Chapter 31 Exercises

Exercise 1: Email A/B Test Design

The Garza campaign needs to send a fundraising email about a new poll showing the race within three points. Design an A/B test for this email.

Part A: Write two subject line options to test. For each, explain the psychological principle you are applying (urgency, social proof, curiosity, personalization, etc.) and predict which you expect to perform better and why.

Part B: Beyond the subject line, identify two other elements of the email you would want to test (e.g., sender name, CTA button text, suggested donation amounts). For each, describe the two variants and your hypothesis about which will perform better.

Part C: The campaign's email list has 142,000 subscribers. Design the statistical structure of your test: What sample size will you use for each variant? How long will you run the test before selecting a winner? How will you determine statistical significance? (You may calculate using a standard conversion rate of 2.3% and a target confidence level of 95%.)

Exercise 2: Platform Audit

Select a current U.S. Senate or gubernatorial candidate of your choice and conduct a platform-by-platform digital audit.

Review their presence on: 1. Facebook 2. Instagram 3. X/Twitter 4. TikTok (if present) 5. YouTube

For each platform, document: - Follower/subscriber count - Posting frequency (how many posts in the last 7 days) - Average engagement rate (likes + comments + shares ÷ followers) - Content mix (video vs. image vs. text) - Evidence of paid promotion (look for "Sponsored" labels) - Your assessment of content quality and strategy

Synthesis: Write a 300-word assessment of the candidate's digital strategy strengths and weaknesses. If you were advising the campaign, what would you change?

Exercise 3: Social Listening Analysis

The Garza campaign's social listening tool shows the following data over the past seven days:

Part A: Something happened on Wednesday. The spike in Garza mentions with declining sentiment suggests a negative story emerged. What could cause this pattern? Generate three hypotheses.

Part B: From Thursday onward, Whitfield is outperforming Garza in both volume and sentiment. As Nadia Osei, what urgent actions would you recommend to the campaign?

Part C: The data shows Garza's positive sentiment on Monday and Tuesday was higher than Whitfield's. Does this mean Garza was "winning" the digital conversation those days? What additional data would you need to make that assessment?

Exercise 4: Digital Budget Allocation

A challenger candidate for a competitive U.S. House seat has a total digital budget of $320,000 for the final 8 weeks of a general election campaign. The district is suburban, with voters aged 25–65, and the candidate is running on healthcare and housing affordability issues. The opponent is the incumbent with strong name recognition.

Design a digital budget allocation. For each channel, specify: 1. Dollar amount and percentage of budget 2. Primary goal (fundraising, persuasion, mobilization, list building) 3. Key targeting strategy 4. How you will measure success

Your allocation must cover at minimum: Facebook/Instagram advertising, Google/search, programmatic display, YouTube/streaming, and email/SMS acquisition. You may include additional channels.

Justify your allocation in a 200-word strategic memo explaining your top priorities and tradeoffs.

Exercise 5: The Authenticity Paradox Case Study

Read the following scenario and respond to the questions below.

A campaign for a state treasurer candidate has hired a nationally recognized digital firm with an impressive record. The firm recommends a TikTok strategy involving "authentic" content showing the candidate "being herself" — including scripted scenarios designed to appear spontaneous, including a scripted "impromptu" conversation with a barista about her parents' retirement savings. The digital director from the firm argues that the content is "authentic in spirit even if produced in execution." The campaign manager is uncomfortable but doesn't want to second-guess the expensive consultants.

Questions: 1. Is the firm's characterization of the content as "authentic in spirit" persuasive? What are its merits and limitations? 2. What are the practical risks of the approach if audiences perceive the content as performed rather than genuine? 3. How would you advise the campaign manager? What alternative approaches might achieve the campaign's goals without the authenticity risk? 4. Is there an ethical dimension to this scenario beyond strategic risk? Explain.