Email & SMS
Ballot Signal + Tatango
What is Tatango?
Heavy political and nonprofit use, and strict about opt-in — which is exactly why a real consent record is the thing that makes a list usable here.
It sits in the Email & SMS category of a campaign stack. The channels that live or die on a defensible consent record.
Who uses it
Nonpartisan. Used across both parties and by nonpartisan organizations.
How the Ballot Signal + Tatango integration works
The supporter record maps to a Tatango subscriber, but only when a phone number and an SMS-specific consent are both present. Consent timestamp, consent version and consent source URL map to custom fields so the express-written-consent evidence travels with the subscriber. Tatango only supports sending opt-in messages, and adding a subscriber through the API triggers an API Opt-In Confirmation Request that the recipient must answer YES or Y — unless the number arrives on a partner path carrying verified consent. Only valid mobile numbers from verifiable carriers are accepted. Tatango also has native WinRed and Anedot connectors.
What syncs
- Subscribers
- Lists
- Custom fields
Field mapping
The supporter record is the same shape everywhere. What changes is where each field lands. The full record is documented on what you get.
| Supporter record | Messaging object | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| firstName, lastName | Subscriber / profile | Left empty rather than guessed when resolution is not confident. |
| Subscriber / profile — primary identifier | Primary match key. Lowercased before hashing. | |
| phone | Subscriber / profile — phone field | Included only when SMS-specific consent is present. |
| addressLine1, city, state, zip | Subscriber / profile — address fields | Third dedupe fallback. |
| consentTimestamp | Custom fields or merge fields | ISO 8601, UTC. |
| consentVersion | Custom fields or merge fields | The language in force at the moment of consent. |
| consentSource | Custom fields or merge fields | The exact page URL where consent was captured. |
| consentCategories | Custom fields or merge fields | Normalized from your consent platform. |
| intentSignals | Tags, lists or segments | Donate-page, volunteer-page, issue-page and any you define. |
| utmSource, utmMedium, utmCampaign, referrer | Custom fields or merge fields or source fields | Carried verbatim. |
| dedupeKey | Match key | Lowercased email hash. Match order: dedupeKey, then phone, then name + address. |
How to set it up
- 1
Confirm your consent language on the page actually collects express written consent to receive automated text messages — read /compliance/tcpa-and-texting/ first.
- 2
Create Tatango custom fields for consent timestamp, consent version and consent source URL.
- 3
Point the Ballot Signal universal webhook at your Tatango integration, or connect via Zapier.
- 4
Expect a confirmation message on API-added subscribers. Plan your welcome flow around double opt-in, not instead of it.
- 5
Verify a test number is accepted and that the consent custom fields populated.
- 6
Keep your consent export handy — this is the record a carrier or a plaintiff's lawyer will ask for.
Why it matters
Heavy political and nonprofit use, and strict about opt-in — which is exactly why a real consent record is the thing that makes a list usable here.
Related integrations
All Email & SMS →Mailchimp
Still the default email tool for local and county campaigns that have not bought a political-specific platform yet.
ActiveCampaign
Deep automation for small teams — the tag that arrives from us can start a whole nurture sequence without staff touching it.
EZ Texting
Low-cost texting many local campaigns already have a login for.
Scale to Win
Where a lot of Democratic peer-to-peer texting actually happens, and it inherits its consent posture from whatever VAN holds.
Ballot Signal + Tatango: questions
Is the Tatango integration available today?
Via webhook. Not a native connector. This works today through our signed universal webhook, and someone on your side (or your consultant) wires up the endpoint. Full supporter record, full consent record, no UI.
What authentication does the Tatango integration use?
API key. Credentials are stored encrypted and are never rendered back into the interface after entry.
Will this create duplicate records in Tatango?
No, assuming you leave deduplication on. We match on the lowercased-email hash first, then phone, then name plus address. On a match we update rather than create, and only the fields you have marked overwritable.
Does the consent record travel into Tatango?
Yes. Consent timestamp, consent version, consent source URL and granted categories are included in every push, by default, and there is no configuration that strips them. That is the point of the product.
Does connecting Tatango make a phone number legal to text?
No. Nothing does. We capture and preserve the consent evidence in the form platforms and carriers expect, so the consent you actually collected is provable. If you did not collect express written consent to send automated texts, we will not manufacture one. Read the TCPA page first.
See what your own website already knows.
Book a 20-minute walkthrough. We will look at your site's current consent posture first — that part is useful whether or not you buy anything.