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Spoke Documentation

website·Indexed 29 days ago

https://wtr-docs.pages.dev

Documentation for Spoke, a political messaging application designed for mass-scale peer-to-peer text messaging. Includes guides for administrators on campaign building, interaction scripts, VAN integration, and 10DLC registration, as well as training for texters on managing conversations, using canned responses, and escalating contacts.

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What's inside Spoke

  1. Overview of Peer-to-Peer Texting for Campaigns

    Peer-to-peer texting is used by electoral campaigns to reach large numbers of voters through trained volunteers. It serves two primary functions:

    1. Voter Contact: Identifying support levels (Voter ID), persuading voters, and Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts.
    2. Supporter Mobilization: Recruiting volunteers, promoting events, and soliciting donations from existing supporters.

  2. Overview of Spoke political messaging application

    Spoke is a political messaging application designed for sending mass-scale peer-to-peer text messages to volunteers and voters. It allows organizations to organize texting campaigns to connect texters with contacts. Spoke is designed to be used in combination with a CRM; it is not a CRM itself and should not be used as one.

  3. Create essential volunteer materials

    To empower remote volunteers, the following three resources are critical:

    • Training Slides: A comprehensive overview of how to use Spoke and Slack. These should be presented in a live online training or via pre-recorded video. Templates are available from support@withtheranks.com.
    • Team FAQ: A central document for common questions from both texters and voters, including candidate biographies, political summaries, and positions on key issues. Templates are available from support@withtheranks.com.
    • Slack Workspace: The primary hub for real-time support and coordination.

  4. Structure initial texting messages in Spoke

    Initial messages sent to the voter universe should be clear, concise, and compelling. Effective scripts typically follow a three-part structure:

    1. Introduction: Greet the textee and introduce the texter.
    2. Argument: Provide the reasoning why the textee should agree to the request.
    3. Ask: Make a direct request including all necessary logistical details (e.g., date and time).

  5. Understand Spoke user roles and permissions

    Spoke utilizes four distinct roles to manage permissions within an organization. All roles have the basic ability to request conversations and text contacts. Roles can be managed via the People page of the administration dashboard.

  6. Understand the role of Campaigns in Spoke

    Campaigns are the primary mechanism in Spoke for organizing outreach. Each campaign consists of a contact list and an interaction script. When a campaign is launched, contacts are assigned to texters who use the provided script to initiate and manage conversations. Campaigns are designed for specific purposes (e.g., event attendance or support polling) to ensure consistent data collection and clear communication. Multiple campaigns can be run simultaneously to target different contact groups with different objectives.

  7. Understand SMS segment billing and character limits

    In Spoke, SMS messages are billed by the segment rather than the whole message. A segment is a component of a larger text message. Standard SMS segments typically allow up to 160 characters. Messages between 160 and 320 characters generally count as 2 segments.

  8. Create a conversation tag in Spoke Admin

    Tags allow texters to log additional data about a conversation or contact across all organization campaigns. Note that conversation tags apply only to the current conversation and do not carry over to conversations with the same contact on other campaigns.

    To create a tag:

    1. Navigate to the Tags page of the administration dashboard.
    2. Click the green plus (+) button in the bottom right-hand corner.
    3. Enter a tag title.
    4. (Optional) Configure the following:
      • Tag description: A brief explanation of the tag.
      • Tag script: Text that automatically populates when the texter selects the tag.
      • Text color and Background color: Visual styling for the tag.
    5. Click Create.

  9. Use Canned Responses for non-data-collecting answers

    Canned Responses provide a supplemental menu of common answers to frequent questions. Unlike Survey Responses, applying a Canned Response does NOT log any data about the conversation. They should only be used for providing information where data collection is not required.
    Example Canned Responses:
- "Where did you get my information?"
- "What is {organization_name}?"
- "How do I check if I'm registered to vote?"
- "Where is my polling place?"

  10. Understand the structure of campaign interaction scripts

    Interaction scripts define a campaign's conversation flow and survey questions, allowing texters to send prepared messages and record survey responses. Interaction scripts are managed on the campaign settings page and can only be edited by administrators.

    An interaction script consists of three primary components:

    1. Initial Message: The first message sent to all contacts to initiate the conversation.
    2. Survey Questions and Answers: A set of predefined questions and options used by texters to record specific information from the conversation.
    3. Follow-up Messages: Messages that trigger based on the specific survey answers provided by the contact, allowing the conversation flow to vary based on replies.

    If a conversation deviates from the script, administrators can provide canned responses for texters to handle unique situations manually.

  11. Understand the contact opt-out process

    Opting out a contact adds them to the organization's opt-out list, which prevents further messages from being sent to that contact. All future campaigns automatically exclude contacts on the opt-out list. Note that opt-outs are permanent.

  12. Understand Spoke Organizations and Sending Identities

    An organization in Spoke is a distinct sending identity. Using multiple organizations allows you to separate conversations into distinct threads for the recipient by using different sending numbers. For example, creating separate organizations for 'volunteers' and 'voters' ensures that a person who is both a volunteer and a voter receives messages from two different numbers rather than a single combined thread.