ACTION NETWORK FAQ
BASICS
Q: Who has access to Action Network?
Regional Leads and State Coordinators can receive training for Action Network. With the development of the Alliance Data Toolkit, Alliance Co-Chairs can now access local membership info synced from Action Network.
All Field Leaders are required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement for data privacy.
Q: Who can I ask for Action Network support?
Contact Action Network's support team at support@actionnetwork.org
Check out Action Network's helpful resources under Help & Videos
Join our Braver Angels community of Action Network users to ask questions
Q: I don't see the Braver Angels information when I sign in. How do I find it?
Most likely, you need to set your Default Group to Braver Angels [default].
In the top right-hand corner of your homepage, click 'Go to a Group'.
Select Braver Angels [default].
The page will refresh with Braver Angels information.
PEOPLE
Q: How do I search for a person in Action Network?
In the top bar, choose 'People'.
Then click on 'Activists'.
You will be directed to a page that looks like the one below. Make sure that the box on the left says the option 'Braver Angels'.
In the box on the right, type in the name or email of the person. Note: email is the unique ID for a person; this is an easy option to identify a person.
4. After searching for the person, a list of people will appear. Click on 'View Record' next to the person's name.
5. A profile of the person will appear. This is where you can check on the person's email subscription, email history, tags, and custom fields.
Q: What is the difference between tags and custom fields?
Tags refer to information affiliated with a person. These include registrations for events, membership, and volunteer interests and qualifications.
Custom fields refer to events that the person has registered for and/or attended.
REPORTS
Q: How do I create a report?
Go to 'People' in the top bar.
Select 'Reports'.
Check to make sure the 'Pull a Report from Email List' shows 'Braver Angels'.
Give your report a name. Note: it's good measure to specify what the report is for and the date in which it's being made on.
Check to make sure the 'Subscribed' and 'has an email' boxes are checked on.
6. Below this information, you will find a variety of filters. The most important ones to use are: Tags, Sources, & Fields and Geography. You are welcome to use the other filters for narrowing your search based on other information.
7. Under Tags, Sources, and Fields, Tags is where you can search and use the 'Member' tag. There are a number of other tags that you can choose from as well. Field Values is where you can search for 'Master Partisanship' and then select 'Blue, Red, or Other'. For more details on how to do this step, please refer to the following FAQs in the Reports section.
8. Under Geography, this is where you can specify the State, County, Zip/Postal Code and radius, and City and radius.
9. Once you are set with your filters, click 'Save & Select Data'.
10. Next, you can choose the fields you want to include as column headings for your spreadsheet (which you will download later on). In the example below, the columns will appear from 'First Name' to 'Mobile Number' in the spreadsheet. You can add more fields and reorder them however you like.
11. Once complete, click on 'Save & Get Results'.
12. After your report processes, you will be shown a number for total targeted. Rather than viewing the data in the 'View Results' section, it's preferable to click on 'Generate' a CSV Report on the right-hand side. Once you click 'Generate', you will receive an email to download your report results in a Google Sheet or Excel spreadsheet.
Q: How do I create a report based on a political partisanship (red, blue, other) for my target audience?
When creating a new report, you can filter your results by using the Field Values.
Start a new report.
Open the Tags, Sources, and Fields filter.
Look at the Include Column, and click '+ Add' under Field Values.
A new window will appear showing 'Include Field Values'.
In the first line, search for 'Master Partisanship'.
In the second line, type the political leaning that you wish to see in the report (red, blue, or other).
Then select 'Add'.
Example: creating a list that leans red
Q: How do I create a report for [red + other] or [blue + other] for my target audience?
When creating a new report, you can filter your results by using the Field Values.
Start a new report.
Open the Tags, Sources, and Fields filter.
Look at the Exclude Column, and click '+ Add' under Field Values.
A new window will appear showing 'Exclude Field Values'.
In the first line, search for 'Master Partisanship'.
In the second line, type the political leaning that you wish to not see in the report.
Then select 'Add'.
For example: if you wish to create a report containing reds and others, you would type 'Blue' in the second line.
Q: How can I find a draft of my report?
On the Action Network homepage, go to Reports as shown below.
This will bring you to a list of latest reports, including your draft report. From there, you will be able to edit the report and/or view the results of the report.
E-NEWSLETTERS
Q: How do I send a newsletter?
After creating your target audience using Reports...
Click on 'Create an Email Based on this Report'.
3. Next, you will create your newsletter content. Note: please use your name and Braver Angels title (i.e. Sabrina Pedersen, Massachusetts State Coordinator) in the 'From' line. In addition, if you are a State Coordinator, please use your State email address (i.e. ma-coordinators@braverangels.org) in the 'Reply To' line. If you do not know your State email address, please check the National Map Directory.
4. For Braver Angels branding, you can select an Email Wrapper in your newsletter. The 2 options available are named 'Braver Angels' and 'Braver Angels - With Donate Button'.
5. Once you have written the body of your newsletter, you can send yourself a test to preview what your email will look like before sending. Afterward approving it, click 'Save and Target Your Email'.
6. Next, Action Network will ask you to confirm once more the target audience in which you are sending the newsletter to. This is the final step to make any changes to the target audience. After approving it, click on 'Save, Preview, & Send'.
7. This will bring you to the final step in which you can review the newsletter. There are 2 options for sending the newsletter. You can either 'Send Email' immediately, or 'Schedule Email' for a time in the future.
Q: How can I find a draft of my newsletter?
On the Action Network homepage, go to Reports as shown below.
This will bring you to a list of latest reports, including your draft report. From there, you will be able to edit the report and/or view the results of the report.
