Engaging Residents and Building Online Council Communities – ‘In-a-Box’

Councils needing to engage with residents and contextualise feedback is a great idea, however the challenges of building online communities, gathering databases and mastering web dialogues, can be daunting and time consuming.

Tpoll is a full-service market research company specialising in online communities and has created a simple ‘off-the-shelf’ module that can be adapted for a multitude of various initiatives and projects.

The Citizen Panel (CP) is an online forum where residents and councils can engage with each other on specific projects or notions. Discussions, performance measurement and objective feedback can be moderated by the council or Tpoll. Images, documents and links can be interjected to live discussions and residents feel they are being heard.

The CP combines both qualitative chat forum functionality and quantitative panel survey in one portal. Residents ‘chatting’ with each other about a key issue such as a green-field development application can run alongside a survey of ‘How do you rate your council…’

Tpoll’s software is mobile-compatible and strategically core to broadening the reach to demographic groups that traditional face-face or hall studies find it difficult to access. Busy residents connect when and where it suits them, less able-bodied citizens don’t need to endure the challenges to travel. Likewise, it eliminates residents’ safety concerns of door-to-door research or any cultural barriers that may affect old-fashioned face to face research.

The CP functionality is structured on a set formula, keeping usability easy and the price low. At £2,950 for initial set-up and a small project fee, Citizen Panel in a box is the most affordable resident engagement tool available.

For further information call Richard Staunton at Tpoll on 02031760716