Personal data for people power

Start small

Why a lot of social media followers is not enough

Yes, it's beneficial to have many followers on Instagram or Twitter. But it's not enough. First of all, these commercial platforms are designed to sell your followers' data to advertisers. They are not there to help further your campaign. That's why they work with addictive algorithms that determine what you and your followers do or do not see on these platforms. This means, for example, that if your tweet or Instagram post isn't liked enough by the algorithm, only a very limited portion of your followers will see that post. How that algorithm works changes frequently. Additionally, they may flag your post as "offensive" and actively suppress it (shadow banning). In short, if you don't want to depend on these large tech companies, you need to find another way to reach the people who follow you. Therefore, always invite them to follow you via your newsletter, or ask them to share their email address or phone number with you in another way.

Gathering contact details systemically 

As your campaign grows, it will pay off to think much more creatively and systematically about collecting the contact details of all the people you want to involve in your campaign. You essentially want to be able to ask for help and keep engaged with everyone who has ever attended a meeting, joined your demonstration, or encountered you online. Otherwise, you'll have to put in a lot of extra effort each time to get these people moving. If you collect enough contact details, you can keep growing bigger every time. And that can only happen if you can reach people by email or phone. Therefore, you want to consistently put effort into coming up with ways for people to share their contact details with you. At the bottom of this guide, you'll find a number of successful methods to do so.

Managing contact information

If your network has fewer than a thousand people, you can manage it with an Excel sheet on a secure server. It's not super user-friendly, but it's cheap and functional. Sit down together and ask everyone to copy their contacts from their phone, email, and social media lists.

Create a good structure for the Excel sheet so that all the information goes into the right columns. Preferably, also add a short description so that even someone who doesn't know this person can understand who they are and how they are connected to your team, so you know what you can ask of them.

Do you want to involve more than a thousand people in your campaign? Or do you have a few hundred people in your shared network and want to grow that to thousands? Then it's time for the next step.

Storing so many contact details in a good, secure, and user-friendly way requires a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. A software where you can store and find contact details. There is a CRM system developed by and for activists: Action Network – but there are other CRM systems that are suitable as well.

In Action Network, you can not only store contact details but also add information to it. For example: Is this person subscribed to your newsletter? Have they made a donation? Do you know them from a specific action or meeting? Can they help you in a specific way, for example, because they have a driver’s license? Additionally, you can send emails from this database. This means you can invite everyone in a specific city to a local meeting, or ask everyone with a driver’s license to help with transport for your next big action.

With a CRM like Action Network, you’re able to grow your network and enable more people to be involved in your campaign in different ways.

Protip: Make sure to have a good backup. You’re not the first person to accidentally delete a column or an entire Excel sheet.

Privacy

After reading these tips, you may have a nagging question in your mind. Yes, but... what about privacy? And that’s a valid concern. Collecting contact details from so many people is crucial for your campaign, but it’s also a huge responsibility. You will need to carefully consider how you collect, store, and use that data. Good privacy practices boil down to promising everyone who shares a phone number with you that this number won’t fall into the wrong hands, will only be used for the purpose it was given, and can be removed from your database whenever someone requests it. This promise about how you handle contact details and what you’ll use them for should be included in a privacy statement. This way, anyone you ask for contact details can clearly read under which conditions you're doing so. It’s not only polite but also helps ensure that you are (usually) compliant with privacy laws.

Why do you want a phone number in addition to an email address? 

Because sending a message or calling people is far more effective. People are overwhelmed with emails. So many that the majority aren't even read. If you truly want a response from someone, pick up the phone and send them a message or call them. If you want to reach a large number of people, gather a calling team and start calling in groups.

How do I ask as many people for their email and/or phone number? 

We’ve briefly outlined why. Below are a few effective methods that have been used by many other campaigns and proven to be successful.

1. Prior to meetings or training sessions. Always ask for contact details through a sign-up form. Encourage them to share a bit more about themselves, such as where they’re from and why they are attending. This is valuable information not only for your meeting but also for the rest of your campaign. You can send reminders or updates to everyone. Additionally, you can ask people if they’d like to sign up for the latest updates about your demonstration, such as weather, the route, and the speakers. This is super helpful for you as it allows you to estimate how many people will attend. And you have a way to thank everyone and keep them engaged.

2. At a physical meeting. Set up a welcome table at the entrance where you ask everyone to sign in, for example, to receive a report afterward.

3. At a demonstration. Send a group of enthusiastic volunteers with clipboards, pens, and sign-up sheets into the crowd and ask everyone if they would like to stay updated on the next steps. Actively approach people. The more concrete your next step, the bigger the result.

4. At a location-specific action. Go around the neighborhood, workplace, school, etc., with a sign-up sheet, and personally ask people if they want to know more.

5. The newsletter. Start a regular newsletter that allows you to keep people updated and ask for help. Write this email newsletter in a way that people enjoy reading. Also, make sure to consistently ask more people to subscribe. Be bold and repeat. With an easy sign-up form on your website, social media channels, and even a sign-up sheet at your meeting, demonstration, or wherever you meet people.

6. The petition. There’s no easier way than a petition to quickly find the people who strongly agree with you. Just make sure that once they sign, you can send them an email. And then ask them a concrete question, such as: would you like to stay updated via our email newsletter? (See also our guide on petitions.)

7. Email and SMS actions. Email and SMS actions are an easy way to show your opponent how many people agree with you and to build political pressure. If you run this action through a platform like Action Network or New/Mode, you can immediately ask people if they would like to share their contact details with you.

8. Signal groups. Create Signal groups based on location, theme, or another relevant category for your group.

9. A QR code. Put a QR code linking to your email, newsletter, or sign-up form on posters, stickers, and other promotional materials.

10. Give something away. Offer a physical gift, an action kit, a guidebook, or tickets to your event. As long as it makes sense that you need contact details for it.

11. Surveys. Create a survey, an online poll, or something similar on your website and ask for an email address for verification.

Protip: Ask people to enter their contact details on a tablet or laptop to avoid deciphering unreadable handwriting.