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Using Hearken and GroundSource
Using Hearken and GroundSource

If your organization is using both, learn more about how these tools and philosophies can complement one other.

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Written by Support
Updated over a week ago

Covered topics

  • How do we decide when to use Hearken vs. GroundSource vs. both?

  • How can I collect phone numbers from Hearken for GroundSource?

  • How can I collect responses / emails from GroundSource to put into Hearken?

  • How do we get data out?

  • Can I use GroundSource to invite people to vote in my Hearken voting round?

  • Could GroundSource collect votes on responses using a polling tool and then input those into a live Hearken voting round?

  • Can GroundSource or Hearken work in other languages?

  • Does Hearken have profiles for question-askers, like GroundSource does for each phone number?

  • How do I correspond with my audience members who have interacted with Hearken or GroundSource?

How do we decide when to use Hearken vs. GroundSource vs. both?

Both services are good when you’re looking to get a sense of the information needs in a community, whether geographic, demographic, or interest-based.

Hearken is designed around soliciting questions and using those questions to drive the editorial process. Hearken also includes consulting that can help you shape your strategy for reaching people and following up with them.

GroundSource is designed around continued conversation over a period of time; it’s also very useful at live events, and in environments where you want to reach out to communities that you may not have a strong relationship with, or are under-served for whatever reason. 

Some case studies from GroundSource and Hearken:

GroundSource

Hearken

How can I collect phone numbers from Hearken for GroundSource?

When creating your form embed, you can choose to include a “custom field” and label that field “Phone number.” You can choose to make that field required or optional. (We recommend optional, but it depends on your specific circumstance.)

To have your audience member give you permission to text them, you can create a custom checkbox field, asking something like “Yes, you can send me SMS messages about which questions you answer.”

And another option is to put language in footer or a link in footer for info about how their info will be used. 

How can I collect responses / emails from GroundSource to put into Hearken? 

  • Download your GroundSource CSV and copy the responses and question-asker information you'd like into Hearken using the New Response feature. You would be creating a new response from scratch, and have the opportunity to add notes about the response or respondent, if needed (including noting that it came from GroundSource).

  • If you have additional questions about uploading information from GroundSource into your Hearken EMS, contact your engagement consultant.

How do we get data out? 

Hearken: There are several ways to get data out of your Hearken engagement management system. This article, Exporting data from your EMS, outlines all of the things you can export (and reasons why you might want to do so), and includes links to the how-to guides explaining each of the different export types.  

GroundSource: Go into your Workspace. Click “View results,” then choose “export CSV” and it will send a .csv of all of your results, plus phone numbers, time stamps and other information to help you see how people are engaging with you.  

Can these tools connect with my newsroom’s CRM? Newsletter?

GroundSource: There is API available, and instances in the wild where GroundSource is connected to other newsroom systems (like Salesforce). It can also use webhooks to connect to Google Sheets or other ways to manage data. GroundSource can also handle an RSS feed. Many of these are case-by-case custom builds, where GroundSource would work with you to flow the API into the tool you want to connect.

Hearken: Hearken connects with MailChimp, so if you use that newsletter service, you can have email addresses directly imported. Hearken also provides an automated weekly CSV export of people who have opted-in to your newsletter that makes it easy to import those to your provider of choice. 

Can I use GroundSource to invite people to vote in my Hearken voting round? 

In your SMS message, you can include the direct link to a Hearken poll embed, which would allow people to vote. It would require them to have an internet/data connection and have a web browser on their device. Here's documentation for where to find the direct link on your embed. 

Example

Thank you for sending in your question last week about the town’s history. The other reporters and editors and I picked a few of our favorite responses and would love for you to vote on which question we should investigate! Vote at this web link: https://modules.wearehearken.com/example/embed/660/share

Could GroundSource collect votes on responses using a polling tool and then input those into a live Hearken voting round? 

Not at this time. This is a feature under consideration. Please reach out to your Hearken and GroundSource contact if you'd like this feature. We prioritize based on listening to your needs as best we can! 

Can GroundSource or Hearken work in other languages? 

GroundSource: The system you access is in English, but you are able to configure your SMS message text in other languages. GroundSource can handle any language, even left-to-right languages, but the number of characters you can include in a text may change depending on the language. If you want to engage people in another language, test extensively.  

Hearken: Yes. The EMS is in English, but you are able to configure your audience-facing embeds in other languages. We have partners using 17 languages at the moment, including Chinese and Arabic.

Does Hearken have profiles for question-askers, like GroundSource does for each phone number?

You can enter someone’s name into the search field and it’ll show you the questions they’ve asked. It does not track their voting actions.

How do I correspond with my audience members who have interacted with Hearken or GroundSource?

GroundSource: You can correspond with users from within the GroundSource system, through the automated messages but can also send customized messages to them.

Hearken: You correspond with question-askers using your own email system, clicking on an individual email address or copying out the address they provided and sending the message you would like. If you have asked for phone numbers, you are also able to call or send a text message. You can also download a CSV if you'd like to email a group of people in bulk. 

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