How to Create, Launch, and Promote a Petition to Grow Your Campaign’s Email List

The single most reliable way to raise more money online for your campaign isto grow your email list. It’s the only “secret” there is.

The best way to grow your email list is to create and promotepetitions and surveys via social media, text messaging, and your website. Theseare simple forms on your website that collect – at a minimum – a supporter’sname and email address so you can integrate them into your online fundraisingprogram.

In this post, you’ll learn how to create,launch, and promote a petition that gets results for your campaign.

Choosethe Right Topic

The subject of your petition or survey has themost impact on how successful it will be.

You must choose a topic that is timely andrelevant. Your objective is to swim with the current of online conversation andtap into existing interest around the topic. If you try to promote a petitionthat your audience isn’t immediately concerned about, you will get fewer emailsignups.

Similarly, every hour you waste deliberatingand wordsmithing is an hour your petition misses potential supporters. To dothis effectively, campaigns need to be bold and move fast.

Customizethe Copy

The copy for your landing page, confirmationpage, donate page, social media, and text messaging all have to match eachother in order to maximize your conversions along each step. Each step of theprocess should feel like a unified whole.

With each piece of copy you write, explain theproblem and articulate the solution as the next action you expect them to take.

Buildthe Supporter Experience

You only have a few seconds of a supporter’sattention to funnel them from discovering your petition, reaching the landingpage, and signing up. The transition between each stage needs to be seamless.The call to action must be compelling, your landing page must load quickly, andimmediately introduce the next step.

And don’t forget the followup. Once asupporter has given you their email address, initiate a series of automatedemails asking them to donate, volunteer, and opt in to text messaging. 

A typical workflow should look like this:

Social Media Post > Landing Page >Donation/Confirmation Page > Followup Emails

Promotion

After you’ve selected a topic, written copy,and built the supporter experience, it’s time to promote your petition or survey.Paid Facebook advertising must bepart of your overall strategy. You cannot get enough reach organically viasocial media to progressively build your email list.

Start by promoting the petitions and surveysto supporters who already follow you on Facebook. They’re already primed totake action and it will give you a good indication of whether your topic isworthwhile or not.

Then expand your targeting to include Facebookusers identified as conservatives. Because you’re focused on growing your emaillist and online donors, it doesn’t matter if your targets can be matched to avoter file.

Resources

If you use Wordpress, I recommend installing Gravity Formsto handle your petitions, surveys, and other website forms. WinRed alsoprovides an excellent, free petition builder that integrates directly withtheir donation. 

To handle the email automation, use a servicelike Mailchimp to send your supporters fundraising emails and other messages aspart of the petition experience.

Petitions and surveys that capture supporters’email addresses are proven methods for growing your campaign’s email list foronline fundraising. To use them effectively, you’ll need to choose a topic thatis timely and relevant, consider each step of a supporter’s experience, and payfor promotion on Facebook.