aKillion & Subtext launch AI texting tool for campaigns

aKillion and Subtext have partnered to launch IONCandidate, a platform for political campaigns and agencies that use text messaging.

The system is designed to turn inbound messages from constituents into two-way conversations managed by artificial intelligence.

IONCandidate combines Subtext's SMS infrastructure with aKillion's AI software. It uses a candidate persona built from a campaign's official platform, voting record, and approved messaging. The system replies to incoming texts in the candidate's voice and routes more sensitive or complex exchanges to human staff.

The launch comes as political organisations look for more direct ways to reach voters in a fragmented media market. Texting has long been used in campaigns, but much of that activity has focused on one-way outreach rather than sustained conversation.

According to aKillion, the system can manage thousands of simultaneous conversations and feed each exchange into an individual voter file. That process, the companies said, allows campaigns and agencies to build audience segments from conversation data rather than rely only on broader demographic assumptions.

The partnership enters a market where speed of response and data collection are increasingly important to campaign operations. The companies said the software can automate sentiment tagging from inbound messages, reduce manual work tied to voter files and outreach, and help political groups redirect staff time and spending.

Performance claims

aKillion and Subtext cited early performance figures for the platform and related messaging efforts. They said IONCandidate delivered a peak response rate of 4.77%, which they described as nearly five times the industry standard for political mobilisation.

The companies also pointed to a Washington-focused campaign in which nearly 71,000 texts produced a 2% response rate and an opt-out rate of less than 1%. Among those who engaged, nearly 14% became donors, generating 115 contributions in total, according to the figures provided.

They also said email campaigns used alongside the SMS approach exceeded industry benchmarks by more than 700% on some measures. The figures included an email click-through rate of 6.04% against an industry benchmark of 0.83%, a click-to-open rate of 18.30% against 2.96%, and email list retention of 99.77% against 99.50%.

The companies said the unsubscribe rate for the AI-managed conversational model was 0.23%. They argued that lower list attrition suggests audiences built through text conversations may remain more receptive across other digital channels.

Executive views

Aaron Sheeks outlined the rationale for the tie-up.

"We are moving the industry away from one-way broadcasts and toward actionable intelligence," said Aaron Sheeks, Founder and CEO of aKillion. "Partnering with Subtext gives our AI employees the most trusted SMS infrastructure in the business to work with, and the results speak for themselves. Candidates can now connect authentically with every community they represent, collect real polling data automatically, and turn those conversations into donation campaigns and real-time voter mobilization. That is what changes the operational math for a campaign."

Mike Donoghue said the partnership applies Subtext's messaging system to an area where rapid, direct contact is central to campaign work.

"Real-time, two-way communication is the only way to build genuine trust between a candidate and a voter," said Mike Donoghue, Co-Founder and CEO of Subtext. "We built Subtext to give organizations a direct, unfiltered line to their audiences, and our partnership with aKillion puts that infrastructure to work in one of the highest-stakes environments there is. With a 98% open rate and 95% of messages read within three minutes, SMS is the most personal, direct, unfiltered line to constituents available. Together with aKillion, we have built the infrastructure and the intelligence layer that makes every one of those messages count."

The companies are positioning the product for campaigns, political marketers, and agencies. Subtext's existing customer base includes media and entertainment groups, while aKillion said its broader AI products are used across sectors including politics, sport, local services, and media.

A Senior Strategic Advisor involved in a regional campaign using the technology described how it fit into day-to-day campaign work.

"The ability to have our message amplified through IONCandidate has been a pivotal shift for us. It drives the message home through actual dialogue, automating the complex parts of outreach while ensuring the candidate's voice is heard across the district. It allows our team to focus on high-level strategy while the AI handles the frontline engagement and data collection," the advisor said.