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Since the late 1990s, political campaign websites have lagged behind entertainment, eCommerce, and other Web uses, particularly in the areas of usability and interaction. Indeed, until only a few years ago, campaign websites were in a stage of website infancy—the electronic brochure. They featured text addressing platform issues, touted accomplishments, and perhaps included a donation process and chat and forum technology. Of marginal importance in a candidate’s strategy for victory, campaign websites were not expected to craft a strong image, build a support base, or raise funds.

Expectations of campaign websites changed in the 2004 presidential primaries. Howard Dean’s campaign for the Democratic nomination raised $20 million – and many eyebrows – by leveraging his website and enlisting the help of online communities. In a world focused on fundraising, Dean’s online take drew a lot of interest. Campaign organizers and pundits were quickly asking what else the Web could do, and the gap between campaign websites and other areas of the Web began to vanish.

This article, in hopes of continuing to close the usability and interaction gap between campaign websites and other areas of the Web, discusses several engaging elements that can help campaign sites connect with voters, refine core issues and messaging, and become destinations frequently visited by voters across multiple demographics.

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Collaboration and communication

Campaign websites should employ collaboration tools to establish individual and collective voice to a presidential campaign. The site should expose points of collaboration between supporters and staff, and open channels of communication to all interested parties. There are many bright people with novel ideas that could help shape the policy for a candidate, and culling those ideas will solidify a candidate’s base.

For instance, the site could contain functionality to collect supporters’ idea submissions and map those submissions to a core set of issues. After an internal review of submissions to determine appropriateness, campaign employees could select a group of ideas to present to the user population for comment and refinement. The resulting product would help the candidate set forth policy that adheres to support-base ideology without compromising his or her personal ideology.

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Issue definition and position propagation

A candidacy cannot be successful without clarity on the issues that draw voters to the polls. Issues could begin as guiding principals the candidate holds. Furthermore, the issues should begin as a definition in the eyes of the candidate and come to life through imagery and motion, such as streaming video. These definitions and guiding principals can be enhanced and reinforced by audience participation and user-created content. Micro-sites that are focused on specific issues can be propagated across a variety of media and thereby attract more interest to a campaign.

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Social networking

The social networking paradigm should move beyond the MySpace model where supporters merely create a page about themselves and explain why they like a particular candidate. Functionality could connect supporters to issue collaboration tools, financial contribution channels, and peer and contributor networks. It could also propagate grassroots news and causes, and create a sense of ownership to the campaign through a defined channel. Candidates could use their online social networks to expand the contribution pipeline and volunteer pool, and communicate targeted event news and fundraising ideas, eliminating the need to send spam email to an already connected audience.

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Mash-ups

Sites should leverage existing Rich Internet Applications to create mash-ups that help users become involved and stay connected. For instance, the use of Google Maps to plot campaign stops and headquarters, or segmenting areas of concentration for on-the-ground volunteers would keep users informed of campaign progress. Encouraging volunteers to create their own mash-ups will leverage the abilities of enterprising users.

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Donations

An engaging experience in which a user feels part of the political process will attract donations. In other words, a good user experience leads to monetization for political campaign websites. Users will convert to donors when they perceive and feel a connection to the candidate and to other supporters. Using eCommerce benchmarks to assist in the creation of conversion paths is likely to increase the frequency and amount of donations. Furthermore, offering campaign “gear” in conjunction with donations would enhance the campaign’s bottom line as well as propagate the message.

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Structure and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A well executed structure that uses standards-based code will enhance search engine performance and ranking. In addition, campaign Web teams should remain current on search engine optimization practices. For example, there is a popular misconception that the home page of a site is the prime destination for a successful search result. It is not. The ultimate user query results in specific content retrieval in response to a user’s query. If a user typed in “Donate Candidate X” and received the donation screen instead of the home page, the likelihood the user would convert is higher. Why, may you ask? There is no decision to be made or button to be located to place the user into the donation flow—they are instantly in that flow. Likewise, a user seeking information on all candidate positions on a specific issue should find himself, as the result of his query, in a section presenting that information.

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Roadmap to Permanence

Creating a well executed political campaign website through solid strategy definition for the primary season can help carry a candidate beyond the convention process and into the oval office. The site’s vision and associated capabilities needed to express it should be wrapped up in a roadmap, preferably with ranked desired functionality. A stable roadmap will help guide the design and development process, ensuring a cohesive final product focused on the user.

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Usability for victory

Now, three years after Dean's Web success, 2008 presidential candidates are abuzz about the Web. Fundraising has grown in importance as leading candidates decline public funding and its accompanying ceiling, yet the Web is also being tapped as an excellent way to connect with and mobilize voters. Accordingly, many presidential candidates have incorporated several of the above-mentioned elements into their campaign websites. In less than a decade, the political campaign website has risen from a non-interactive marketing afterthought to an important part of a candidate's election strategy.

By focusing on usability and an impressively positive user experience, current presidential candidates can demonstrate Web competence and savvy, simultaneously closing the Web gap and reaching a valuable online audience of potential voters. While perhaps not quite Web-centric, the 2008 presidential election could be the first in which a mass of voters acts based predominantly on opinions formed online. Harnessing this user-centric approach will instill in an increasingly Web-savvy support base a sense of idea ownership and open communication; the candidate who can accomplish this should outperform at the polls, at least among certain demographics.

It is possible that the next presidency is literally clicks away, making a user-centered Web approach more critical than ever for current candidates. The stakes have never been higher.

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