The Magellan Strategies team has been rewriting the book on the community survey since 2007. Say goodbye to paper mail surveys that your residents throw in the trash. Our community surveys are designed to captivate and engage your residents, including hard-to-reach populations. Our interview methods are more inviting, more inclusive, and more effective than mail or phone survey methods. In addition, by creating an enjoyable and interactive community survey experience, we ensure your residents will not only participate, but genuinely enjoy sharing their thoughts and opinions.
Unfortunately, many survey research firms still use mail surveys as their primary method for interviewing residents. This “paper method” is expensive, slow, and prone to keypunching and non-response bias errors. In addition, mail surveys do not provide a large percentage of residents with one or more opportunities to participate. We think that is wrong, unacceptable, and typically results in a low-quality, inaccurate community survey.
Our primary method of interviewing respondents is sending MMS text survey invitations. On average, our MMS text survey innvitations reach at least 50% of a community’s adult population inviting them to participate in a community survey. In addition, we send multiple texts, giving residents several opportunities to participate. Another advantage of MMS text survey invitations is the simple fact that people pay attention to a text message from their local government.
Using technology wisely, a community survey project should not take three to five months to complete. Mail surveys that require respondents to fill out and mail back a paper survey are expensive, slow, and totally unnecessary today. Our community survey process can be completed from start to finish in 30 days or less.
Experienced research firms are well aware of the challenges of interviewing minority, first generation, and lower-income individuals. However, it has been our experience that MMS text survey invitations and working with government staff distributing QR-codes among these populations can greatly enhance survey engagement rates. This approach has garnered positive feedback from our government clients operating in both rural and urban areas.
By leveraging these innovative methods, we effectively reach and engage individuals who might have otherwise been difficult to include in the survey process. This not only ensures a more inclusive representation of diverse perspectives but also allows us to gather valuable insights from these important segments of the population.
Our government clients frequently inquire about respondent survey completion rates and the number of questions participants are willing to answer. Based on our experience, it has been observed that residents are willing to respond to more than 100 questions when taking a survey on a desktop or an electronic device. This is particularly true for resident surveys, as individuals often desire to express their opinions on various topics related to their local government.
In contrast, traditional mail surveys can be burdensome, particularly when respondents are required to provide open-ended verbatim responses. To optimize engagement and streamline the survey process, we exclusively employ online survey data collection methods. By eliminating the hassle of paper-based surveys, we ensure a smoother and more efficient experience for both respondents and survey administrators.
We understand why government staff and council members like to see their community survey results compared to other cities, towns, or counties. Comparing survey results among similar communities is a great way to put your results in context. However, some of our community survey competitors believe it is appropriate to compare a mountain community of 10,000 residents to Dallas, Texas or Atlanta, Georgia.
In addition, they charge you for the comparison. We don’t do that here at Magellan Strategies. Our team is happy to take the time, at no charge, to compare your community survey results with a community of similar size and demographics.
Our survey presentations have a visually appealing design and present opinion data in an easily understandable format. Moreover, our survey topline and crosstab documents are designed with user-friendliness in mind, making navigation a breeze. Unlike other opinion research companies that deliver dense and challenging-to-navigate survey data, our survey deliverables address these issues. We guarantee that our survey deliverables will be appreciated by your residents and contribute to strengthening your government organization’s brand.
When it comes to resident survey services, we offer a transparent and straightforward pricing structure for our clients. We do not impose separate appearance fees or additional charges. Our goal is to provide clarity and simplicity in our pricing approach. Instead, our clients pay a single fee for their resident survey, which is determined based on the number of questions included and the total number of completed interviews.
Following are survey presentations from some of our past community survey projects. Our full survey deliverables include a survey presentation, topline document, crosstabs, verbatim responses, and a survey summary.
Following is pricing for our two community survey offerings. However, we are happy to come up with a custom cost based on the number of questions and the number of interviews to fit your budget.
Magellan Strategies | 4800 Aspen Creek Drive | Broomfield, CO 80023 | 303-861-8585
