What are common challenges faced by Advocacy Organizations? 

Advocacy organizations historically grapple with integrating effective canvassing strategies with robust data management and targeted marketing initiatives. Our client, The Connecticut Project Action Fund (TCPAF), faced these challenges due to manual inefficiencies and disjointed systems. Existing canvassing options were costly and incompatible with their needs. The main challenge was to create a cost-effective, unified system to synchronize field activities with data analytics and marketing campaigns, eliminating redundancies and improving efficiency.

Our Solution? A Unified Canvassing and Marketing Solution

Digital Reach Online Solutions (DR) developed a custom canvassing app integrated with HubSpot for the client. This app uses L2 voter data to guide canvassers and log interactions, with results automatically syncing to HubSpot. Custom lifecycle stages, objects, properties, workflows, and marketing tools streamline handoffs between canvassing and marketing teams, enhancing overall efforts.

What is the Core Architecture? 

The architecture of the solution, seen at the end of this blogpost,  integrates voter information from L2 into HubSpot, where data is organized into contacts and households. This information is then consolidated and sent to the canvassing app where various actions and changes can be made to this data.

• Targeted voter information from L2,  is populated in HubSpot, split into contacts and households with customized lifecycle stages.   
• Contacts with the same household information are associated within the same household.

How does the Canvasser App work? 

The backend, powered by AWS, ensures that the app is not only reliable and secure but also scalable to accommodate for the large datasets and high user volumes from the L2 voter system and the application interactions.

• The app makes use of HubSpot users and permission sets. HubSpot Super admins are also app admins, and two other app-specific permission sets have been set up.

• Information in HubSpot, consolidated via workflows and custom coded actions is populated in the app.
• All contacts in the HubSpot portal are displayed in the database page in the app, viewable, filterable, and editable by admins:

• Admins can assign contacts to canvassers via custom HubSpot owner properties - concisely within the app or more detailed within HubSpot. Contacts can be filtered on HubSpot properties in the app:

• Once a filter is selected, the admin can assign users (up to two users per contact):

• App contact assignments are automatically reflected in HubSpot, with workflows assigning associated households to canvassers. 
• Canvassers see HubSpot assigned contacts in their walking list page:

• Their households are displayed on the map in the canvass map page.
  • The households are displayed via pins on the map using a Google Maps integration where the address properties are used to populate the map:

• App users can interact with contacts, filter based on criteria, edit properties, and create opt-in options for downstream efforts: 

• Household interactions are logged, tracked and rated when clicking on a household pin in the map. 

• Associated contacts can also be selected, where these contacts can be viewed, edited and new contacts can be added to households:

• After an interaction, the pins on the map dynamically change to indicate the status of the household.

• The app includes HubSpot surveys and meeting links.
  • Canvassers can select campaign-specific surveys and schedule follow-up meetings with their scheduling page. 

How does the app Integrate with HubSpot?

Information is synced back to HubSpot, which can be used for specific marketing efforts and reporting. HubSpots tools. For example: 

• Contacts meeting specific criteria can be added to a list and enrolled in workflows, sequences and task assignments.

What Are The Results and Impact of Our Solution? 

Post-implementation, the following areas have been affected:

• Enhanced Operational Efficiency: The integration has reduced manual data entry and increased the speed of data retrieval and updates, leading to more time spent engaging with voters rather than managing data. 

• The application allows for a one-shop system to achieve their canvassing efforts in the field. 
• The interactive nature of the app also allows visualizing canvassing efforts and thus removing repetitive work. 

• Data-Driven Decision Making: The app’s analytics capabilities allow TCPAF to segment voters more accurately and develop targeted canvassing efforts based on detailed demographic and behavioral insights.

• The application integrates with HubSpot, which in turn integrates with L2, allowing users to view and manipulate L2 data to spearhead canvassing and enroll contacts and households into workflows and other tools, automating major parts of the post canvassing process. 

• In the short term, canvassing efforts can manipulate this data seamlessly, allowing for more accurate insights. 
• These updated insights can in the long term allow for more targeted action. 

• Seamless handoff: HubSpot’s synergy with the app allows for simplified marketing efforts based on voter interaction, and less time is used for handoffs across teams. 

• The short term impact has allowed for near-instantaneous enrollment into marketing efforts. 
• In the long term interaction analytics is expected to enable enhanced targeted marketing. 

• Reporting and Analytics: TCPAF now also has the ability to report on their canvassing and related marketing efforts. Allowing further research into voter trends and marketing and political action compatibility.

• Long term, app interactions provide invaluable insights into voter preferences and behavior.
• App data can now also be used to spearhead new canvassing efforts. 

• Client satisfaction: The application seems to have solved the challenge as outlined above, and ongoing support agreements are in discussion.

• The app’s ongoing cost is significantly less than competitors' apps and can compete with competitor’s top tier plans. 
• Client’s enthusiasm has led to discussions about ongoing support and enhancements.

Conclusion 

The custom canvassing app developed by DR has transformed TCPAF's advocacy efforts by integrating L2 voter data with HubSpot. This unified system has significantly improved operational efficiency, enabling seamless handoffs between canvassing and marketing teams. Enhanced data management and targeted marketing capabilities have resulted in more effective and strategic voter engagement, providing TCPAF with valuable insights and a competitive edge in their political campaigns.

Solution Architecture