In these times, campaigners from various political parties are constantly addressing you. Their goal? To convince you to vote for their party. Political parties claim they are doing everything to connect with voters. But when you have a pressing question as a voter, are the political parties truly accessible? Are they really there for you?
We, as a customer contact centre, decided to put this to the test. With current, open questions about mortgage interest deduction and kilometre levy, we approached the eight largest parties in our country through various channels. How accessible are our political parties? How approachable are they for the electorate? Are they willing and able to answer our questions as individual citizens during the busy campaign period?
The following parties were included in the experiment: VVD, PVV, D66, CDA, GroenLinks, PVDA, SP, and 50 Plus.
Which contact channels are used?
Each website of the aforementioned parties is equipped with a phone number and email address for 'public information'. Six of the parties (VVD, D66, CDA, GroenLinks, PVDA, and 50Plus) can even be reached via Facebook chat. In addition to chat, other modern communication channels are used: D66 and PVDA also indicate that they communicate via WhatsApp. We decided to tap into each channel to see if and how the parties respond.
Going from pillar to post
It seems that most parties prefer to channel their energy into other things than phone contact. This is evident from two things: the telephone accessibility times are limited, and the way of answering is extremely concise. No party is available by phone outside of office hours, with half (50Plus, PVV, PVDA, and Groenlinks) even available less than 40 hours a week for citizens. GroenLinks (10 hours per week) and PVDA (5 hours per week) have the least generous phone accessibility times. Once we managed to reach them, it appeared that whether they were willing to answer our questions was uncertain: GroenLinks told us to just look at their website; PVV*, CDA, and D66 asked us to send an email. A response to this email often remained absent. Of course, it is campaign time, the phone is likely ringing off the hook, and inboxes are overflowing, but there are parties that do pay attention to us as citizens and show they are reachable: the VVD, PVDA, 50+, and especially SP took ample time to answer our questions.
Don’t fancy calling? Then just email?
On Friday, the 17th of February, we sent the following email to the eight parties in our accessibility panel: Over a week later, we are three responses richer. From PVV, we received an automatic response stating that the volume of email forces them to take some messages as read. 50Plus and GroenLinks answered neatly, explaining their positions on the two topics. Notably, the parties that asked us over the phone to pose questions via email have not yet responded.
Asking further questions
On the phone, most parties briefly answered our questions or referred us to the website or email. There were three exceptions: the VVD responded extensively and in-depth to our questions; 50Plus and mainly the SP delved deeper into the topics, attempting to genuinely convince us of their position(s).
Chat via Facebook
Social media are now indispensable in political party campaigns. VVD, D66, CDA, GroenLinks, PVDA, and also 50Plus offer the opportunity to start a chat on Facebook. We sent them all the following message:
Most political parties appeared to respond much faster via chat than via email: VVD, D66, CDA, and GroenLinks reacted that very afternoon. PVDA and 50plus are yet to respond. The response from the VVD was the most striking:
Although the VVD indicated they were happy to answer questions, we have not received a detailed response in the chat, even a week later.
Not interesting enough?
Of course, we understand that a major national television debate is more profitable than one-on-one contact. Political parties may well want to give individual voters attention but simply don't have the capacity and budget to manage this. Yet, parties should see this financial consideration as an opportunity to experience the chances that lie ahead. Personal contact with the undecided voter is a unique opportunity to persuade and possibly turn them into a promoter. The right strategy and organisation could even ensure during campaign time that each individual feels heard. Compare it to the entrepreneur who airs a television commercial and is then unreachable for interested leads.
50Plus as a source of inspiration
50Plus has considered how to manage the busyness and speak to the voter individually. When we called on a Friday afternoon, we were not directly answered. The lines were busy. We were asked to leave a voicemail. An hour later, we were called back, and we could still ask our questions. Through this simple solution, 50plus ensures that the busyness is spread out and voters feel heard.
Which solution is modern and effective?
There are numerous possibilities. For example, give voters the opportunity to schedule a call online. The voter can already indicate in the form what their question is about, allowing the right representative of the party to engage in the conversation. Employing a first-line telephone service is another way to optimise accessibility. Basic questions can be answered directly by the first-line employee (who can very well be external). For additional questions, call-back appointments can be scheduled so that someone with specific knowledge can call back. Political parties could use a customer service seven days a week, often employed by commercially inclined companies. Say it yourself: how different is an undecided voter from a potential consumer?
*PVV sent an automatic response. More than a week after the email was sent, we received a "personal" reply directing us to the website and television debates.
*The emails and chat messages were sent on the 17th of February, 2017, all responses before the 1st of March 2017 are included in this article.
