Washington, D.C. – Capitol Advantage today lauded a new study supervised by a George Washington University professor on e-mail delivery rates to Congress. The research studied the deliverability rates of electronic mail sent by 10 major vendors hired by leading associations and business and non-profit groups to deliver messages to Capitol Hill. The Connecting Citizens and Legislators study shows that the online tools sold by some major advocacy vendors don’t work with the e-mail systems in many congressional offices.

Capitol Advantage scored the highest delivery rate among the 10 vendors with 97.3 percent of its e-mails delivered to Congress.

“Advocacy and civic participation shouldn’t be an afterthought: Capitol Advantage has made a 20-year commitment to delivering on this promise of civic engagement. We dedicate the necessary resources to ensuring that we stay on top of the ever-changing electronic landscape. Good advocacy – by us or a competitor – is good for our business in the long run. Just as bad advocacy or communications practices ultimately hurt all of us,” Capitol Advantage President Bob Hansan said.

Dr. Dennis W. Johnson, a professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, authored the study’s analysis. Dr. Johnson is the author of the book Congress Online: Bridging the Gap between Citizens and their Representatives (2004), and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Information Technology and Politics and is senior editor of the Journal of Political Marketing.

The study covered electronic messaging systems used by some of the nation’s most committed activists who rely on interest group Web sites to deliver their messages. Capitol Advantage customers include: National Education Association, American Red Cross, American Society of Association Executives, and National Restaurant Association.

Capitol Advantage also called today for the establishment of a new certification system that would enhance the credibility of all messages sent to Capitol Hill. The system would be administered by an independent body, certifying that online advocacy system vendors use reliable technology and procedures to deliver messages to Congress. “With so much riding on delivering these messages, any vendor in the marketplace should be subject to regular tests of the reliability of their systems,” said Hansan.

The study was funded and supported by Capitol Advantage, a leading advocacy vendor with 1,500 customers. Research assistance was also provided by Knowlegis and e-advocates.