Sending Peer to Peer texts using PDI Mobile as a Volunteer
Introduction
The PDI Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Texting Project allows users to send personalized, one-to-one text messages to individuals in your voter database, people database, or imported mobile phone lists. This guide will walk you through the features and workflow of the P2P texting project, helping you manage and execute your texting campaign effectively.
With peer-to-peer texting, you:
- Create a P2P texting script.
- Choose the universe or list for sending the texts.
- Schedule the delivery and assign volunteers to send the messages.
- Volunteers log in to the PDI Mobile App to send messages manually and respond to replies.
Unlike broadcast texting, P2P texting supports two-way communication, allowing volunteers to view and respond to incoming messages directly.
To access the texting features, from the Online Campaign Tool, navigate to Outreach > Peer-to-Peer Texting.
Here, you can create text messages and send them to any universe from your voter or people database or from imported mobile phone lists. You can also schedule messages to be sent at a specific time. Additionally, you can import an external list of phone numbers to send messages without adding individuals to the people database. For more targeted outreach, create a small recipient list of known individuals to include with your full universe when sending text messages.
Create Text Messages
To begin a text campaign, start by creating your message. To create a new text message or edit a previous message, click on the Create Text Messages box. Outreach> Peer to Peer (P2P) texting > Create Text Messages
To create a new text message, click on the blue “Create New Text Message” box in the upper right corner.
“Create New Text Message” will bring you to the “Compose Message” page where you can begin to write your campaign message.
- Choose a name for your text message under the field “Name”.
- Click on the drop-down menu labeled “Category”.
- Choose a category that you have previously used or create a new category for your project. The category chosen should reflect the goal of the campaign. Examples of categories include Voter Registration, GOTV, Donation, etc.
To create a new category, click on the blue “Create New Category” option. Enter the name of your category and click “Save”.
Message Detail
Under “Message Detail”, compose the text message you want to send to campaign recipients. There is a character count in the top right corner of the “Message Detail” box to track the length of your message.
Text messages are calculated based on segments. For SMS, each segment is up to 160 characters, while MMS messages can be up to 1600 characters per segment. Special characters and emoticons are segmented differently. Select the icon to the right of the character count for the calculated per-send pricing of the message being composed.
Images and Emoticons
Images and emoticons may be included in your message using the icons circled in red. In the left corner of the “Message Detail” section, you may select the image icon to access the Image Manager to upload images or videos to your text. When images are included, the message becomes an MMS message costing $0.034 per segment. If no images are included, the message will remain a standard SMS message costing $0.014 per segment.
To upload an image, select “+Upload” to choose the image from your files and then select “Add Image” to add to the text.
The folder icon to the left of “+Upload” allows you to create folders to organize your images. If you would like to delete a folder, simply select the folder and click the X icon to the right of “+Upload”. A pop-up will appear to confirm that you wish to delete the folder.
When an image has been successfully added to a message, the MMS icon will appear at the top of the “Message Detail” box as well as a preview of the image in the bottom left corner. If you would like to remove the image, simply press the red X on the image preview.
Merge Tags
The “Merge Tags” menu allows you to address recipients by a variety of identifiers such as name, age, or polling place. Scroll down under the “Merge Tags” menu to see a complete list of tag options.
Opt-Out Language
All 10DLC campaigns require that recipients are given the option to opt out of receiving further messages from the campaign. Under “Opt Out Language”, click on the drop down menu labeled “Select Opt Out Language” to see a list of possible options for an opt out message. This language will appear at the bottom of your text message and will count towards the total length of your message.
Save Changes
Once your message is composed, there are four options at the bottom of the page to proceed.
- Clicking “Cancel” will delete your progress and return you to the Create Text Messages page.
- “Send Test” allows you to send a sample text message to the number of your choosing. Simply type in the number you would like to receive the sample text and press “Send”.
Please note that when sending test text messages, merge fields will not be automatically populated with their respective values.
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3. "Proceed to Setup Full Universe Send” will redirect you to the page titled “Setup Delivery of Text Messages” which allows you to choose the recipients of the text campaign by selecting a saved universe or list.
4. Clicking “Save Changes” will save your progress which can be found on the Create Text Messages page. From Create Text Messages, you can review and edit saved messages by selecting the name of the message.
Delete Message
To delete a message, select the box next to the name of the message and select “Deactivate Selected Messages”. A pop-up page will confirm that you want to delete the selected messages.
Deleted messages can be viewed by selecting the “Show Inactive Messages” box in the top left corner. Deleted messages can be reactivated at any time by opening the message and selecting the “Active” box towards the bottom of the page, then selecting “Save Changes”.
Send Text Messages
You can also reach “Setup Delivery of Text Messages” by navigating to Outreach> Peer to Peer (P2P) Texting> Send Text Messages, then select the blue “Schedule a Delivery” button in the top right corner.
Choose Message
On clicking, "Schedule a delivery", you are redirected to the Setup Delivery of Text Messages screen.
Enter a name and use the “Text Message” drop-down menu to select a script from your previously saved messages to be sent.
Send To
In the “Send To” section, you must select at least one database to send messages to using the drop down menus.
Make Exclusions
You may customize your list by selecting the box “Make Exclusions”. Additional drop down menus will appear to make changes to the selected database.
Calculate Unique Mobile Phones in Universe
Once you have chosen a database, select “Calculate Unique Mobile Phones in Universe” to view the number of phone numbers available to receive messages as well as the estimated cost of delivery of messages. Additionally in this section, you can review the type of message being sent, message length, and price per segment.
Scheduled Messages
At the bottom of the page, you may select “Save Changes and Send Now” to proceed with billing and send messages immediately. Alternatively, you may select “Schedule to Send Later” to select a future date and time to send your messages. Proceed by selecting “Save Changes and Send at Scheduled Time”.
Once you have saved changes, a “Final Confirmation” pop-up screen will appear to confirm the number of recipients, select “Confirm and Send” to proceed to billing.
Billing
Enter your Authorization Code and select a Billing Folder or “Add Billing Folder”. Select “Process File and Payment Now” to authorize payment and delivery of messages.
After scheduling the delivery of your P2P texting campaign, the system will process the associated payment. During this time, the project status will remain Pending.
Once the payment is successfully processed, the project status will automatically update to Completed. At this point, you can begin assigning volunteers to the project for texting the selected universe/list.
Assign Volunteers
Once your P2P texting project status changes to Completed, you can begin assigning volunteers who will send messages through the PDI Mobile App.
To add a volunteer to your P2P texting project:
- Click on "View Volunteers" next to the completed project.
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On the Volunteer List page, click the "Add a new volunteer" button in the top right corner.
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On the "Register Volunteer" tab, Use the Volunteer dropdown to search for a volunteer by typing their name or initials.
- Select the desired volunteer from the list. Once selected, the volunteer will be added to the project and can begin texting through the PDI Mobile App.
Volunteer List
The Volunteer List page allows you to manage and monitor volunteers assigned to a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) texting project.
From the Volunteer List page, you can:
- Search for volunteers using the search bar at the top.
- Add new volunteers by clicking the "Add a new volunteer" button.
- View volunteer activity, including:
- Volunteer Name
- Texts Sent
- Replies (Unread / Total)
- Manage assignments with options to:
- Reassign replies to a different Volunteer
- Remove volunteers from the current texting project.
Project Summary
Once your P2P texting project is created and scheduled, you can view its summary to review key details and statistics.
Click on the Project Name to open the Project Summary page.
This page provides a quick overview of your P2P texting project, including, Delivery and message details, Volunteer count, Key statistics like total contacts, sent messages, delivery status, and replies.
Sent List
From the P2P Text Messages Deliveries page, you can view the Sent List by clicking on "View" next to a completed project. The Sent List displays Recipient Name, Phone Number and the Message Status
Sending Peer-to-Peer texts using PDI Mobile as a Volunteer
For step-by-step instructions on how volunteers can send texts using the PDI Mobile App, refer to the guide here