The Action Alert

Previous Step: Options

Next Step: Targets

The Alert page contains your message to your supporters about the issue at hand. This is essentially their introduction to what's happening, so make a point to be clear about the bill / issue in question, how they will be affected by it, why they need to help support or oppose it, and what you are asking them to do.

Headline

The headline is, as far as your supporters are concerned, the title of the campaign. It will appear at the top of the campaign page. Consider making the headline a clear request or position such as "Help Support the HR 630: The Eliminate Professional Licensing Act" or "HR 630 Will Benefit Small Business."

Image

The alert headline will always appear at the top of the page, but you can control what appears behind it. By default, VoterVoice displays the text of the headline over a bar with the main color of your site. 

The second option allows you to replace the colored bar with an image of your choosing. VoterVoice provides a number of generic banner images from which you can choose, and you can also upload an image from your computer. If you opt to upload your own banner image, we will display to you the ideal dimensions for your site. Note that using a banner image means that the text listing of multiple campaigns will also feature a thumbnail image taken from the center square of the image you use. For that reason, we suggest not including text in the banner image itself. 

The third option allows you to keep the colored bar at the top of the campaign page while also including a thumbnail for the listing. The ideal size for a thumbnail image is 200x200 pixels. 

There is no option that allows you to have a banner image and an entirely different thumbnail image. 

Please note that adding an image here will force that image to be the one included in social media shares of the campaign. 

Body

The body of the alert is where you enter the main text of the message to your supporters. It takes up the largest area of the campaign page on the user site, so make use of that space. Explain, in simple terms, why they should care about the issue and what you want them to do about it. If possible, use pictures and graphs where applicable in order to draw the supporters' eyes and convey information quickly.

If you are placing the campaign on a microsite that already explains the bill or issue, you may want to not include the Alert section at all. It is possible to accomplish this by simply not entering any content into the body section of the alert. You have to include a headline; but if you never enter a body, the entire alert section will disappear from the user's view and leave only the recipients, sample message, and user profile. 

Expected Action

Finally, specify whether or not you want your users to send an advocacy message in this campaign. If so, you will continue to select the targets you want them to contact. If not, the campaign setup is complete. This later option results in only the alert being displayed, so it is sometimes used to convey information about legislation that has not yet been introduced or that you do not want people to make contact regarding just yet.

Previous Step: Options

Next Step: Targets