Scituate EDC's 2nd Annual State of Scituate Business Community Survey 2025

The Town of Scituate’s Economic Development Commission is excited to launch our 2nd Annual State of Scituate Business Community Survey 2025!

This important initiative follows up on our 1st Annual Survey in 2024 aims to gain insights into the current state of business communications within our town, understand the perception of our town’s brand, and assess the needs and concerns of our Scituate business community. 

  • The survey is open to all businesses and business-focused organizations based in Scituate.
  • Please complete and submit your survey by or before September 26, 2025 for your responses to be considered

Based on our 1st Annual Survey last year, we anticipate the survey will take under 10 minutes to complete. (We know that your time is precious and valuable! Several free-response questions are optional to answer, but please know that your feedback on these will be extremely valuable in allowing the EDC to prioritize the needs of the Scituate Business Community.)

Your participation in this survey will help shape future prioritization and support from the EDC to enhance our local community and support our local businesses. Thank you in advance for your time and feedback! (And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at scituatema.edc.comms@gmail.com or edc@scituatema.gov.

(A note on privacy: This form is not automatically collecting email addresses of participants. At the end of the survey, you will have the opportunity to submit your email address, which we will use exclusively to follow up with you regarding the survey. Your PII will be protected.

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INTRO SECTION: BACKGROUND
Before we get started, please let us know a bit more about your business–what do you do, where are you located, and how long have you been in business?

These answers will be fundamental to interpreting survey results so that they matter for you and your business.
0.1: What best describes your category within the Scituate Business Community? *
0.2: In which district of Scituate is your business located?
 *
0.3: How long has your business been established in Scituate?
 *
0.4: Did your business / organization participate in the 2024 State of Scituate Business Community Survey? *
SECTION 1: STATE OF COMMUNICATIONS IN SCITUATE
The EDC is trying to understand how the Scituate Business Community feels about communications with the town. Specifically, this includes the town itself, elected bodies, and Boards/Committees. 

In your experience...What works? Where can improvements can be identified? What best practices can be scaled up?
1.1: Overall, how do you feel about communications FROM the town TO your business?
 *
Needs improvement
Very satisfied
1.2: How do you usually find out about upcoming town news, updates, or other information that may affect your business? | (Please choose all that apply)
 *
Required
1.3: Do you receive official town communications, either through the Monday Weekly Update email or individual, issue-by-issue update emails from the town? | (Please choose all that apply) *
Required
1.4: How important are the following TYPES of information to help you make decisions for your business?
 *
Unimportant
Nice to know
Relevant to my business but not crucial
Important to my business
General town government updates (Select Board proceedings, Boards/Committees, town meetings, etc.)
DPW updates (e.g. upcoming road closures, traffic pattern changes)
Emergency management updates (e.g. storm notifications)
Infrastructure planning (e.g. water and sewer plans, coastal resiliency planning)
Permitting and other business-specific information
Annual community events (e.g. Heritage Days, Fall for Scituate, Ship Shape Day, etc.)
Other community events
1.5: For the types of information you rated as "important" in the previous question, what methods of communication that you are not already using would be useful to your business? | (Please choose all that apply)
 *
Required
1.6: For the types of information you rated as "important" above, would you prefer to need to sign up for communications from town ("Opt In") or to automatically receive communications from town that you can "Opt Out" of? *
1.7: When I need to communicate with the town for my business, I know whom to reach out to. *
1.8: How important are the following routes of communication FROM your business TO the town?
Not applicable to my business
Unimportant
Relevant to my business
Important to my business
In-person (at Town Hall)
Direct correspondence (phone, mail, email)
Business district liaisons (e.g. EDC liaison)
Business association (e.g. North Scituate Merchants Association, Chamber of Commerce)
Other
Clear selection
1.9: We would like to learn from your experience to help the entire business community: Can you share specific examples of what works? Of gaps or improvements that can be identified? Of best practices that can be scaled up?
SECTION 2: STATE OF SCITUATE'S BRAND

The EDC would like to better understand how to market our town. We seek to support the creation of shared marketing resources that will assist all stakeholders in Scituate's business community. 

As a first step and in response to survey responses in 2024, EDC has commissioned a Marketing Strategy for the town's business community. Our firm belief is that the more input that Scituate businesses have in the formation of this strategy, the more effective it will be for ALL.
2.1: Your typical customer is... | (Please choose up to two) *
Required
2.2: Is your typical customer... | (Please choose up to two) *
Required
2.3: What age range is your typical customer (or participant)? | (Please choose all that apply)

(Tip: If you serve families, you can select both the typical children's age range and the typical parents' age range.)
 *
Required
2.4: In 7 words or less, how would you describe your typical customer? | For example, "Family with young children seeking entertainment," "Retiree traveler seeking natural coastal beauty," or, "Local family seeking reliable service." *
2.5: Is your typical customer generally more value-minded or seeking more of a high-end/luxury product/service? | We ask this question to understand better how customers and visitors view Scituate on the value scale. *
Mostly value-minded
Mostly seeking luxury
2.6: What motivates your customers to come to Scituate? | This could be as simple as "They live here," or it could be less clear–maybe they are seeking the oceanfront, historical charm of the town, or natural beauty.
2.7: What do you wish you knew about your customers? | We are hoping that EDC, and the marketing resources we are developing, can use this survey to help your business. Understanding what's missing will help us to direct resources to closing these gaps and sharing that with your business.
SECTION 3: STATE OF OUR SCITUATE BUSINESS COMMUNITY
The EDC is trying to understand where our business community feels that it is doing well and where gaps exist, including areas where the town may be able to assist. Responses in this section will be particularly valuable in helping the EDC to set its agenda and priorities in the year to come, advocating on behalf of the business community.
3.1: Which of the following services or attributes has the greatest potential to help your business thrive and/or grow? | (Please choose up to 6) *
Required
3.2: Are there any types of business OTHER THAN YOURS that would complement or enhance your business and allow it to reach or further your goals? | We're trying to understand whether Scituate is missing any types of business, which may help existing businesses to grow. 

(Example 1: a hotel may need restaurants to attract visitors; 
Example 2: beach-focused business may need hotels to attract more vacationers.)
 *
3.3: What was the most satisfying/gratifying event or experience for your business last year? | This could be an event you threw, a community event, an interaction with the town or another organization, hitting a sales target–anything that was great! 
3.4: What is the impact of Scituate's community events on your revenue and/or sales? *
Harmful to revenue / sales
Very helpful to revenue / sales
3.5: What is the greatest strength that being in Scituate gives to your business?
3.6: What is the greatest barrier that being in Scituate gives to your business? This could have been a recent frustration or an ongoing issue. What do you think could be done differently to avoid this barrier? | We ask this question to help identify gaps that Scituate stakeholders may be able to improve. Uncovering shared pain points is crucial to understanding whether solutions can be identified.
3.7: How do you feel about the difficulty / ease of doing each of the following in Scituate? *
Needs improvement
Adequate
Very satisfied
No opinion
Starting a business
Expanding a business
Securing permits
Working with town hall
Working with town Boards/Committees
3.8: If you had a magic wand, what barriers to the success of your business would you make disappear?
3.9: Do you plan to expand? Have you expanded recently? Do you want to expand but feel that you cannot? If the latter, why?
3.10: If a visitor to Scituate could only visit one place, business, or organization, where should it be–outside of your business, of course ;)? *
THANK YOU!
We truly value your participation and thank you for your time.
Email Address (*optional*) | This form is not automatically collecting email addresses. 

If you would like for us to be able to follow up with you regarding survey results or for other survey-related reasons please add your address below. 

Your email address will NOT be made public in survey results.
OPTIONAL: EDC Follow-up Actions from the 2024 State of Scituate Business Community Survey

EDC knows that your time is valuable and that surveys must lead to results. We are interested in understanding whether you are aware of EDC and/or town initiatives that followed up on the feedback from the 1st Annual State of Scituate Business Community Survey in 2024.
Are you aware of the following initiatives? | (Please choose all that apply)
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