Interactive Text

1. Getting Started With Interactive Text

Interactive Text is a service to help city officials, community leaders, and local organizations get feedback from the public via SMS to make more data-driven, representative decisions.

To run Interactive Text, you will need (1) questions and (2) distribution plans. Once our team sets you up with an account, you’ll be able to access an online portal to create surveys, see responses, and export data.

2. How Interactive Text Can Work For You

Because Interactive Text displays responses in real time andcatalogues them for later use, you can use Interactive Text in a variety of situations. Here are some examples — we're excited to see how you make it work for you!

Feedback over a set period of time
Before making a planning or policy decision, set up a campaign for public input
Instant feedback
At high-turnout meetings, take a straw poll of how attendees feel on an issue before allocating discussion time
Ongoing feedback
Get feedback about how your organization is serving your community

3. Creating Your Survey

Interactive Text allows you to ask 3 formats of questions:

Open Ended
Multiple Choice
Yes/No

After the first question, you can ask additional questions which are texted back after the first response, or followup questions which are triggered by certain responses. You can ask up to 5 questions per survey.

4. Advertising Your Survey

When you’ve completed your survey, it’s time to make it public. Where and how you advertise will vary based on what type of feedback you’re looking to get. Make sure your ads include:

Initial survey question
Phone number (automatically assigned when you create the survey)

Some tips we’ve learned about advertising so far:

Use photos and examples.
They draw people in and them help understand what you’re doing and why.
Waiting places are good.
It takes 30-60 seconds for users to read the ad, decide to respond, pull out their phone, and text in their response. Longer if you're asking open-ended questions. Ads inside busses, for example, have performed very well.

Interactive Text users have advertised their surveys via posters in bus shelters, small flyers on tabletop displays, flyers on public notice boards, handing out small flyers on the street, digital displays, and online forums. Other ideas? Email us!

5. Tracking Responses and Analyzing Data

Once your ads are live, the dashboard provides easy access to responses and graphs. For further analysis, you can export your data to CSV.

We hope this helps you get started putting Interactive Text to use for you!

What did you think of this Guide? We want to hear as many of your comments, ideas, and questions as possible — your insight helps us build a better service. Please drop us a line at hello@textizen.com.

Five Tips for Great Surveys

Start by getting people opinionated enough to engage
Yes/No and Multiple Choice questions are low pressure ways to get people hooked. When using an Open Ended as your first question, be specific (i.e. "What was the last time...") to break the ice.
Ask questions that give the data you need
If you want to know whether people support a new construction project, ask a Yes/No question. If you want to know why, an open ended question works best.
Consider adding 1 open-ended question
Sometimes the best feedback comes after the formal survey is over. If you start with Yes/No or Multiple Choice questions, you can follow with an open question such as “Why or why not?” or “Anything else to add?”
Limit your survey to 3-5 questions
People are taking time to respond to your survey and using up their text limits (or paying per message) to text in their responses. Keeping your survey to 3-5 questions shows you respect these commitments while maintaining room to get the data you need.
When using a survey for instant feedback, create it beforehand.
When you create a new survey, the phone number takes 2-5 minutes to go live. All other edits go live immediately. For example, create a survey for a city council meeting in the afternoon to ensure that it's live for the evening meeting.

FAQ

How do phone numbers work?
Each survey has a unique phone number, which you share when you advertise the survey.
How do I share results?
You can invite other users to your surveys; they’ll have the same access as you do. To share only the results, you can print the dashboard pages to PDF or export a CSV file.
How does Interactive Text protect privacy?
Interactive Text will never use respondents' phone numbers to contact them after the survey. We also anonymize phone numbers in the results to add an extra layer of security.
Is Interactive Text available internationally?
Our SMS API provider is in the beginning stages of international SMS support. If you have SMS contacts locally, however, please get in touch.
How much does Interactive Text cost?
The cost depends on anticipated survey volume. We can also provide outreach strategy, design, and content development services. Email us for a quote.

Examples

What would make City Center more kid-friendly? OPEN
How old is your child? If you have more than 1 child, use the youngest child's age. OPEN
What neighborhood do you live in? OPEN

Which of these photos should this vacant lot become? MULTI
(Ad shows photos of 6 possible streetscapes.)
Anything else to add? OPEN

Would you use rapid transit along the Boulevard to get to Center City? YES / NO
If Yes, Clarifying: Would you be willing to transfer? YES / NO
What is your ZIP code? OPEN
Anything else to add? OPEN