Users of online government services tend to be highly likely to return to the sites they use and to recommend them to others, according to an analysis of findings from the special e-government version of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The latest Index shows a significant improvement in the quality of e-government over the past nine months, but continues to show a very wide disparity among agencies and types of sites in terms of how well they deliver overall user satisfaction. "We see mixed results in terms of how successful agencies are, but one common theme that channel loyalty is generally quite strong," said Larry Freed, an online satisfaction expert and CEO of ForeSee Results. Freed said the report indicates an average likelihood to return score of 81 and recommend score of 76 on the ACSI's 100-point scale.
"Although the government functions as a monopoly in many cases, the citizen still has choice about which channel they will use to gather information and transact business with the government. To the extent that e-government provides a more satisfactory experience than other channels, such as a call center or visiting a branch office, citizens will be more likely to use this convenient, consistent and cost-effective channel," said Freed.
"This loyalty factor will fuel the growth of e-government," said Freed. "Online satisfaction is all about understanding what people want a site to do, and then doing it. Government is increasingly sophisticated about this, and satisfaction produces channel loyalty. The high return and recommend numbers mean this is a make or break opportunity for e-government to become a preferred channel and grow--or fail to stay ahead of expectations and wither."
The Index is reported quarterly as a special report of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which is produced by the University of Michigan in partnership with the American Society for Quality and CFI Group. Online satisfaction firm ForeSee Results is a partner in the e-government Index for data collection and analysis.
"Government agencies face challenges on several fronts," said Freed. "Budget constraints and the rapidly increasing Internet sophistication of the public are two major ones. Agency sites that struggle to move forward and make changes tend to see flat or sometimes declining satisfaction scores. Other sites have been able to meet and exceed their site users' expectations and are fueling the growth in overall e-government satisfaction."
Though scores have remained fairly constant from last quarter, the analysis showed a strong rate of improvement in e-government, on average, over the past nine months. During that time, the original study-set of agencies improved an average of 5.4 percent. That eclipses the rate of improvement in the ACSI satisfaction score for the US economy overall, which rose .8 percent during the same period. In a roughly comparable period, commercial e-business satisfaction increased an average of 3.9 percent.
The rate of improvement was calculated by looking at the progress of 20 sites that joined the Index when it began in the fourth quarter of 2003. Since then, 33 more sites have opted into the index.
Likelihood to recommend--a good indicator of the degree to which more people will turn to e-government instead of traditional channels--is particularly high among transaction and news/information sites.
"This is great news for government agencies, because the online channel delivers convenience and saves taxpayer dollars," said Freed. "But this is a hyper-evolution. To keep and build a loyal online customer base, agencies are going to have to offer more and more online. In particular, we're going to see expectations for transactional services. Failure to deliver will deflate the gains e-government has been making."
The Federal Consulting Group (FCG), a government unit that assists agencies with measurement and improvement, says the attitude about what constitutes good e-government has already evolved substantially.
"Agencies have turned a corner in terms of the sophistication with which they deliver online services," said Anne Kelly, CEO and Director of FCG. "They are understanding citizen needs and expectations and focusing resources accordingly. Increasingly, people get what they want from e-government and prefer the channel."
The biggest improvements in the study period paint a picture of success via citizen-centricity, and include both highly focused sites and sites with broad audiences. Two more targeted sites, the Department of State's student site and the Federal Aviation Administration's main site, improved the most--eight points and six points respectively over a 9-month period. Broader-audience sites in the personnel recruitment area also registered big gains, indicating that narrow segmentation is not the only way to succeed. The Office of Personnel Management's main government recruiting site, USAJobs, improved by five points, and the Department of State's careers site jumped six points. USAJobs' score has shown steady improvement in each of the past three quarters and this quarter hit a respectable 76, partly via user-driven innovations that go beyond even the private sector.
"The recruitment sites are working hard to get things right, and succeeding," said Freed. "CIA and State Department recruitment sites, both with scores of 79, are still at the top of the pack with satisfaction levels many in the private sector would envy."
The Department of Transportation accomplished one of the best quarter-to-quarter improvements, increasing three points in just three months, although with a score of 58 there is still much room for improvement.
"Transportation has gotten out of a rut and onto the right track by stepping back and determining what their specific audiences want from them as opposed to just posting a bunch of information," said Freed.
About the ACSI
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is the only uniform, national, cross-industry measure of satisfaction with the quality of goods and services available in the United States. In 1999, the Federal government selected the ACSI to be a standard metric for measuring citizen satisfaction. Over 55 Federal government agencies have used the ACSI to measure citizen satisfaction of more than 110 services and programs. The Index is produced by a partnership of the University of Michigan Business School, American Society for Quality (ASQ) and CFI Group, an international consulting firm. ForeSee Results sponsors the e-commerce, e-business and e-government indices. The Federal Consulting Group, a franchise within the Department of the Treasury, is the executive agent for the ACSI and the federal government.
Quelle: Business Wire, 21.06.2004
