How Common Cause gets supporters to call Congress

This is a feature in our Partner Profile series, where we highlight world-class email programs growing their lists on Civic Shout.

You drafted the perfect “write Congress now” email.

The timing is perfect, and your click-to-send form is dialed in.

One problem: Most Congress members couldn’t care less.

Lawmakers, especially at the federal level, have gotten wise to form letter campaigns. When 10,000 messages land with the same subject line, staffers know it’s low-effort.

That’s why Devon Bhakta, Senior Manager of Digital Campaigns at Common Cause, shifted much of their federal advocacy email program away from letters and toward phone calls.

The catch? Getting people to make a phone call is a much bigger ask. Here’s what’s working:

Be vague about the ask
This one’s counterintuitive.

Common Cause tested direct language “click here to call to your rep.” against more general language “take action”. 

The vaguer version won.

Not just on click-throughs (a 124% increase), which you’d expect. 

But also a 38% increase in completed calls.

It was a win-win situation — the vague language helped them keep click rates high and make a stronger political impact.

Common Cause has a theory: once someone lands on the call page and sees how the process actually works (enter your info, get connected automatically), people are less intimidated.

The word “call” in the email is what stops people from taking the next step.

As a millennial who avoids phone calls like the plague, I get it.

Rapid response over “evergreen”
Common Cause has seen rapid-response emails consistently outperform most evergreen, “pre-planned” content.

That’s not surprising on its own, but their ability to actually execute on it is the part worth paying attention to.

They’ve organized their policy work into four clear pillars: media and technology, civil rights and civil liberties, anti-corruption and accountability, and voting and fair representation.

When news breaks, those categories tell the team exactly who to go to for sign-off and what lane they’re in.

They also have a designated rapid-response person on the team, so there’s no ambiguity about who’s drafting.

That combination of clear structure and clear ownership is what makes “just send a rapid-response email” actually doable on a Tuesday afternoon.

How to apply this to your program
If your letter campaigns aren’t moving the needle in the policy arena, test calls. Start with your most engaged segment and use general “take action” language in the email.

Build your rapid-response workflow before you need it. Know who approves what, and designate someone to own the draft.

The bottom line
When something outrageous hits the news, and your supporters are already fired up, that’s the moment to ask them to pick up the phone.

Case in point: Common Cause drove more than a thousand calls to eight Senate targets on the Saturday ICE agents killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Common Cause’s program works because they’ve built the workflow to make that happen fast.

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

‘Til next time!
Sara