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With supporters’ inboxes flooded by emails from organisations each day, how do you ensure your own emails get opened? Higher open rates are vital for driving support and action. But we know that the pressures you face of tight deadlines, limited resources, and trying to make every communication count can make it very difficult to think beyond the next line of copy. 

If you do want to talk to us about improving your email deliverability or about Movement’s broader SMS, email, phone banking and WhatsApp tools to help power your campaign, hit the Get Started button. 

In the meantime, here’s a practical guide to improving your open rates that we’ve developed over the years from conversations with clients and our own tests:

1. Avoid the spam folder

Campaigners often worry about being flagged as spam, and for good reason—emails that end up in the spam folder are never opened.

• Authenticate your emails: Make sure your emails are properly authenticated using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to increase deliverability and avoid being flagged as spam.
• Don’t use spammy words: Avoid using too many capital letters or words like “free” or “guaranteed” in your subject lines. These are common red flags for spam filters.
  
  

2. Personalise, personalise, personalise

It’s not just a case of using your supporters’ names in your emails, but really tailoring the content of the email to them and their background. 

• Use their name: Always personalise the subject line and greeting using merge tags. For example, instead of "Join us for the campaign," try "Jane, we need your help today!"
• Segment your audience: Tailor your messaging to different segments of your audience. Whether it’s based on industry, location, previous donations, or engagement history, segmenting your list allows you to send more relevant emails. You can tailor the content of your emails to resonate more personally with that specific group.
• Make it feel individual: If possible, refer to past actions or causes they’ve supported. "Thanks for signing our petition last month, we’ve got an exciting update." Movement allows you to personalise individual parts of your email based on rules around past donation amounts, previous engagements and voting history. 

3. Crafting compelling subject lines

The subject line is the first thing a supporter sees, it’s your chance to grab their attention.

• Be clear and concise: Avoid jargon and make sure the purpose of the email is clear right from the subject line.
• Create urgency: Words like “last chance” or “urgent” can create a sense of urgency, but don’t overuse them. It’s all about striking the right balance.
• Ask a question: Subject lines like “Did you know?” or “Can you help today?” spark curiosity and increase the likelihood that people will open your email.
• 🚀 Use emojis 🚀: Use 1-2 emojis in a subject line to make your email stand out in an inbox. Just don’t over do it as some email clients will take that to be spam.
  
  

4. Optimise for mobile devices

More people check emails on their phones than computers, so ensure your emails are mobile-friendly.

• Keep it short and sweet: People scan emails quickly on their phones. Short, punchy content is more likely to be read.
• Easy-to-click links: Ensure buttons and links are large enough to tap easily. If you’re using forms or calls to action, make sure they work well on mobile too.
• Test email design: Always preview your emails on mobile devices before sending. If your email doesn’t look good on a small screen, people will move on.
  
  

5. Use a strong preview text

The preview text (the snippet of text that appears next to the subject line in most inboxes) is increasingly just as important as the subject line. It provides a further glimpse into what the email is about, and it gives you opportunity to sell the email to your audience. 

• Complement the subject line: Think of the preview text as a way to expand on the subject line and offer more context. For example, “Join the picket line” could be paired with “your voice matters, make it count on our picket line…”
• Test different combinations: Keep track of which subject line and preview text combos perform best and use that data to improve future emails. Movement’s analytics suite allows you to compare the performance of email preview lines and open rates.
  
  

6. Build trust with your audience

Building a relationship with your audience can go a long way in improving your open rates. Supporters who trust your organisation are more likely to open and engage with your emails.

• Be transparent: Let your supporters know exactly what they’re getting when they sign up for your mailing list. Set expectations early on.
• Give value: Don’t just ask for something—whether it’s donations, petitions, or event sign-ups. Offer value by sharing campaign updates, success stories, or insights into the impact of their support.
• Keep your branding consistent: Make sure your supporters easily recognise your emails by keeping a consistent look, feel, and tone in all of your communications.
  
  

7. Keep track of your performance

Finally, keep track of your open rates and experiment with different strategies. Use data to inform your decisions and refine your approach.

• A/B testing: Run tests on subject lines, email content, and sending times to see what works best for your audience.
• Use email analytics: Tools like Google Analytics and email marketing platforms will show you open rates, click-through rates, and other valuable metrics. Use this data to adjust your strategy and improve your results over time.
  
  

8. Use Movement to automatically send to your most engaged users first

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Without meaning to toot our own horn too much (although we do get a lot of compliments about our email deliverability), Movement ensures your emails get sent to those who open your emails first automatically. That way email clients trust your emails as they get more opens and don’t put the rest in the dreaded‘promotions’ folder.  

Ultimately you are fighting for attention in a crowded inbox. And while that might seem exhausting there are some steps you can take to make sure your supporters are opening what you send them and, importantly, taking action because of them. By building meaningful relationships with supporters through personalised messages, and testing different send times and content you can boost your open rates. More opens means more engagement, and ultimately, more action for your cause.

If you want to talk to us about using Movement to grow engagement in your cause then hit the Get Started button.

As a campaigner, you know how crucial it is to both attract new members, volunteers and supporters and nurture the ones you already have. While keeping existing members engaged and active forms the backbone of your campaign's strength, there's no denying that continuous recruitment remains essential for growing your collective voice and expanding your reach.

With supporter growth, ironically the most effective place to start is right at the end, the signup page. Here your slightest improvement leads to your biggest gain, as an easier page to complete should lead to more recruits. (And if you really want to do this with ease, check out our own, battle-tested action pages module)

The good news is that improving your signup page can be incredibly simple, in fact we’ve broken it into five easy-to-follow steps to help you create a smoother, more effective recruitment process:

1. Measure everything

The first step in improving signups is simple but vast: start measuring everything. You can’t improve what you can’t track, right? Tools like our action pages make this easy. Using our analytics, running A/B tests on the Movement platform and comparing campaigns you can see exactly where your signup process can be improved. From the moment someone clicks on the link to your page to when they complete their sign-up, our tools let you see exactly where people drop off. By monitoring these drop-off points, you can identify where supporters lose interest or encounter problems and fix them.

As a campaigner your data is invaluable. It takes the guesswork out of recruitment, allowing you to focus on what works. Maybe you’ll discover that a confusing question in the form is turning people away, or that mobile users are abandoning the signup process because of loading problems. With this insight, you can make accurate adjustments and improve your process.

2. Test with real users

It’s easy to assume what will work, but testing your signup process with real users will give you the most accurate feedback. As organisers, we spend a lot of time engaging with people directly, so why not apply that same approach to your digital systems? Invite a few potential members or volunteers to walk through the signup process. Observe where they get stuck or frustrated. What part of the form confuses them? Which questions do they skip?

By getting real feedback, you can identify small but significant pain points that might not be obvious otherwise. Using Movement you can automate follow-up actions such as a WhatsApp survey or a phone-call depending on what action the user takes. Use this feature to find out what the user experience was like. This can lead to major discoveries; for example, a simple wording change or an unclear dropdown menu could be all that’s needed to make the process smoother and improve completion rates.

3. Sweat the small stuff

When it comes to forms, the details matter. A slight tweak can lead to a huge improvement in your completion rates. Consider adjusting the order of questions, making dropdown menus more intuitive, or simplifying wording. Ask for only the information you truly need and make sure every question is easy to understand.

For example, instead of asking for an employer’s name in a free-text box, offer a searchable list of common employer names. This seemingly small change can make a huge difference in reducing friction and improving sign-up completion.

4. Don’t make people think

We’ve all seen long, confusing forms with endless questions that make you wonder when it will end. The truth is that regardless of how worthwhile and important your cause is, most people want to join quickly and with minimal effort. They may be on their lunch break, using their phone, and don’t have time to get bogged down in complex forms. Keep it simple.

Break down long questions into bite-sized, manageable steps. Use clear, simple language and avoid jargon. Consider pre-filling answers where possible, so users don’t have to fill out everything manually. And allow users to continue even if some fields are left incomplete, making it easier for them to complete the process at their own pace.

5. Design for real life

People sign up for things on their phones, on the bus, during lunch, or in between meetings. If your signup forms aren’t optimised for real life, you’re likely missing out on a significant portion of potential members. Make sure your forms load quickly, work offline, and allow users to save their progress and return later. This is especially important for people who may not have time to finish the form in one sitting.

Designing for real life means thinking about accessibility too. Consider different users' needs; some may need large fonts, while others may be using public devices or shared computers. By making your forms as accessible and flexible as possible, you make it easier for everyone to join your cause, no matter their situation. Movement’s action pages allow you to adapt your content and design with ease, and come mobile and tablet optimised, so that anyone from comms pros to volunteers can create a page ready for all. 

Movement’s action pages can power your supporter growth

Improving your organisation’s recruitment process doesn’t have to be a monumental task. In fact Movement’s action pages make all of this simple from the off, with battle-tested templates that have already delivered high signups, or our analytics suite that allows you to understand exactly where users are clicking, you can turbo-charge your organisation’s growth with ease. 

Remember, measure everything, test with real users, sweat the small stuff, make it easy, and design for real life; these simple steps can transform your signup process. 

You’ll not only make your work easier but also build a stronger, more engaged community ready to face the challenges ahead.

If you’d like to talk to us about our action pages module, allowing you to grow signatures, donations, and supporters then hit the Get Started button below:

Get started

Data is a key component of any successful campaign. Knowing what channels are performing best helps you reach the right audience and understanding what activity drives the most engagement helps you to double down on what cuts through the noise. As campaigns become increasingly data-driven, the effective management of audience information has never been more critical. Campaigners need to ensure their data is not only accurate but also strategically organised. Here are six essential steps to help parties tidy their campaign data and enhance their electoral strategies.

1. Clear the clutter

The first step toward effective data management is decluttering. Campaign teams should prioritise the organisation of their data repositories, ensuring that only relevant and up-to-date information is stored. Streamlined databases not only reduce the risk of errors but also enhance the efficiency of targeting efforts.

2. Invest in data cleansing

Data integrity is paramount. Campaigners should commit to regular data cleansing processes, which involve identifying and removing duplicates, inaccuracies, and outdated records. By doing so, they can maintain audience profiles that are both reliable and actionable. And think about it, the less duplicates you have, or irrelevant pieces of information, the faster and more effective your team can be.

3. Segment with precision

Targeted messaging is key to a successful campaign. By segmenting your audiences into distinct groups based on demographics, interests, and behaviours, you can tailor your communications more effectively. Precision in segmentation allows for more nuanced and resonant engagement with audience members.

4. Prioritise data security

In an age where data breaches are all too common, safeguarding sensitive information must be a top priority. Robust encryption protocols and strict access controls are essential to protect the privacy of constituents. Campaigns that prioritise data security will not only comply with legal requirements but also build trust with their following.

5. Analyse for insights

Data should not only be stored but also actively analysed. Advanced analytics tools (like Movement’s!) can help campaign teams extract valuable insights from their data, uncovering trends, audience preferences, and potential areas for optimisation. Informed decision-making, driven by data insights, can be a game-changer in the competitive arena of political campaigns.

6. Foster collaboration across teams

Consistency is crucial in any campaign. By fostering collaboration between different campaign teams, organisations can ensure that their data remains consistent across all channels. A unified approach to data management can significantly improve the overall effectiveness of a campaign.

As the campaigning landscape continues to evolve, the importance of well-managed campaign data cannot be overstated. By adopting these six strategies, you can enhance your data management practices, leading to more effective campaigns and, ultimately, success.

 If you’d like to see how Movement helps you manage campaign data and optimise your channels then book a demo and we’ll be in touch