Showing that responses come from genuine local residents
Councillors and planning officers rightly ask who has responded to a consultation. A set of results is far more persuasive when you can show that the feedback comes from people who live near the site. It also helps to show that an organised campaign has not drowned out other views.
ConsultOnline now gives project teams three ways to show this. Letters can carry personal registration codes. Each contribution shows how it has been verified. Near-identical responses are grouped automatically. The examples here are from Boyd Park, our demo project: a fictional garden village scheme by Dalton Developments.
A personal code on every letter
When you send letters about a consultation through ConsultOnline, each one can carry its own QR code and an eight-character registration code printed for that address. Codes avoid characters that are easily confused, such as the letter O and the number 0, so they are simple to type.
A resident scans the QR code, which fills in the code for them. Alternatively they type it in when they register. Either way, the code confirms that they received a letter at an address in the consultation area. You choose how the codes are used:
- Optional: anyone can take part. People with a code are marked as verified by post, with their address taken from the letter.
- Required: only people with a code from a letter can take part.
- People per household: one person per household, or everyone in the household up to a limit you set.
Project settings
Letters can go to every home in the postcodes you choose. The mailing’s recipients list shows how many households have registered and taken part without showing what anyone said. You can send a reminder to the households you have not yet heard from. If a letter is lost, you can issue a replacement code.
Verified local voices
Not everyone will register with a letter code. ConsultOnline therefore labels each contribution by the strongest check the person has passed: a letter code, a confirmed address, a local postcode, a confirmed phone number or a confirmed email address. The first three show that someone has a local connection. A confirmed phone number or email shows that the person is real, though not where they live.
Every response is still counted and residents are not asked for anything extra. The labels let you filter results and include verification in your exports. You can also add a verified local voices section to your consultation report.
Spotting campaign responses
Organised campaigns are a legitimate part of local democracy. Even so, a decision maker needs to know when fifty responses share the same wording. ConsultOnline compares written survey answers, ideas and comments, ignoring greetings and sign-offs. Responses that are near-identical are grouped together. You see how many similar responses each group contains and how many came from verified local residents.
Nothing is deleted or discounted. Each response is still counted individually. The grouping simply gives you the context to report on it fairly.
Verification in 30 seconds
Read the video transcript
The video opens with the question: are your responses coming from local people?
A real address, not a guess: people choose their address from Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File.
Confirm a mobile number: a one-time code by text. You choose which checks each project uses.
Only homes with a letter can join: on Enhanced and Bespoke, each posted letter can carry a personal code.
It closes with: user verification for planning consultations. ConsultOnline. The video has music and no narration.
How it works
- Design a mailing and choose a personal code for each household in its QR code settings.
- Choose the postcodes to send to, or print and deliver the coded letters yourself.
- In Project settings, under Access, choose whether codes are optional or required.
- Follow registrations from the mailing’s recipients list. Review verification and similar responses under Analytics.
Evidence you can stand behind
Verified local voices and campaign grouping are included in every package. Personal letter codes are part of our Enhanced and Bespoke packages. To see how they work on Boyd Park, book a demo. You can also read more about direct mail.