What is a Door-to-Door Canvassing Call to Action?

Creating a Door-to-Door Canvassing Call to Action

1. Log into the Empower Web App. Click on the Calls to Action button on the left hand side of the screen.
   

1. Next, click on the New Call to Action button.
   

1. Under What kind of action will Volunteers take?, select Canvassing. Then select Door-to-Door.
   

1. Next, decide how you would like to assign contacts to volunteers. You can assign contacts manually on upload (and contacts can be reassigned later) or let volunteers request turf.
   

1. You need to upload your list of contacts who you would like volunteers to reach out to in their door-to-door canvassing.
   

1. For manual assignment:

1. Make a copy of our CSV template on Google Sheets and enter contact information into the sheet. A first or last name, an assignedCanvasserEid and an address are required for each in your csv file. Use the assignedCanvasserEid to indicate who should reach out to each contact for this call to action.
   

2. Click the Upload CSV button to upload your spreadsheet of contacts to reach out to during your door-to-door canvassing efforts. 
   

3. To create individual turfs for canvassers, you can read more here
   

1. Volunteers will see the list assigned to them in Empower:
   

1. To let volunteers request turf (distributed canvassing):
   

1. Follow these instructions to use our Rapid Turf Cutter to generate the CSV file that you need to upload. Leave the assignedCanvasserEid blank.
   

2. Instead of seeing an assigned list, volunteers will be able to request nearby people from the list:
   

1. Under the Content section:
1. Give your Door-to-Door Canvassing Call to Action a title in the Title box. Write your title like you are giving a direction to a volunteer. We recommend starting with a verb.
   
2. In the Subtitle box, say why this door-to-door canvassing effort is important! This should help inspire your volunteers to get started.
   
3. Provide additional information for your volunteers in the body section. You can provide some additional context and information for your volunteers in this section - such as a script, talking points and canvassing guide (tip: It’s important to make sure that your volunteers know what they can and can’t do on the doors! For example, volunteers should be friendly, but volunteers should not leave literature in mail boxes).
   
1. If you want you can use {eid} in the CTA body or in links in the CTA body and it will automatically be replaced with the EID of the person who is filling out the CTA (e.g. volunteers). 

1. Under the the Content for Volunteers to share, you can upload photos and links to help support your volunteers.

1. Under the Volunteers for Leaders to talk about during their outreach, you can add questions for volunteers to ask contacts. By default, Volunteers will see prompts that allow them to select dispositions, which sync to VAN.

1. To add a question, click on the Add Prompt button.
   
2. You can either write your own question by selecting Create new prompt. Or, you can also Use a VAN Survey Question.
   
1. It is important to note that Empower Prompts will not automatically sync to VAN through the API - however, you can export your CTA responses and bulk upload them into VAN to store that data outside of Empower.
   

1. For creating your own prompt, add the question that you would like volunteers to ask new contacts in the Prompt box.
   
2. For the answer type, you can choose either a Single answer or Multiple answers. Select Single answer when you are only looking for one answer to the question. Select Multiple answers when there can be more than one answer to the question that your volunteers are posing. 
   
3. Add your answer options in the Answer boxes.
   
4. Click Add Prompt. You will have to repeat this process for each question.

1. Below Recruitment Prompt, you can add specific prompts that volunteers will see in the Empower app. These specific prompts include: invite to a training, invite to the app, and ‘vote-tripling’ style. If you would not like to use one of these types of prompts, you can also select None. You can preview what the volunteers will see by clicking on the See these slides link.
   
2. If you want to see how the recruitment prompts will look in the Empower App, click on the See the slides button.

1. Under Scheduling and Targeting:
   
1. You can either select for the Door-to-Door Call to Action to go live immediately (select As soon as I submit the form) or you can pick a time for it to go live (select At a specific time in the future). You can also enter a time for the Door-to-Door Call to Action to end (select a date and time in the box under When should it expire?).

1. Under Follow Up Text, you can enter a text for volunteers to send to contacts that they meet during the Door-to-Door Call to Action. Volunteers will have to manually follow up to send the text, so you may want to explain that they should follow up as part of the instructions to volunteers above. This text can be the follow up text that volunteers send to a contact when they haven’t been able to reach them at the door. Also, you can add links or information that volunteers can share with contacts that they meet while door-to-door canvassing (e.g. a link to register to vote). You can embed the recipient or sender's name or EID in the message using {recipientname} {sendername} {recipienteid} or {sendereid} in the message and that placeholder will be filled with the correct information when the text message is generated. If you do not want to include a follow-up text to these new contacts, uncheck the Include a Follow Up Text box - although we recommend making one for door to door canvassing!
   

1. Under Automatic Mass Messages:
   
1. You can announce the Call to Action by checking the box next to Announce the call to action. In the message box, you can add a message that your volunteers will receive when you launch a new Call to Action. You can also select the time for the message to go out to volunteers about this new Call to Action. Select the time in the Time to send box.
   
2. You can add reminders for the calls to action. Check the Remind people that the call to action is in progress box. You can add messages for volunteers who have taken the action (in the box next to Message to people who have taken action) and volunteers who haven’t taken the action (Message to people who haven’t taken action yet). These can be important nudges to either thank someone for taking action or to encourage your volunteers who are still waiting to take action. You can select a time for these reminders to go out in the Time to send box.
   

1. Under How should messages be sent?, you can select how you would like your messages to go out. You can select Mobile App Notifications, Text Messages, and Email, or use all of them.

1. Click Publish Now to launch the Door-to-Door Canvassing Call to Action.

Viewing a Door-to-Door Canvassing Call to Action through the Empower Mobile App

1. Click on Actions
   

     

1. If you have both a Volunteers and Personal List tab, click on Personal List. Then click on the Reach Out button
   

• You will see your specific list of contacts that you have been assigned for this Door-to-Door Canvassing Call to Action. You can see the contact lists in either a list format or in a map format. The map will show you where your list of contacts live. This should make the process of going door-to-door much easier. You can toggle between the list and the map screens by clicking on those respective buttons.
  

• You will see a list of default questions that will help you track the interaction you have with contacts when you speak to them at the door. After you answer the first default question, another question will appear to let you select the correct disposition. You will need to answer both questions for the contact to appear as completed.

Going door-to-door is a great way to meet people in your community. Although your interactions might be short, you can have important conversations with people and further engage them in your community organizing effort.