Door-to-door app

The term "door-to-door" was coined in the marketing industry in reference to salesmen. In a political or nonprofit setting, it is a method of fieldwork consisting of visiting people to present a political campaign, raise awareness for a social cause, collect donations or GOTV (Get out the vote). Depending on the country, we can also use the terms "canvassing" or "door-knocking". Traditionally, door-to-door operations were managed with pen and paper but these days, most of it is done using mobile apps that increase efficiency of canvassing operation.

At Qomon, we have prepared the ultimate door-to-door canvassing guide where you will find the best tips and tricks to prepare and manage your volunteers during your field operations and improve your engagement for the canvassing actions.

The advantages of a door-knocking app are numerous:

- A door-to-door app modernizes the relationship between volunteers and the citizen; by guaranteeing an effective feedback-recording system through the use of qualified survey answers, reminder tasks and automatic emails of gratitude, an informal exchange between volunteer and citizen is transformed into a far more sophisticated method of data-collection. This ensures that the opinions, contributions and requests of citizens are meaningfully considered.

- A door-to-door app or door-knocking software improves the work of canvassing teams in a number of different ways, such as by generating optimized canvassing maps and walk lists, providing a space in which volunteers can indicate their availability for different actions, facilitating the coordination of volunteer teams, and providing volunteers with instantaneous access to information on the citizens they have met previously when files are pre-loaded (such as the electoral list / voter file).

- A door-to-door application (available on IOS as well as Android) is particularly beneficial to the action organizers as it guarantees real-time feedback, allows for the tracking of each team's performance in the field, simplifies communication through the use of push notifications and material sharing. It provides a panel of other features which will asist in optimizing actions and targeting priority areas.

The Qomon app provides many useful features that will help your teams or your volunteers to communicate more fluidly with you and with the wider volunteer team. This includes:

- The ability to log your availability and confirm which actions you'll be taking part in - the ability to coordinate with other volunteers to better organize your canvassing routes and make the most of your time

- The use of a digital reporting system which allows you to log all information received from each exchange with each citizen (such as contact details, answers to the survey questions, etc.)

- The use of a digital recording system in which you can log any problems encountered while canvassing, tasks to be completed and additional comments made in order to achieve optimal management of your contact database

- The use of a digital HQ  from which all material documents, links and briefs necessary for door-knocking can be accessed

With our easy-to-use and intuitive mobile app, your volunteers will have all the materials and tools necessary to conduct their door-to-door operations at their finger-tips. Documents and roadmaps / walk lists can be accessed directly by your volunteers or team members invited on their app. Additionally, thanks to geolocation, you can manage your canvassing teams with greater ease by assigning them to different areas according to the criteria of your choosing, such as age, where they're located, etc. Volunteers can then input the data they collect directly into their mobile apps- data collection moves seamlessly and instantaneously from the field directly through the mobile app to you- the possibility of losing information is entirely eliminated! The application will also manage any issues that must be tackled in relation to door-to-door operations: come back later, reporting an erroneous address, access codes, etc.

The objective of any effective door-to-door action must be to meet with as many citizens or people as possible and to collect as much contact information as you can. Begin by introducing yourself and explaining why you are coming, then ask a series of short questions before providing high-value information related to your cause, organization, movement or campaign. Always adapt your arguments to the person in front of you and be transparent about what you expect from the meeting. An effective door-to-door meeting should be short and you should always leave a physical document behind after your visit. In the absence of the citizen, leaving a physical document outlining your points is crucial. Alternatively, you can follow up the visit with an email or a phone call. Don't forget to target the priority areas at the beginning of the door-knocking visit, as it won't be possible to cover the entire territory in one field action.

With the use of a canvassing app or software, your volunteers can save time while engaging even more citizens. The mobile canvassing app also allows you to properly supervise each field action, thereby allowing you to consult both the canvassing roadmap / walk list on your mobile phone and all the documents necessary for the progression of your teams or volunteers' activity. Additionally, the collection of information from the field via a canvassing app is fluid and instantaneous, meaning that with just a few clicks, you can access all the data collected by your volunteers  or team right away and immediately begin assessing this information on your command center.

A door-to-door app allows you to optimize door-knocking operations, to make them more efficient, more targeted and more simplistic. Apps of this kind allow you to manage "come back later" responses and to create an efficient follow-up system. You can also use these apps to map out neighborhoods and organize teams to engage in door-knocking actions in a streamlined way. Door-to-door apps can be downloaded to your phone from smartphone stores such as IOS and Android.

The price of a door-knocking app will vary depending on the number of contacts in your file - contact our team to obtain a price quote for you. You may be tempted to avail of free apps instead of fee-paying versions. However, be careful to check the confidentiality and security of your data before using a free app - data ownership and privacy is not guaranteed, and support teams may not be available to you when using apps of this nature. And don't forget: as the saying goes: “If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold.”

Yes, you can with Qomon door-knocking app. We have an innovative system that allows you to create roadmaps and walklists even with no address or voter files. Just keep in mind that it is less precise and targeted, plus it demands more work for your volunteer team on the files that getting an address, contact or electoral files.