It’s another Sunday, so for those who tune in, welcome to a diary discussing the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic campaign. If you’ve missed out, you can catch up at any time: just visit our group or follow the Nuts & Bolts Guide. For years I’ve built this guide around questions that get submitted, hoping to help small-race candidates field questions. I’ve been grateful to so many campaign managers, field directors, communication directors, and volunteers for sharing their experience, which has continued to be a big part of the story presented every week in this series.
Around the country, mailboxes are being stuffed with political advertising. Slick ads that tout the successes of their candidates, and big mailings that decry the failures of their opponents. These ads can be effective, sure, but most consultants—even print consultants—will tell you the goal is to have something that the recipient can quickly decipher because they are going to throw it away fast. In 2018, several groups thought that maybe we should try something else. What if campaigning by mail was done differently, far more personal, and instead of campaigns contacting voters, other voters made the outreach. This week, I received a postcard and a letter from other voters urging my vote—something that, well, is already in the bag. The cards and letter, however, went beyond a normal mail for one reason: I actually read them. Completely. That is the same response I’m hearing from others. This week, let’s talk voter to voter contact.
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We need to talk about psychology
Human beings have some basic needs. We often focus on basics, like food, air, water. Another basic that every human being needs is one that is truly being tested by COVID, and that is contact. Human beings are social creatures, and loneliness can weigh hard on them, creating significant hardships. Campaign mailpieces? Well, they aren’t so social. They are written in a way that the recipient knows they went to absolutely everyone because they were printed that way. They can just reinforce the feeling that you are part of the team that needs to turn out. This isn’t all bad, but does it really help you feel more connected? Psychology Today sums a big part of this up:
Humans, because of necessity, evolved into social beings. Dependence on and cooperation with each other enhanced our ability to survive under harsh environmental circumstances. Although the survival threats of these circumstances have lessened in today’s world, people continue to have a need to affiliate with others. Indeed, the lack of such connections can lead to many problems, including loneliness.
One of the things that drives the way we act as humans is that we have a basic need to know that others rely on us, they depend on us, and that we want to cooperate with them to do things.
So, what does mail that resonates look like?
So, why does a letter like this work more than mail with a glossy finish and tons of facts? There are a few things about a piece of mail like this that stands out, especially in the time period of COVID-19. First, the fact these postcards are handwritten tell the recipient that someone spent time to send them something. They weren’t the result of an automated print run, machine stamped. Now, the messaging here is fairly the same as you’d hear anywhere among Democratic efforts. That isn’t a bad thing. It simply reinforces the fact that a lot of people feel the way the potential voter feels, and the people that feel that way are hoping for them to help them (cooperation).
Seriously, are you overstating this?
Uh, no. We’ve known about this for a while:
Their results showed that people expressing gratitude underestimated how pleasantly surprised recipients would be to receive a handwritten "thank you" and how positive the expression of gratitude made recipients feel. On the flip side, people who wrote thank-you letters overestimated the potential awkwardness that someone receiving a heartfelt thank-you note would experience.
Additionally, the researchers found that the prosocial gesture of expressing gratitude in a handwritten note boosts positive emotions and well-being for both the letter-writing “expresser” and the recipient of the stated appreciation.
In other words: thanking people for their vote, encouraging them to hear your voice, and expressing it in a handwritten way has a pretty powerful impact.
Here is the question you have to ask yourself: would you EVER use a magnet to put a political piece of mail on your refrigerator? Would you ever use a magnet to put up a handwritten note on your refrigerator from another state that spoke to you personally?
You might do neither. Be honest though, if you were to choose, you know which one gains your attention.