- Send and measure. Replies, clicks, donations, volunteer sign-ups and opt-outs. You see what happened, not a pile of vanity numbers.
- Adjust for the next round. If a message falls flat or a channel lags, we change course while there is still time for it to count.
Every opt-out, whether a STOP reply, an unsubscribe click or a spoken request, goes onto one shared suppression list. Our email and SMS compliance page covers how we keep those records.
BOTH SIDES OF THE BALLOT
Do you run voter outreach for Republican and Democratic campaigns?
Yes. Vertical Web is a nonpartisan business, and we work for candidates of both parties. We do not take policy positions, and your lists, messaging and results are never shared with another campaign. Texas voters do not register by party. They affiliate by voting in a party’s primary, which is why party lists here come from primary voting history. See Republican voter outreach and Democrat voter outreach for how that shapes targeting.
We work with candidates and committees in Houston, Harris County, Montgomery County and Fort Bend County, and across Texas. Carriers review your website when you register for texting, and voters check it before they give or volunteer. Because we are also a Houston web design firm, we can fix a weak site through political campaign website design in the same project instead of sending you to another vendor.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
Voter outreach questions
A full program can include voter data with email and phone append, campaign email strategy and writing, bulk email sending, peer-to-peer and MMS texting, robocalls and voicemail drops, and compliance support such as 10DLC registration and disclosure language. Most campaigns do not need every piece, so we recommend the smallest mix that covers the jobs you actually have.
For many local races, the first step is a clean list and a solid campaign website. Email to your own supporters is a low-cost way to build momentum, and peer-to-peer texting handles reminders close to Election Day. Robocalls make sense if your district has many landline voters.
Yes, for short, timely asks and real two-way conversations. A person sends each text by hand, replies get answered, and under FCC rules hand-sent texts do not need prior consent. Carriers still require 10DLC registration before the first send.
Yes. We clean and use lists from the voter file, a party, a past campaign or your own sign-up forms. We check where contacts came from, remove bad records and opt-outs, and note whether each contact gave consent for automated messages.
Every opt-out goes onto one shared suppression list that email, text and call programs all check before a send. That includes STOP replies, unsubscribe clicks and spoken requests not to be called.
Yes, when it follows the rules. Hand-sent person-to-person texts do not need prior consent. Autodialed texts and prerecorded calls to mobile phones require prior express consent. Prerecorded calls to landlines are allowed without consent, limited to three in any 30-day period. This is not legal advice.
Your quote comes down to audience size, channel mix, number of sends and whether contact data must be appended. We do not publish prices. Schedule a consultation and we will put a clear number in writing.
No. Your lists, messaging and results belong to your campaign. We work with candidates on both sides of the ballot, and keeping each client’s work separate is basic to how we operate.
Let's plan your voter contact
Tell us about your race, your district and your calendar. We will map the channels, the timing and the list you need, then run the whole program with one accountable team.
Galleria 713-703-3030 | Kingwood 281-852-8253 | info@verticalweb.com