Ensure continuous engagement by keeping your respondents informed
Jump to 'How to follow up with Respondents'
Why follow up with Respondents?
After consulting over six thousand respondents about their experience with Commonplace, 39.2% of all respondents have voiced concerns about the lack of follow up and communicated that they don’t believe their contribution will truly be considered, or even read.
Although respondents expect a follow up, only the best engagement teams make time to ‘close the loop’. Fewer than 10% of respondents receive a follow up of any kind and only 1% receive a personalised response.
How to follow up with respondents?
1. Post news
Posting news is the simplest way to communicate with your respondents, all at once. When you post news, you can update the public of the progress of the consultation, and the impact their feedback has had on reshaping and shaping plans.
We suggest that you should post news throughout your consultation, and especially at the end to ‘close the loop’.
2. Public replies
The most common and expected response comes in the form of public acknowledgement. Sometimes it really is as simple as thanking a respondent, but on other occasions, you may see fit to use the opportunity to provide the respondent with a bit more context.
This response will be on view for the respondent and all future respondents and is a great way to show that all feedback is being considered.
How to reply to comments
3. Private replies
Depending on the nature of the comment you’re responding to, you may see fit to reply privately to ensure the comment receives the care and attention it deserves. In this instance, the author of the comment is the only person to see the response.
How to reply to comments
4. Grouping tool
In the case where there are hundreds or thousands of comments, you can use the grouping tool to re-target people by email, postcode, age, or any other demographic measure or contribution type (e.g. sentiment). Once groups are formed you can select the relevant category and set about constructing your email response.
Contact Support
If you find you still have some questions or you’re unsure about something, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our dedicated technical Customer Support Team