September VoteSource Newsletter

Welcome to the September edition of the VoteSource Newsletter.

Missed our last edition? Catch up by clicking here.

Or click here to browse all previous editions.

VoteSource 10 - Coming soon!

VoteSource will be receiving a major update, changing how we see and use the system going forward.

All new design, all new look, same great VoteSource! The below are just some of the improvements you will notice when we upgrade to VS10.

New Homepage and Dynamic menu options on the left hand side of the screen

Once you log in you’ll immediately notice the new layout for the VoteSource homepage and the left hand side menu.

This menu, which can be minimised if required, will always be present no matter what task you are carrying out.

This will enable you to easily move from one section of VoteSource to another one entirely if required.

Allowing you to quickly navigate around the system, without having to click on the Homepage and then click through to the area you want.

New Advanced Target Audience layout

We’ve listened to all the feedback regarding advanced target audience layout and our developers have designed a new flow system approach to setting up your custom targets.

The layout will simplify your selection, allowing you to create your targets quickly and accurately. The language has also been changed to improve your understanding of the different criteria you can use.

Streamlined Survey Creation

This is an area many people have told us they struggle with. The team have again listened to the feedback from you and have changed the way surveys are created.

Survey Templates – The campaign team will provide templates that you can browse and then copy and edit to suit your campaign needs.

Question Bank – Tired of manually adding the same question and setting up an answer for it? The new question bank system will already have many frequently asked questions, like VI scores, already pre-set and you can then just add them to your survey all at once.

You will still be able to create a survey from scratch as well as create your own issues and tags. But when creating the survey you will find it is a far simpler process, with the ability to add questions and answers already set up, create new questions and set up survey actions all from the same page.

Simpler user account creation

Firstly – the captcha codes are gone! Both for creating a user account and resetting your password!

New users will be asked to prove they are human still but with a far more intuitive test. The new sign-up page will then lead people through a series of questions designed to identify what level of access they will require and to where.

This will then make it easier for their account to be approved as VoteSource will then recommend, based on the new user’s information, what role and to which area they require.

More information, including a release date, will be coming soon. Please keep an eye on the news section within VoteSource for more information.

VoteSource Team at Conference

Like every year we will have a team present at Party conference ready to take your questions and suggestions – so why not drop by and see us?

Our team will be happy to take any questions you may have about VoteSource as well as demonstrate how to use the system to set up key functions.

So, if there is some part of the system you have always not been quite sure about, or you just want to discuss the design of the system, drop on by.

We will also be happy to preview our upcoming release of VS10 – more details of this in the first article of this Newsletter – so if you would like to see what the future holds for VoteSource, come ask us and see!

You’ll find us near the Party stand, we look forward to meeting you!

Advanced Target Audiences which are run to identify current members

An important reminder that certain user roles can run advanced target audiences that identify current members but that does not mean everyone can use these audiences.

Certain user roles on VoteSource can run advanced target audiences and specify they wish to identify current members.

For those not familiar, advanced target audiences can be run by polling district or electoral area and allow you to add custom criteria, rather than using the standard tiles which identify only what they list.

Amongst the criteria you can select in these advanced audiences are marked register data, postal vote information, voting intentions and many more. You can add various combinations of these criteria to create quite unique campaign sessions.

There are some important points to remember about these audiences though and who exactly can create certain variations of them.

First of all, all original recipients of this Newsletter will be able to create advanced target audiences. But you will only see the option to include current members if you have the user role Local – Constituency Organiser or above – these can create advanced target audiences which identify current members. If you have this access, or higher, you will also need to have access to the membership data for the relevant area.

For example, if you have the user role Local – Constituency Organiser for a constituency but cannot view any data in the Membership section of VoteSource you cannot run the audience.

You can easily check what level of access you have on VoteSource by logging in and clicking on the drop-down arrow next to your name at the top right of the screen and selecting See My Record. From the next page that loads select the User tile. This section will detail the access you have to VoteSource, and your user role will to the system will be listed under the heading Electoral Area Permissions.

The next thing to bear in mind about advanced audiences which are run to identify current members is that in the same way they can only be run if you have the correct access, the same applies if you set them up for Connect Calling, Canvass/Survey data entry and Mobile Canvassing. People without the access required to set up the audiences cannot enter data for them.

This applies even if you give the PIN numbers for the data entry, unless the recipient of the PIN also has Local – Constituency Organiser access or above with membership data they will not see the task. Please keep this in mind when setting up your audiences.

Finally, most readers will be familiar with coming across membership records that have split from their electoral record – whereby the membership record does not contain an electoral roll number. Any target audience you run will only identify data linked to a record with an electoral roll number. This can cause some discrepancies between the number of members you can view in the Membership section current member reports and how many are identified by an advanced target audience. When these discrepancies are found though, it is a good idea to go through and match the membership records to their electoral record.

It is often found that the reason the membership record has split is that the member has moved, so it is a great opportunity to ensure your membership details are up to day to ensure renewal reminders and invites you send to members reach the correct address.

For more information on matching records please see the following user guide found in the VoteSource Help Centre:

https://votesource.uk/Management/HelpCenter#!/ViewArticle/178

If you would like more information about advanced target audiences or setting them up for data entry, please do get in touch on either 020 7984 8000 or votesourcesupport@conservatives.com

Updated Audiences

Updated target audiences are on VoteSource. These are the audiences that you should prioritise for upcoming campaigning activity. In addition to the vote-choice audiences (Likely Converts, Possible Defectors, etc) we’ve also added some demographic groups. Which should make it easier to target your campaigns to the right people.

And you should see some more Quick Selection tiles. These let you select different combinations of vote-choice audiences and demographic groups in just a few mouse clicks. All you need to do is give the selection a name and tell it which geographic area. The tile takes care of the rest!

If you have any questions about the tiles or the new audiences, please email insight@conservatives.com.

Marked Registers

Wondering what’s the best thing you can do to prepare for next year’s local elections? Find out who voted in this year’s local elections!

The marked register is the list of people on the electoral register with a line drawn next to the names of people who voted. You can buy it from your local authority.

Why should I do that?

It’s incredibly helpful to know which people vote and which people don’t. And when you combine it with registers from different elections it’s especially useful to know the people who sometimes vote but sometimes don’t.

It can help you target all sorts of campaigning activity - from canvassing to GOTV to membership recruitment. And it helps us at CCHQ help you as well, by making the audiences we load to VoteSource more accurate.

So don’t delay - and get your marked register ordered today. It really is the best thing you can do right now to help you make next year’s local election campaign a success.

If you have any questions please email marked.register@conservatives.com