January 17, 2008
Text Messaging Young Supporters Is Effective
A study released recently showed that young people are 4.2 percent more likely to vote if they receive a text message reminding them to show up to the polls.
The study was conducted as part of the nonprofit The Student PIRGs' New Voters Project to demonstrate the effectiveness of using text messages to mobilize young voters. Study partners include wireless phone company Working Assets and researchers from the University of Michigan and Princeton University.
One day prior to the November 2006 elections, researchers sent text messages voting reminders to more than 4,000 mobile phone numbers, mostly young registered voters. Afterward, participants were matched to voter records to determine if they had voted in the election.
Some findings include:
- Most (59 percent) of the recipients, and especially Hispanics, found the message reminder helpful, versus 23 percent who found it bothersome.
- At just $1.56 per additional vote generated, text messaging was extremely cost effective.
- In comparison, while "quality" telephone calls had a similar mobilization effect as the text messages, the cost per vote generated was a much steeper $20.
- Direct mail increased mobilization by about 0.6 percent, and cost $67 per vote.
- Of the different messages tested, a short, to-the-point reminder was the most effective, with a boost of nearly 5 percent.
Why text messaging:
- A quarter of Americans younger than age of 25 used a mobile phone as their only telephone during the first half of 2006.
- The mobile-only population is projected to reach nearly 30 percent of the entire American public by the 2008 Presidential election.
- Text/SMS messaging is already widely used among young people as a form of communication.
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This article is from NPT Instant Fundraising, a publication of The NonProfit Times.
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