Citizens are looking for convenient, secure, and fast digital services, like what they experience from the private sector. But a recent study from Deloitte found that across 13 countries, customer satisfaction from digital government services is 21 percentage points behind the private sector.
So is your citizen portal meeting your citizens’ current needs?
While many public sector organizations had to pivot to offer digital services for the first time during the pandemic, these makeshift solutions may no longer be enough to meet current citizen expectations and establish a foundation for an engaged community.
Why Does the Public Sector Need to Improve Their Digital Experiences?
Well if customers are already able to access government services online, what more needs to be done?
Government leaders need to understand that serving their citizens in the way they desire to be served will lead to:
- Increased citizen trust. 87% of respondents said that a great digital government customer experience would increase their degree of trust. And increased trust in the government will lead to higher voting numbers, increased community engagement, and a boost in goodwill.
- Less work for internal teams. Dissatisfied citizens are twice as likely to reach out for support multiple times. But if citizens have better experiences, are able to find the information they need, and can complete their tasks independently, then they won’t need to contact your team for help, freeing up time and resources, while also improving citizen satisfaction.
- More efficient services. Not only is this beneficial for citizens to get what they need done faster and more easily, but automation and digitization can help teams reduce 60% of effort.
Ultimately, enhancing citizen experiences is not just a benefit to the community, but it has the potential to fundamentally improve the relationship of the public to its government. Digital services are a way to better connect with your citizens and close the perceived gap between your agency and the community.
5 Ways to Make Your Citizen Portal a Tool Your Citizens Want to Use
So then how can you turn your citizen portal into a tool that can actually help citizens? Here are five ways to improve your citizen portal to improve citizen engagement and trust.
- Leverage AI to meet citizen needs faster
You may be cautious to use AI, especially within the public sector; however, AI can be a powerful tool to help assist citizens more efficiently.
Use AI to:-
Power chatbots and self-service assistance. This allows customers to get answers to common questions or navigate to the content they need. For the citizens that aren’t able to find the answers they need through a chatbot, the system is able to redirect them to a live rep.
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Translate content quickly. By using AI to translate content on pages, this can help you reach more of your citizens and convey information to them more easily.
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Create content or images instantly. Your team is busy with other priorities. But with AI, they can have AI assist with content creation and image generation. For example, if a notice about a road closure needs to go out as soon as possible, you can use AI to generate a short blurb regarding best safety tips and create an image as the blog header.
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- Increase transparency and keep citizens informed, more quickly
Trust needs to be at the foundation of the public sector. While there are various ways for government organizations to grow their constituents’ trust, one way is through better online experiences.
According to a recent study, 87% of respondents noted that a great digital government experience would increase their trust in public organizations.
A key factor in delivering the great digital experience your citizens are looking for, is the accessibility of content and updates. Citizens want to be able to easily access important content, such as budgets, policies, and reports, updates, or other crucial alerts. This transparency helps build greater trust and goodwill with your organization.
However, presenting citizens with the most up-to-date information and assets will require a robust CMS that allows your team to easily make updates and create new pages, without needing IT assistance.
- Provide personalized recommendations to guide citizens
53% of survey respondents say they would be willing to share more personal data with government agencies for greater convenience and efficiency. Leverage personalization in ways that both help streamline citizen experiences and convey your commitment to their wellbeing. Some examples include:- Crafting a personalized onboarding experience. When citizens first log onto your portal, they should be guided through a tailored onboarding experience based on what they need to accomplish on the portal. This helps citizens feel valued and at the same time empowers them to make the most of the tool.
- Providing content and service recommendations to progress citizens on their journey with useful related content or related services based on what they’ve previously accessed.
- Surfacing relevant search recommendations
