New Report Identifies Traffic, Duplication, and Citizen Experience as Criteria for .Gov Task Force

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ForeSee Results today issued its quarterly report on the American Customer Satisfaction Index's (ACSI) E-Government Satisfaction Index, which recommends that the .gov Task Force consider traffic, the amount of redundancy, and citizen experience as criteria for making their decision on how to consolidate e-gov websites and reduce duplication.

President Obama's General Order 13571, "Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service," part of the Campaign to Cut Waste which requires federal agencies to save taxpayers money and time by eliminating or consolidating redundant websites and improving outdated, difficult to use, or poorly maintained sites. The .gov Task Force is the group charged with deciding which websites are least necessary.

"The Campaign to Cut Waste is badly needed," said Larry Freed, President and CEO of ForeSee Results. "Over the years, we've seen firsthand how frustrating it can be for citizens to go in search of information but come back empty handed because there is simply too much badly organized, redundant information out there. Federal websites have done so much work to improve the user experience over the last ten years, and streamlining the system could take user satisfaction to the next level."

The research released today, which quantifies the cause-and-effect relationship between proactive changes to government websites and citizen satisfaction, makes a clear and compelling case that the means for the government to decide which websites to consolidate and which to eliminate are already at their disposal. The ACSI, which was chosen by the federal government to be a standard metric for measuring citizen satisfaction in 1999, represents the most comprehensive and exhaustive data available for decision-making of this kind.

This quarter's report indicates that visitors to the measured sites are generally happy with their experience. For the seventh consecutive quarter, satisfaction with e-government as a whole remains over 75; the Index score for the second quarter of 2011 is 75.5.

"While the E-Government Satisfaction Index's plateau has perhaps lulled some observers into a false sense of security, the data continues to show that there is always room for improvement," said Professor Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI and author of The Satisfied Customer.  "This is seen nowhere better than in the scores of the Index's leaders, which until recently trailed the private sector. While the majority of the agencies still lag behind the commercial world, others are surging ahead, a development few thought likely."

Facebook, one of the Internet's most popular sites, has a satisfaction score nearly 20 points below the E-Government Index's highest performers (Facebook's ACSI score is 66 and the best-performing government sites score in the high 80's and even 90). Even Google (82), a perennial favorite, is being outperformed by 10% of all government sites analyzed.

A full list of individual website scores along with more discussion of trends is available in the Q2 2011 ACSI E-Government Satisfaction Index, available as a free download on the ForeSee Results website, www.foreseeresults.com.

ABOUT FORESEE RESULTS

As the leader in customer satisfaction measurement, ForeSee Results is a customer experience analytics firm that 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 60 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 THE ACSI

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is the only uniform, national, cross-industry measure of satisfaction with the quality of goods and services available in the United States. In 1999, the federal government selected the ACSI to be a standard metric for measuring citizen satisfaction. Over 100 Federal government agencies have used the ACSI to measure citizen satisfaction with more than 200 services and programs.  The Index was founded at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and is produced by ACSI, LLC. ForeSee Results sponsors the E-Government Satisfaction Index.

ABOUT THE FEDERAL CONSULTING GROUP

The Federal Consulting Group (FCG) operates as a fee-for-service franchise in the National Business Center (Dept. of the Interior) and serves as the executive agent in the government for the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The Federal Consulting Group uses a generic clearance from the Office of Management and Budget to obtain expedited approval of ACSI surveys as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. This enables agencies to conduct ACSI surveys without obtaining a separate clearance. Agencies can assess and improve programs, call centers and websites using the ACSI methodology through an Interagency Agreement with the Federal Consulting Group.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Amanda Piasecki, Kearns & West
[email protected]
202-535-7800 x114

SOURCE ForeSee Results