More transparency means more satisfaction about gov't Web sites

It seems that the more transparent an agency Web site is, the more users enjoy visiting and using it.

That's according to ForeSee Results, which recently released two reports.

The second quarter results of their ACSI E-Government Satisfaction Index are out, as well as a paper about online transparency.

Larry Freed is President and CEO at ForeSee and talked more about both of the documents with Amy Morris and Francis Rose on Tuesday's Daily Debrief.

Freed began by talking about the E-Government Satisfaction Index, which shows that, by and large, the American public's perception of government Web sites hasn't changed over the past three months.

"The glass is half full -- or the glass can be half empty, so it didn't go down, but it didn't go up. It's actually up 0.7 from a year ago, so a score of 73.6 is a good score, but there's obviously a lot of room for improvement."

Freed said some agencies are doing very well. He cited the examples of the Social Security Administration and HHS.

In addition, he also noted that, overall, people think they're getting a better experience at government cites than before.

"It's not really to say one site is protected better or has a better look and feel or a better navigation from an expert's opinion. It's more from the user's perception of the experience. A lot of that is driven by what their expectations are. Are they expecting a great experience when they go to Social Security's site and try to apply for benefits online? The fact that they can do it is probably a huge benefit. When you go to Amazon, you expect it to be great. Now, over time, citizens' expectations with those sites are going to continue to rise."

One of the biggest challenges for federal government Web sites has to do with figuring out how to organize the information that the public needs in a way that makes the life of the user easier.

"You have a small window the size of your browser and an immense amount of information. So, both searching and navigating have a tendancy to be the number one priority items in order to improve."

A good example, Freed said, was gsa.gov. He said they have improved overall by 20 points after continually making improvements to their site. The key to solving the problem, he added, is to listen to site users.

"It's not always about relaunching your Web site or redesigning your Web site from the bottom up. Often there are things that can be done that will have a significant impact on the user experience."

Transparency was another issue.

Freed said ForeSee Results looked at the issue of transparency and how it related to user experience on the Web.

"As government tries to become more transparent, the way that they're going to be able to accomplish that is through the Web. They're going to use the media to get messages out. They're going to do press conferences -- those kinds of things -- but the way that the information is going to be available to citizens when they want it and when they need it is going to be on the Web."

ForeSee Results built a new transparency model that works with its customer satisfaction model. In addition, they also examined participants preconceived notions about government -- whether they are willing to participate with federal agencies and whether trust already exists.

Freed said this first questionnaire serves as a pilot program for the new model and did not include all government Web sites.

"The scores for transparency were actually pretty good. They were, on average across the six or so sites that we measured, about a 79. So . . . generally citizens are saying they feel these sites are being fairly transparent in the amount of information, with the accessibility of the information and the speed in which the information is being made available."

Freed said ForeSee Results was able to determine that, yes, there is a relationship between customer satisfaction with an agency site and transparency.

"What we found out -- there was a really strong relationship. In other words, if you improve citizens' or visitors' perceptions of the transparency of the information on the Web site, that's going to drive up their satisfaction. If you drive up their satisfaction, that is going to drive up their trust in government {and} also their likelihood to participate in government. Equally important is their likelihood to return to the Web site, recommend the Web site to others and use the site as a primary resource."

Freed also said that those latter three aspects could equate to cost effectiveness for agencies.

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On the Web:

ForeSee Results -- ACSI E-Government Satisfaction Index

ForeSee Results -- Online Transparency Study

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