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1 Copyright 2011 Galain Solutions, Inc. Privileged & Confidential

Citizen Perceptions of Mass NotificationMarket Research Report

www.galainsolutions.com615.771.8000lorin.bristow@galainsolutions.com

Prepared by:

Copyright 2011 Galain Solutions, Inc.2 Copyright 2011 Galain Solutions, Inc. Privileged & Confidential

Awareness

Frequency of Use

Importance

Emergency vs. Non-

emergency

Device Preferences

Prevention of Fatigue

Study Goals:

Citizen Perspective


Methodology• Primary study

• Telephone methodology

• 520 respondents

• Representative municipalities chosen by Blackboard Connect from its customer base

• Equal division between “emergency only” and “non-emergency” philosophies based on actual alert history


The ResultsA Look at Key Findings


Awareness & Recall• Awareness of mass notification is very high. 97% of all

respondents are aware that city officials have the ability to send automated alerts and warnings.

• Notification by telephone has the highest awareness level. 93% say they are aware of telephone alerts, compared to approximately 25% who say they are aware of text or email alerts.

• Weather alerts are the most frequently recalled type of notification (66%). School-related alerts are recalled by 29% of respondents.


Awareness & Recall of Local Alerts


Awareness & Recall of Local Alerts


Relevance of Alerts• A majority of citizens feels alerts received in the last year were right

on target. 67% would rate the alerts as being “highly relevant to me,” while another 30% would rate them as being “somewhat relevant to me.”


Frequency of Alerts• Frequency of alerts also received high marks. 93% of respondents

feel the frequency of alerting over the past year was “just about right.”


Importance to Family’s Safety• 76% of respondents feel alerts are “very important” to

their family’s safety, while another 21% say they are “somewhat important.”


Relevance Tied to Importance• 76% of those who believe alerts are very important believe

previous alerts were also highly relevant to them. Only 44% of those who felt alerts were somewhat important felt previous alerts were highly relevant to them.

• This indicates higher perceived relevance yields higher perceived importance.


Emergency vs. Non-emergency• 50% believe notifications should be issued only in emergencies,

while 50% believe they should also be issued in important, but non-emergency situations.


Awareness, Frequency & Importance Differences?• A statistical analysis was performed to gauge differences

between citizens with an “emergency only” versus “non-emergency” philosophy.

• Awareness, frequency and importance were examined.

• There is no statistical difference between these groups in their levels of awareness, perceptions of frequency or ratings of importance.

• This is one indicator that citizens are positive about their current programs, no matter the philosophy, possibly due to a local agency’s influence on their perceptions.


Citizen Use Philosophy Compared to Municipality Practices• 69% of the “emergency and non-emergency” group say they

share that same philosophy, while 68% of the “emergency only” group say they share that same philosophy.


Impact of Sending Non-emergency Alerts• Sending non-emergency alerts to

those who feel notifications should only be sent in emergency situations has little effect on their likelihood of listening to and responding to future alerts.

• 67% say they would be “very likely” to listen and respond to future alerts, while 21% say they are “somewhat likely” to listen and respond.


Device Preference by Type of Alert• In an emergency, a recorded message delivered to a home telephone is

acceptable to 9 out of 10 respondents. For non-emergency situations, the acceptability of a recorded message delivered to a home phone falls to 6 in 10 respondents.

Please tell me how willing you would be in the future to receive emergency alerts for critical situations from public safety and local officials for each of the following devices.


Acceptability of Specific Non-emergency Alerts

• Utilities-related alerts and road closure announcements receive highest marks for specific important, but non-emergency notifications (91% and 79% respectively).

• Payment reminders from public agencies receive lowest marks (19%).


Connectedness to Community• 86% of respondents say non-emergency alerts make them feel

“more connected to my local community.”


ConclusionsPutting the Facts Together


Key Conclusions• Awareness of local mass notification is high and people

believe the practice is important to their family’s safety.

• In general, local agencies appear to be meeting community expectations with regards to the frequency and relevancy of alerts.

• Citizens are divided on their philosophy of how/when alerts should be used, though citizens and their local agencies seem to be fairly well in sync with each other’s preferences. This is due either to: 1) agencies matching citizens’ preferences, or 2) citizens being influenced by agencies’ philosophies.

• Recorded home telephone alerts are the most widely accepted and desired method of mass notification.


Key Conclusions (continued)• Sending non-emergency alerts to those who feel

notifications should only be sent in emergency situations has little effect on their likelihood of listening to and responding to future alerts. While it is intuitive some “annoyance threshold” may be reachable, there appears to be little danger in sending important, but non-emergency messages.

• Non-emergency alerts from officials foster greater feelings of community connectedness.

• Relevance is the key to minimizing message fatigue as higher perceptions of message relevance leads to more frequently cited perceptions that notification is important for safety.

22 Copyright 2011 Galain Solutions, Inc. Privileged & Confidential

Citizen Perceptions of Mass NotificationMarket Research Report

www.galainsolutions.com615.771.8000lorin.bristow@galainsolutions.com

Prepared by:

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Health & Medicine

galain solutions

nonemergency alerts

future alerts

email alerts

weather alerts

nonemergency situations

nonemergency2 copyright

nonemergency group