Both the body and subject line pointed readers to their survey, which stuck to the basics: about five, easy-to-read questions on the hottest topics of the day.  As it turns out, their constituents were more than happy to participate, and their subscribers list grew by leaps and bounds.

I had a few questions for the Press Secretary who spearheaded the effort (and who is modest despite his success – he asked to remain nameless).  I’ve posted his answers here:

You had a very successful start to your email outreach in 2010.  What were your goals going into the New Year?

We wanted to redesign an antiquated online and fax newsletter and we wanted to boost the Congressman’s online newsletter list from 800 to at least a few thousand.

You doubled your subscribers list in a single weekend, right off the bat.  How did you manage that?

Actually, we went from 800 to over 6000 in just a few days. We sent over 100,000 constituent e-mail addresses an online survey asking them their opinions on some of the hot topics Congress is dealing with right now. When they submitted the survey they were able to sign up for the newsletter.

In drafting your e-newsletter, what were your priorities for the content and its presentation?  Did you track click-through rates?

We prioritize actions that the Congressman is taking and his bipartisan work to get things accomplished. We haven’t been tracking click through rates yet but I’m hoping to get some time to see what people are interested in.

How about the survey?  Any tips for creating successful surveys?

We based our questions on Rasmussen and Gallup poll questions to avoid the appearance of bias. We also included a question about priorities that had six different options.

What’s your e-newsletter strategy for the year ahead?

We’re going to continue with weekly e-newsletters but we’ll also be sending out special editions when big events happen. Last year, the Congressman sent out in-depth memos explaining his reasoning on some of the big votes. The new list is a great way to get this communication piece out to even more constituents.

As we mentioned in our recent security post, you need to be on the House network to access your account, but you don’t physically need to be on the Hill to connect.

The House provides a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service that when combined with an HIR-provided SecurID allows you to securely connect to the House network from anywhere. If you don’t already have a SecurID, you will need to fill out a form on this HouseNet page.

By the way, this iPhone screenshot is real. There is a built-in VPN on all iPhones…and here’s a trick to take screenshots: press the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time and you’ll find a screenshot in your photo library.

I don’t know for sure exactly how these sites got hacked—I would just be speculating without conducting an audit of server logs. I do want to take this opportunity to re-assure our clients of things we do at Fireside21 to protect our client’s web site and constituent data.

Our system is safer for several reasons:

1. Our web servers run the latest software and have anti-hacking protection built-in.
2. We write our own software and adhere to the best practices for handing anonymous input.
3. All our administrative functions are limited to the house network, which means hackers have to breach the house firewall before they can even try to access our admin servers.
4. All administrative logins are encrypted with the same technology used by banks and online stores.
5. We lock accounts that enter too many bad passwords, making it hard for hackers to try and guess your password.

One thing I recommend for everyone is to be careful with your usernames and passwords. Pick a complex password, change it often, and don’t let anyone know what it is!

Never lose sight of who you are working for: your constituents. These tips are aimed at helping you get the best results out of your email outreach, and it’s critical to remember the real measure of your success. Take a moment to step back and ask, “Is our outreach engaging our constituents? Is it serving their interests? Is it helping us represent them better?”

If the answer is YES, hit Send!

Not all email readers are alike. Emails that look perfect in your Gmail account might be slightly askew in Outlook. That’s why it’s always a good idea to test your emails in a variety of email inboxes and make sure the formatting is what you expected. (Hint: pay special attention to Outlook 2007!). Not to mention, it will give you another chance to check for typos.

Take advantage of constituents’ phone calls to get their email addresses and subscribe them to your newsletter. If you can convert them into email communicators, your phone lines will be that much quieter the next time a major debate rolls through Congress.

It might go something like this: “Thank you for your call today. The Congressman/Congresswoman likes to keep in touch with constituents by email, as well. Would you be interested in receiving his/her email updates?”