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Commonplace

The no.1 engagement alternative to GoVocal (formerly CitizenLab)

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engagement alternative to Bang the Table
Choosing the right community engagement tool is crucial for project success. With the most in-depth series of features available, Commonplace is the ideal alternative solution to unlock community data, increase public participation and transform everyday spaces into thriving places.
 
Be sure to do your homework and determine which tool is best suited to power your community engagement. Comparing solutions before you've tried them can seem daunting, which is why we've provided a handy comparison between GoVocal (formerly CitizenLab) and its award-winning alternative Commonplace. That's also why Commonplace offers a 4 week free trial to get you started, completely risk-free. 
 
Whatever the objectives of your community engagement project, Commonplace's superior alternative to the GoVocal solution provides: greater audience reach, advanced mapping features and offline mode for face-to-face engagement, state-of-the-art natural language processing of free text comments and market-leading collaboration tools, all the while maintaining the highest standards of information security and data protection. 

Let's compare the features that set us apart from GoVocal (formerly CitizenLab)

$10/Day

Reach

Feature Commonplace GoVocal
Engaged audience built up from a strong history of engagement projects in UK 3200 projects and >8 million people reached Undisclosed, only 25 UK clients mapped on website
Project launch expert planning session
Optimised for search engine ranking
Targeted social media campaigns for reaching wider / more diverse audiences
Multi lingual engagement Full translation of end-to-end journey including emails Partial translation not including emails
Guest contribution without signing up Almost always Rarely

Engage

Feature Commonplace GoVocal
Visually-led with image grid & carousel, slider, two column text, powered by WYSIWYG editor
Advanced interactive mapping: customisable iconography, visual hover panels & community filters
Comment by shape (site) or by line (route)
3D map option
Dedicated face-to-face / interview mode
Voice comments

Analyse

Feature Commonplace GoVocal
Survey questions & analysis native to one platform Commonplace hosted surveys and dashboards External survey tools are fed into GoVocal dashboards
Geospatial analytics with map-based dashboard views & reverse geocoding
Independently accredited templates enabling reliable benchmarking
Visitor tracking capability for audience understanding & targeting

Collaborate

Feature Commonplace GoVocal
67% of respondents are supportive of proposals
Comments visible to the public for complete transparency Almost always Rarely
Automated respondent re-engagement

Quality assurance

Feature Commonplace GoVocal
Pre go-live checks by Engagement Expert on every project
Real time moderation of comments Machine & human Machine only
Multi factor authentication & single sign on

Detailed exports

View all contribution & respondent data in your dashboard with unlimited exports, your data is yours to keep

2500 projects

We've reached over 7 million people through thousands of engagements, giving us huge experience with which to optimise

Unlimited admins

Invite as many team members and site admins as you like, from your organisation or from partners

Zero failures

We've seen absolutely no failed planning applications when Commonplace was used at the pre planning stage

90% verified

Almost all of our respondents opt to provide a verified email address, yet we still allow anonymous contributions

20+ languages

Commonplace is multi-lingual, so you can easily translate your content, surveys and all email communications

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What our customers have to say

"Compared to our previous experience with another provider, Commonplace is a game-changer. The platform delivers more flexibility with which we’ve created DTNI Connect. Commonplace’s customer success team continually go above and beyond, supporting us with updates, even when we have last-minute requests."

dtni

Margaret Craig

Senior Programme Coordinator
  • dtni

FAQs

 

What is Commonplace?

Commonplace is the UK and Ireland’s most advanced solution for community engagement and co-design. We are leading the way globally with a data-powered community sentiment mapping, survey and communication solution.

Why choose Commonplace?

Commonplace not only enables broader community conversations, it turns those conversations into a rich, data-led understanding. It transforms many voices into key themes, allowing for more inclusive decision-making. This dialogue also speeds up projects by getting local buy-in faster.

Our team of experts have guided over 2500 projects across 60+ themes from development consultations, to wind and solar farms, active travel and safety.

Where is Commonplace available?

Anywhere! We are a UK-based solution and are available to set up projects internationally. We have already hosted community engagement projects in USA, Mainland Europe, Pakistan and New Zealand. The platform is fully translated in 20 languages, including all email communications, helping you reach diverse audiences and geographies. 

What is the difference between Commonplace and GoVocal (formerly CitizenLab)?

GoVocal (formerly CitizenLab) was founded in Belgium and operates across the public sector, working in local government, police and health. 

Commonplace has a deep understanding of the UK and Ireland market, particularly across local authority planning policy, local plans, transport planning, urban regeneration, public realm, health services (NHS) and community safety. In addition, Commonplace works across both public and private sectors to deliver on the agenda of collaboration, co-creation and co-design, ultimately ensuring everyone is engaged in delivering thriving neighbourhoods and communities. We have worked with a number of housebuilders, regeneration experts, commercial landlords and masterplan developers to improve the built environment across all major UK cities. 

Given that we started in the UK, Commonplace is relied on to deliver a platform that is best suited to the UK context and maintain the highest standards in data protection and information security. In addition, Commonplace customers value access to the established community audience, our focus on reach and diversity, advanced community mapping features, independently accredited engagement templates and interactive mobile-first content & question types. 


How easy is it to switch from GoVocal (formerly CitizenLab)?

In a word? Very. Just have a chat with one of our expert advisers and they’ll advise you on the next steps. Or get started with a free trial


Can we switch in the middle of a project?

Yes you can. All your current information can be transferred over from GoVocal (formerly CitizenLab). Our team will be happy to offer advice, especially when it comes to letting your current audience know that you’ve switched platforms/URLs.


Can all our existing data be transferred?

Absolutely. We know it took time, effort and promotion to get that community data on GoVocal (formerly CitizenLab) and you can upload it directly into the Commonplace platform so you can carry on where you left off.

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Explore other features

  • 1
    Reach-2

    Reach

    Promote and build awareness of your engagements and get more people to participate.

  • 2
    Engage-2

    Engage

    Collect suggestions and ideas from your community on a range of different topics

  • 3
    Analyse-2

    Analyse

    Explore and understand real-time community insight with ease.

  • 4
    Collaborate-2

    Collaborate

    Continually engage throughout the process, share updates and build trust.