Additionally, paste this code immediately after the opening tag:

Back to blog

Patch-Through Calling: How it Can Help Advocacy and Other Campaigns

Campaigns are embracing new technologies, including patch-through calling, more and more as they modernize their playbooks. Let’s take a look at this particular technique and which kinds of campaigns might benefit from it.

Cat Allen

Marketing Manager

What is patch-through calling?

A patch-through call, also known as a call transfer, allows you to redirect a phone call to another number. This means that when your staff or volunteer team reach out via phone call to your prospects, you can offer to transfer them directly to another number.

For example, when volunteers are speaking to supporters via ThruTalk, they can automatically “patch through” the call to the lawmaker whose office they would like to contact, all without needing to hang up. 

At GetThru, we love both brand consistency and wordplay, so this feature in our product ecosystem is called PatchThru.

How patch-through calling can help advocacy campaigns

With PatchThru, your callers can redirect people directly to the right targets. For example, if you are asking people to contact their local representative about a policy issue or important bill, you can offer to patch the call through directly to their correct representative’s office so they can quickly and easily take that next step. 

This is a win-win for both campaigns and supporters. It makes it much easier for people to follow up and take an effective action, and it increases the chances that they will take that action.

Call patching use cases

Here are a few ideas for how your campaign might wish to leverage call patching:

  • Encouraging constituents to call their local lawmaker to express concern or support for a certain issue.
  • Easily allowing volunteers to transfer a call to a campaign staffer if their conversation escalates, either because the person they are calling has concerns or because they wish to get involved at a deeper level.
  • Offering different language lines.
  • Connecting residents with local health information for a public health campaign.

With ThruTalk, callers can stay on the line, make sure the transfer is successful, and then move on to the next phone call.

The difference of a phone call

Activists and organizers know that a phone call from a constituent is one of the most powerful things a citizen can do to express their opinions.

Be sure to give them all the right tools they’ll need to coach contacts through the call; while some people view a phone call as a simple, easy task, other people have more anxiety around making a phone call. Emphasize that a call is more effective than an email or social media post, which is why it’s worth it!

The American Psychological Association’s How to Call Your Member of Congress guide offers some great strategies for campaigns to help their callers coach people through the entire process. The key is to be polite, brief, and prepared, all things that your callers can quickly get people up to speed with before patching the call through. A simple formula (such as introducing yourself, establishing your constituency, and expressing your opinion) can help keep people on-message.

Why ThruTalk?

As with any call technology, you’ll want to take a variety of factors into consideration. But, there’s a reason why we are the first choice for campaigns, unions, and advocacy organizations of all sizes, all across the country. Some of the reasons why more than 2,000 clients have chosen us to make more than 750 million phone calls last year include:

  • Cost — we have transparent, flexible pricing.
  • Ease of use and the kindest, most responsive Support team!
  • Pricing structure — pay as you go our pay in bulk, with discounts available based on prepayment for volume.
  • Reliability and reputation — campaigns and organizations like Biden for President, Sierra Club, Sunrise Movement and more are among the clients who trust and call with us.
  • Integration with existing systems and databases — our VAN integration helps you sync data back to your committee lighting fast.

ThruTalk's PatchThru feature can help make the transition seamless so that the campaign is not only just more powerful in its capabilities, but simple for staff, volunteers, and everyone involved. (After all, cool new features are only useful if they’re really put to use.) 

Schedule a demo to see how ThruTalk can supercharge your advocacy efforts — we’d love to chat!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cat Allen

Cat joined the GetThru Team to merge her professional background in advertising and brand strategy with her personal passion of organizing for progressive causes and candidates. Cat is based in Memphis, TN, and when she isn't organizing around local and state issues, she's raising one pretty exceptional daughter, cooking, painting, and petting all the dogs.

Product Demo

Let's Talk

The best way to learn about our products is to see them in action. Schedule a live demo with a member of our team to learn more.

Ready to sign up?

If you're already familiar with our tools, skip the demo and sign up for an account today.

Sign Up

Schedule a Demo

Thank you for scheduling a demo! We're looking forward to chatting soon.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.