Phone Banking Tips: Maximize Your Campaign’s Contact Rate

The average phone banking campaign reaches 21% of the contacts it dials. Campaigns that reach 30% or higher do not have better volunteers — they have cleaner lists, smarter retry strategies, and coordinators who check their analytics after every shift.

These phone banking tips cover the practical difference between a 15% contact rate and a 25% one: from what to do before the first call goes out, to how to read your dashboard at the end of a shift and know exactly what to fix. For a complete walkthrough of political phone banking strategy, read the political phone banking guide.

Tip 1: Start with a clean list — scrubbing before the first call

Most campaigns treat their contact list as a starting point. The best campaigns treat it as something that needs to be cleaned before it is useful.

Why list quality is the biggest contact rate lever

Between 30-40% of voter lists contain disconnected, outdated, or incorrect phone numbers, according to common campaign practice cited by TrainDems: “A poorly pulled call list wastes everyone’s time. Make sure your universe is targeted and current.” Every bad number a volunteer dials is a wasted call, a deflated machine answer rate, and a volunteer who sits through a dial tone instead of having a conversation.

List scrubbing is the highest-ROI task a coordinator can complete before a campaign opens. It does not require additional volunteers — it requires 30-60 minutes of data work that will save hours of wasted calling time across every shift.

What list scrubbing involves

• DNC check: Remove any contacts who have opted out of your communications or who are on the relevant Do Not Contact lists. CallHub automatically scrubs against the National DNC list, but campaign-specific opt-outs from prior sessions should be checked manually before uploading a new list.
• Bad number removal: Cross-reference your list against a current voter file to remove disconnected numbers, numbers that have changed carriers, and contacts who have moved out of the target area.
• Duplicate removal: Multiple entries for the same contact inflate your call volume without adding contacts. Remove duplicates before the list goes into the dialer.
• Voter file sync: If your campaign uses a CRM like NGP VAN or NationBuilder, sync your list against the current voter file before each campaign. Voter data changes between election cycles and within them.

Tools for list verification

L2 Data provides voter data enrichment and phone number verification that most campaigns already use for segmentation. Before the first campaign call, run your master list through L2’s phone append or verification service to flag invalid numbers. For campaigns using NGP VAN, the platform’s built-in list management tools can identify bad numbers before export.

When to scrub

Scrub before the first campaign of a cycle, after any election cycle voter file update, and at the midpoint of a long campaign if your machine answer rate climbs above 30%. A machine answer rate trending upward during a campaign is one of the clearest signals that the list has degraded and needs cleaning.

Tip 2: Segment your contact lists by supporter level

Segmenting your calling lists into targeted lists based on demographics, previous interactions, interests, or behaviors allows you to tailor your message more effectively. This targeted approach increases the likelihood of engaging with recipients and achieving the desired outcomes.

Campaigns that segment by supporter level — confirmed supporters, undecideds, soft opposition — consistently see higher engagement rates on second-round calls because the message matches where the voter actually is. A confirmed supporter getting a persuasion script wastes everyone’s time. An undecided voter getting a GOTV reminder before they have been persuaded is a sequencing error that no amount of good scripting can fix.

When you begin a campaign, your contacts will already be sorted by basic metrics, such as their location. You should then run your purchased or curated contact list against data points (such as income, location, and voting history) using prominent tools like L2 Data.

However, this is just the starting point. The goal is to ensure that the thousands of names in your master list are divided into specific categories, allowing them to be targeted for particular issues.

Start by running a phone banking campaign — ideally your first — to gauge your support levels among these contacts. Supporter levels are a separate type of question on CallHub calling campaigns that sync this data point right back to your CRM.

Further segment this into more specific categories during a second round of calls. Here you can ask more specialized questions to your supporters (for example, which policy they support) and your detractors (for example, what is the biggest reason for their opposition).

To ensure you have the right data, create specific tags for each call, aligning them with the responses you receive, so your contact list is accurately segmented.

Your tags from each call enrich your contact lists and sync back to your database or CRM. So, for the next campaign, you can export specific contacts and target their particular concerns.

Manually choosing the tags you want and exporting that list at the start of every campaign will get tedious. Make full use of CallHub’s Workflows, where you can use tags to trigger actions like “Add to supporters contact list.” You can also incorporate emails and texts into your campaign using Workflows.

For example, if the call is tagged as “Will_Attend,” a workflow can automatically trigger a text to be sent to the contact as a reminder a day before the event.

Tip 3: Run distributed campaigns

A campaign is only as strong as the grassroots volunteers who support it from the bottom up. To ensure that future local leaders are empowered to become stakeholders in your victory, run distributed campaigns, giving them the reins.

CallHub helps you ensure that aspirants from every region can be given responsibilities through sub-accounts — an extremely powerful organizational aspect of distributed campaigns.

Using sub-accounts

Local leaders can start their careers in organizational politics by creating sub-accounts on CallHub, which can be set up using your main account. Collaborator sub-accounts on CallHub have access to create and manage their own campaigns, agents, and contact books. While the main account still holds the authority to manage all campaigns under the sub-accounts, sub-accounts can run them independently. You can assign regional phone banking campaigns to regional managers and distribute your campaign based on location.

From your side, you can measure and control the various sub-accounts by:

• Creating and assigning team leaders among the agents by region or campaign.
• Allocating funds from the main account to each sub-account, as needed.
• Starting, stopping, or modifying campaigns and viewing detailed results from all distributed campaigns.
• Giving local organizers access to only the necessary data, rather than all your campaign data.

Features of the CallHub mobile app

Your agents can log in and use the app for making calls from wherever they prefer, calling contacts from lists you have assigned to them.

You can also do these tasks from a web browser on a computer. However, most people are more comfortable using their personal phones, so the app may provide a better user experience for remote agents.

Just like the web browser, the app also allows agents to add notes about the calls they make, add call disposition after each call (helping you choose the next path of action for the contacts), and add survey responses that are attached to the contact history.

Additional advantages of the app: agents can watch onboarding videos to train new volunteers, receive notifications when new campaigns are assigned or when a campaign starts, and view a contact’s history with your campaign so they can instantly customize the conversation.

Tip 4: Set up the right phone bank

To start with, you need the following to set up a phone bank:

• List of contacts (segmented for each region or sub-account)
• Agents to make the calls
• A script for agents to follow (including survey questions and corresponding tags or call dispositions)

You or your sub-accounts can set up campaigns through your CallHub profile. Depending on your goals, you need to choose the right options.

Many contacts, ample agents

The criteria here are to make calls as quickly as possible for short conversations, such as voter identification, event reminders, or GOTV campaigns. You will need a large number of agents for this.

CallHub does not charge you for adding any number of agents. Add unlimited agents to campaigns at zero cost.

What is ample? Your answer rates determine whether you have enough agents for your phone banking campaign. If you have an average answer rate of 50% on a refined, segmented list, then “ample” means one agent for every two calls made in each dial cycle. Depending on your answer rate, your need can range from one agent for every call (1:1 ratio) to one agent for every three calls (3:1 ratio).

In CallHub, use the Auto Dialer for long contact lists with a large number of agents to facilitate conversations. You can select the ratio (1:1, 2:1, 3:1) that produces the most results.

What about dropped or missed calls? CallHub gives you the option of simply hanging up the call or playing a recorded message — preferably informing them who is calling and how they can get back to you. Enable Inbound calling so that as soon as this person calls back, they are immediately added to your phone banking campaign.

Few agents, ample contacts

When there are not enough agents, it would be better if each agent were focused on the call at hand and each call took as little time as possible.

Use the predictive dialer, which calculates your answer rate from one dial cycle and then predicts the optimal number of calls to make in the next cycle, taking into account the number of active agents working on this campaign. The predictive dialer is perfect for prioritizing volume over personalization or when you are unsure of your answer rates.

Note: The predictive dialer only connects agents to calls that have been answered. This helps save time, as dial tones, unanswered calls, and answering machines are weeded out.

Longer conversations

CallHub’s Power Dialer is essential for campaigns that require personal, one-on-one conversations — such as fundraising. Since there are real scripts for live conversations, agents can take time to prepare themselves for the next call and make notes of the conversation for a follow-up.

With no fixed call duration, the power dialer waits for the agent to be done before dialing the next number, while still providing advantages such as ensuring agents are only connected to answered calls and re-routing dropped calls.

Ideal use cases for power dialers are voter persuasion for GOTV, fundraising campaigns, and RSVP confirmations.

Note: CallHub dialers are TCPA-compliant. The TCPA regulates the use of pre-recorded voice messages and automatic dialing, keeping consumer consent at the forefront.

Tip 5: Make volunteer training practical, frequent, and dynamic

Remember that many of your campaign volunteers will be rookies, unfamiliar with the intricacies of the software or how to conduct a conversation. For a deeper guide on setting up and running sessions once volunteers are trained, read the guide to managing phone bank volunteers.

Your training should include:

• How your campaign works (managers, timing, goals, etc.)
• How the system you are working in operates (for example, the rules of the city you are campaigning in)
• How grassroots targeting works
• What a typical campaign call looks like
• Your goal and how volunteers will help you achieve it
• An in-depth explanation of the rules and themes for your campaign

Your volunteers must be trained to join a campaign, either from a web browser or using the CallHub mobile app. Volunteers also need to understand how to:

• Navigate the calling screen — where to take the next call, etc.
• Add notes, tags, and survey question responses to each call
• Load the right script and follow the linear or branching script
• Forward calls to outside contacts (in cases like patch-through call campaigns)
• Escalate a call to a manager or report abuse
• Sign out properly after filling in all required details

Let your volunteers practice for about half an hour before making calls. This should also include a walkthrough of the scripts they will use. Collect feedback and conduct debriefs after their shifts to understand how the campaign is progressing.

Training is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing process that requires consistency. Train volunteers regularly and keep the sessions dynamic.

Tip 6: Use relational organizing for initial phone banking campaigns

Many campaigns will eventually grow to thousands of contacts, most of whom had never heard of your campaign before. Relational organizing is a powerful tool for that. It involves using the personal relationships of your agents and volunteers to kickstart your first batch of supporters and create a network of volunteers. Your first contact list will be all the contacts that everyone in your campaign has on their phones. Everyone in your campaign, from the candidate to the volunteer, must begin conversations among peers, family, and friends.

In CallHub, relational organizing is extremely streamlined through the mobile app. Once the agent logs in to the CallHub Mobile App, they see a campaign card for the “Relational Organizing Campaign.” They tap on the card to proceed, and the app scans their contacts, uploads them as a contact list, and checks if any of their contacts match the campaign’s contacts list. Agents can begin their outreach with these matched contacts.

The CallHub system will utilize the agent’s device’s native calling and texting app to make calls and send messages. Relational Organizing on CallHub is free.

Tip 7: Adopt smart branching scripts

A standard script is a series of questions with pointers about where to take the conversation. This is a very limiting way to plan a conversation. It takes the agent time to scroll through the entire script, looking for the right response to a question. And if the conversation jumps to other questions or goes off-sequence, the scroll time just gets longer.

CallHub’s dynamic Branching Scripts allow you to build an entire conversation with multiple options as replies, enabling agents to instantly jump to the appropriate response.

This also addresses an issue that few campaigns consider: agents losing track of long scripts or surveys midway. CallHub’s system ensures that the agent always sees only the question they need to ask at a given time, based on the replies they receive.

This requires forward planning. You need to hold mock calls, plan the script in advance, and provide as many options as practical. Do not simply expect a straightforward yes or no answer. That rarely happens.

Make full use of a branching script by planning for organic replies to address the contact’s concerns, related questions, or even off-beat answers. You can also use a branching script in the mobile app so agents can complete conversations from wherever they are working.

Tip 8: Leave effective voicemails — 28% of calls go to voicemail

Voicemail strategy is one of the most consistently overlooked phone banking tips. According to CallHub’s own 2020 data study of 2.2 million calls, 28.78% of calls on average reach a machine. That is more than one in four contact attempts going to voicemail. A campaign with no voicemail strategy is ignoring a significant share of every shift’s call volume.

Why voicemails matter

A well-crafted voicemail does not close the contact — it primes them for the next touch. A voter who hears your candidate’s name and a clear reason to call back is more receptive to the follow-up text that arrives 30 minutes later than one who receives the text cold. The combination of a voicemail and a follow-up text has a higher callback rate than either alone, per NGP VAN’s phone banking effectiveness guide.

What to say

Per NGP VAN’s guidance, keep voicemails “short and to the point so voters can quickly understand what you’re asking them to do.” The template:

“Hi, this is [your name] calling from [Campaign name]. We’re reaching out about [issue/candidate/event]. You can call us back at [number], or I’ll try you again on [day]. Thanks for your time.”

That is under 20 seconds. Read it out loud before using it. If it takes more than 25 seconds, cut it down. A long voicemail does not convey more information — it loses the listener before the ask.

Voicemail and text pairing

Send an automated follow-up text within 30 minutes of leaving a voicemail. The text should reference the call: “Hi, [Name] — I just tried calling from [Campaign name] regarding [issue/event]. [Link or action].” This pairing reinforces the contact rather than creating two independent cold touches.

When not to leave a voicemail

If you are retrying the same contact within 24 hours as part of a scheduled retry sequence, skip the voicemail on the first attempt. A voicemail on a first attempt followed by another call the next day can read as aggressive. Save the voicemail for the third attempt when you are transitioning the contact toward text-only follow-up.

Tip 9: Build a retry and follow-up sequence, not a single contact attempt

A non-contact is not a failed contact — it is the beginning of a sequence. Campaigns that treat a no-answer as a dead end waste the majority of their call volume. Campaigns that build a deliberate retry sequence convert a significant portion of those non-contacts into eventual conversations.

Per Solidarity Tech’s phone banking guide and common campaign practice across organizers including TrainDems, the standard retry framework is:

First attempt — no answer: Send an automated text within 30 minutes (see the follow-up texts section below for setup). Do not leave a voicemail on the first attempt.

Second attempt — 2 to 3 days later: Call at the same time window as the first attempt (if the first attempt was at 6:30 pm on a Wednesday, try 6:30 pm again, not a different hour). Consistent timing matters because you are testing whether the person is simply unavailable at that hour, not just on that day.

Third attempt — if second is also a no-answer: Leave a voicemail on this call using the template above. This signals to the contact that they have been tried multiple times, which adds legitimacy to the outreach and increases callback probability.

After three no-answers: Move the contact to a text-only follow-up cadence and remove them from the live calling list. Continuing to call a contact who has not answered three attempts in different time windows burns volunteer time on low-probability contacts and can accelerate DNC requests. A final text — “We’ve tried calling a few times. If you’d like to connect with [Campaign name], reply here.” — gives them a lower-friction way to re-engage.

The key mechanic is the disposition: after each no-answer, set the call disposition in CallHub to trigger the appropriate next action automatically. A “no answer” disposition can auto-trigger the follow-up text. A third “no answer” can auto-tag the contact for removal from the live list. The sequence runs without the coordinator needing to manage it manually after setup.

Tip 10: Send follow-up texts after your calls

A follow-up text sent within 30 minutes of an unanswered call is one of the highest-ROI actions in phone banking. According to Gartner Digital Markets research, 45% of people respond to a text. The goal is not to replace the call — it is to keep the contact warm until the next attempt and give people who prefer text a way to respond.

During the calling campaign, after each call

To send follow-up texts immediately after each call, set up the process when creating the campaign, using either manual or automated texts.

Automated texts, which you will create before the campaign begins, are designed to be sent automatically based on the call disposition the agent selects at the end of the call.

When creating the campaign, enable “Automated Texts” to add your message and link it with the disposition from the Disposition dropdown.

For example, if the disposition is “did not answer,” you can input a “Hey! We tried reaching you!” message template to be sent automatically after the call.

CallHub also allows sending a customized text if the call did not go according to any of the pre-selected dispositions and the agent wishes to type out a message on the spot. The text message icon can be accessed during a call on the calling screen.

Note: Sending messages on the spot is not advised, as human error can quickly turn the campaign into a PR problem.

Schedule automated texts through CallHub’s Workflows

Referring back to the list segmentations mentioned earlier, you may require certain callers to be added to a new segmented list for messages, others to be dropped from the contact list, and still others to receive a follow-up after a few days.

CallHub’s Workflows automates all of these requirements through modules. You can create a new workflow and add modules with specific instructions for each call disposition or tag. You can also stack modules or branch them further, assigning multiple actions to the same contact.

For example, you can choose to send a thank-you message to all those who agreed to attend an event immediately after the call and schedule a follow-up reminder message a few days later, closer to the event.

Tip 11: Make changes during campaigns

No plan survives contact with the real world. Things can go wrong or not work out as you imagined. Here are some general tips to make sure your campaign stays on track.

Be smart about your scripts

While a script may seem quite robust to the team, if you are not getting the desired results, the first step would be to re-examine the script.

In CallHub, you can use the Smart Insights analysis to review call transcripts, determine where most of the drop-off occurs, and change that part. You can also use it to gauge the general sentiments of those being contacted. Smart Insights will automatically group contacts based on your campaign goals as positive, neutral, or negative.

Both of these help you see patterns before it is too late and make appropriate changes. You can set them up using the “AI-powered” tab when creating a campaign.

Rotate your volunteers

As enthusiastic as everyone may seem, making endless calls is draining on all participants — especially unpaid volunteers. Make sure you rotate them into more engaging roles like event organizing or outdoor campaigning. This also ensures everyone understands every aspect of your campaign and can be ready to take up the slack in any part.

Use software to sort out slowdowns

Common bottlenecks include issues such as inefficient call handling, excessive call drops, or inaccurate contact information on a list. Here are some examples of how to address them:

• If not enough calls are being answered, tweak your dial rate — increasing or decreasing the number of calls made every minute until you meet your targets.
• Instead of having your agents read a scripted message, keep a pre-recorded voice note ready to play when the dialer detects an answering machine. Select the option when setting up your campaign.
• Play an automated voice message for everyone who calls back, allowing the contact to request a callback later if an agent is not available.
• If answer rates are low, activate inbound calling to maximize the chances of a contact speaking to an agent.

Inbound calling occurs when a contact who initially did not receive your call calls back. CallHub blends both outgoing and inbound calls, so you do not need dedicated agents for inbound calls. Furthermore, CallHub removes any inbound call attended by an agent from the list, ensuring the contact does not receive two calls. The calls are assigned to the first available agent and are strongly highlighted as “inbound call” so the agent can select the correct script before answering.

Tip 12: Do not be labeled as spam

A major reason your campaign may not be reaching its calling goals is the simplest: your calls are being flagged as spam, so no one is answering.

Ensure the Spam Label Shield is running. CallHub’s own research has shown that call rates tend to double when the spam label shield is enabled.

• The spam label shield regularly checks against carrier databases, FTC-compliant databases, and third-party call-blocking app databases.
• CallHub automatically replaces any flagged number with a clean number.
• CallHub also ensures your chosen number is STIR/SHAKEN compliant.

For a full breakdown of what STIR/SHAKEN means for political campaign call delivery, read the STIR/SHAKEN compliance guide.

Tip 13: Use your call data to diagnose and improve contact rate

The Political Group’s 2026 phone banking guide cites 15-25% better results from campaigns with systematic quality control versus those relying on initial training alone. The difference is not more training — it is coordinators who review their call data after every shift and act on what they find.

CallHub’s analytics dashboard gives you the numbers. Here is what to watch and what each metric tells you.

What to monitor after every shift

Answer rate: Compare to the 21.17% average from the CallHub 2020 data study of 690+ campaigns and 2.2 million calls. If you are below 15%, you likely have a list quality problem or a timing problem — not a volunteer problem. A low answer rate is not a reflection of how hard volunteers are working; it is a reflection of what is in the list and when you are calling. Read the best time to phone bank guide to check your timing first.

Machine answer rate: The average from the CallHub study was 28.78%. If your machine rate climbs above 30% and stays there, the list has degraded. Bad numbers that once reached a person are now going to machines or disconnected recordings. This is the signal to scrub.

DNC rate: The average across the CallHub study was 0.48%. If yours climbs above 1% in a given session, check two things: whether calls are going out near or after 8 pm (DNC rates spike in that window per the data) and whether the list contains contacts who have already opted out and were not removed before the campaign opened.

Call duration: Short average durations across a shift — under 15 seconds — can mean volunteers are hanging up before leaving a voicemail or completing even the opening line of the script. Check whether the script’s opening is holding people on the line or losing them in the first sentence.

Calls per volunteer per hour: This benchmarks volunteer productivity. With a manual dialer, a volunteer making 10-15 live contacts per hour is on track. A volunteer making significantly fewer than that is either encountering technical issues or disengaging from the script.

What low contact rate diagnoses

The table below maps the symptom to the most likely cause:

How to act on data between shifts

Do not wait until the end of the campaign to review analytics. TrainDems recommends reviewing contact rates after every shift: “If you’re reaching a low percentage of the voters on your list, troubleshoot why.” In CallHub, the analytics dashboard is live during the session and full report data is available immediately after.

The practical cadence: check the answer rate and machine rate at the midpoint of a session if you are running a long campaign, and run a full shift review before opening the next session. Adjust timing, scrub the list, or rotate to a higher-quality segment based on what you find. Small adjustments after each shift compound into significantly better contact rates by the end of a campaign.

Tip 14: Use phone banking software built for your use case

You must choose software designed to help you maximize your calling campaign, regardless of your specific goal. Here are the choices CallHub provides:

Choice of dialers: Auto, preview, power, and predictive dialer allow you to match speed with conversation depth. Your needs will fluctuate as the campaign progresses, from requiring a super-fast dialer for one-minute reminder calls to long conversations that change minds.

Two-way sync with your CRM: All voter data captured during each calling campaign — from the disposition of contacts to new tags assigned or their survey responses — must be synced. CallHub offers integrations with all major CRMs, including NationBuilder, NGP VAN, and PDI.

Unlimited free agent seats: You need this option to scale your campaign up and down as needed or as your fortunes flow. You should not have to pay to add 500 agents on a crunch day when you only use 50 agents on most days.

Workflow automation for follow-ups: Sending follow-up messages is crucial to increasing engagement. However, leaving this critical task to agents, who may miss out, is not advisable. Ensure the software offers automatic follow-ups with branching modules for multiple options.

The success of your phone banking campaign hinges not only on the technology you use but also on the dedication and passion of your volunteers. Ensure you have the best of both worlds.

Contact rate checklist: the five things that move the number

Before your next shift, confirm these five:

1. Scrub your list before the first call — remove bad numbers, DNC contacts, and duplicates.
2. Call between 5-7 pm on weekdays — the CallHub 2020 data study shows the highest answer rates at 6-7 pm; anything outside the 5-8 pm window sees measurably lower contact rates.
3. Leave a voicemail on the third attempt — not the first, not the second. Use the 20-second template and follow it with a text within 30 minutes.
4. Send a follow-up text within 30 minutes of every no-answer — 45% of people respond to a text (Gartner) where they would not call back.
5. Check your answer rate after every shift — if it is below 15%, troubleshoot list quality and timing before the next session, not after the campaign is over.

CallHub’s analytics dashboard, Spam Label Shield, and Workflow automation help your campaign apply all five of these from a single platform. See how it works at callhub.io/platform/phone-banking/.

Frequently asked questions on phone banking tips

What is phone banking?

Phone banking is a campaign outreach method in which volunteers or staff call individuals to share information, ask survey questions, or encourage them to take action. Calls may target voters, donors, or supporters, and modern phone banking software helps campaigns scale outreach, track responses, and personalize conversations.

Does phone banking work?

Yes. Studies show phone banking can increase voter turnout by 3-4%, making it the second most effective outreach tactic after door-to-door canvassing. Its success depends on factors like call quality, list accuracy, personalization, and compliance with regulations. Read more: Does phonebanking work?

What is phone banking in politics?

In politics, phone banking is the process of calling voters to identify supporters, persuade undecided voters, recruit volunteers, and remind people to cast their votes. Campaigns use phone banking software to manage lists, provide scripts, and record survey data, making it a vital tool in elections.

What is a good contact rate for phone banking?

A contact rate of 10-20% is typical on a well-maintained political list. The CallHub 2020 data study of 690+ campaigns and 2.2 million calls showed an average answer rate of 21.17%. Anything below 15% is a signal to check list quality and timing before continuing to call. For the full breakdown of answer rates by time of day and day of week, read the best time to phone bank guide.

How do you clean a voter contact list for phone banking?

List scrubbing involves four steps: checking contacts against your campaign’s DNC list, removing disconnected or outdated numbers (cross-referenced against a current voter file), removing duplicate entries, and syncing against a current data provider like L2 Data or your CRM’s voter file. Scrub before the first campaign of a cycle and mid-campaign if your machine answer rate climbs above 30%.

How many times should you call someone who does not answer?

2-3 attempts over 3-7 days is the standard practice across campaign organizers. Try the contact at approximately the same time on each attempt. Leave a voicemail on the third attempt if the first two were no-answers. After three failed attempts, move the contact to a text-only cadence and remove them from the live calling list.

What should you say in a phone banking voicemail?

Keep it under 25 seconds. Template: “[Your name] calling from [Campaign name]. We’d love to talk to you about [issue/candidate/event]. You can call us back at [number], or I’ll try you again on [day]. Thanks for your time.” Send a follow-up text within 30 minutes of leaving the voicemail for the best chance of a callback.

Does leaving a voicemail increase callback rates in phone banking?

A voicemail on its own has limited impact. A voicemail paired with a follow-up text sent within 30 minutes has a meaningfully higher callback rate than either alone, per NGP VAN’s phone banking guide. The text references the voicemail and gives the contact a lower-friction way to respond than calling back.

How do you follow up after a phone banking call?

Send an automated text within 30 minutes of any unanswered call — set this up as a disposition-triggered action in CallHub before the campaign opens. For answered calls where the contact asked for more information, use CallHub’s Workflows to schedule a follow-up at the specific time the contact requested. For confirmed supporters, a reminder text before the event or election date keeps the relationship warm between calls.

How do you reduce DNC requests in phone banking?

Three levers matter most: call within TCPA hours (8 am to 9 pm, local time) — DNC rates spike sharply in the 8-9 pm window per the CallHub data study; maintain a clean list where contacts have consented to receive communications; and set expectations about outreach frequency in any pre-campaign text or email so contacts know what to expect and do not feel blindsided by repeated calls.

What phone banking metrics should campaign managers track?

After every shift, check: answer rate (benchmark: 21.17%; flag if below 15%), machine answer rate (benchmark: 28.78%; flag if above 30%), DNC rate (benchmark: 0.48%; flag if above 1%), average call duration (flag if under 15 seconds — may mean script or volunteer issue), and calls per volunteer per hour (benchmark: 10-15 live contacts/hour with a manual dialer).

What is phone banking for campaigns?

For campaigns, phone banking is a direct communication strategy to build relationships and mobilize action. Volunteers call contacts to promote events, raise funds, confirm RSVPs, or run Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) efforts. The approach combines scale with a personal touch that boosts engagement.

Is phone banking effective?

Phone banking is effective when conversations are authentic and tailored to the individual. Research shows it is cost-efficient and highly scalable, reaching five times more people per hour than canvassing. While less persuasive than face-to-face outreach, it remains one of the most reliable ways to connect with voters and supporters at scale.

Vinayak Hegde

Vinayak Hegde is a content marketer who has been covering non-profits, changemakers, and advocacies for over six years. His experience includes all forms of digital content creation, including text, audio, and video.