Key Takeaways
- • Email volume surged 15% year-over-year in 2025, while text messaging jumped 42%, but engagement metrics deteriorated despite stable deliverability rates. The disconnect signals a strategic problem: increased message volume is not translating to increased audience action, indicating message saturation rather than technical delivery failures.
- • The 2026 VoterVoice Benchmark Report analyzed over 595 million supporter engagements across more than 394 million messages, providing comprehensive data on advocacy campaign performance trends. This dataset represents the most recent benchmarking analysis available for grassroots and grasstops advocacy professionals.
- • Three-part strategy recommended by VoterVoice leadership for improving engagement: (1) tiered targeting of specific lawmakers based on bill sponsorship and legislative scorecards; (2) messenger selection treating advocate lists as networks rather than mass reach channels; and (3) localized, personalized messaging through topic tagging and audience segmentation.
- • AI and faster content production are identified as primary drivers of rising message volume but are simultaneously suppressing engagement rates, creating a double-edged effect on grassroots advocacy effectiveness.
- • Open rates and action rates both declined in 2025 despite consistent deliverability, indicating audience attention fatigue rather than inbox delivery problems.
Summary
The 2026 VoterVoice Benchmark Advocacy Report, released by FiscalNote on August 27, 2026, reveals a critical disconnect in advocacy communications strategy. While advocacy teams increased email volume by 15% year-over-year and text messaging by 42% throughout 2025, engagement metrics—specifically open rates and action rates—softened considerably. Notably, deliverability remained steady, indicating that technical infrastructure is not the bottleneck. According to the primary analysis, the problem is strategic rather than technical: audiences are receiving more messages but paying them less attention.
The benchmark dataset encompassed analysis of over 595 million supporter engagements across more than 394 million messages, providing institutional-grade insight into current advocacy performance. The central finding challenges a common assumption in the advocacy sector: higher volume does not automatically translate to higher engagement or action. This pattern emerged despite unchanged technical performance, pointing directly to audience attention saturation as the limiting factor.
FiscalNote's Anna van Erven and VoterVoice Senior Product Manager Paul Ellender identified three primary drivers of engagement decline: faster content production cycles enabled by automation, rising overall message volume across the advocacy ecosystem, and the dual-edged role of artificial intelligence in grassroots advocacy. AI simultaneously facilitates message creation at scale while contributing to the volume problem that suppresses engagement.
To address declining engagement, VoterVoice recommends a three-part strategic pivot: First, implement tiered targeting of specific lawmakers using bill sponsorship data and legislator scorecards rather than broadcasting to broad contact lists. Second, reconceptualize advocate lists as networks where messenger selection and relationship quality matter more than raw reach. Third, deploy localized, segment-specific messaging through topic tagging and personalized broadcast capabilities rather than generic appeals. The webinar included platform demonstrations of these three tactical approaches, with the underlying thesis that constituency and personal connection drive engagement more effectively than message frequency in the current environment.
The benchmark dataset encompassed analysis of over 595 million supporter engagements across more than 394 million messages, providing institutional-grade insight into current advocacy performance. The central finding challenges a common assumption in the advocacy sector: higher volume does not automatically translate to higher engagement or action. This pattern emerged despite unchanged technical performance, pointing directly to audience attention saturation as the limiting factor.
FiscalNote's Anna van Erven and VoterVoice Senior Product Manager Paul Ellender identified three primary drivers of engagement decline: faster content production cycles enabled by automation, rising overall message volume across the advocacy ecosystem, and the dual-edged role of artificial intelligence in grassroots advocacy. AI simultaneously facilitates message creation at scale while contributing to the volume problem that suppresses engagement.
To address declining engagement, VoterVoice recommends a three-part strategic pivot: First, implement tiered targeting of specific lawmakers using bill sponsorship data and legislator scorecards rather than broadcasting to broad contact lists. Second, reconceptualize advocate lists as networks where messenger selection and relationship quality matter more than raw reach. Third, deploy localized, segment-specific messaging through topic tagging and personalized broadcast capabilities rather than generic appeals. The webinar included platform demonstrations of these three tactical approaches, with the underlying thesis that constituency and personal connection drive engagement more effectively than message frequency in the current environment.
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