Increasingly, customers choose online as their primary source for finding information and completing tasks. This behaviour is going to become more entrenched in years to come.
Many customers experience issues in their interaction with government that are caused by duplication, irrelevance, and information structure. However, some of the issues are down to the way they navigate and make decisions.
For the majority of customers, digital is the channel of choice for accessing Government information and services. When they struggle with this channel, they decide to interact via phone or use face-to-face channels instead. This takes significantly longer than seamless digital interactions. Wait times of 30 – 45 minutes on the phone are not uncommon. Optimising digital and non-digital Government interactions can result in significant time savings across the population.
Compared to digital, phone and face-to-face channels are more costly for Government to operate and manage. By delivering a better experience online, the demand on higher cost channels decreases.
The cost of a bad service experience is frustration, confusion and anger. Customers will be reluctant to revisit the channel; and will likely tell family, friends or colleagues about their negative experience with the channel, too. Optimising an experience will ensure a positive reputation of the channel is upheld, and its usage continues to grow.
Government must look to create a better experience for all types of customers from start to finish so they can find, understand and act on information and services delivered.
Recognising this, we provide training programmes to help organizations to design customer-centric digital solutions.