When considering a website design partner, we looked at our needs, pricing, and how easy the CMS was for non-technical staff to use. With all of that, plus great customer service and a strong portfolio of website design work, Granicus was an easy choice.
With an outdated website and a new state law, Fremont Police Department had only a short time to launch a new website. With help from Granicus govAccess experts, they met their deadline and increased citizen engagement.
Fremont,
California
How a Police Department Improved Public Perception & Engagement With a New Website
Overview
Month
Deadline
6
1,600
Weekly Visitors
The Fremont Website is the first point of contact with the public.
49%
Mobile Device Traffic
The Fremont PD needed a mobile-friendly website.
Faster Citizen Engagement
Fremont PD filled their citizen academy in days, not weeks.
The new website was created quickly to comply with a new state law.
4X
Must-Have Granicus Solution
Find out how a better website can help you meet your goals. Contact us today to see govAccess in action.
Fremont Police Department last updated their website over ten years ago. The navigation was difficult, the layout was aging, and the site wasn’t mobile-friendly. Plus, the old website’s platform was no longer supported. So Amy Gee, the department’s management analyst, was limited in her ability to make updates.
“People didn’t know where to go when they visited our old website,” said Gee. Additionally, the search feature was ineffective, providing too many search results. “It caused a lot of frustration for the community. The traffic unit would get a huge number of phone calls and emails from people just wanting to file a complaint online.”
An Old Website Meets a New Law
govAccess
After evaluating a number of alternatives, Fremont Police Department chose Granicus as its vendor of choice. With just six months before the new law went into effect, the department began working with the Granicus team to build their new website.
Staff analyzed website data and analytics to determine what mattered most to their users and the design followed. For example, the most popular pages (the red light camera page and the traffic complaint page) were made easy to find on the home page and mobile site. The police department also built a transparency portal on the new website for their citizens that complies with Senate Bill No. 978.
The police department launched the new, compliant website weeks before the deadline. Gee references the Granicus project manager as integral to meeting their deadline. “Whenever we had questions or change requests, the turnaround time was quick. She was very thorough.”
Intuitive Website in Only 6 Months
The intuitive and mobile-friendly website is reducing phone calls and improving community engagement.
Previously, police staff received emails about broken links. “We would have to tell confused mobile phone users that they needed to use a desktop. We don’t have to do that anymore with the new website,” said Gee.
Perhaps the most telling example of the new website’s success is when Gee posted about an upcoming community police academy for the first time. Within a few days, they received 26 applications for 30 open spots. It normally would have taken weeks to achieve such numbers. The redesign made it easier for citizens to learn about and sign up for the program.
Improved Branding & Engagement
How wrexham county council improved citizen experience through integrated communications & service delivery
Overview
The county council knew the first step to improve the citizen experience was to modernise the way they communicated bin removal services. To ensure citizens received relevant, timely and automated communications, Wrexham implemented Granicus’s govDelivery email, mobile message, and social media platform. Now, they have the sophisticated marketing automation and audience segmentation required to deliver personalised waste and recycling bin collection reminders to over 12,000 residents. Targeted email messages from the county empower residents to take the correct action at the right moment.
These reminders — delivered alongside educational messages about what can and can’t be recycled — are positively impacting local recycling rates. For example, more customers know what can and can’t be recycled; the number of bins not being collected due to contamination has decreased by 27% since implementing govDelivery.
With Firmstep, the county’s digital customer services solution, integrated with govDelivery, their communication platform, the customer experience is seamless.
How does it work? When a customer visits the Wrexham website and enters their address in a form, Firmstep automatically looks up the customer’s collection day and calendar, then sends the information into GovDelivery, which automatically signs the customer up for their bin reminder emails. After that, the customer receives relevant, timely, and automated information about their bin collections. This combination has improved sign-up rates and ensured Wrexham reaches more citizens.
How the Firmstep + GovDelivery integration streamlines service
Satisfaction Rate
Citizens love the online experience they are receiving
93%
Increasing by 500 new accounts per month
18K
Self-Service Accounts
Bin Reminders
12K
Increasing by 800 subscribers per month
The result of targeted, proactive communications
Reduction in Calls
48%
Must-have Granicus product
Could your citizens benefit from seamless and integrated digital experiences? Get in touch with us today to learn more about how Granicus can help!
See It Live
We love govDelivery because it gives us control over information. We can find the answers to our questions, and then form good processes to better interact with the people in our council.
Situation
Solution
Results
Background
Like many local governments in California, the team at the Napa County Election Division has many critical duties in support of local, state, and federal elections. They also must help ensure all required government officials disclose their financial interests.
Designated filing officers must accurately track, manage, and deliver documents related to the disclosure of government employee and elected official Statement of Economic Interest, known as Form 700 in California. The process is regulated by the State of California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).
Staff at the Election Division have their own goals to increase efficiency and make sure officials file on time. Napa County’s recently updated strategic plan has a priority goal of making government more transparent.
A Mandate for Transparency & Efficiency
Situation
Solution
The DisclosureDocs implementation team worked closely with Napa County staff to meet their tight deadline. After their kickoff meeting in January 2019, they migrated files, trained staff, and then deployed. In the end, they were able to implement DisclosureDocs by their deadline of April 2.
From Manual to Automatic
See It Live
“We hope residents will find our new website to be much like a virtual library branch, easy to navigate with an extension of the same valuable resources, quality services, and delivery of knowledge and information to the community that is available at all Norfolk Public Library neighborhood branches.”
View Full Website
“We never had such a strong community response with the old website. The new govAccess website strengthens our brand and is more user-friendly, which makes the community more inclined to get involved.” - Amy Gee, Management Analyst, Fremont Police Department
Amy Gee
Management Analyst, Fremont Police Department
"A modern, citizen-focused website was essential to the success of the department. We are a public agency, and the website is the first point of contact with the public."
The agency also needed a solution that would help them become compliant with a new state law. As the police department decided they needed a new website, California passed Senate Bill No. 978, which mandated that law enforcement agencies “conspicuously post their training, policies, practices, and operating procedures on their Internet Web sites.”
But they would need to go live with their new site quickly to comply — in just 6 months.
“We were completely impressed by TMS and how it could deliver the results we were looking for," he said.
Granicus specialists worked with Norfolk Public Library to research, plan, and implement a dynamic website that delivered on their mission. Rather than prescribe a one-size-fits all solution, the Granicus team conducted research, including qualitative stakeholder surveys and user testing as well as qualitative website metrics, to determine what improvements would best address the library’s goals.
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