Conversation Codes combine your intended List with the Script you provide to your canvassers. These are the 6-digit unique codes that your canvassers will enter to begin conversations.
There are three Conversation Code Types. Knock Canvass Codes are for knocking doors, Phone Bank Codes are for phone banking, and Street Canvass Codes are for organizing people at an event such as a block party, farmer’s market, or street fair.
Jump to:
Your List is who you are talking to.
💡Please click HERE for a refresher on creating Lists from Searches.
Your Script is what you will be talking to them about. Is this an in-person canvass where you remind voters when Election Day is or a phone banking event where you ask voters about their opinions?
💡 Please click HERE for a refresher on creating Scripts.
Creating a Conversation Code
To create a Conversation Code, click on your Burger Bar menu at the top left corner of your browser's menu to reveal a sidebar, then click on Conversation Codes.
To add a new Conversation Code, click the Add Conversation Code button.
Once you click Add Conversation Code, you’ll be asked if you want to create a Knock Canvass, Phone Bank, or Street Canvass code. Choose which one fits your preferred outreach type, then click Save + Next.
✏️ Please Note: Many steps to create a Conversation Code are the same across all Code Types, though some are type-specific. If a step doesn’t apply to your Code Type, simply move to the next section that applies to continue with your setup.
Description and Organization
Regardless of the Conversation Code Type you select, the first tab will prompt you to fill a Description* and Display Organization*.
✏️ Please Note: Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.
Click Save + Next to move to the next screen.
List and Script
Next, choose a Script and a List from those already created in your Garden.
✏️ Please Note: A Street Canvass will only require a Script, as canvassers will manually search for the folks they meet and not need a List to work from.
✏️ Please Note: Begin typing the name of a Script or List to find it in the available options quickly .
If you haven’t yet created a Script or List, there are links under each option to help you navigate to where they can be made.
Click Save + Next to move to the next screen.
Retries and Follow-ups
✏️ Please Note: Follow-ups are only available for Knock and Phone codes, and Retries are only available for Phone codes.
Follow-ups in a Knock Code
✏️ Please Note: If enabled, a canvasser can schedule a follow-up with a contact on their List. At the specified date and time of the follow-up, the icon canvassers see on the map will update from the purple conversation icon to a yellow icon with arrows, indicating it’s time to complete the follow-up. Any notes added to a follow-up will appear in the contact's History tab. Read more about follow-ups in canvassing here.
Retries and Follow-ups in a Phone Bank
Enable Retries: If a canvasser selects the status “Not Home” for a contact, the phone number will be returned to the call queue, placing the contact back at the end of the queue.
Max Retries: The maximum number of retry attempts per contact.
Retry Interval Hours: The number of hours between Retry Attempts in a phone bank.
Enable Followup: If enabled, a canvasser can schedule a follow-up to call a contact from their List back at a specific date and time.
✏️ Please Note: If follow-ups are enabled, a phone banker can schedule a follow-up with a contact on their List. This will add a contact back to the front of the call queue at the specified time and date of the follow-up. Any notes added to a follow-up will appear in the contact's History tab. Read more about follow-ups in phone banking here.
Turf Options and Starting Location
✏️ Please Note: Turf Options and Starting Location are only available when creating Knock Codes.
When creating a Knock Code, you’ll be asked to enter specific details about your turf preferences.
Turf Size: The automatic turf cutter will attempt to reach that ideal number as closely as possible.
We suggest the following numbers based on the size of your turf/walkable area:
- Small Turf: 20
- Medium Turf: 50
- Large Turf: 100
Knock Every Door: This toggle allows the turf cutter to create turfs as small as one single door. This can be useful in rural canvassing or when every single door needs to be knocked.
Starting Location: This is an optional field. This will give canvassers a default location in the app; however, it does not replace the Choose Your Location step for canvassers.
Skip People Search: This is an optional field. This allows canvassers to search the database for duplicates when adding people to an address. Press skip if you do not want them to have this ability.
✏️ Please Note: Enabling Skip People Search does not prevent canvassers from adding a new person to the database, only from searching for matching records. This may cause duplicate records to be added to the database.
Target List Only: This is an optional field. Toggling this field to Yes will show only people in the original search parameters. That means other people with the same address or phone number from the voter file will not be displayed when canvassing or phone banking.
Conversation Code Options
The final step in all three Conversation Code Types is to set an expiration date, a start and end time that determines what time your canvassers can access the Conversation Code, and an attempt goal your canvassers will see when they first load the Code.
✏️Please Note: If a canvasser is Offline, their turf will still accept responses after the Conversation Code expires. Be sure to share with your canvassers when they should stop canvassing on a code if they will be going Offline.
Once these fields are filled out, click Save + Create Code to create your Conversation Code!
✏️ Please Note: Clicking Save + Create Code when creating a Knock Code will trigger the Automatic Turf Cutter. If you choose to use our Manual Turf Cutter over the Automatic Turf Cutter, please see our how-to article HERE.
✏️ Please Note: When using the Automatic Turf Cutter, large Lists of several thousand plus contacts might time out and show an Error screen. Return to the Conversation Code home page, and review the Turf Cutter Status column. If it shows IN_PROGRESS, the turf is still being cut. Click the IN_PROGRESS link to see an updated progress bar.
✏️ Please Note: When creating a phone bank code, the toggle for Target List Only will appear on this screen. Setting this field to Yes will show only people in the original search parameters. That means other people with the same address or phone number from the voter file will not be displayed when canvassing or phone banking.
Editing a Conversation Code
If you want to edit the details of an existing Conversation Code, click the blue 6-digit code next to the Conversation Code you’d like to edit from the Conversation Code homepage.
✏️ Please Note: You can sort Conversation Codes by status, conversation type, expiration date, and time created with filters.
This screen is where you will update attempt goals, when organizers can access turf, the Script, toggle follow-ups and retries, etc.
✏️ Please Note: If you change the Script in a Conversation Code while a canvasser is actively canvassing in Offline Mode, you may run into data saving issues. We recommend waiting to change the Script until your canvassers are back online to avoid any data loss.
✏️ Please Note: You cannot change your List, Conversation Code Type, or min or max turf size after a Conversation Code has been created! You will need to create a new Conversation Code to edit those.
✏️ Please Note: When editing a Conversation Code, there is a checkbox at the bottom of the screen that will automatically release any turfs a canvasser is working on when they click Finish Organizing.
Make sure to save your changes as you go!
Reviewing Edits to a Conversation Code
Edits to any Conversation Code can be reviewed to track changes and who made them. While in a Conversation Code, click the History button at the top to see a change log.
You’ll see a list of all changes made to the Conversation Code, the dates they were made, and the User who made them.
FAQs:
Q: I want to complete a second pass on my canvassing List. What’s the best way to do this?
A: The quickest way to do a second pass of a knock Conversation Code is to either update your original Saved Search with a second step or create a new Search if you want to preserve the initial Saved Search.
To use your initial Saved Search, navigate to My Searches and click Go to List in the Saved Search you want to update.
Layer on a Remove Step that pulls out the folks you’ve already spoken with. Under Attempts, choose the Conversation Code you want to complete a second pass on, along with all the relevant Statuses, ex. Not Home, Canvassed, Deceased, etc. Finally, run your Search and create a new Conversation Code with the updated List.
To create a new Saved Search, use your original List for the code as the initial Add Step under Lists, then follow the steps above to layer on a Remove step.
Q: I created a Conversation Code but wanted to change the turf min or max size, or I don't like how the turf cut, and I want to start over. It says PENDING under Turf Cutter Status, and when I click on it, the code says the turf has already been cut. Is there a place to delete the already-cut turf that I am missing?
A: To get a new set of turf on an already-cut set of turf, we recommend the following steps:
- Go to My Lists in the burger bar menu, find the List you created for this Conversation Code, and delete it
- Return to the Saved Search used to create the List for the Conversation Code
- Click Create List from Search again to create a new List
- Update your Conversation Code with the new target List
- Make any other necessary adjustments
- Click Save
The Conversation Code should then cut new turf!
Q: What happens if I edit or delete a Conversation Code while my canvassers are working it?
A: If an administrator changes the Script of a Conversation Code mid-canvass or phone bank, the Script will update for the canvassers in real-time. Unless the canvassers are Offline when the change is made. Changing the Script in a Conversation Code while a canvasser is actively canvassing in Offline Mode may result in data saving issues. We recommend waiting to change the Script until your canvassers are back online to avoid any data loss.
If an administrator deletes a Conversation Code mid-canvass, that data will be lost. We are currently working on multiple safety nets to prevent this data loss, but for now, our main safety net is the warning popup that will appear before you click Delete.
Have more questions? Email us at support@openfield.ai.
If you have feature requests or suggestions for how to improve OpenField, stop by our Product Suggestion & Feature Request page!
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