2017 UCAP Conference

With an ROI of 450%, the money raised with the Raindrop texting tools far exceeded the costs.  $2795 was raised in total.  Money was raised, $110, even before a request for donations was made from the podium.  This was due primarily to having a donation link texted to each person after they opted-in.  The majority of the funds came when the emcee asked people to donate by texting in, followed by a text reiterating what she just said. The high amount of money raised shows that asking for donations with a live audience, when they are thoroughly engaged with the message of the conference, is highly effective.  And when they can donate through a link texted to them right then, taking donation action in the moment is easy to do.  Ask and you shall receive.

Asking from the podium for people to just opt-in is also highly effective.  Before the conference, there were 320 subscribers.  During the 45 minutes before the conference started, when the slide show was running, 6-7 people opted-in each time the “text UCAP to 53445” slide appeared.  This resulted in 60 more subscribers.  The moment the emcee asked everyone to “text UCAP to 53445,” the number of subscribers jumped dramatically from 380 to 875, nearly 500 at once! This showed the highly effective strategy of announcing from the podium.

Missouri Legislature Veto Session

In today’s political climate, it is essential to establish and maintain two-way communication between politicians and their constituents. Citizens must stay informed on current issues and proposed solutions, while representatives must offer and vote for solutions that are congruent with the voice of the people. When communication is broken, political posturing, backroom deals, and power grabs become the norm, while the wants of the few overpower the needs of the many. The tools provided by Raindrop Technologies, Inc. help keep this communication open, as demonstrated by Nick King.

As a Republican member of the Missouri State House of Representatives, you’d think Nick King would have voted for a “Constitutional Carry” bill without hesitation. Indeed, that was what the majority of his colleagues did, causing the bill to pass the House and Senate.  But he wasn’t entirely comfortable with everything included in the bill. So when the governor vetoed the bill, it allowed Nick King the time and opportunity to use the Raindrop polling tool to educate his constituency and gauge their reaction to the bill.

With a response rate over 10%, he was able to get a good sampling of voter reaction. He took this information and presented it on the Missouri State House floor. He and other Republican representatives were able to vote with greater confidence that he was following the voice of the people.

Salt Lake County Republican Party

We often hear from naysayers that SMS technology can’t work for politics, that it won’t work in this market, just because they don’t understand this technology, or the idea of it is just too new.  However, our experience shows just the opposite. This supposition is not what really happens when a political organization, campaign or candidate puts in, even a little bit, of effort into a text messaging campaign for their cause.  Many people in the leadership of Conservative politics are just slow to embrace new technology, but that isn’t the case in Salt Lake County. Suzanne Mulet, SLCO GOP Chairwoman, is a pioneer in using cutting edge technology to organize her Precinct Chairs to be more involved and effective. Now, who doesn’t want that?

We want to show you how a little bit of effort reaps huge dividends in volunteers, support and money. At the Salt Lake County GOP Central Committee Meeting last year, with 365 Precinct Chairs in attendance, Suzanne got a whopping 55% opt-in rate, just by inviting attendees to opt-in to get Salt Lake County Party information sent right to their cellphones.  All it took for Suzanne to accomplish this was to hand out flyers during registration on how and why to opt-in, and then follow up with 2-3 announcements about the opt-in process throughout the meeting. Easy!

Now that her Precinct Chairs are familiar with the texting tool, the number of opt-ins will increase with each meeting, because those who get the text messages will be more involved and more informed than their non-opted-in counterparts in other precincts. Nobody wants to feel left out of the loop, so as each Precinct Chair comes to realize that the texting tools for grassroots organizing will allow them to better organize their precincts, raise money and keep everyone informed, they will share the benefits of this powerful tool with the other Precinct Chairs.

CESE Summit

Conventions or events are great situations to utilize texting.  At the annual Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation (CESE) Summit, our texting tools were used in many facets.  Weeks before the event, organizers sent promotional emails encouraging attendees to “text CESE to 53445” in order to get the latest event updates and to be entered into prize drawings that would occur at the Summit.  This simple announcement generated dozens of opt-ins, even before the event date.

When it came time for the three day CESE Summit to begin, organizers were prepared to help enroll even more attendees for texting right when they registered.  Mobile numbers were already gathered during online registration so when attendees came to the registration table, volunteers simply asked them if they wanted to receive texts.  After verifying all registrants, organizers simply used our list upload tool to upload a file of numbers to send confirmation texts.

Multiple texts were sent throughout the event, highlighting key speakers, encouraging networking opportunities, and promoting the many event sponsors.  It’s important to note that event organizers also utilized an event app.  Our texting tools worked in harmony with the app, each having distinct features that did not conflict with one another.

One of the effective ways our tools have been used is with our prize giveaway tool.  This tool was used by Summit organizers to promote the 25 or so vendors sponsoring the event.  Throughout each day of the event, they chose random winners for prizes from one of the sponsors.  In our prize giveaway tool, they simply determined how many prizes would be given, put that number in, and then random numbers were chosen.  A text was then sent to each number telling them to go to a certain booth to claim their prize.  Happy winners then appeared at the booth holding their phone with the winning message.  This was a great way to not only encourage opt-ins originally, but to promote the valuable sponsors of the Summit.

But don’t take our word for it.  As Dawn Hawkins, event director, said, “Raindrop’s texting tools are a dynamic way to inform and connect with supporters or event attendees. We’ve loved using Raindrop!”