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Peer-to-peer (P2P) texting has become an essential part of a strong political campaign strategy. P2P texting allows candidates and campaigns to connect with voters, mobilize volunteers, tap into their fundraising networks, and get out the vote ahead of election day.
This guide will walk you through our top picks for the best P2P texting platforms in 2024. But first, we’ll answer some commonly asked questions about peer-to-peer messaging.
About Peer-to-Peer Texting
Peer-to-peer texting services are designed to cut through the noise of modern advertising, putting campaigns in direct contact with the voters, volunteers, and donors they need to reach. P2P texting involves campaign staff or volunteers sending individual text messages to voters’ cell phones. This process allows for easy customization, as well as for real-time, two-way conversations.
There are a number of reasons why P2P messaging is such an effective campaign strategy. Here are a few:
Personalization: P2P texting lets campaigns personalize messages at scale, so each voter receives the message that’s most likely to resonate with them.
Ease of Use: P2P messaging gives voters, volunteers, and donors an easy way to ask questions, send feedback, and find ways to get involved.
Quick Response: P2P texting lets voters, volunteers, and donors respond instantly. Campaign staff or volunteers can then get back to them quickly, eliminating delays in communication.
Overall, peer-to-peer texting is a versatile tool that can make running for office easier and more efficient.
Choosing a P2P Messaging Platform
There are a variety of P2P texting platforms and services available. How do you choose the right one for your campaign? Here are a few considerations to keep in mind during your decision process:
Ease of Use: How easy is it for campaign team members and volunteers to send and respond to messages? How easy is it to track data and progress?
Personalization Features: How easy is it to personalize the messages you send to voters, volunteers, and donors?
Scalability: Depending on the size of your campaign, you may be looking to send hundreds or thousands of text messages. Does the texting platform support the volume of messages you need to send?
Analytics: What tools does the texting platform provide to analyze data like response rates, engagement, and cost effectiveness?
Pricing: Does the platform’s cost structure line up with your campaign budget?
Integrations: Can the texting platform integrate with the other tools you are already using to make your campaign more efficient?
Compliance: Does the platform comply with all relevant laws and regulations?
Remember that different campaigns have different needs, so be sure to choose the platform that makes the most sense for your situation.
The Top 3 Peer-to-Peer Texting Platforms of 2024
Here are our top three picks for the best peer-to-peer texting platforms for candidates and campaigns in 2024:
#1: Scale to Win
Built by organizers, for organizers, Scale to Win offers affordable services that can be easily adapted to your campaign’s unique needs. Scale to Win includes and then goes beyond SMS messaging, offering four main features:
Texting: Scale to Win’s texting service lets campaigns send free inbound messages, get access to free landline filtering, and send outbound messages at a low price — just 2 cents per outbound SMS segment (segments are 160 characters long) and 5 cents per outbound MMS messages. We typically recommend MMS messaging because it allows you to work with a larger character cap and include media files like images at the 5 cent mark.
Blast Mode: Want to get a message out to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible? With Scale to Win’s Blast Mode, campaigns can send thousands of messages instantly, or schedule to send messages at a later time. Blast Mode also lets you track and record data, A/B test your messaging, and easily sync information gathered from broadcast texting.
We Text: We Text is Scale to Win’s turnkey program for campaigns that may not have the manpower or time to dedicate to text campaigns. The Scale to Win team will take the message you want sent out, build a text campaign, recruit and manage people to send and respond to messages, and then let you know how your message resonated. This service is available at the rate of 6 cents per SMS message and 9 cents per MMS message.
Dialer: Scale to Win also offers a calling tool, letting you connect with voters over the phone for just 4 cents per outbound call.
With a variety of features and affordable rates, Scale to Win is our most recommended P2P texting platform. Scale to Win is great both for small-town and large-scale political campaigns.
#2: RumbleUp
RumbleUp is another affordable platform, focused exclusively on peer-to-peer texting. RumbleUp lets campaigns connect with voters, volunteers, and donors through SMS, MMS, and video texting. Personalized plans begin at rates as low as 2 cents per segment.
A few of RumbleUp’s most noteworthy features include:
Free incoming replies
Free landline list cleaning
Ability to send 2000-character messages and 30+ second compressed videos
Real-time analytics and reporting
Unlimited contacts and users
Library of local area codes, so texts come from a familiar number
Click-to-text functionality, so you can respond on desktop
RumbleUp’s platform also allows integrations with other tools in campaigns’ toolkits, including L2 data, Zapier, HubSpot, and Slack.
#3: Hustle
Hustle is another great platform for text message marketing, specializing in video messaging. Here are Hustle’s three main features:
P2P Texting: This core feature lets campaigns connect with voters and volunteers one-on-one.
Broadcast Texting: Hustle’s broadcast texting service enables campaigns to send hundreds or thousands of messages at once, all from a local phone number.
Video Messaging: Hustle’s Conversational Video lets campaigns pair P2P or broadcast texting with personalized video. You can send 30-second embedded clips or 15-second personalized videos.
Hustle is also unveiling its new Dialer feature, which combines calling, texting, and video. This feature is available for existing clients.
Bonus: Live Support for Peer-to-Peer Texting
Want more support for your peer-to-peer texting campaign? Here are two more service providers that help power text message marketing forward:
#1: Good Party
Good Party supports independent, nonpartisan, and third-party candidates running for office across the country, with free campaign tools and guidance from campaign experts. We connect campaigns with our nationwide network of volunteers, who can quickly send and respond to texts on behalf of your campaign.
Our AI-powered tools also let candidates instantly generate customized messaging for text campaigns. Want to learn more? Get a free demo today and see the difference our tools can make.
#2: Stones’ Phones
Stones’ Phones is another platform that can take the task of managing text campaigns off of you and your volunteers’ plates. Stones’ Phones strictly serves Democratic and progressive campaigns. Their platform offers a variety of services, including texting, live calling, auto calling, patch-through calling, and more.
Get Started with P2P Texting
Not sure where to get started with peer-to-peer texting? Book a meeting with our team today, and we’ll get you connected with the resources you need, from texting platforms to volunteer support.
Don’t wait to invest in text messaging marketing for your campaign. Start connecting with voters, volunteers, and donors in a more personalized way today!
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
