The Failure of Telephone Marketing

It is so widespread that people have learned how to stay clear

Photo by Mike Meyers on Unsplash

Campaign calls before the Primary Election

Last week I spent a total of four hours sitting on the phone trying to talk to voters before the presidential primary election. I was volunteering for my favorite candidate’s campaign and following the usual procedure of asking the person on the line to support this candidate, or if not who they planned to vote for and what issues made the difference in their decision. I also had information about the address of their polling place and hours they could vote in case this was needed. The computer was calling dozens of people at a time from what must have been a gigantic list. It only connected calls to me when the phone was answered. Essentially political campaign robo-calls.

I was assured this would help my candidate. Instead, this is what I learned

• About 240 calls were answered and I actually heard maybe 30 human voices (12.5 %). The rest answered and hung up without talking. Or had a robocall protection app or a voicemail message.
• In about a dozen situations I was able to say my first line- my name and where I was calling from (candidate’s name) before the…