How to Run a Phone Bank

OpenField enables you to conduct any type of outreach you need, whether a one-day phone bank extravaganza or a long-term paid program.

We recommend reviewing the rest of the Help Center articles prior to launch so you’re clear on how to set up your Searches, Scripts, and Conversation Codes! Canvassers require the 6-digit Conversation Codes an admin creates to phone bank, so be sure to have those ready and available before they arrive for their shifts. 

Users

Creating Accounts

In OpenField, your program can choose between creating your canvasser accounts, called User accounts, ahead of time, or you can allow your canvassers to create their own accounts to save prep time before launch.

OpenField also allows Users to reset their own passwords, saving you time in the field. 

Training Users

OpenField also offers many resources to help train new canvassers! You can send your team to our article on  Phone Banking with OpenField so they can familiarize themselves with how to use the tool before making calls. The article also includes a video how-to for folks who prefer to watch rather than read instructions! 

We also offer live virtual training for groups of five or more. Click this link to access our Training Request Form, and we can schedule it. 

Viewing and Managing User Data

OpenField also allows for oversight and management of a User’s phone bank data. An individual User’s attempt and conversation history can be viewed in real-time through Canvasser Analytics. This view includes the Conversation Code, Script, contact type, response, and contact’s address, if applicable, for every attempt the User has ever made. 

Clicking the name of a contact record while in this view will also take you to that contact’s record in the canvassing app, where you can review the results of the conversation the canvasser had with that contact.

Additionally, if any of a canvasser’s data is found to be incorrect such as in the case of bad actors or when needing to retrain a canvasser who is mismarking data, entire Users can be Quarantined! Quarantining will remove the User's Attempts and Contacts from your Analytics counts and Exports. You can also choose to Quarantine only individual contacts recorded by a canvasser instead of their entire account.

Finally, canvassers' performance can be measured against their fellow canvassers in a leaderboard-style view separated by Script or Conversation Code. 

What Canvassers Can See and Change

If a canvasser is on the phones and needs to view or update information about a contact, such as their address or phone number, they can do so from the About tab for that contact. 

There is also a GOTV tab, where canvassers can view the contact's Absentee and Early Vote information, including Polling Location, Early Vote Location, and whether the contact has voted early.

Finally, the History tab will display a record of any previous conversations with the contact, including the day, time, and canvasser who made the contact.

If, for any reason, a canvasser mismarks data for a contact, they have a 5-minute window to save a second, correct response for the contact. Only the second response will be saved.

Adding New Contacts to OpenField

OpenField also allows your canvassers to have conversations with people who aren’t in the database; they can add a new contact they talk to while phone banking. 

Managing a Phone Bank

Retries and Follow Ups

With retries enabled in a phone bank, a contact will be automatically added back to the call queue if a phone banker marks them as “Not Home.” 

A follow up will do the same, but allow a phone banker to select a specific time and date for the call back, and add a note with additional information if necessary. 

Reviewing Your Program’s Progress (Analytics)

In OpenField, you can review data about your program's performance in real-time in several ways, including on the User level, detailed above, as well as the Script and Conversation Code levels. 

Script Analytics will display how a Script has performed across all the Conversation Codes it is tied to, regardless of Conversation Code type. 

Conversation Code Analytics shows you a breakdown of all the responses your canvassers are receiving for each conversation they’re having in graph format, the disposition breakdown of each attempt they’ve made on the doors or phones, and a leaderboard-style comparison of all the Users who have canvassed within that code. 

Tips and Tricks Before Launch

FAQs

We have identified some of the most common questions we receive, and have addressed the answers in the FAQs section of our Help Center! We have them broken down into questions asked by administrators and by canvassers.

This includes responses to questions like, How do I send my phonebank to a second round?; How can I add a new person to the database?; and How can I go back and record the correct response for a contact?

Printable Field Signs

At OpenField, we pride ourselves on meeting your needs before they arise. In that spirit, we have created printable one-pagers to hang in your field office! 

We have created signs with quick how-to’s for door canvassing, phone banking, the Conversation Code of the day, Offline Mode for door knocking, Offline Mode sync reminders, and Adding a New Person or Adding New Addresses or Units. 

If you have a suggestion for another sign that would be useful for your program, please email us at [e-mail]!  

Have more questions? Email us at [e-mail]. 

If you have feature requests or suggestions for how to improve OpenField, stop by our Product Suggestion & Feature Request page!