Public trust is vital to all forms of government. When citizens have a high degree of trust in their local institutions, it encourages compliance with policies and laws, bolsters public participation in local government, and strengthens the validity of government as an institution. When citizens trust their local government agencies, there is also a greater willingness to forgive mistakes or give leadership the benefit of the doubt.

While citizens tend to have higher level trust in their local government than they do state or federal, even that trust has taken a dip from peak-pandemic highs. According to the National Community Survey, trust in local government institutions has dropped from around 56% at the height of the pandemic to 48% post-pandemic.

One way local government agencies can help to rebuild lost trust – and keep the momentum going on the trust they already do have – is through open and clear communication. When done correctly, communication can help local agencies better connect with their citizens and start building relationships, which in turn can ultimately increase the level of public trust.

Focus on transparency with easy-to-understand language.

“Clear” communication can sometimes be a struggle for local government agencies. Issues can be complex and the intricacies involved with finding solutions aren’t always easy for the average citizen to grasp. Those who work in government also often have both an extensive knowledge of internal operations and their own set of “lingo” for discussing them. When crafting communications, it can be difficult to set those aside and write from the perspective of the everyday citizen.

When creating publications, emails, or other forms of communication, focus on using plain language. It’s never a bad idea to have someone outside your department or even the agency review the communications for clarity and understanding.

Humanize your communications for a more personal touch.

Many government communications can come across as impersonal and bureaucratic. One way to start building relationships through your messaging is to assign a personal identity to your communications. Identify an internal person, whether your city manager, public information officer or other point-person to serve as the “face and voice” of your communications. Humanizing your communications adds a personal touch that makes it easier to build trust in the long-run.

Be responsive to citizen inquiries and responses.

Communication only works as a trust builder if it functions both ways. Establishing a response plan is equally as important as creating a communications plan. If a citizen replies to an agency email or other publication, make sure that someone your staff is following up with a reply to solidify the connection with the citizen.

These don’t need to be long and complicated – for many citizens, simply receiving a response from a real person is enough to create a positive interaction. These responses don’t always have to be unique either. As part of your communications plan, create pre-written response templates that can easily be customized by staff to turn around responses quickly.

Focus your communication efforts.

Responsiveness applies to all forms of communication as well. In this highly digital age, many people have grown accustomed to utilizing social media as a customer service channel. If citizens are commenting on posts with questions, this presents an opportunity for agencies to strengthen trust and build a positive image of government by responding.

Incorporate social media guidelines into your communication plan to help the person managing those accounts know when and how to engage in an appropriate manner – and make sure that whoever is operating your agency’s social media accounts have enough capacity to respond to questions there. Remember, it’s better to do a few things well than to spread yourself too thin.

Provide a strong digital experience.

A survey from Deloitte Insights found that citizens who find their local government’s digital and web-based services easy to use and helpful in whatever task they are trying to accomplish tend to have higher levels of trust in their local government – and conversely those who reported negative digital experiences tend to have higher measures of distrust.

Providing a strong digital experience can encompass everything from making information on services easy to find to providing automated responses to inquiries and submissions to keep citizens informed.

Read More: Meeting Citizen Expectations for Digital Access to Government Services

The benefits of a CRM in enabling good government communication

Crafting strong communication that helps build public trust is enough of a task on its own without having to deal with the challenges of managing communications. For those agencies looking to make communication more efficient, citizen relationship manager (CRM) software offers a lot of benefits.

With a CRM, cities can:

• Automate responses to citizen inquiries and submissions, ensuring all citizens receive a response and are kept informed.

• Publish knowledge bases in the form of interactive FAQs that make it easy for citizens to find information on services, creating a better digital experience for citizens

• Send and manage email communications directly from the system

Interested in learning more about how a CRM could improve communication between citizens and local government? Fill out the form below.

Schedule a Meeting with Comcate Today!

Learn how Comcate can help make government delivery simple, and offer a modern digital experience to help you increase transparency, efficiency, and performance across your departments. If you have any questions about implementing our software, please fill out the form below or call us directly at (415) 632-1248.

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