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ForeSee's Q2 2015 E-Government Satisfaction Index Reveals First Decline in Mobile Satisfaction, Dropping Three Points
[August 20, 2015]

ForeSee's Q2 2015 E-Government Satisfaction Index Reveals First Decline in Mobile Satisfaction, Dropping Three Points


ForeSee, a premier provider of cloud-based voice of customer (VOC) solutions, today released the results of the 48th consecutive ForeSee E-Government Satisfaction Index for Q2 2015. The quarterly report from ForeSee closely examines customer experience data across 100 government websites, mobile sites and applications. ForeSee collected nearly 175,000 citizen survey responses related to their experience, with scores of 80 and above recognized as the threshold for excellence. For the first time since the company began tracking mobile satisfaction in Q4 2013, survey data showed a significant decline, suggesting that rising citizen expectations related to mobile drove the metric down three points.

Many agency sites with improved scores, meanwhile, saw traffic increases driven by current events in the U.S., such as the a debate around immigration reform, the wave of retiring baby boomers and even the availability of rare coins from the U.S. Mint. Under increased citizen scrutiny, these sites were found to perform well given their categorical function, demonstrating the importance of streamlining the user experience and managing user expectations along the way.

E-Gov Performance Highlights

Key findings from the latest E-Government Satisfaction Index include:

  • The mobile E-Gov experience is down three points, from 79 to 76, marking the first-ever decline in citizen satisfaction for mobile. Overall E-Gov satisfaction is also down, from 74.7 to 74.5. Taken together, the scores suggest that citizens' expectations for their digital experiences with government are aligning with their expectations for web and mobile sites they use in their daily lives, such as those for retail, banking or news organizations.
  • E-Gov still continues to outperform overall government in citizen satisfaction: 74.5 for E-Gov according to ForeSee, versus 64.4 for government overall, according to the ACSI Federal Government Report 2014. The data confirms that E-Gov remains an effective tool for improving citizen perception of government's ability to deliver on its promises.
  • The ability to create a better digital experience builds citizen trust. This quarter, satisfied website visitors were 86% more likely to use the site as a primary resource and 90% more likely to put their trust bhind the agency. For mobile, those that were highly satisfied with their experience were 60% more likely to return to the site or app and 91% more likely to recommend it. Again, the data suggest that positive experiences with E-Gov improve citizens' perceptions of government. Meeting digital expectations can also address concerns before citizens go to more costly channels, such as a contact center, creating opportunities for reductions in overhead.



Current Events Influence E-Gov Scores

Citizens' digital experiences with government appear to correspond with sociopolitical developments that fall under federal purview, increasing traffic to some government sites. Some of these correlations of improved agency scores corresponding with larger events include:


  • A Gold Rush: The Department of Treasury's U.S. Mint Online Catalog and main website saw the biggest score improvement - a five point increase from 70 to 75. Heightened citizen attention to the site was sparked by the release of several rare gold coins by the mint in early Q2, which led to a 20% spike in site traffic according to Quantcast (News - Alert). Citizens found it simple to review the coins ahead of purchase and the checkout transaction to be easy.
  • Immigration Policy Debate: The Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Resource Center saw an increase in satisfaction from 82 to 85. At the beginning of Q2, the website saw a traffic increase of 75% according to Quantcast as a debate on immigration reform raged on Capitol Hill in April. The DOH site was ready with information that was regularly refreshed and easily navigable to help visitors better understand the policies under discussion.
  • Retiring Baby Boomers: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp's MyPBA site experienced a three point improvement in satisfaction scores, from 75 to 78. While traffic data for MyPBA was not available, the site provides an online service for managing pension benefits. With an increasing number of baby boomers reaching retirement age, making pension-related transactions simple and pension benefits easy to review has been a design priority.

"The Q2 2015 ForeSee E-Government Satisfaction Index results demonstrate that the mobile experience makes a significant contribution to citizens' overall sentiment about the federal departments, agencies and programs with which they engage," said Dave Lewan, Vice President at ForeSee and author of the report. "Agencies that scored highest this quarter used their limited resources to tightly couple site functionality with its stated purpose from the start and were able to offer an efficient and positive user experience when traffic increases occurred."

To download a copy of the ForeSee E-Government Satisfaction Index for Q2 2015, go here.

About Answers Corporation and ForeSee

Answers' mission is to empower consumers, brands and organizations by connecting them with the information they need to make better-informed decisions. The Answers Voice of Customer (VOC) Platform leverages the sizable reach of the top-10 Internet brand Answers.com (source: Quantcast), along with leading cloud-based solutions from ForeSee, Webcollage and ResellerRatings, to enable businesses and organizations to engage with customers at every interaction point, drive investment decisions from customer insights and deliver content that powers the customer experience. Answers is headquartered in St. Louis with offices in Ann Arbor, New York City, Silicon Valley, Cleveland, London, Vancouver and Tel Aviv. For Answers, visit http://www.answers.com.

ForeSee and Answers.com are registered trademarks of Answers Corporation in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other trademarks, trade names or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.


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