Welcome to CitizenSpeak – a free email advocacy service for grassroots organizations.
This user guide will walk you through the steps of setting up an account and launching a web-based email campaign.
In addition to providing basic instructions, this user guide will also include valuable tips to maximize your use of this service.
Important Tip! You will see this phrase throughout the user guide. It is a bit of an understatement. It is extremely important that you follow these tips or your campaign may run into problems. Luckily these tips are straightforward, easy to follow and in many cases, self-evident.
Please don’t be discouraged by the length of these instructions. CitizenSpeak is actually very easy and quick to use. These instructions appear to be long only because we detail every little step.
If you are one of those people that have an adverse reaction to instructions, then feel free to skip the instructions but check out the consolidated list of Important Tips! on the next page.
When creating an account, make sure you enter your organization name exactly as you want it to appear on your web page campaign. In other words, spell it exactly as you would on any important document and capitalize all appropriate letters. If you’ve already created an account with an incorrectly entered organization name, please email a request to support@citizenspeak.org to remove your existing account. You can then create a new account (it’s free) with the correct organization name.
Your email letter should be short. No more than a couple short paragraphs max. Long emails will turn off participants. Also, representatives may not read a long email and therefore not see the participants’ personal statements at the end.
Use correct addresses in your campaign. Using incorrect addresses for representatives (or other decision-makers) in your CitizenSpeak campaigns can damage the legitimacy of your entire campaign. You won’t be helping our mail server either.
To check email addresses, send an email from your own email program (Eudora, Outlook…) to the representative(s)/decision-maker(s) you are targeting. You can put ‘test’ in the subject line. If an email bounces back to your account, do not use it in your campaign. Remember: it may take a while before you get an error message regarding an invalid email address (up to a couple hours).
Tell your audience to “Take Action” up front. After creating your CitizenSpeak campaign, email your supporters - from your own email account - and invite them to participate in your CitizenSpeak campaign. Don’t burry the “take action” part of your email at the end. Within the first couple of lines, ask them to go to your campaign’s web page address. You can spend the rest of the email explaining to people your cause.
Using your web browser, go to www.citizenspeak.org
You can create an account either by clicking on “Create an Account to Get Started!” or “Register” in the Campaign Center box on the right side of the screen.
In the form that is presented, enter your contact information.
Important Tip! Make sure you enter your organization name exactly as you want it to appear on your web page campaign. Spell it exactly as you would on any important document and capitalize all appropriate letters.
Only fields marked with a asterisk are required. We suggest you fill in all the fields. This will help us contact you in case of a problem with your account, and will provide valuable information about your organization to your web campaign participants.
Please read the CitizenSpeak Terms and Conditions of Use and check the acceptance box.
Click ‘Create New Account’ to save your information and create your account.
CitizenSpeak automatically emails you your username and password to the email address that you entered in the account creation page. The email may take a few minutes to arrive.
To login, go to www.citizenspeak.org. In the Campaign Center on the right side of the screen, enter your username and password and click “Log in.”
First login to your account
Click ‘Create Campaigns’ in the Campaign Center box on the right side of the screen,
On the “Create Email Campaign” page, click “Submit” after filling in the following fields:
Important Tip! Your email should be short. No more than a couple short paragraphs maximum. Long emails will turn off participants. Also, representatives may not read a long email and therefore not see the participants’ personal statements at the end (the most important part).
Important Tip! If there is only one recipient, use their name in the salutation. If there are multiple recipients, use a general salutation to address the group.
Note: This text will be followed by the participant’s contact information and personal statement.
Important Tip! Multiple email addresses must be separated by a comma or space.
Important Tip! Check all email addresses to make sure they are valid before launching your campaign. To check email addresses, send a test email to your targeted email list from your own email account. If an email bounces back to your account, do not use it in your campaign. Remember: it may take a while before you get an error message regarding an invalid email address (up to a couple hours)
After you submit your campaign, CitizenSpeak presents you with your campaign’s unique web page address. From your email program (MS Outlook, Eudora…) email the web page address to your members and ask them to participate in your campaign.
Sample Text:
“Dear Member: Please click on the following link (your campaign’s unique web address) to send a direct email to (target name) asking him/her to support our cause.”
By clicking on your campaign web page address, participants are presented with a web page that has your Organization Name at the top.
They are then invited to read the text and fill in their contact information. They are also invited to provide a personal statement which will appear at the end of the email.