Maximizing Election ROI: Key Metrics to Build Trust & Member Confidence

Elections are a must for any member organization. But have you ever calculated the costs and tangible benefits of your elections? Tracking return on investment (ROI) is a must for elections. In fact, keeping tabs on expenses could help you use resources more efficiently, cutting costs while running more efficient elections.

Expenses matter, but you’re calculating much more than dollar signs. Effective elections increase voter participation rates and member satisfaction. An increase in these key performance indicators (KPIs) says you’re onto something, while a decrease means it’s time to make changes.

It’s impossible to improve without monitoring your progress, which is why tracking election performance metrics is so important. In this guide, we’ll look at why measuring election success is so crucial and share the best election success metrics.

The Importance of Measuring Election Performance

Election performance has a tremendous impact on future elections as well as members’ trust in your organization. Measuring election performance has so many benefits, including:

• Increased member engagement: How engaged are your members? Member participation has a direct impact on the success of your association, credit union, or co-op. Understanding members’ participation (or lack thereof) helps you spot points of friction and quickly take action to improve long-term engagement.
• Improved trust and transparency: Tracking KPIs builds member confidence in the organization. Releasing election participation figures and performance data shows you take the member experience seriously.
• Continuous improvement: No election is perfect. Tracking election ROI will help you identify problems that you can improve for the next election. For example, if voter engagement decreased after switching to a new voting system, that might signal an issue with the new platform. For example, touchtone voting, where you call an 800 number to submit votes, was popular ten years ago. Today, hardly any institutions offer it because of members’ preferences for email and texting. If the data shows a shift in preferences, make adjustments to stay relevant.
• Greater compliance and risk management: Many organizations must comply with regulatory guidelines for voting. Whether you’re preparing for an annual audit or just want to reduce your organization’s risk profile, election tracking is a must. For example, tracking election success metrics can help you meet regulatory requirements for reaching quorum or specified participation percentages. Data also helps you spot potential security risks or accessibility issues that could come with legal liability.
• Cost savings: KPIs assess how well your organization mobilizes its resources. The better you understand your election performance, the more efficiently you’ll use your resources, time, and people to further the organization’s mission.

The Best Key Performance Indicators for Elections

Managing an election with a firm like Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS) will give you access to a bevy of data. That’s a must-have for understanding your election performance, but it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of data at your fingertips. Simplify things by focusing on these four key performance indicators.

Nomination Participation Rate

The nomination participation rate is the percentage of eligible members participating in the nomination process. You can measure it with this formula:

Nominations submitted / Total Eligible Members X 100

A high nomination participation rate suggests an engaged membership base, but the reverse is also true.

Petition Participation Rate

This election metric tallies the number of valid petition submissions by candidates. It’s a crucial metric for assessing member support for nominees, measuring the number of valid petitions per nominee.

Voter Turnout

Voter turnout is a crucial election KPI that indicates overall member involvement. This figure tells you the percentage of eligible members who vote. Calculate voter turnout with this simple formula:

Number of votes case / Total eligible voters X 100

Member Satisfaction Rate

Member satisfaction rate looks at how pleased members are with the election process. This metric measures trust and transparency through post-election survey ratings. However, the average response rate for email surveys is just under 25%, so using a system that encourages responses is crucial.

For example, Survey & Ballot Systems sends out satisfaction surveys with simple rating reports and allows members to leave comments on the election process. Organizations use this qualitative and quantitative data to pinpoint areas in the election process that need improvement, leading to better elections in the future.

Measuring Election ROI

KPIs are crucial to understanding election performance, but they’re just one piece of the puzzle. When you know the actual cost of your election, you can weigh that against the advantages of having an election expert working with you to show your organization how you can save valuable time and money.

Follow these simple steps to measure election ROI and spot potential cost-saving opportunities.

Calculate All Expenses

First, calculate all of the costs of running this election. Many organizations struggle to estimate costs accurately. It’s easy enough to calculate printing and postage costs, but what about all the other elements that go into making your election happen?

The goal is to calculate all expenses for the election and express them in dollar signs. Include direct costs such as:

• Staff time
• Marketing
• Event costs, such as a venue, food, and entertainment
• Vendor or technology costs
• Print and mail costs
• Travel

Indirect costs are more challenging to calculate, but they also have a direct impact on election ROI. For example, employee time and effort absolutely come with a cost. Your team spends countless hours preparing for the election, tabulating results, and generating reports. Missed opportunity costs, such as turning down money-making opportunities because of election season, can also count as indirect costs.

Looking for a breakdown of costs from a real election? Here are the actual figures from a West Coast co-op prior to partnering with SBS:

• Design, printing, assembly, and postage: $20,000
• Return Postage: $4,000
• Employee Time: $6,000

TOTAL: $30,000

The organization didn’t pay for tabulation or reporting. Instead, it used members and co-op staff to count more than 3,000 ballots over an eight-hour period.

Measure the Tangible Benefits

Once you have a dollar amount for expenses, it’s time to quantify the tangible benefits of the election. It can be difficult to assign a dollar amount to something like “fulfilled our mission,” but that’s the key to calculating accurate election ROI.

Every organization will experience different benefits from an election. That includes:

• Fulfilling your election goals
• Increasing member participation
• Electing candidates that align with policy goals
• Decreasing costs

Whether you experienced policy wins, a growth in membership, or even media exposure for your organization, those all count as a return. Assign a rough dollar amount to these benefits.

Calculate ROI

Now that you have a rough idea of your election costs and returns, you can calculate election ROI with this formula:

(Total value of return – Total investment) / Total investment X 100

For example, if you spent $30,000 on an election that generated $60,000 in value:

($60,000 – $30,000) / $30,000 X 100 = 100% return on investment

The higher the ROI, the more valuable your election was. Ultimately, the goal is to increase ROI with every election, which shows you’re making the most of your resources.

Listen to the Data

Tracking election KPIs and ROI is important, but it won’t generate results for your organization unless you listen to the data. For example, if voter turnout is low and ROI is in the red, that’s a sign that something needs to change.

One election might be a smash hit, while another might struggle to generate member participation. Elections vary from season to season, so always keep tabs on your data to find opportunities for improvement. That’s the key to designing a quality member experience and achieving your goals as an organization.

The Number One Trick for Maximizing Election Budgets

Members expect a high-quality experience, but organizational budgets are already stretched thin. In a world where you’re expected to do more with less, leveraging an election expert is the best way to use your election budget more effectively.

Survey & Ballot Systems helps organizations of all sizes maximize their budgets and skyrocket ROI through:

• Quality connections: Consultants have extensive knowledge of mail and delivery systems and can use permits and mailing rates to save on postage. Election consultants like SBS leverage long-term partnerships with printers, mail houses, and designers. Score more discounts on pricey printing and design a smoother overall election experience with pre-vetted vendors.
• Saving time: Sure, you could ask employees to spend countless hours stuffing envelopes. Or you can work with your SBS expert to design the most efficient production methods, like ballot packets. SBS helps organizations digitize their voting systems or advise on cost-effective ways to outsource time-intensive ballot management.
• Generating quality reports: Your employees don’t have time to count ballots manually. SBS guides your organization in advanced tabulation methods to save time while keeping your ballots secure.

Survey & Ballot Systems not only cuts costs and saves time, but our team also removes the hassles of running organizational elections. Contact SBS today to design valuable, ROI-focused elections.