The UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have been using Citizen Space for a number of years, consulting on a range of issues from low-carbon electricity generation, to modern working practices, to ensuring restaurant and hospitality workers receive their fair share of tips.
The aim with their online consultations was to ensure consistently good quality content throughout and to secure their departmental reputation online, taking the difficulty out of digital forms of engagement.
BEIS have noticed a marked improvement in consultation conversion rates since adopting Citizen Space. When publishing their consultations on the gov.uk website and Citizen Space simultaneously, they found that the average completion rate was significantly higher when people were using Citizen Space: 21% compared with 3%.
The stats demonstrate that by putting stuff online, making it visually appealing and promoting it, people will engage. Lowering barriers to entry is vital to reach more citizens with democratic processes. The ability to break consultations down into different sections and allow people to only complete parts that are relevant to them may be a contributing factor to the rise in conversion rates.
It’s clear that the public want to be involved with big, national decisions controlled by major government departments; they just need to be given the platform and the support to do so with ease. Through their use of Citizen Space, BEIS have managed to reach more people and allow citizen participation in decision-making to increase.
If you want to hear more about how organisations are increasing involvement in online consultation, get in touch.
