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| Why British political parties won’t stop spamming you | Why British political parties won’t stop spamming you |
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| As with many insufferable things about British politics, Barack Obama is to blame. And, to a lesser extent, Mitt Romney. More specifically, you should blame the serried ranks of Westminster operatives who took a busman’s holiday during the last US presidential campaign, watched in awe as the American electoral behemoth went into full swing, and then, if you ever expressed any interest in their parties, delivered their resulting big ideas directly into your inbox – day after day, after day. | As with many insufferable things about British politics, Barack Obama is to blame. And, to a lesser extent, Mitt Romney. More specifically, you should blame the serried ranks of Westminster operatives who took a busman’s holiday during the last US presidential campaign, watched in awe as the American electoral behemoth went into full swing, and then, if you ever expressed any interest in their parties, delivered their resulting big ideas directly into your inbox – day after day, after day. |
| Related: Andy Burnham, Tom Watson and June Sarpong broke my inbox | Related: Andy Burnham, Tom Watson and June Sarpong broke my inbox |
| “The Americans just have email down to a fine art,” says one Conservative strategist who has worked on several Republican campaigns. “The Obama campaign taught us a lot about email,” says a digital communications specialist working for one of the Labour leadership candidates. “We’ve developed a lot in this space after a bunch of us worked on the Obama campaign,” says Austin Rathe, the Liberal Democrats’ head of members and supporters. The enthusiasm is universal. | “The Americans just have email down to a fine art,” says one Conservative strategist who has worked on several Republican campaigns. “The Obama campaign taught us a lot about email,” says a digital communications specialist working for one of the Labour leadership candidates. “We’ve developed a lot in this space after a bunch of us worked on the Obama campaign,” says Austin Rathe, the Liberal Democrats’ head of members and supporters. The enthusiasm is universal. |
| The trouble is: if you’re a hapless voter in pursuit of inbox zero, the consequences are pretty ugly. All three parties rely on email to communicate with members and possible supporters, but the last few weeks have brought what might be a particular low – striking at the members of the Labour party. With campaigns for the leader and deputy running alongside a London mayoral primary and urgent attempts to capitalise on the base’s dismay at the election result, the spam is through the roof. “As any current Labour member will attest, there are downsides,” says the Labour insider. “You get dozens and dozens of emails from candidates – if you’re a London member, at least an email a day all summer.” | The trouble is: if you’re a hapless voter in pursuit of inbox zero, the consequences are pretty ugly. All three parties rely on email to communicate with members and possible supporters, but the last few weeks have brought what might be a particular low – striking at the members of the Labour party. With campaigns for the leader and deputy running alongside a London mayoral primary and urgent attempts to capitalise on the base’s dismay at the election result, the spam is through the roof. “As any current Labour member will attest, there are downsides,” says the Labour insider. “You get dozens and dozens of emails from candidates – if you’re a London member, at least an email a day all summer.” |
| So don’t they realise they’re driving us mad? Perhaps they do. But when the gains are so palpable – new funds, new volunteers, the chance that your message could go viral – it can be hard to resist. “It’s a tough balance,” says Chris Bryant, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport. “It’s like in byelections, everyone complains they’ve had hundreds of leaflets, but if it feels like the Tories have sent more, they’ll say, ‘Oh, they’re taking it more seriously.’ I had one guy complaining he’d had nothing from Yvette Cooper, and then complaining the next day that he’d had something from all four of them.” | |
| Still, Labour’s approach comes in for withering criticism from their opponents – for the sheer volume of emails, and the indiscriminate nature of what they say to supporters. During the election campaign, Labour ran a number of viral campaigns that were partly designed as means of harvesting email contacts: one told you “what number baby born on the NHS” you are, another how many people on the electoral roll share your name. Neither particularly suggested a deep connection with the party on the part of those who signed up, but the result was a torrent of messages from Ed Miliband and pals. | Still, Labour’s approach comes in for withering criticism from their opponents – for the sheer volume of emails, and the indiscriminate nature of what they say to supporters. During the election campaign, Labour ran a number of viral campaigns that were partly designed as means of harvesting email contacts: one told you “what number baby born on the NHS” you are, another how many people on the electoral roll share your name. Neither particularly suggested a deep connection with the party on the part of those who signed up, but the result was a torrent of messages from Ed Miliband and pals. |
| “They knew nothing about you except that you’re an email address,” says Rathe. “And they just throw everything at you. It’s a sledgehammer approach – it’s watching what went on in the States and learning all the wrong lessons, just thinking that you just have to send a lot of email. But you’ve got to talk to people about things they’re interested in, it’s got to be driven by that.” Rathe’s party uses email more to focus on achievable local goals than the big national picture. “We build relationships with people on issues that they care about,” Rathe adds. “And we give local campaigners the tools to do it themselves.” | “They knew nothing about you except that you’re an email address,” says Rathe. “And they just throw everything at you. It’s a sledgehammer approach – it’s watching what went on in the States and learning all the wrong lessons, just thinking that you just have to send a lot of email. But you’ve got to talk to people about things they’re interested in, it’s got to be driven by that.” Rathe’s party uses email more to focus on achievable local goals than the big national picture. “We build relationships with people on issues that they care about,” Rathe adds. “And we give local campaigners the tools to do it themselves.” |
| For his part, our Labour insider argues that most of the emails Labour sent were well targeted – unnervingly, for example, the party can detect whether you’re more likely to open an email from Tristram Hunt or Stella Creasy, about immigration or the NHS – and that many of them ultimately resulted in recipients taking some sort of action to support the party. Still, he concedes, things have gone a bit haywire. “I expect a huge portion of the membership are turned off to these emails now,” he says. “Each campaign wants to get their messages out, but they know each one is a Jenga piece out of the pile. And eventually people are going to stop reading.” | For his part, our Labour insider argues that most of the emails Labour sent were well targeted – unnervingly, for example, the party can detect whether you’re more likely to open an email from Tristram Hunt or Stella Creasy, about immigration or the NHS – and that many of them ultimately resulted in recipients taking some sort of action to support the party. Still, he concedes, things have gone a bit haywire. “I expect a huge portion of the membership are turned off to these emails now,” he says. “Each campaign wants to get their messages out, but they know each one is a Jenga piece out of the pile. And eventually people are going to stop reading.” |
| The problem is that, because each campaign is an independent entity, there’s no central control. “We all need to do it, but we can’t and shouldn’t co-ordinate,” Labour’s digital expert says. During the last leadership campaign, the party avoided the problem by insisting that all general emails go through the party. Of course, it’s not just Labour’s problem. “We get it wrong as well, even if they are spectacularly messing it up at the moment,” says the Conservative strategist. “It’s a general political malaise.” Experts in other parties say that the Tories simply use email as a means of advertising the party, instead of cultivating grassroots engagement. “That’s rubbish,” says the party strategist, and then pauses, and adds: “Well, they might have a point.” | The problem is that, because each campaign is an independent entity, there’s no central control. “We all need to do it, but we can’t and shouldn’t co-ordinate,” Labour’s digital expert says. During the last leadership campaign, the party avoided the problem by insisting that all general emails go through the party. Of course, it’s not just Labour’s problem. “We get it wrong as well, even if they are spectacularly messing it up at the moment,” says the Conservative strategist. “It’s a general political malaise.” Experts in other parties say that the Tories simply use email as a means of advertising the party, instead of cultivating grassroots engagement. “That’s rubbish,” says the party strategist, and then pauses, and adds: “Well, they might have a point.” |
| All the same, though, he thinks that things are unlikely to change any time soon. “It’s the goose and the golden egg. If you’re pursuing the quick win maybe you don’t think about how you’re wearing people down and making them think of you as spam. It’s definitely here to stay.” | |
| If that enrages you, take solace in this: if politicians are annoying you, other people are annoying them, too. “I still manage my own inbox, because I think it’s important constituents get a genuine answer from me,” says Bryant. “But last month, I got 150 emails about the foxhunting ban, mostly copied from a website. They all got a personal reply, and I wonder if any of them were ever read. And I spent an hour and a half deleting emails yesterday. The embassy of Israel, the embassy of Iran, the embassy of Italy – and that’s just the ‘I’s.” | If that enrages you, take solace in this: if politicians are annoying you, other people are annoying them, too. “I still manage my own inbox, because I think it’s important constituents get a genuine answer from me,” says Bryant. “But last month, I got 150 emails about the foxhunting ban, mostly copied from a website. They all got a personal reply, and I wonder if any of them were ever read. And I spent an hour and a half deleting emails yesterday. The embassy of Israel, the embassy of Iran, the embassy of Italy – and that’s just the ‘I’s.” |
| • Andy Burnham, Tom Watson and June Sarpong broke my inbox | • Andy Burnham, Tom Watson and June Sarpong broke my inbox |
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