Lapsed Advocates: How To Reignite Passion Around Your Advocacy Program

Re-igniting the passion in your lapsed advocates can breathe new life into your advocacy efforts and amplify your impact.

Defining A Lapsed Advocate

A lapsed advocate is an individual who once previously participated in your advocacy program but has stopped taking action. Timeframes can vary from organization to organization. If an advocate has not taken action in the last 6 campaigns, they should be considered lapsed.

Combating advocate attrition or advocate churn is vital to the health of your grassroots advocacy. 

Understanding The Reasons Behind A Lapsed Advocate

Before you can re-engage your lapsed advocates, it's crucial to understand why they disengaged in the first place. Here are some reasons why an advocate stopped taking action:

• • Too many solicitations (what we call "advocate fatigue")
  • Lack of alignment with the organization's policy goals and advocate
  • Poor advocacy experience
  • Long time gaps in between asks
  • No feedback for advocate on the value of participation
  • Changes in interest or priorities 

How to re-engage advocates who have lapsed

Personalized Communication Strategies

Personalized communication is key to making your advocates feel valued. Use your database to segment lapsed advocates based on their past activities and interests. Send tailored messages that speak directly to their experiences and motivations. With Muster's Advocacy CRM, you can segment out your advocates by activity, custom fields, legislative districts, and more to better identify them and create more personalized and targeted outreach.

The more personalized and direct your communication, the more likely you are to reignite their interest in your advocacy program.

Create a Sense of Community

Building a strong sense of community can significantly boost re-engagement. Shared experiences where your organization where you create a sense of connectivity with your organization can be incredibly impactful for encouraging advocates to start participating in your advocacy program again. Here are some examples

Encourage current active advocates to reach out to their lapsed peers and invite them back into the fold. Peer influence can be a powerful motivator for re-engagement.

Reinforcing the Importance of Their Contribution

Sometimes, advocates might lapse because they feel their contributions don't make a difference. Reinforce the value of their efforts by sharing specific examples of how their actions have made an impact.

Regularly update your advocates on the progress of your advocacy work and highlight the role they play in these successes. Acknowledging their contributions can reignite their passion and commitment.

Highlight Success Stories

Success stories can serve as powerful motivators. Share stories of how the collective efforts of your advocates have led to tangible changes. These stories not only inspire but also provide a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

Consider featuring these success stories in newsletters, social media posts, and during events. Highlighting the achievements of both the group and individual advocates can foster a renewed sense of pride and motivation.

Creating Opportunities for Re-engagement

Create new and exciting opportunities for your lapsed advocates to get involved. This could be through special projects, volunteer roles, or leadership opportunities. Make it clear that their re-engagement is both welcomed and needed.

Offer training sessions or workshops to help them update their skills and knowledge, making them feel more confident and prepared to contribute effectively.

How can I prevent lapsed advocates in my organization advocacy program?

Putting practices into place to prevent advocates from slipping away rather than winning them back is always easier. Here are some ways to keep advocates engaged:

• • Always thank your advocates
  • Share campaign success stories/data/outcomes via email with advocates
  • Host advocacy-specific events (in-person and online)
  • Look for ways to improve the advocacy experience

Properly thanking, recognizing, and stewarding your advocates will go a long way to lowering your advocate attrition numbers.

It’s always better to prevent a problem than to treat it.

Conclusion

Re-engaging lapsed advocates is not only possible but essential for the vitality of your advocacy program. By understanding the reasons behind their disengagement, personalizing your communication, fostering a sense of community, and highlighting the importance of their contributions, you can reignite their passion and commitment. Additionally, sharing success stories and creating new opportunities for involvement can further motivate your advocates to rejoin your cause.

Remember, proactive measures to keep your advocates engaged will always be more effective than trying to win them back. By implementing these strategies, you can ensure a robust and active advocacy network that continues to drive meaningful change.