BDRC Hackney Online Panel Case Study - LARIA 2015

Hackney Matters:

Driving our online panel forward

Florence Obinna, London Borough of Hackney

Jacqui Banerjee, BDRC Continental

Chris Bristow, Reward Your World

Jacqui has worked in research for over 20 years. After moving from MORI to BDRC Continental she has worked with public sector clients for over 10 years and currently heads the public sector team.

Who we are

Mini biog

Chris has worked in technology for over 30 years, initially in publishing and most recently in user engagement.

Florence has worked in local government for over 10 years, with roles in consultation, communications and research.

A quick tour of the London Borough of Hackney

Quality of life,

safety and

cohesion

Budget

Cuts

Socio-economically diverse

Deprivation

Improved quality of life measures

Hackney Matters Panel

Cost-effective means of:

Tracking resident

satisfaction

Sampling frame

for focus

groups and

deliberative

discussions

Engaging cross-

section of

residents

Temperature

testing before

borough wide

consultation

• More outsourced

• Face to face recruitment and refresh

• Quarterly newsletters

Pre- Austerity Vs Post Austerity

• More done in-house

• Ongoing recruitment managed in-house

• Refreshed website to enable online recruitment

• Monthly newsletters

Our Challenges

Managing much

more in-house

Populating

annual research

forward plan

Departments

and partners

funding research

utilising the

panel

Keeping panel

interested and

engaged

Digital

exclusion

How we recruit From inception to early 2014 a traditional face to face method

• Quota controlled • Interviewers spread across the borough • Partner organisations used • Efforts made to engage with hard to reach

residents • Top ups every couple of years

In 2014 a huge step-change

The panel was opened up to allow online recruitment

Socialise

& Involve

Users register at

hackneymatters.org and

are co-registered at

BetterPoints.uk

Feedback

& Reward

Motivate

& Facilitate

Inform

& Impact

Make

Aware

How BetterPoints

works in practice

BetterPoints is the financially

backed digital currency which

powers our reward

programme

The BetterPoints behaviour

change model helps deliver

positive social outcomes

The Funnel

Engine

room

The BetterPoints Behaviour Change model

A few examples of where else Better Points has been utilised

• Reading Borough Council:

– LSTF funded transport initiative

• Reading Buses Rewards:

– Launched in September 2013

• Birmingham City Council:

– Active Parks programme

The recruitment drive Various stands of activity utilised:

Refer a friend:

£ 5 initial promotion – increased to £10 per friend referred who joins the panel 1

Hackney today front page article 2

Social media: Twitter and Facebook 3

Posters at public access points – e.g. Libraries, Council buildings 4

Landing page of Council website 5

Features across local newsletters 6

Valentine Tweets

Email and website based newsletters

Examples of our collateral

Examples of our collateral

Front page of the Council publication

Dedicated website

Initially recruited in 2008 2000

Top up 2010 120

Top up 2013 220

Online recruitment since Autumn 2014 220

Including churn the total panel size is 1522

Typically achieving a sample size of 300-350 per survey

currently c20% + response rate

34% for online recruits 16% for online recruits

How big is the panel?

The online quantitative survey process

Initial

email

invite

Reminders

Hackney

Matters

Brief email to current panellists outlining survey content, prize draw details and individual link to the online questionnaire

Reminder email with link and an opportunity to email new panellists (2 to 3 from agency) Phone calls phased in week 4-5 to act as an additional reminder to non-responders

Survey links incorporated into newsletters and emails to encourage further response

• Regular newsletters

• Photo shoots

• Invites to participate, not just to the panel quantitative surveys but used for qualitative focus groups too

Activities which provide ongoing recruitment activity

• Public facing events in the summer

• Face to face recruitment to ‘fill the gaps’

Ongoing activity to keep the panel engaged and refreshing

Engagement

Refresh

Fast access to panellists when

needed e.g. qualitative groups

Residents feel part of a community

Cost savings

Quick to complete (usually 100+

interviews within a few days)

Some limitations in data collection

e.g. awareness tracking

Provides comparable results to

traditional methods

If you are considering an online approach

Anything measuring online

communications

Limited in providing very

geographically focussed results

Cons Pros

Recruiting via a self selecting online method works to a certain extent:

We get a steady flow of recruits and residents respond to marketing efforts

The profile of recruits is not bad

We get a good response rate from recruits (currently)

Its minimises costs

…but, online only recruitment is probably not going to be completely sustainable:

We have the existing face to face recruits to provide a backbone to the

panel

The online recruitment will need to be filled in with complementary

recruitment to ensure the profile represents the Hackney population

• Very focussed online recruitment

• Face to face recruitment

• Using other Council resources/ databases

What have we learnt and keep on learning!

What to do if you are considering an online panel…

Concluding points

Think about what you are going to need the panel for: replacing traditional methods,

or ‘quick polls’ 1

Can you adopt a mass recruit method to get your ‘numbers’ 2

What online recruitment methods can you use – think pragmatically to keep it as

representative as possible but also cost efficient 3

What resources do you have and how are the costs organised in-house 4

How can you get buy-in from your internal clients 5

Florence Obinna, London Borough of Hackney

Jacqui Banerjee, BDRC Continental

Chris Bristow, Reward Your World

Contact us

Mini biog

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]