In 2010 L2 Political was selling voter files the same way it had been doing for almost 30-years.  Political campaigns would call up and place an order.  The records would be selected from the databases by database engineers and exported to a CSV or PDF file.  The data would be sent to the client and that would be it.  Each order was a one-time sale and most campaigns would only order the data once per election.  If the candidate would run for office again two, four or six years later then there could be a new order and new revenue.

VoterMapping maps all 156 Million Voters in the US to their address in Bing Maps

Turning one time sales into quarterly revenue

L2 realized that this was not going to be the way that voter files were sold.  Some of its competitors had started to release online systems where customers would be able to place orders 24/7 and retrieve the downloaded data automatically.  In 2010 L2 realized that it was falling behind and it started to look for a software partner to create an automated download system.  After a few false starts it found Moonshadow Mobile.

Moonshadow had developed a unique technology: it can map data instantly inside of Bing Maps or Google Maps regardless of the number of records.  This means that whether you have 10,000 or 10 million voter records Moonshadow can instantly show who lives where while looking at maps, satellite images or aerial photos.  Users can instantly zoom out and look at an entire state or zoom in and view detailed images of just a few houses.   ‘Looking’ at voter records really is looking and by mapping the data instantly it becomes much easier to work with it.

L2 Political needed to match the competition and automate the sales process.  This would not change anything to its business model.  Campaigns would still make a single purchase per election and perhaps be back as a customer in a future election.  During the initial scoping sessions Moonshadow added a completely new twist to the development plan.  Instead of allowing customers to select the data, buy it and download it why not continue to give the customers access to the mapping environment and let them download the purchased data at any point in the future.  Bruce Willsie, president of L2 loved the idea and “VoterMapping” was born.

This would allow political consultants to use the data in VoterMapping to run voter analyses directly from the map.  Instead of making a single sale L2 could now charge a monthly subscription fee.  Instead of hoping that the customer would be back in two or four years and not chose a competitor L2 now locked in the customer.  Once campaign managers are used to the convenience of seeing their data on maps while working with it they never want to go back.  Looking at the geography or the distribution of voters adds so much information that it is much easier to work with the data.  It also reduces error.  If you make a wrong selection VoterMapping shows you that you are sending a mailing to the wrong part of town.

VoterMapping users have access to detailed demographic data.

Binding the customer to the technology

VoterMapping was introduced in late 2011 and it has completely changed L2’s business.  Customers now pay annual subscription fees and have access to the mapped data 24/7.  Instead of being a list vendor L2 has now become an Internet application provider.  After the initial release Moonshadow has been adding important features as well which make the system even more attractive and make it harder for customers to leave.  Clients can now upload their own data fields into VoterMapping.  Imported data can be visualized as well and customers can do demographic analyses on their imported data.  This year Moonshadow integrated their “Ground Game” mobile canvassing solution to VoterMapping.  Campaigns can create and assign walking lists right inside of VoterMapping and assign these to Canvassers.

Volunteers with iPhones, iPads or Android devices have access to L2’s data on their mobile devices and can answer questionnaires.  Answers are uploaded automatically and visualized inside of VoterMapping.  Ground Game presents yet another new revenue stream.  Moonshadow has created Application Programming Interfaces (API’s) to allow clients of L2 to pump data in or out of VoterMapping.  This year L2 found the latest revenue stream yet: it is licensing its VoterMapping platform ‘white-label’ to other companies.  All of these features mean that the VoterMapping platform has become more attractive and that client retention has increased.

In the past L2 had to compete for each returning client.  Now the client is still there and the conversation has changed completely.  L2, still supported by the Moonshadow engineering team, is becoming more like a software company.  It does not have to do as much to win over customers.  The customers are already there but the conversations have changed.  Customers use the system constantly and want new features all the time.  With the Moonshadow technology L2 has converted incidental sales into constant revenue streams.

Lists can be created, analyzed and purchased 24/7 in VoterMapping

Please contact Moonshadow Mobile to generate additional revenue with your lists through monthly subscription fees.