Welcome to the 2022 Advocacy Benchmark Report!

For call-to-action emails, VoterVoice users are able to specify targets for their email campaigns. As in previous years, state-level campaigns were the most popular, showing the highest volume and highest action rate (tied with campaigns that combine federal and state). This is no surprise since we’ve repeatedly seen how advocacy professionals get better results when they connect their issues and action calls to their advocates’ daily lives.

We asked our clients in advocacy roles where their public policy issues are mostly based, and unsurprisingly the majority — 53 percent — said their issues are based at the state level, while 39 percent said they expect to see local government shaping the landscape for their organization in the next five years.

Year over year, we have seen that, in terms of sheer volume, the first two quarters are the busiest. However, 2021 was the first year that March was not the busiest month for email volume, and the busiest months were instead April and September. The second half of the year has seen a marked increase in message volume and a greater flurry of activity than past years.

Looking a bit deeper into each month of 2021, engagement rates show an interesting trend. We saw in the previous section of this report that the highest number of emails went out in April, but August saw the highest action rates — though it’s followed closely by September.

Unsubscribe rates remained consistently low, at 0.1 percent, only rising to 0.2 percent in January, while deliverability rates stayed steady in the high 90th percentile.

Let’s zoom in on your call-to-action campaigns in 2021. VoterVoice clients saw the highest open rates in January, but August took the cake for the highest action rates.

September, however, is a close second when it comes to action rates and it also shows a good open rate, meaning January and September could be good months for your call-to-action campaigns. There’s less competition for attention in your advocates’ inboxes with a good chance of them opening your message and taking action.

In 2021, open rates for informational emails continued to climb. December reached nearly 33 percent open rates, which is the highest open rate for informational emails we’ve seen. This could be due to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection taking effect in June 2021 but even in January, the open rate for informational emails was over 30 percent.

Unsubscribe rates remained impressively low throughout the year, though slightly higher in January, meaning your advocates wanted to hear from you and remained engaged all year.

While a lot depends on your audience’s demographics, most VoterVoice clients sent email campaigns between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., which follows the same trend of past years. And that has seemed to work since you saw very high open and action rates overall in 2021. But engagement metrics could indicate it’s time to try shaking things up to see whether your advocates are more responsive outside working hours.

When it comes to engagement, the best open rates happen after 3 p.m., even though that’s when campaigns start to dwindle. This may be because the volume of messages can make it hard for your supporters to pay attention to your messages since there are lots of other emails competing for attention.

As for action rates, 6 p.m. holds the top spot so, overall, the evening presents a good opportunity for advocacy campaigns with the highest action rates.

Looking specifically at call-to-action campaigns, 11 a.m., 6 p.m., and 7 p.m. come on top when it comes to action rates paired with good open rates. As mentioned, the competition is fiercer during prime work hours, so it may be worth an evening send to encourage advocates to engage and take action while their inboxes are less inundated.

Informational emails follow a similar trend where most engagement comes later in the day. In fact, the highest open rate for VoterVoice clients’ informational email campaigns was at 4 p.m. with an impressive 30.9 percent.

Interestingly, while 4 p.m. is when campaigns start to taper off, engagement remains high for a couple of hours, continuing to confirm that inbox saturation can play a big role in engagement.

As we’ve seen in previous years, Friday continues to be the busiest day for sending advocacy campaigns, closely followed by Tuesday. Saturday has one of the lower action rates, while Sundays show the highest open and action rate of the entire week but make up less than 2 percent of the campaigns.

The most successful days of the week are no longer the workweek, perhaps due to the rise of people viewing messages on their mobile devices and able to check their email at any time of the day or week. Last year was the first time we saw weekends taking the lead both in terms of open and action rates, and 2021 continues that trend.

While it all depends on your advocates’ demographics and behavior, it’s worth trying to send a campaign on a weekend, since most people have a bit more free time, there are far fewer emails competing for their attention, and they are shown to be more likely to open your emails and take action.

Overall, looking at the open and action rates per day and per hour, we saw that in 2021 VoterVoice clients saw the highest open rate on Sundays at 4 p.m. However, Sunday also saw a low volume of campaigns, with less than 2 percent of campaigns sent on that day. There are many opportunities to conduct successful campaigns throughout the week, though. For example, Tuesdays at 3 p.m., Wednesdays at noon, or Fridays at 7 p.m. all show positive open and action rate combinations.

The sectors are divided into 17 broad categories comprising 50 industries. While in previous years the hospitality sector saw the highest open rates, this year the labor sector overtook them, with an impressive 53.3 percent open rate. The labor sector also had by far the highest action rate at nearly 18 percent.

While civil servants/public officials had the second-highest open rate at 44 percent, this sector also saw the lowest action rate, with less than 3 percent.

We looked at advocacy campaigns across agribusiness industries including crop producers, dairy farming businesses, food farmers, agricultural and farm services, and agricultural associations. We also assessed agribusiness that included processors, agri-products, and services.

Overall, September and December saw the highest open rates in 2021 but action rates were highest in the summer months. This sector saw higher overall action rates than any other in 2021.

Industry sentiment

When surveyed, government affairs professionals in the agriculture industry indicated that they worked harder in 2021 compared to 2020, with 63 percent saying this is true. However, this industry has an overall negative outlook toward the future (nearly half of those surveyed) and had less energy and motivation compared with 2020 (37 percent). When compared with other industries, those in the agricultural sector seem less energized and optimistic about the future.

The sector is made up of a wide array of industries including services, associations, sales, and many other miscellaneous organization types.

While action rates in the business sector increased, they remained lower than average, following the trend we have seen over the last several years. Action rates were the highest in July and August, even though open rates were at their lowest.

Industry sentiment

When surveyed, government affairs professionals in the business sector overwhelmingly agreed that their biggest challenge is not having enough time to accomplish what they need to — 70 percent said this is the case. The other biggest challenges for this sector are having a team size that is too small and a high volume of issues to monitor.

Organizations including federal, state, and municipal employees, as well as fire and police, state and local government entities, and other employee organizations make up the civil servant and public official sector.

While civil servants/public officials had the second-highest open rate at 44 percent, this sector also saw the lowest action rate, with less than 3 percent. The months with the highest campaign volume were March and July.

This sector saw its highest action rate in September, reaching an impressive 15.1 percent. This may align with the major world events happening during this time, including the Afghanistan conflict and Texas passing a controversial abortion ban.

We looked at data from organizations such as ministries, charities, conferences, dioceses, religious institutes, and associations, among orders. Religious institutions that operate education or healthcare facilities are not included in these metrics but are analyzed as part of their core industry.

This sector saw similarly high open rates as 2020, even reaching more than 30 percent in the winter months. December continues to have the highest open rates for this sector, probably due to religious holidays. However, action rates peaked in May and June.

We looked at advocacy data from the electronics manufacturing and equipment industry; internet organizations and associations; TV, movie, and entertainment fields; as well as other miscellaneous communications and electronics organizations.

Open rates soared to above 50 percent in April, July, and November for this sector, while action rates remain modest throughout the year. Campaign volume for this industry was low overall, but the most campaigns were sent in the month of April.

When surveyed, professionals in the communications sector said their biggest challenge is building a network with industry peers and lawmakers, with nearly 56 percent sharing this sentiment. This sector indicated they rely heavily on news subscriptions, legislative trackers, and CRM software to do their jobs.

Organizations included in the education sector range from higher education and K-12 to school boards and PTA organizations.

While in 2020 action rates struggled to reach double digits, in 2021 action rates improved, particularly doing well during school recess months: July, August, and December.

We include aggregate data from oil and gas producers and utilities, mining, renewal and fossil fuels, electric utilities, and waste management. It also includes the wildlife and fisheries category as a natural resource.

Similar to 2020, the most engagement for this sector comes early in the year, with the highest action rate in March. Overall, the energy and natural resources sector saw consistently good open rates throughout 2021 with action rate spikes in March, April, and August.

In this sector, we look at data from banks, credit unions, finance companies, securities, mortgage bankers, broker organizations, and the broad category of insurance.

Open rates are consistently higher than average throughout the year, and action rates they display consistent engagement. Similar to the last two years, April is one of the strongest performing months in terms of action rates for this sector.

Industry sentiment

The factors that cause the most anxiety in the day-to-day jobs of people in this sector are time constraints (58 percent) and political environment (46 percent), our survey indicated.

This sector includes a wide variety of food and drink packaging, manufacturing, and marketing organizations. Some examples are feed and grain; confectionary; fruits and vegetables; and wine, beer, spirits, soft drinks, and water. 

Open rates soared in February and August for this sector, surpassing 50 percent. Action rates remained modest throughout the year, similar to last year, though action rates neared 13 percent in February, significantly higher than the rest of the year. This sector saw the highest overall open rates of any in 2021.

This sector includes health professionals, hospitals and nursing home facilities, health services, pharmaceuticals, and health products and supplies.  

The health sector remained front and center during 2021 with the global COVID-19 pandemic, and open and action rates held steady throughout the year, though action rates peaked in June. 

Industry sentiment

Unsurprisingly, professionals in this sector indicated the political environment caused the most anxiety in their day-to-day jobs, along with lack of resources and fear of missing something important related to legislation and regulation in healthcare.

This sector’s industries include everything from lodging and tourism organizations to recreational and live entertainment industries.

While the hospitality and culture sector continued to be one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, campaign open rates remained high throughout the year, surpassing 50 percent in May when COVID-19 vaccines started to become more readily available to the general public.

It was in February, amid a flurry of news and updates about COVID-19 vaccines, that action rates neared 17 percent, the highest for the sector and higher than any of the sector’s action rates in 2020. 

The sector is formed by contractors, transportation, automotive, the construction of roads and bridges, and everything else in between, as well as miscellaneous organizations such as those dealing with inland waterways, sewage, power lines, and so forth. 

In 2021, the infrastructure sector saw slightly higher open rates and action rates than in 2020, with a spike in open rates beginning in August and continuing through the end of the year, while action rates peaked in September.

The labor sector classifies miscellaneous unions, including industrial, building, transportation, and public-sector unions. 

The labor sector saw much higher open and action rates in 2021 than in previous years, with particularly hefty action rates in March and September, months that also saw a high volume of campaigns. These action rates above 30 percent are in stark contrast to 2020, when action rates remained below average throughout the year and did not reach the double digits. 

This sector saw improvements across the board when compared to 2020, with increased open and action rates and especially high open rates in April. 

Industry sentiment

When surveyed, lawyers and lobbyists indicated that they are optimistic about the future, with 42 percent agreeing with this sentiment. This sector also feels like they worked harder in 2021 than in 2020, 45 percent said.

This sector encompasses nonprofits, foundations, and philanthropic organizations that don’t naturally fall into other categories covered earlier. It excludes single-issue or ideological organizations. Examples include museums, charitable foundations, philanthropic endowments, and trusts.

The nonprofit sector saw open rates higher than 2020 this year, with action rates rising notably in August and September. 

Industry sentiment

Professionals in this sector said COVID-19 continued to affect their job-related stress in 2021, with more than 81 percent saying their stress increased due to the pandemic. 

In the “other” sector, we compile the data for all the organizations that don’t comfortably fall into any of the other sectors. We include them here because their numbers contribute to creating the overall metrics laid out in the overview at the beginning of this section.

Compared to 2020, this sector saw a healthy increase in open rates and action rates in 2021, with action rates remaining in the double digits for most of the year. In particular, abortion policy and women’s issues within this sector saw some of the highest action rates across all industries in 2021.

Ideological or single-issue organizations can be focused on partisan issues, such as gun control, immigration, groups supporting a single candidate, abortion, human rights, and so on. These types of organizations tend to have passionate supporters and detractors, which could explain the above-average action rates.

The top 10 open rates within specific industries rose from 2020, when the top open rates barely passed 40 percent. In 2021, the top industry open rate — public sector unions — hit 53 percent.

Public sector unions and agricultural services/products had the top action rates in 2021, knocking abortion policy from it’s number one spot held for the last several years.

In the first six months of 2022, we see open rates jump compared with the previous three years to nearly 37 percent. The action rate was slightly lower, but deliverability rate was higher than in the last three years.

SMS for Advocacy Jan-June 2022

Following the trend of 2021, text messages continue to grow as a medium to communicate with advocates. VoterVoice clients sent more than 3 million advocacy text messages in the first half of 2022, with an open rate of nearly 7 percent and a higher action rate than we’ve seen in past years, at 2.6 percent.

When it comes to informational and call-to-action emails specifically, the first six months of 2022 saw good levels of open and action rates for both categories. Twice as many informational campaigns have been sent compared to call-to-action campaigns, and they perform similarly for action and unsubscribe rates. 

Most of the campaigns in the first half of 2022 happened at the state level, which follows the trends we’ve seen every year. The number of state campaigns was more than seven times that of federal campaigns. 

State campaigns and combined federal+state campaigns had the highest action rates, which is a positive sign of your advocates understanding the urgency of your messages. When it comes to action rates, these campaigns also had the best results with a nearly 37 percent open rate.

During the first half of 2022, VoterVoice users sent 202,052,375 emails through our platform, which is approximately 13 percent higher than in the first half of 2021. As we’ve seen in previous years, the spike in message volume came in March. In 2022, approximately three to four times more informational emails are sent than call-to-action messages.

The best open rate during the first half of 2022 came in May and the best action rate occurred in February. So far, 2022 has seen good engagement across the board as advocates are showing up  to open and click on your email advocacy campaigns.

Call-to-action emails saw open rates increase in 2022 compared to that period in 2021 by about 10 percent, while action rates remained consistent with what we saw in the previous period. Unsubscribe rates, at 0.1 percent each month, were also even lower than what we’ve seen in previous years.

Open rates for informational emails were, on average, slightly above open rates for call-to-action emails for the first six months of 2022. Again, open rates were significantly higher than this period in 2021, while unsubscribe and failure rates were lower, indicating that supporters are engaged and want to receive your messages.

In the first six months of 2022, close to 4 million people visited your action centers. People found VoterVoice clients’ action centers primarily through direct traffic, following the trend from previous years. This could indicate that advocates bookmarked your organizations’ action centers so they could keep coming back to access the latest information.

Besides direct traffic, organic search traffic and email saw an increase compared with this period in 2021, while social media was slightly lower. An increase in organic search traffic is good news, as advocacy organizations can get new advocates through organic discovery of your action center.

Traffic to action centers from social networks decreased slightly in the first half 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 though it was still the third-highest traffic driver. Facebook stays in the number one spot as the primary social network traffic driver, but has seen decreases in the past several years, going from 96 percent in 2020 to 82 percent in 2022.

Twitter picked up as a traffic driver in 2022, moving from the fourth spot in 2021 to the second spot this year, while traffic from YouTube and Instagram were down compared to the first half of last year.

During the first six months of 2022, advocates aged 35-44 made up the majority of those visiting your action centers, showing your audiences continue to get younger. While in the first six months of 2020, the majority of users were 65 or older, now this age group is one of the smallest segments represented. 

As for gender, the majority of advocates are female, which had been the trend during this time period for the last few years. However, in the first half of 2022 (as we saw previously on page X), men continued to gain ground with a 4.5 percent jump year over year.

In the first half of 2022, the ideological/single-issue sector was the most active with a total of 3,275 campaigns. During the same period in 2021, this sector was also the most active, though this year they sent 521 more campaigns than the previous year. 

When it comes to open rates, the labor sector got an exceptional 64 percent average open rate for the period as well as the highest action rate, at 23 percent, far outpacing other sectors.  

When it came time to mobilize advocates to take action, public sector unions had the best results once again, with an average action rate of nearly 23 percent.

Public sector unions and agricultural services/products had the top action rates in 2021, knocking abortion policy from its number-one spot held for the last several years.

The most feature-rich digital advocacy solution on the market, VoterVoice is FiscalNote’s flagship advocacy platform, with all the tools you need to mobilize your base, amplify your message, and quickly execute and measure your campaigns.

Drive advocates to your action center by email, text, or push notification, and match them to their correct legislators at the local, state, or federal level. Track and resend capabilities make it easy to follow up with those who haven’t taken action yet, and SmartLink technology prefills advocate information, making it easier than ever to take action. VoterVoice also integrates with FiscalNote’s issues management platform, making it easy to launch an advocacy campaign directly from a bill’s page in the core platform.

Additionally, VoterVoice’s mobile action center includes everything the desktop platform offers, as well as the ability to manage fly-ins and coordinate in-person Hill or district meetings.