7 min read
At Commonplace, we're constantly evolving to meet the needs of our clients and their communities, and our latest product improvements reflect that dedication to innovation.
We've unleashed a powerful suite of new tools designed to simplify your engagement process, enhance accessibility, and amplify your project's visibility.
From streamlined navigation and revamped login experiences to fully interactive map features and cutting-edge data visualisation tools, we've left no stone unturned in transforming the way you connect with your community.
Each feature is meticulously crafted by our in-house product and development teams to empower you to engage more effectively, foster meaningful connections, and create real impact where it matters most.
So, let’s dive in and see what’s in store!
1. 'AUDIENCE ACCESS' PACKAGES
Do you struggle with reaching diverse and positive audiences? With our packages, you gain direct access to Commonplace’s extensive subscriber base of 780k+ people - a diverse, pre-engaged audience familiar with the platform and eager to share their insights on your local projects.
Why Choose Commonplace’s Audience Access?
Instant Engagement: Tap into a pre-warmed audience that’s already invested in contributing to projects like yours. This means faster feedback, more responses, and richer insights for your initiatives!
Flexible Options: Our packages cater to different needs:
Starter Licence: Up to 500 local contacts
Essentials Licence: Up to 1,000 local contacts
Professional Licence: Up to 5,000 local contacts
Need to Reach Further? You can expand your reach even more!
For just £1,000, gain access to an additional 150 local contacts, giving you a powerful boost to reach new voices and perspectives.
With Commonplace, your project gains visibility, and your engagement efforts are amplified by a community that’s ready to share their views. Leverage this unparalleled reach and ensure your projects resonate in the areas that matter most.
We also offer social media campaigns for hyper targeted outreach. This is one of our most popular add-ons. (Large companies really like this offering, as they don't have to wait for internal comms teams to add it to their comms plan!)
2. ACCESSIBILITY WIDGETS ON ALL SITES!
Everyone should have the opportunity to participate in community engagement, which is why we’re excited to announce that Commonplace has recently implemented an EqualWeb widget across ALL of our engagement sites.
Here’s why this matters:
Universal Access: Our commitment to inclusivity means that ALL users, regardless of their abilities, can easily access and engage with your site. The EqualWeb widget ensures a more welcoming experience for everyone.
Seamless Navigation: With enhanced accessibility features, users will find it easier to navigate the site, engage with content, and provide feedback. This improvement fosters a richer, more diverse engagement with your community.
To learn more about how we’re making our platforms more accessible, check out our latest Accessibility article. (This is at the heart of everything we build!)
3. EMBED YOUR ENGAGEMENT ALMOST ANYWHERE
Imagine the power of integrating Commonplace directly into your website, blog, or even another Commonplace project. With our iframe embedding feature, you can do just that!
You can now embed maps, tiles and entire projects!
Here’s why you should take advantage of this game-changing capability:
Uninterrupted Experience: Keep your users engaged without the hassle of navigating away from your site. They can contribute to Commonplace directly from your platform, making their experience smoother and more enjoyable.
Fully Interactive: Our embedding option isn’t just a static display - it’s fully interactive! Users can explore maps, answer surveys, and engage with content in real-time, all within the familiar environment of your site.
Increased Participation: By making it easier for users to contribute, you’ll likely see higher engagement and response rates. Capture valuable insights and feedback without losing your audience's attention.
Versatile Use Cases: Whether you’re showcasing community projects, gathering feedback on events, or enhancing blog content, the flexibility of iframe embedding allows you to tailor Commonplace to fit your unique needs.
Simple Integration: Adding Commonplace as an iframe is quick and easy - no complicated setup required! Just embed the code, and you’re ready to go.
4. BUILD YOUR OWN PROJECT 'HUB'!
A NEW HUB OFFERING! (ADD ON)
Create your dedicated branded Engagement Hub on Commonplace to centralise all your project interactions, simplify data management, and increase community participation.
Customise your hub with your logo, project titles, and branded elements for a polished, professional look. With dedicated URLs, you can manage all consultations and engagements from one central location, showcasing your organisation and initiatives to boost brand visibility and maximise community engagement. If you want a bespoke url, that’s possible too!
Here’s what you get with our project ‘Hub Page’ Add-on:
Unlimited Existing Projects - Showcase all of you Commonplace projects under one roof
Navigational Map - Pin projects on an interactive map with hover panels for quick views
4x Information Tiles - Feature four tiles for key information
Text Boxes with Imagery - Communicate "coming soon" updates or additional content with engaging visuals
Themed Title Areas - Organise project tiles by theme, enhancing user experience and clarity
Team Information Section - Highlight key team members, partners, or community organisations.
Timeline Feature - Display milestones, future plans, and important timelines to keep your audience informed.
Newsfeed - Keep your audience updated with the latest news from both project and hub pages.
We also offer ‘Hub Page filtering’ as an add-on. Our advanced filtering systems are a must-have for Hub pages with multiple projects, enabling residents and stakeholders to quickly find relevant consultations without getting overwhelmed.
By allowing users to sort through content and pinpoint the topics they care about most, we help combat consultation fatigue and deliver a personalised, streamlined experience. This makes engagement easier and more meaningful, ensuring your audience remains connected and motivated to participate.
When developing a Hub page, integrating these filters is the key to creating an efficient, user-focused experience that maximises impact and satisfaction.
5. NEW TEMPLATES TO GET YOU UP AND RUNNING QUICKLY!
Did you know that you can have a fully functional Commonplace site up and running in as little as a week? With our newly launched templates, it’s easier than ever to kickstart your community engagement projects!
Here are the latest templates!
‘Hub’ Template: Perfect for housing all of your projects, this template provides a centralised space to showcase initiatives, gather feedback, and engage your community effectively. Create a vibrant hub where ideas come to life!
Local Plans Template: Our Local Plans template is designed to facilitate discussions around community development and planning. Plus, we’ve included dozens of Local Plan examples for inspiration, helping you see what’s possible and tailor your approach to fit your community's unique needs.
Town Centre Regeneration Template: Focused on revitalising urban areas, this template guides you through the process of engaging stakeholders and gathering valuable input for town centre regeneration initiatives. Make a meaningful impact with a structured approach to community development!
Get started today, and see how quickly you can bring your vision to life with Commonplace!
6. MAP EDIT MODE - THE WORLD’S SIMPLEST GIS TOOL!
Ready to effortlessly create and adjust maps? With our Map Edit Mode, we’ve transformed GIS into a simple, intuitive experience that anyone can master.
Here’s how it works:
Start with a Map Tile: Open an existing map tile or create a new one and see just how easy it is to edit anything - whether it’s map info, tile previews, or advanced settings.
Customise Shapes & Points: On the Shapes tab, Add points, assign custom SVG icons, and set up interactive hover panels that can link to other tiles or websites.
Play with Colours & Interactivity: Build a polygon, assign custom colours, and add hover panels that link to your own site - bringing your maps to life with a few clicks.
Upload Shape files and Icons with Ease: Need to bring in complex geolocated data? Just upload your shape files and watch them integrate seamlessly.
Legend Editor: Personalise your legend, making sure your maps communicate clearly and look great.
Apply and Save: Every change you make is instantly visible. Preview and save with confidence.
Optimised Views: Showcase your edits on a heatmap, ideal for mobile users, or use it as a navigation map to guide your audience.
Add Interactive Questions: Create engaging map experiences by adding and editing questions directly within the map.
With Map Edit Mode, you can design, tweak, and perfect your maps without breaking a sweat - because GIS should be easy and accessible for everyone!
7. MAP BASED SURVEY QUESTION TYPES!
Are you looking to capture geolocated data about specific spots, areas, or routes from your respondents? Our new map-based question types for surveys are here to transform the way you gather insights! Ideal for Active Travel projects!
Interactive Engagement: Make your surveys more engaging and intuitive! Respondents can easily pinpoint locations on a map, providing you with precise geolocated data that enhances the richness of their feedback.
Targeted Insights: Whether you’re interested in understanding user experiences at a particular spot, mapping out community routes, or gathering feedback on specific areas, our map-based questions allow you to collect tailored information that meets your needs.
Visual Representation: Data is more impactful when it’s visual! By using maps, you can visualise patterns and trends in the data, making analysis easier and more insightful.
Versatile Applications: Perfect for urban planning, event management, or community engagement - our map-based questions can be applied across various fields to gather meaningful insights!
8. EMBED REAL-TIME CHARTS FOR TOTAL TRANSPARENCY
Dashboard charts can now be used in a new powerful way: they can be embedded into content block by any customer that want to share data internally or with the public to close the loop efficiently.
Close the Loop: Effortlessly showcase real-time consultation progress with just a few clicks, ensuring transparency and accountability to your respondents.
Dynamic Updates: Watch your charts evolve in real time with every new contribution, respondent, and visitor, keeping your data always current and engaging.
Customisable & Versatile: Build visually stunning, theme-specific digital presentations with our simple yet highly adaptable charting tools.
Offline Access: For those who prefer a traditional touch, easily download and share charts as PDFs.
Universal Compatibility: Seamlessly integrate these iFrames with any website, allowing you to enhance pages beyond Commonplace.
Already a partner of ours?...
You will be happy to read these latest platform updates!
Here are just a few standout enhancements focused on you, our valued customers:
AI Customer Service Chatbot: Need help? Our AI chatbot is your 24/7 companion, delivering instant answers and slashing wait times. Say goodbye to endless searching for support!
Brand New Help Centre: Finding solutions is now a breeze! Our revamped Help Centre (for clients only) is loaded with detailed guides and resources, making problem-solving and feature exploration effortlessly easy.
Direct Product Team Updates: Stay in the loop like never before! Track bug fixes and feature requests in real-time, right on every Commonplace site. Your feedback directly connects to our product team, ensuring we’re always evolving to meet your needs.
Reimagined “All Tiles” Page: We’ve transformed the “All Tiles” page to empower you with more control and provide your respondents with greater clarity.
Revamped Navigation Bar: Personalisation reaches new heights with our redesigned navigation bar! Rearrange tabs to prioritise what matters most, customise icons and names for a more intuitive experience, and create up to five new tabs for easy access to specific Commonplace pages - all for a seamless user experience.
PDF Clipper: Imagine transforming complex, dense PDFs into accessible, analysis-ready data in seconds! The PDF Clipper does just that, eliminating cumbersome spreadsheets and manual data entry. It turns every PDF response into actionable snippets, making your consultations smoother and more efficient - perfect for Reg 18 and Local Plans!
Survey Questions on Data Charts: Now, survey questions are visible on all data charts, simplifying engagement results for your clients.
Proactive Assistance: We’re here for you before you even need us! Our support team actively provides helpful nudges and updates throughout the platform, ensuring you receive the right support at the right moment.
Clarity at Your Fingertips: Look out for our informative info points strategically placed within the platform. These insights offer extra clarity and context right when you need it, empowering you to navigate confidently and make informed decisions.
With these exciting enhancements, Commonplace is better equipped than ever to support your community engagement efforts. Dive in today and explore how these features can revolutionise the way you connect, collaborate, and make an impact in your community!
Hats off to our brilliant product and development teams for always staying ahead of the curve! 👏🏻
P.S. If you’re new to Commonplace and haven’t yet explored our data analysis solution, TrendsAI, be sure to book a demo - you won’t want to miss this!