ForeSee Results Report: E-Gov Transparency, a Year in Review

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Feb. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ForeSee Results today released the 2010 year-end E-Government Transparency Index, which confirms that online transparency is a key driver of online satisfaction and overall trust in government for many of the websites tracking it.  The research also shows that e-government transparency has improved slightly since last quarter and is up almost half a point to 76.2 on the study's 100-point scale.  Participation in the Index is up 35% this quarter, with 31 federal websites now measuring and reporting quarterly transparency scores.

Federal agency websites with high online transparency scores have substantially higher satisfaction overall than sites with low transparency scores.  In addition to its impact on customer satisfaction, online transparency is linked to desirable future behaviors such as trust in government, repeat visits to the website, word of mouth recommendation, and utilization of the website as a primary resource.  Each of these behaviors has the ability to increase government efficiency by driving traffic toward the most efficient channel for serving the public.

While online transparency drives satisfaction, trust, and efficiency for e-government overall, it is not necessarily the highest priority for every individual site.  Some sites will reap the biggest rewards from focusing on online transparency, while others would be better off improving search, navigation, or site functionality.  The diagnosis varies from site to site.

"Some federal sites will see huge returns from making small improvements to online transparency; others can maintain the status quo and focus on other things," said the study's author, Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results.  "But measuring transparency is the first step, because you can't manage it if you don't measure it."

The E-Government Transparency Index uses the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to measure the impact of various website elements, including content, functionality, site performance, look and feel, navigation, search, and transparency on citizen satisfaction.  The study is based on a survey of more than 320,000 U.S. citizens who visited federal websites over the course of 2010.

The Q2 2010 E-Government Transparency Index is available as a free download at http://www.foreseeresults.com/research-white-papers/.

ABOUT FORESEE RESULTS

As the leader in customer satisfaction measurement, ForeSee Results captures and analyzes voice-of-customer data to help both private-sector and public-sector organizations increase loyalty, recommendations and marketing value.  Using the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), ForeSee Results identifies improvements across all channels and touch points that drive satisfaction.  With over 58 million survey responses collected to date and benchmarks across dozens of industries, ForeSee Results offers unparalleled expertise in citizen satisfaction measurement and management for the federal government.

ForeSee Results, a privately held company, is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan and on the web at www.ForeSeeResults.com.  Connect with ForeSee Results at www.ForeSeeResults.com/connect.html.

ABOUT ACSI

The American Customer Satisfaction Index is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States.  ACSI releases results for various sectors of the economy on a monthly basis to provide up-to-the-moment coverage over the entire calendar year.  The national index is updated quarterly and factors in scores from more than 225 companies in 45 industries and from government agencies over the previous four quarters.  The Index was founded at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and is produced by ACSI LLC.  ACSI can be found on the Web at www.theacsi.org.

SOURCE ForeSee Results