While you can persaude people (to support you) at the door via canvasing and such, it's better and more typically used to focus on actually getting infrequent voters to actually go and vote.
GOTV efforts should only be about getting people that support you to the polls to vote. Ideally unless it's a special circumstance (special election, etc) you'd be able to mostly leave the super-voters (those that always vote no matter what) alone and focus on getting those that only vote occassionally to the polls.
I wholeheartedly disagree with those that have said that canvasing and phone banking is of no use and that it shouldn't be done. I do agree with the feeling behind that (and also expressed within this thread) that it doesn't seem to be being done in the most effective way possible.
At it's most effective contact should be on an ongoing basis by people who live in your community that you already know. That's friends, neighours, and those you work with along with the democratic committee people in your area. Microtargeting and tracking would take place so you could talk to people about issues that are of specific interest to them and you could track their responses over time.
Lists would be updated so no wrong or disconnected/moved numbers/addresses or and the personal issue data for each person you're calling would be available for tailored messages. You'd able to update the database on the fly with comments including not to knock or call them again or if they need an absentee ballot or ride to the poll. Election day you'd be able to track who has voted and who has not voted so you can only focus on those that haven't, etc.
These things are done to differing degrees with differing levels of success depending on the particular campaign. I think the better information you have and the more effectively you use it the better off you are. The more organic you can make the canvasing/phone banking effort the more successful it will be too. By organic I mean natural... people knocking doors in their own neighourhood talking to people they may even know about issues that they know in advance are relevant to them.
