Image by Timur Saglambilek.
The UFCW’s Data and Analytics Department has been working with locals across the country to help identify and eliminate roadblocks that stand in the way of reaching our members. The ability to collect and analyze data is critical to our union’s success in the future, and strengthens our capacity to effectively target our current members, reach new ones, and discover new opportunities to impact our industries.
Recently, the Data and Analytics Department worked with UFCW Local 227 to develop a way to update the local’s member distribution list in Action Network to make sure that they were contacting only current members by email. The Data and Analytics Department built a tool in Excel to identify duplicate emails, valid email addresses and if a member was on the past membership file, a new member, or needed to be moved to an inactive status. This analytics tool also identified whether the email address was subscribed, unsubscribed, bouncing, or marked our emails as spam in Action Network, and whether the email contained characters like commas that should be periods.
After the data were analyzed and problems were addressed, a template was built that allowed UFCW Local 227 to upload their data in a way that they could target members by their parent employer, worksite, union representative, full- or part-time status, congressional district and whether the member was an ABC contributor.
“We have a small communications shop and maintaining clean data for thousands of members can be a challenge,” said UFCW Local 227 Communications and Political Director Caitlin Blair. “I encourage other locals to work with the Data and Analytics Department because now we have the data to contact current members through systems like the Action Network and the Hustle app.”
If your local is interested in working with the UFCW’s Data and Analytics Department to better reach our members, contact Corey Bellows at cbellows@ufcw.org.