Political text messaging is one of the fastest ways for campaigns, political organizations, advocacy groups, and consultants to communicate directly with voters, supporters, donors, and volunteers. But running a successful political texting program involves more than writing a message and hitting send.
Campaigns need to understand political SMS and MMS regulations, sender registration, deliverability, messaging infrastructure, opt-out requirements, pricing, list management, integrations, and how to choose a political texting platform that can perform when election-season volume increases.
This political texting FAQ answers the most common questions we hear from campaigns and political organizations about using text messaging effectively.
Whether you’re evaluating a political texting platform, switching providers, preparing for a high-volume election cycle, or launching a texting program for the first time, you’ll find straightforward answers based on Wonder Cave’s experience powering political text messaging programs at scale.
Have a political texting question we haven’t answered? Reach out to the Wonder Cave team and we’ll help you find the answer.
Q: What is TCR registration for political campaigns?
A: TCR stands for The Campaign Registry. Registering political campaigns for texting is mandatory through the “know your customer” process. This is an important, required process by U.S. mobile carriers to send text messages from standard 10-digit phone numbers (10DLC). Without this registration, your text messages will likely be blocked or heavily throttled by carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Learn more about the The Campaign Registry HERE.
——————————————————-
Q: How long does political texting registration take?
A: Our Wonder Cave team is able to get your registration completed within as little as one day!
——————————————————-
Q: What does nearly 100% deliverability actually mean?
A: The deliverability rate of political text messaging relies on many factors. Delivery percentage refers to the number of text messages from your campaign that are being sent out from the Wonder Cave platform and actually landing on the recipient’s phone.
If a message isn’t delivered, our transparent reporting will tell you why.
——————————————————-
Q: What does nearly 100% deliverability actually mean?
A: The deliverability rate of political text messaging relies on many factors. Delivery percentage refers to the number of text messages from your campaign that are being sent out from the Wonder Cave platform and actually landing on the recipient’s phone.
If a message isn’t delivered, our transparent reporting will tell you why.
——————————————————-
Q: How much does political text messaging cost?
A: At Wonder Cave, we have custom pricing per client. We work with your team to create a pricing structure that makes sense.
——————————————————-
Q: Why is SMS/MMS pricing different across platforms?
A: Platforms price their political text messaging differently based on their business strategy and goals. At Wonder Cave we have taken the approach of custom and transparent pricing that works with your team.
——————————————————-
Q: Does inexpensive text messaging rates hurt deliverability?
A: Not necessarily, at Wonder Cave our text messaging sending delivers at the highest in the industry with deliverability rates coming in at nearly 100%.
——————————————————-
Q: Can I send texts from local area codes?
A: Yes! This is a great strategy for increasing engagement. With Wonder Cave’s platform, you are able to send text messages to specific area codes from those same area codes. Learn more HERE.
——————————————————-
Q: What is two-way political texting?”
A: Two-way texting simply refers to the ability for your campaign to receive replies and have conversations with the recipients of your message. When this feature is enabled in the Wonder Cave platform, we will capture all responses that are not “STOP” and create conversations that users can interact with at scale
——————————————————-
Q: Can I A/B test SMS/MMS campaigns?
A: Yes! This is another great strategy when looking to test different text messaging versions to your audience.
——————————————————-
Q: Am I able to schedule texts by time zone?
A: Yes! In the Wonder Cave platform you are able to check our “Local Time Zone Sending” box during your campaign creation. This will ensure your text messages will deploy to contacts at the campaign start time in their respective time zone.
——————————————————-
Q: Can I send MMS in political campaigns?
A: Yes! The Wonder Cave platform supports both MMS and SMS campaigns.
——————————————————-
Q: How to upload voter data for texting
A: You are able to upload your own data files to the Wonder Cave platform. You are also able to push over your data directly from L2 Data if they are your data partner. Learn more HERE.
Still Have Questions About Political Texting?
Political texting gets more complicated as campaigns scale. Registration, deliverability, compliance, integrations, sending infrastructure, and support all matter, especially when message volume increases during election season.
Wonder Cave helps political campaigns, consultants, advocacy organizations, and agencies manage that infrastructure so they can focus on running their programs.
Already texting with another provider? You don’t have to switch to see how Wonder Cave performs. Test Wonder Cave alongside your current political texting platform with no long-term commitment or contract.