Using Nextdoor Polls to gather feedback from your residents
Nextdoor polls are a great way to quickly get feedback from your residents. You can choose to share a poll with all of your constituents or target polls to specific neighborhoods. You will receive aggregate responses broken down by neighborhood. However, the responses you receive will only be as good as the questions you ask. Follow this checklist to ensure you receive the input you need.
Find step-by-step instructions on how to create Nextdoor polls here.
#1. Pick a useful and engaging topic. Consider these types of topics:
- Measure how people are feeling about an issue (do you feel safe in your neighborhood?, do you feel the City is responsive to your inquiries?)
- Solicit feedback on an approach or policy (which City program is most important to you? is your neighborhood interested in starting a neighborhood watch program?)
- Monitor satisfaction of a program (how can our department support your neighborhood’s National Night Out event?)
#2. Ask simple questions, one at time:
Nextdoor polls are designed to be simple and only one question can be asked at once. If you want to ask multiple questions, let your members know you will be asking multiple questions over a given period of time like a week or month. Keep in mind that polls may not be displayed in the order you posted them in your residents’ newsfeeds as the most recent comment on any post bumps that post to the top of the newsfeed.
#3. Use clear language (avoid agency speak):
Remember that many of your residents will not understand acronyms and technical terms that are familiar to you and your colleagues. State your questions using clear language that someone who may not know anything about your department will understand. Review this checklist for plain language.
#4. Set and manage your residents’ expectations. It may be helpful to communicate:
- How input will be used
- When the decision or policy will be made
- When the results will be communicated back to the community
#5. Pre-test and double check your poll:
Before posting your poll, ask a colleague or even a resident to review the question(s) you are asking. This will help you address unexpected interpretations. Also remember that you cannot edit a poll once it has been posted. Be sure to check spelling and grammar before posting.
#6. Coordinate polls with other districts and departments:
If multiple districts or precincts are publishing polls, it is important to coordinate the posting of the polls during the same day and time to ensure consistency in the volume of responses.
#7. Encourage your residents to add context to their answer choice by commenting on your poll:
Allowing residents to comment on your poll will provide you with qualitative information that may help to provide more context to the quantitative poll results. This also provides an opportunity for your residents to ask clarifying questions if they are unclear how to best participate in your poll.
#8. Report back to your residents
After you’ve had the opportunity to analyze the results of your Nextdoor poll, report back to your residents. Let them know what you have learned and how you plan to use this new information. It may be helpful to reach out to certain neighborhoods based on your poll results. For example, if your poll showed residents in a particularly part of the city do not feel safe, follow up with those residents to see if there are ways your agency can work with them to improve their neighborhoods.
#9. Develop a schedule for conducting polls:
Since polls are easy to use and residents enjoy responding to them, we recommend conducting a poll at least once a month.