Legislative Correspondent

A Legislative Correspondent handles all things mail. Whether it's emails, letters, or social media messages, these staff members organize the mail, tag the relevant form letter when necessary or identify the need for a custom response, batch the mail, and correct issue codes. Although the volume of mail depends on the office, IQ has the tools to address every Legislative Correspondent's mail needs. Watch eLearning videos we've handpicked for this role.

Manage Incoming Mail

Whether postal mail, email, web form submissions, faxes, or social media messages, IQ can automatically separate incoming individual messages from mass advocacy outreach. Staffers can easily batch messages with similar content and assign responses to send auto-replies to certain messages using an approved form letter.

Screenshot of Messages module menu in IQ

Not only does IQ continually analyze and sort your incoming mail, it also tracks your responses and can even suggest language based on how you have replied to similar messages in the past. Users can request approval on proposed message responses and select an individual user to approve the response before sending.

Responding to Bill Messages Guide Creating Auto Response Rules for Campaign Messages Guide Responding to Individual Messages Guide

Batch Mail

To help offices efficiently respond to mail, IQ has a batching feature that allows users to automatically group incoming mail with similar content. Legislative Correspondents can then send automatic mass responses to the pieces of mail in an active batch and/or archive the batch for future reference.

Managing Batches Guide

Managing Advocacy Mail

Mail campaigns from large advocacy groups can make up a significant portion of offices’ inbound mail. IQ identifies advocacy campaigns by automatically analyzing and batching inbound messages based on a percentage of common text. Legislative Correspondents can then assign responses for specific campaigns, allowing IQ to automatically respond to those messages and auto-tag any future messages added to that campaign with the same response.

This saves staff from having to repeatedly read the same campaign messages and manually assign responses, allowing them to focus on the correspondence that matters most -- individual messages from constituents.

Creating Auto Response Rules for Campaigns Guide

Combining Campaigns Guide

Analyzing Text for Campaigns Guide

Assign Codes

There are three types of codes that can be assigned in IQ: issue codes, affiliation codes, and service codes. Issue codes are assigned to messages and form letters so that legislative staff can easily identify correspondence relating to certain topics. Affiliation codes are assigned to contacts to identify characteristics like professional associations, positions on issues or any indicator that may be used to target specific groups for outreach. Service codes are used for identifying and categorizing services and may be used to connect agency contacts, form letters, or other library files to relevant services.

Build Form Letters

For outbound messages, form letters can be built, drafted, and submitted for approval all within IQ. Offices can customize controls and permissions settings to streamline the approval process. Once a letter is approved, Legislative Correspondents can easily email or print a preview of the letter for quick approval from their Member or Chief of Staff.

Creating a Form Letter Guide

Co-Edit Form Letters

IQ allows two or more users to co-author form letters in IQ, so a Legislative Correspondent can easily collaborate with other staff. This co-editing feature is convenient and secure, allowing multiple users to write, edit, chat, and review revision history with other staffers at the same time no matter where they are. For more information on IQ Co-Edit, reach out to your IT Consultant.

Enter an Opinion

Legislative Correspondents will frequently log opinions expressed by constituents who call in by phone or send emails. Using the opinion center in IQ, users can easily record constituent comments and contact information for follow up in real time. IQ makes it easy to enter an opinion and then retroactively enter caller contact information, allowing staffers to pull up recent responses and use phone scripts tied to relevant issue codes.

Using the Opinion Center Guide

Send 499s

IQ makes it easy to communicate with constituents even during blackout periods. Whether sending an eNewsletter or a printed mailing, you can easily generate 499s from any contact list in your database with just one click.

Customize IQ

Easily configure the IQ home screen to display the tiles relevant to your position, such as the active batches, messages, and the ready-to-send tiles. The ready-to-send tile shows users the mail that is ready to be emailed and printed without having to manually review each batch. The messages tile can be configured to show the amount of unread individual write-ins versus campaign. And the active batches tile shows all of the mail that is currently batched and needs to be responded to.

IQ Home Screen Guide

Screenshot of IQ homepage featuring the social media stream integration

Below is a collection of instructional videos recommended for Legislative Correspondents.

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