ForeSee Testifies Before Congress About the Importance of Customer Satisfaction

ANN ARBOR, Mich., June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ForeSee President and CEO Larry Freed testified before the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security about citizen satisfaction with the Social Security Administration's (SSA) websites on Wednesday, May 9. Freed testified about the excellent online experience many SSA websites provide to citizens as part of a hearing on the state of SSA's information technology.

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ForeSee is a customer experience analytics firm that continuously measures customer satisfaction and delivers powerful insights on where to prioritize improvements for maximum impact. Having worked to measure citizen satisfaction with the SSA for more than eight years, ForeSee is uniquely qualified to testify on the online experience provided by the SSA. Since 2001, ForeSee has measured citizen satisfaction on more than 300 government websites across 50 departments and agencies and has collected more than 7 million citizen surveys from visitors to federal government websites since 2001.

ForeSee currently measures citizen satisfaction on nine SSA websites and online applications. Freed testified that six of nine SSA websites perform well above federal government averages in terms of citizen satisfaction, and several even tie or outperform perennial private-sector standouts like Amazon and Google.

ForeSee data makes the case for continued investment in the online channel as one of the most successful means the SSA has for interacting with citizens. User satisfaction, as measured using the ForeSee methodology, is proven to have a direct impact on behavior. If federal government agencies focus on improving their websites' priority areas, citizen satisfaction with the sites should also improve.

Representative Xavier Becerra, Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security said at the hearing, "While [ForeSee's] numbers are technical numbers, they're based on feelings, and in many respects, that may be the most important thing; how Americans feel about the service they're getting."

Based on future behavior scores, citizens who are highly satisfied with a federal government website rate their trust in the agency 70% higher and report being 48% more likely to participate in government by expressing their thoughts to the agency than citizens who are less satisfied. These are future behaviors that relate directly to the Open Government Initiative.

Satisfaction also increases the likelihood that the citizen will return to the website again (52%), use it as a primary resource (92%) as opposed to utilizing more costly channels, or recommend the site to others (by 86%). These behaviors significantly increase efficiency and reduce costs.

Freed's written testimony is available online at http://www.foreseeresults.com/research-white-papers/congressional-testimony-ssa-2012-form-foresee.shtml and the video of his testimony is available at http://waysandmeans.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2

About ForeSee

As a pioneer in customer experience analytics, ForeSee continuously measures satisfaction across customer touch points and delivers critical insights on where to prioritize improvements for maximum impact. Because ForeSee's superior technology and proven methodology connect the customer experience to the bottom line, executives and managers are able to drive future success by confidently optimizing the efforts that will achieve business and brand objectives. The result is better business for companies and a better experience for consumers. Visit us at www.foresee.com for customer experience solutions and original research.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Sarah Allen-Short, 734-327-3852
[email protected]

SOURCE ForeSee