GMB NEYH just used Movement to boost their National Joint Council (NJC) indicative ballot turnout to provide maximum leverage. They smashed their voter turnout records, more than doubling ballot turnout. By combining tools across Movement, from live organiser dashboards to branded text messaging, voter turnout increased from 28% to 60% region-wide. In key sectors, such as child services, turnout reached a whopping 85%!
The NJC set pay and employment conditions for local government staff - the workers who do everything from collecting our waste and caring for our loved ones to keeping our local libraries running. This ballot involved over 2,000 NJC workers from 12 distinct local authorities, working all manner of hours. The challenges for organisers can get real very quickly; missed calls due to odd working hours, not knowing who’s already voted, manual follow ups and spreadsheets getting mixed up. GMB NEYH needed an organising platform that could help navigate all this - that’s where Movement comes in.
The tactics and strategy:
Working with Movement, GMB NEYH ran a hugely successful ballot strategy, built directly around the tough realities of the NJC organising landscape. Here’s how:
- Organiser dashboards: Using Movement’s organiser dashboard module, GMB were able to create customisable digital clipboards that any union rep or volunteer could use on the ground, in work places to track in-person conversations and automate follow-up actions. Dashboards turned real life conversations into tangible insights, which gave reps and organisers the data and direction they needed to maximise impact. In person conversations powered the campaign in real time, providing the insights staff needed to make the right calls on strategy and resources. Here’s an example with mock data:
- Rich text messaging with RCS: Switching to branded RCS messaging for texts was an instant win. The same message, just sent with a branded sender, increased replies by 25%(!) vs a traditional SMS.
- Automated scheduling: Messages were timed to land around specific working hours using Movement’s prescheduling feature. For workers, this meant messages in their pockets when they were clocking off shift. For organisers, this meant letting Movement do the heavy lift of delivering messages at the right time (yes, even for the 5am night shift team!), freeing up capacity for on the ground organising and engaging members.
- Personalised, automated journeys: Using Movement’s Automations module, workflows were created for specific scenarios and personalised using member data. This allowed the right messages, to be delivered to workers when they needed them. So if someone had a chat in the workplace saying their details weren’t up to date, an ‘update your details’ text message’ could be triggered automatically. This saved valuable time (and headspace), ensured consistency and kept member information up to the minute accurate.
- Smart segmentation: Movement’s real-time, dynamic audiences meant members only received messaging relevant to them. This meant members wouldn’t be asked again to vote if they already had, streamlining communications and tailoring them to individuals.
- Targeted, sector specific messaging: Tailored content was delivered based on individual workplaces and sectors, helping to drive higher engagement and conversion rates as messages were personalised and relevant.
- Real time optimisation: When early voting showed drop-off, Movement adjusted the journey to bypass initial authentication for the first 24 hours, ensuring one tap voting access.
The final results:
Through Movement, GMB NEYH completely reshaped standards, here’s exactly what they achieved:
- Over 60% regional voter turnout: Turnout skyrocketed from an historical ~28% baseline to well over 60%.
- Massive local growth: Leeds City Council surged from an historical 19% turnout to over 60% with a week still remaining in the ballot window.
- Key sector turnout: Targeted, sector specific messaging achieved an 85% turn out in key sectors, such as child services.
- 25% branded messaging boost: Moving from plain SMS to verified, branded RCS messaging through Movement yielded an immediate 25% boost.
For organisers, leveraging Movement also meant more time on the ground with members to get creative with community building and engagement. This success has totally shifted the internal culture across GMB NEYH, transforming former digital sceptics into active advocates. Following this outcome, GMB leadership is exploring nationwide rollouts across other regions, along with deeper API integrations to automate post-ballot member journeys. Empower your union’s next campaign - book a demo with the Movement team today to scale your turnout:
