Category: [SUCCESS]

The Survey of the Month series is a monthly blog where we highlight the extraordinary work our customers are doing, along with some takeaways that are relevant for anyone interested in making the most out of online engagement using MetroQuest’s survey platform! To see more in the series, visit the blogs here.

The Capital Region Planning Commission (CRPC) in Louisiana is a Council of Governments serving eleven parishes around Baton Rouge. The agency coordinates and addresses regional issues related to transportation, land use, economic development and the environment. It is the Baton Rouge area’s designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).

As such, CRPC focuses a large part of its resources on transportation planning, including the federally mandated update to its Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) every four years. MOVE2046 is the Capital Region’s MTP, and the team utilized a MetroQuest survey to great effect!

Let’s take a look at what they did…

What’s the story? Developing the future of transportation in LA with MOVE2046

MOVE2046 creates the future of transportation in the region by developing goals, strategies, and projects that will help achieve a vision over the next 25 years. The plan encompasses half of the parishes that the MPO serves, and is developed in coordination with local governments as well as key stakeholders to make certain that it supplements, rather than hinders, existing plans in the region.

Broad community engagement around the plan ensures the public has ample opportunity to get involved and help shape the plan’s vision, goal, and recommendations with their input. Currently, the project is in its second stage where options are being evaluated. For more information, please visit https://crpcla.org/move2046.

Anatomy of a Survey: A Classic LRTP Survey for Engagement

Long-range transportation plans (LRTPs) have traditionally been the single most common use of MetroQuest, from back in the early days of our software to now! MetroQuest can be (and is) applied to any planning context, and the MOVE2046 plan demonstrates just how exceptional an online survey can be for transportation plans.

After the Welcome Screen, which informs visitors of the plan and of the survey’s purpose, participants are asked to rank their priority items out of a list of 7, namely (in random order) Improve Connectivity, Improve Walking and Biking, Support the Movement of Freight, Improve Public Transit, Improve Safety, Maintain What We Have, and Reduce Traffic Congestion. This Priority Ranking Screen allows participants to tell the survey team what is most important to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the next Screen, participants are asked to distribute a fictitious but representative budget of $100 into eight possible categories, namely Maintain What We Have, Move Freight More Efficiently, Improve Safety for All Users, Improve Public Transit, Maximize Existing Network with Technology, Add New Roads or Widen Roads, Improve Bike/Pedestrian Facilities, and Improve Streetscape Appearance. It is a gamified experience asking for priorities while also highlighting the fact that funds are finite!

The last interactive Screen, before wrapping up the survey with demographic questions and ways to stay involved, is a Map Marker Screen which asks participants to show the region’s biggest needs by dropping markers onto a map of the area in question. The marker options are Congestion, Bicycle and Pedestrian, Public Transit, Safety, Maintenance, and Other. This type of Screen allows participants to tell the survey team exactly where they see issues and opportunities!

You can try the MOVE 2046 survey here. This is a demo version that will not affect the survey results.

5 Tips from MOVE2046: Good survey design is all in the details!

The MOVE2046 Survey made the most of MetroQuest’s capabilities to serve their LRTP purpose! Below are 5 takeaways from their survey that can help you when designing your next public engagement survey:

1. Visitors landing on the MOVE2046 Welcome Screen are greeted by a beautiful background image along with rotating factoids. It is a simple yet very effective way to make the landing page eye-catching!

2. Each priority has a short description and uses an icon image to convey the meaning. Icons are a great way to supplement description of items as it keeps the Screen simple. Images are also popular! We know it can be a challenge to find what you are looking for, so we’ve created the updated image library for some inspiration and images to use; there are over 400 stock image that can be searched by keyword! You can access the Image Library from your MetroQuest Studio.

3. On the Budget Allocation screen, the survey team kept each of the categories short and to the point for maximum appeal and ease of use. However, they also made use of the “additional information” bubble for anyone who might want a bit more context on any of the categories. This is a great way to serve those who wish to know more without overwhelming the main area with too much text.

4. On the Map Marker Screen, each marker has a sub question with a drop down and a textbox, giving participants a space to elaborate on their choice. This enables the survey team to capture qualitative data that will help inform the plan, in addition to the quantitative spatial input!

5. Also on the Map Marker Screen, the survey team made use of the location drop down at the bottom right which allows participants to zoom into the area that is most interesting or concerning to them. This gives more precise and nuanced input by helping participants get to where they need on the map.

 

Congratulations to the team at CRPC for a well-executed project and a fantastic LRTP survey experience!

For more great tips on how to make the most out of MetroQuest, contact your Customer Experience manager or reach out for more information!

Want to learn more about how MetroQuest supports teams in achieving successful community outreach? Read about COMPASS’s success!

COMPASS Gathers Input from 18,500+ Participants to Plan Future Transportation

To help shape the future of the region into the year 2050, local planning officials at COMPASS in Southwest Idaho turned to the public for input and achieved record-breaking results!

Anatomy of a Survey: A Classic LRTP Survey for Engagement

Long-range transportation plans (LRTPs) have traditionally been the single most common use of MetroQuest, from back in the early days of our software to now! MetroQuest can be (and is) applied to any planning context, and the MOVE2046 plan demonstrates just how exceptional an online survey can be for transportation plans.

After the Welcome Screen, which informs visitors of the plan and of the survey’s purpose, participants are asked to rank their priority items out of a list of 7, namely (in random order) Improve Connectivity, Improve Walking and Biking, Support the Movement of Freight, Improve Public Transit, Improve Safety, Maintain What We Have, and Reduce Traffic Congestion. This Priority Ranking Screen allows participants to tell the survey team what is most important to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the next Screen, participants are asked to distribute a fictitious but representative budget of $100 into eight possible categories, namely Maintain What We Have, Move Freight More Efficiently, Improve Safety for All Users, Improve Public Transit, Maximize Existing Network with Technology, Add New Roads or Widen Roads, Improve Bike/Pedestrian Facilities, and Improve Streetscape Appearance. It is a gamified experience asking for priorities while also highlighting the fact that funds are finite!

The last interactive Screen, before wrapping up the survey with demographic questions and ways to stay involved, is a Map Marker Screen which asks participants to show the region’s biggest needs by dropping markers onto a map of the area in question. The marker options are Congestion, Bicycle and Pedestrian, Public Transit, Safety, Maintenance, and Other. This type of Screen allows participants to tell the survey team exactly where they see issues and opportunities!

You can try the MOVE 2046 survey here. This is a demo version that will not affect the survey results.

5 Tips from MOVE2046: Good survey design is all in the details!

The MOVE2046 Survey made the most of MetroQuest’s capabilities to serve their LRTP purpose! Below are 5 takeaways from their survey that can help you when designing your next public engagement survey:

1. Visitors landing on the MOVE2046 Welcome Screen are greeted by a beautiful background image along with rotating factoids. It is a simple yet very effective way to make the landing page eye-catching!

2. Each priority has a short description and uses an icon image to convey the meaning. Icons are a great way to supplement description of items as it keeps the Screen simple. Images are also popular! We know it can be a challenge to find what you are looking for, so we’ve created the updated image library for some inspiration and images to use; there are over 400 stock image that can be searched by keyword! You can access the Image Library from your MetroQuest Studio.

3. On the Budget Allocation screen, the survey team kept each of the categories short and to the point for maximum appeal and ease of use. However, they also made use of the “additional information” bubble for anyone who might want a bit more context on any of the categories. This is a great way to serve those who wish to know more without overwhelming the main area with too much text.

4. On the Map Marker Screen, each marker has a sub question with a drop down and a textbox, giving participants a space to elaborate on their choice. This enables the survey team to capture qualitative data that will help inform the plan, in addition to the quantitative spatial input!

5. Also on the Map Marker Screen, the survey team made use of the location drop down at the bottom right which allows participants to zoom into the area that is most interesting or concerning to them. This gives more precise and nuanced input by helping participants get to where they need on the map.

 

Congratulations to the team at CRPC for a well-executed project and a fantastic LRTP survey experience!

For more great tips on how to make the most out of MetroQuest, contact your Customer Experience manager or reach out for more information!

Want to learn more about how MetroQuest supports teams in achieving successful community outreach? Read about COMPASS’s success!

COMPASS Gathers Input from 18,500+ Participants to Plan Future Transportation

To help shape the future of the region into the year 2050, local planning officials at COMPASS in Southwest Idaho turned to the public for input and achieved record-breaking results!

The Survey of the Month series is a monthly blog where we highlight the extraordinary work our customers are doing, along with some takeaways that are relevant for anyone interested in making the most out of online engagement using MetroQuest’s survey platform! To see more in the series, visit the blogs here.

This month, we spotlight a survey that broke records for the highest number of participants in a day. The transit options survey from COMPASS in Idaho received over 4,000 participants in just one day and went on to hit record-high participation numbers with over 11,000 participants when the survey closed a month later!

Let’s take a look at their survey and highlight some takeaways for success with your next online public engagement survey.

What’s the story? All aboard! Exploring transit options for the Treasure Valley

COMPASS, which stands for the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho, created a fantastic survey for the planning of a future high-capacity transit system to meet the demands of a growing region. This new system would be an addition to the current bus system.

While high-capacity transit options for the area have been explored for years, a recent study conducted by COMPASS in 2020 analyzed types of transit and route options. Those results were used to inform the All aboard survey. This survey, which concluded in February of this year, was the third in a series of surveys that aims to shape the region’s long-range transportation plan.

The survey reached incredible participant numbers: 11,706 to be precise, with a much higher number of total data points. Social media was a primary driver for traffic, with almost 50% of respondents stating that social media was how they heard about the survey, followed by news stories with 21.5% of participants. Read the full case study to learn more about the promotional strategy that lead to such great public participation.

The full results from the survey can be found in this report.

For timelines and additional information on the project, visit the project page. For more information, visit COMPASS’s website.

Anatomy of a Transit Survey: Visual Screens for Maximum Fun Factor!

When landing on the Welcome Screen, participants will find information on the project, including the background as well as some additional information on high-capacity transit. Immediately after, the survey starts with a Tradeoffs Screen. This type of Screen gives participants a chance to look at the project in terms of what they would prioritize when given competing choices.

Here, participants were presented with four tradeoffs, namely Convenience, Timing, Separation, and Investment, and asked where they would position themselves. For example, under Convenience, they were asked to indicate their preference regarding faster trips with fewer stops or slower trips with more stops.

The next task was to provide destinations on a Google map on the Map Marker Screen. Participants could choose from available markers, including “home,” “job,” “entertainment,” “errands,” and “other.” The task was for participants to show on the map where they typically go. This exercise around origin and destination is a great way to understand typical trips and help show the study organizers where capacity is most needed!

The fourth Screen was an Image Preference Screen where participants were asked to provide input on service preferences. They could choose one image out of a set that best represented their answer in a number of categories, namely “Where do you want to go,” “How do you get there now,” “What’s close enough,” and “What’s most important to you?” Each of the questions had five possible answers, with one being an “Other” or “Not applicable” option. The purpose was for the survey team to understand how high-capacity transit could serve the participants.

If you’d like to try out the survey, take a look at this demo version. This does not collect data and will not impact survey results.

5 Tips from All Aboard: Straightforward and fun survey for a high impact!

The survey stands out as particularly visually appealing and fun. Below are 5 takeaways from their survey:

1. On the Welcome Screen where visitors first land, they see a language switch button labelled “Español” so that those who prefer to take the survey in Spanish can do so easily. This element is part of MetroQuest’s overall effort to streamline the process required to create a survey in an additional language. For more information, read our recent update on multilingual surveys to support inclusive public engagement, or reach out to your customer support manager.

2. The Welcome Screen also makes use of the rotating slides at the bottom to provide additional information, small factoids about the project, process, and definitions. This is a recommended and particularly useful way to use it! A participant who wants to learn a little more will take the time to read those, and one who wants to spend only a few minutes here can do so as well.

3. What stands out from this survey is that it is far from a traditional survey! In fact, apart from a few demographic questions at the end, there are no text-based questions at all! We firmly believe that reason for this survey’s fantastic participation rates is that it does not feel like survey at all, but an interactive, fun experience that still resulted in high numbers of data points and informed public input.

4. COMPASS created a very visually appealing experience that, instead of using text for the majority, switches things up with images, and with a map for input. For more tips on this, have a look at this 1-minute video where I discuss why more visuals and less text make for better surveys. The success of this survey helps confirm that participants are much more likely to provide input when it feels like a fun experience, rather than an onerous task with long texts.

5. One particularly good example of the above point is the use of the Visual Preference Screen. The questions read like traditional questions – where do you want to go, how do you get there, etc. However, instead of providing a drop down with a list with possible answers, or asking participants to tediously fill in a text answer, this survey provides 5 images for each question that represent each of the answers and create a visually appealing activity that one can complete in just seconds.

 

For more great tips on how to make the most out of MetroQuest, contact your Customer Experience manager or reach out for more information!

MetroQuest supports community outreach on plans big and small! Check out our recent webinar on designing success for any size project:

The Art & Science of Big Online Engagement for Small Plans

Join us as we delve deep into good survey design and targeted promotional tactics, helping planning teams achieve successful community engagement for any size of project!

Anatomy of a Transit Survey: Visual Screens for Maximum Fun Factor!

When landing on the Welcome Screen, participants will find information on the project, including the background as well as some additional information on high-capacity transit. Immediately after, the survey starts with a Tradeoffs Screen. This type of Screen gives participants a chance to look at the project in terms of what they would prioritize when given competing choices.

Here, participants were presented with four tradeoffs, namely Convenience, Timing, Separation, and Investment, and asked where they would position themselves. For example, under Convenience, they were asked to indicate their preference regarding faster trips with fewer stops or slower trips with more stops.

The next task was to provide destinations on a Google map on the Map Marker Screen. Participants could choose from available markers, including “home,” “job,” “entertainment,” “errands,” and “other.” The task was for participants to show on the map where they typically go. This exercise around origin and destination is a great way to understand typical trips and help show the study organizers where capacity is most needed!

The fourth Screen was an Image Preference Screen where participants were asked to provide input on service preferences. They could choose one image out of a set that best represented their answer in a number of categories, namely “Where do you want to go,” “How do you get there now,” “What’s close enough,” and “What’s most important to you?” Each of the questions had five possible answers, with one being an “Other” or “Not applicable” option. The purpose was for the survey team to understand how high-capacity transit could serve the participants.

If you’d like to try out the survey, take a look at this demo version. This does not collect data and will not impact survey results.

5 Tips from All Aboard: Straightforward and fun survey for a high impact!

The survey stands out as particularly visually appealing and fun. Below are 5 takeaways from their survey:

1. On the Welcome Screen where visitors first land, they see a language switch button labelled “Español” so that those who prefer to take the survey in Spanish can do so easily. This element is part of MetroQuest’s overall effort to streamline the process required to create a survey in an additional language. For more information, read our recent update on multilingual surveys to support inclusive public engagement, or reach out to your customer support manager.

2. The Welcome Screen also makes use of the rotating slides at the bottom to provide additional information, small factoids about the project, process, and definitions. This is a recommended and particularly useful way to use it! A participant who wants to learn a little more will take the time to read those, and one who wants to spend only a few minutes here can do so as well.

3. What stands out from this survey is that it is far from a traditional survey! In fact, apart from a few demographic questions at the end, there are no text-based questions at all! We firmly believe that reason for this survey’s fantastic participation rates is that it does not feel like survey at all, but an interactive, fun experience that still resulted in high numbers of data points and informed public input.

4. COMPASS created a very visually appealing experience that, instead of using text for the majority, switches things up with images, and with a map for input. For more tips on this, have a look at this 1-minute video where I discuss why more visuals and less text make for better surveys. The success of this survey helps confirm that participants are much more likely to provide input when it feels like a fun experience, rather than an onerous task with long texts.

5. One particularly good example of the above point is the use of the Visual Preference Screen. The questions read like traditional questions – where do you want to go, how do you get there, etc. However, instead of providing a drop down with a list with possible answers, or asking participants to tediously fill in a text answer, this survey provides 5 images for each question that represent each of the answers and create a visually appealing activity that one can complete in just seconds.

 

For more great tips on how to make the most out of MetroQuest, contact your Customer Experience manager or reach out for more information!

MetroQuest supports community outreach on plans big and small! Check out our recent webinar on designing success for any size project:

The Art & Science of Big Online Engagement for Small Plans

Join us as we delve deep into good survey design and targeted promotional tactics, helping planning teams achieve successful community engagement for any size of project!

The Survey of the Month series is a monthly blog where we highlight the extraordinary work our customers are doing, along with some takeaways that are relevant for anyone interested in making the most out of online engagement using MetroQuest’s survey platform!

To see more in the series, visit the blogs here.

For a change, this month we are leaving North America to highlight a customer in Australia who has created one fantastic survey after another: Blue Mountains City Council in New South Wales (NSW). This agency is unique in many ways, including the fact that the local government area in question is almost 75% National Park!

What’s the story? Developing a vision for recreational visitor destination

The survey we are highlighting this month is the Southern Escarpment Masterplan, a strategic planning initiative by Blue Mountains City Council, to guide future development as well as the ongoing management of nature- and culture-based recreation and tourism. The survey seeks input on how the visitor destinations in the Southern Escarpment are currently used, and the priorities of those who live, work, or visit the area.

The Masterplan is one initiative out of several current planning projects by the Council, all aimed at helping shape the future of the City of Blue Mountains. The plan’s purpose is to coordinate planning, to prioritize infrastructure upgrades, to guide amenity improvements and to provide a strategic planning document to attract public and private sector investments.

For more information on this and other projects, visit their website at https://yoursay.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/.

Anatomy of a Masterplan Survey: Priorities, Use, and Values

Upon landing on the survey, visitors are presented with a beautiful scenic image of the area in question as well information on the project and the tasks at hand. They are asked to provide input on what they prioritize in the Southern Escarpment on a Priority Ranking Screen. Participants are asked to choose their top 5 in order out of a list of 8 priorities, namely: Exercise, Residential amenity, Nature, Accessibility, Tourism, Culture, Recreation or the option to input an additional priority in text form.

Next, participants are presented with a Map Marker Screen and asked to show how they use places by dropping markers on a Google map. The choices for different markers are “Where do you go”, “What do you value most”, “Problems”, “Future priorities”, as well as “Your ideas”.

The final interactive exercise, before the survey wraps up with demographic questions and a thank you message, is a Standard Survey Screen on values. Participants are asked follow-up questions on the priorities they’ve previously identified as important to them, often asking for clarification on how important an aspect is or how satisfied they are with the current status.

If you’d like to try the survey, visit the MetroQuest survey here. The survey is currently live, but this is a demo version that will not affect the survey results.

5 Tips from Southern Escarpment Master Plan: Using the Plan’s Advantages to Your Benefit

Not every survey is fortunate enough to be discussing a stunningly beautiful landscape, but visual appeal can be applied to almost any context and makes the survey experience more pleasant! Below are 5 takeaways from the survey:

1. First impressions matter! What instantly stands out is the beautiful image in the Welcome Screen background that ties in perfectly with the color scheme of the survey. A prominent background image can be found for just about any context or project, and helps create a positive initial experience. For example, aerial images always look captivating, and the right lighting or editing can make a picture of a standard bus look striking! MetroQuest’s Image Library offers some choices to get your team started, but you can always upload your own.

2. The way the team tied-in the colors of the background image with the gradient colors of the Screens makes the entire Survey look remarkable. When choosing colors for each Screen, which are completely customizable, use appealing colors or match a project logo or page for brand recognition. If you do not have marketing guidelines or requirements in respect to colors, have a look at the many MetroQuest-created palettes for inspiration!

3. The Map Marker Screen utilizes a location drop down at the bottom of the Screen which allows participants to zoom into any and all areas that they are most interested in. This makes for a better user experience as a participant can hone in on exactly where they would like to provide feedback, and also gives you more accurate geospatial data.

4. This survey used the Priority Ranking Screen as their first interactive activity, and we always highly recommend this for a number of reasons: it warms up participants to this new way of providing input online; it gives you very relevant data on what is important to your participants; and it allows you to give the survey a tailored feel by following-up on participant priorities in a subsequent Screen, as done here with the Standard Survey Screen. This connection also makes the Standard Survey Screen more manageable because it limits the questions to focus on what the participant already identified in the first Screen as important to them. As a result, they are more likely to provide input and meaningful data.

5. Finally, speaking of the Standard Survey Screen, if you are using it to gather data on very specific areas, we recommend that you place it at the end of the survey as this one does, because a survey taker has already provided input, and is more likely to keep going and complete the survey. If this Screen is up front, a participant might think the entire survey is just survey questions which may discourage them from continuing.

 

Congratulations to the team at Blue Mountains for a great, interactive, and one of the most beautiful MetroQuest surveys we have come across!

 

For more great tips on how to make the most out of MetroQuest, contact your Customer Experience manager or reach out for more information!

Want to learn more about how you can build a MetroQuest Survey to support community outreach on your next transportation plan? Check out our recent webinar: The Art & Science of Big Online Engagement for Small Plans.

The Art & Science of Big Online Engagement for Small Plans

Learn from hundreds of case studies and interviews from exceptional planners across the country! This webinar focuses on strategies behind creating delightful surveys for public input and dives into using social media and other advertising tools.