Solutions
Canvassing means visiting people at home to talk in person. What differs from one field to another is the list of addresses, the questions you ask, and how you judge a good shift. A GOTV (getting out the vote) canvasser is trying to confirm a vote. A solar sales representative is trying to book an appointment. A union organizer is trying to learn who will sign a union card and who is afraid to.
Beacon is one platform for all of this work, with the terms, door results, and reports changed to match your program. Choose the page that describes your work.
Political and advocacy
These programs share a voter file (the official list of registered voters), a fixed deadline, and volunteers who come and go often. Reports measure how much of your target list you have reached, not revenue.
Import your voter file, divide precincts, send walk lists (the addresses each canvasser will visit) to phones, and follow GOTV progress on a live dashboard. It is built for how state-house and federal field programs are organized.
Political campaigns → RegistrationFor registration drives, where the voter completes the official form on paper or online. Route volunteers by turf (an assigned area of streets), record each conversation and its result, and follow progress toward your door goal.
Voter registration → PetitionsFor ballot measures and candidate petitions that need a set number of signatures by a filing date. Route circulators door to door, record each door result and a survey answer such as whether the person signed the paper sheet, and follow progress before the filing date.
Petition drives → LaborHouse visits for organizing drives, contract campaigns, and member mobilization. Each member record holds an assessment score that the organizer responsible for the list can see.
Labor unions → OrganizingLong-term work where the goal is a relationship and a commitment to show up, rather than a single yes. Each contact record can mark possible leaders and people who need a follow-up.
Community organizing → NonprofitMembership, fundraising, and awareness canvasses run by staff and volunteers together, on budgets that cannot cover a large contract priced per user.
Nonprofit canvassing → FaithNeighborhood outreach, invitation campaigns, and pastoral visits, with the care this work requires about what is recorded about each household.
Religious organizations →If you are new to running a field program, start with the guide to political canvassing and GOTV, which covers each step from the voter file to election night.
Commercial
Here the canvassers are paid, territory has real business value, and the key measure is the cost of each new customer. Door results look less like survey answers and more like the steps of a sale.
Record leads at the door, schedule follow-ups, and see results by territory in one app. It is built for teams that drive a route every day and are paid on completed sales.
Door-to-door sales → Home servicesFor roofing, pest control, lawn, HVAC, and security companies. Canvass after a storm, record quotes at the door, and schedule follow-up visits for undecided homeowners.
Home services → Real estateWork one neighborhood over many months (agents call this farming) rather than visiting a list once. Record every contact at an address, so the fourth conversation can build on the first three.
Real estate →If you are building the program rather than switching software, the complete guide to door-to-door sales covers territory, scripting, objections, and closing at the door.
Shared features
The industry pages use different terms and reports. The features underneath are the same for every industry and in every plan.
Draw a shape on a map, name it, and assign it. Every address inside the boundary becomes a walk list. If you redraw the area partway through, the lists update to match.
Territory management → OfflineCanvassers keep working in basements, on rural roads, and in areas with no signal. Work is saved on the phone and uploaded when signal returns, so no one loses a night of results.
Offline canvassing → RoutingWalk lists are put in street order so canvassers do not double back. This can be the difference between forty doors an hour and twenty-five.
Route optimization → TrackingOn the Growth plan and up, see live where your team is. On every plan, see which doors have been visited and who has stalled. The same view confirms coverage and supports canvasser safety.
Real-time tracking → ScriptsTalking points appear on the screen at the door, adjusted to the person who answered. They help a new canvasser answer an objection. AI Script Coach is a paid add-on, from $29/mo, on any plan.
AI script coach → ReportingSee contacts per hour, coverage by turf, and success rate by canvasser. These numbers show whether the program is working or only busy.
Analytics and reporting →See the full feature breakdown, or read how canvassing operations are managed for the reasoning behind territory, routing, and measurement.
Switching
Most teams that come to Beacon already use a tool built for political or commercial work and later adapted for the other. Political teams also work in a party voter database, such as VAN for Democrats or i360 for Republicans.
The VAN canvassing app, and what changes when the field director wants a live map without a separate add-on.
Compare → PoliticalAll-in-one campaign software compared with a tool built mainly for field work, and where each one is worth its license fee.
Compare → AdvocacyTwo canvassing platforms with different priorities. One is built around its contact database (CRM), and the other around visiting doors.
Compare → SalesThe established tool in door-to-door sales, and what a team gives up or gains by switching.
Compare → SalesField sales tracking versus field operations, and which one fits how your reps are managed.
Compare → AllEvery side-by-side comparison, including cases where another tool fits better than Beacon.
All comparisons →Get started
Open an account, draw a territory, import your list, and put the app on your canvassers' phones. Most programs are visiting doors within three days of signing up.