Looking for ways to improve customer satisfaction? You don’t have to look any further than a federal government office.
Some government offices report higher customer satisfaction scores than private sector industries and companies, found the just-released American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
For example, the U.S. Mint scored a 95 on the 100-point scale and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s retiree program got an 89. The ACSI rates different industries each quarter.
And not all government agencies are winners. Those that affect citizens more — such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Homeland Security — come in with scores in the 60s.
There’s one area in which the government has blazed new trains in these past few years: e-government communication scores. Citizens give almost all government departments and agencies higher scores for the help and answers they provide online and through email than they do over the phone, the ACSI reported.
ForeSee researchers, who partner with the ACSI in the study, found citizen satisfaction with e-government remains at a near all-time high of 75 on the 100-point scale. Overall satisfaction with government is 68.4, up 2.2 % from last year.
Satisfaction is particularly high with its websites. In fact, the highest performing government sites — both under the Social Security Administration — have higher scores than the private sector’s top scorer Amazon.
4 strategies
While the federal government hasn’t embraced all of these best practices, they are proving to be great ways to satisfy customers online.
- Be mobile-friendly. It’s estimated that nearly a quarter of visits to websites are from smartphones. The sooner government and businesses adopt mobile platforms and apps, the higher customer satisfaction will be.
- Find out where your customers are. Many government websites now ask visitors to give their zip code so they can help them find local offices and attractions for business or pleasure (think national, city or county parks).
- Give access to more personal help. Even if customers are navigating websites, they sometimes need personal help quickly. Set up live chat and make your telephone numbers easy to see on all pages.
- Alert customers. More government agencies offer citizens notification services — like alerts when a dangerous weather system is on its way. Offer your customers the opportunity to get alerts for product releases, invoices, promotions, etc.
