New Report: State Of E-Gov Union Is Strong

Ann Arbor-based ForeSee Results Tuesday released the American Customer Satisfaction Index E-Government Satisfaction Index, showing that citizen satisfaction with federal government Web sites remains near its all-time high.

Satisfaction with e-government slipped slightly to 75.0 on the ACSI's 100-point scale but remains near the all-time high set in the third quarter of 2010. Of the 30 quarters that ACSI has been measuring e-government, three of the top five scores of all time occurred in 2010.

Satisfaction with federal Web sites, at 75.0, continued to outperform satisfaction with the federal government overall, at 65.4, by a large margin. So far, and especially over the last two years, the federal government is doing a better job of keeping pace with expectations online. However, as younger, internet-savvy citizens become a larger and larger segment of the population, satisfaction could stagnate or decline over time if federal Web site managers become complacent and don't continue to make improvements that matter to citizens.

"E-government has been a federal government success story, but it would be foolish to declare victory just yet," said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. "There is a whole generation of 'digital natives' that have never known a world without the internet, and they will expect to interact with the government the only way they know how: online. Federal websites must continue to keep pace with constantly higher expectations. " 

The importance of e-government cannot be understated. More and more, citizens turn to the Web as a starting point when they need to engage the federal government. Whether they need to research a federal job, submit a claim for social security benefits, research the newest information for cancer diagnoses, or check out the latest images from NASA satellites, citizens often go to the web first.
 
Though e-government beats the overall federal government by a large margin in terms of customer satisfaction, it rates below its private-sector counterparts, as a whole.
 
Although the private sector scores better, on average, than federal Web sites, the best-scoring federal Web sites outperform the best-scoring private-sector websites.
 
Agencies have a lot to gain by providing a satisfying experience online. According to the report, citizens who are highly satisfied with a federal government Web site say they are 59 percent more likely to trust the government unit and 58 percent more likely to participate with the government than citizens who are less satisfied. Highly satisfied citizens also report being more likely to use the Web site as a primary resource, recommend it, and return to it. Providing a satisfying site experience leads to cost savings for the government, as citizens will turn to the website first rather than using other, costlier channels. 

"Not only must the government do a better job satisfying citizens, but it will likely have to do so with fewer resources in the years ahead," said professor Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI and author of The Satisfied Customer. "High unemployment, declining tax receipts and growing deficits are stretching government budgets thin. Much like private sector companies during the recession of 2008 and 2009, government must find innovative ways to provide better service with less."

More than 250,000 surveys were conducted during the fourth quarter of 2010 alone; more than one million citizen surveys were conducted in 2010 overall. There are 111 sites included in the Index this quarter.

In 1999, the federal government selected the American Customer Satisfaction Index to be a standard metric for measuring citizen satisfaction. 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 index.

More at www.ForeSeeResults.com.

The ACSI's 2010 study on overall government reports that citizen satisfaction with the federal government tumbled in 2010, but e-government remains the bright spot in an otherwise challenging landscape. 

Government Web sites with scores over 80, considered the mark of excellence on the 100-point scale, include the Social Security Administration retirement estimator, www.ssa.gov/estimator, and SSA iClaim, www.socialsecurity.gov/applyonline, both at 90; Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs, www.socialsecurity.gov/i1020, at 88; the National Women's Health Information Center main Web site,  www.4woman.gov, at 86; the C National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration main Web site, www.noaa.gov, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Español, www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis-es, both at 85; the AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange, www.innovations.ahrq.gov, Health and Human Services MedlinePlus, http://medlineplus.gov, the National Institutes of Health NIAMS Public Web site, www.niams.nih.gov, and HHS NIDDK, http://www2.niddk.nih.gov, all at 84; GobiernoUSA.gov Web site, www.gobiernousa.gov, the Social Security Internet Disability Report, www.ssa.gov/applyfordisability, the NASA main Web site, www.nasa.gov, the Department of Defense Pentagon Channel,  www.pentagonchannel.mil, MedlinePlus en español, http://medlineplus.gov/esp and MyPBA, https://egov.pbgc.gov/mypba, all at 83; the DoD Navy main Web site, www.navy.mil, the Department of Labor Job Listings, www.doors.dol.gov, the National Cancer Institute Site en Español, www.cancer.gov/espanol, the Central Intelligence Agency recruitment Web site, www.cia.gov/careers, the National Cancer Institute main Web site, www.cancer.gov, HHS Girls Health, www.girlshealth.gov, and Social Security Business Services Online, www.ssa.gov/bso/bsowelcome.htm, all at 82; the Centers for Disease Control main Web site, www.cdc.gov, the General Services Administration Federal Citizen Information Center, www.pueblo.gsa.gov, and the Department of Homeland Security Citizenship and Immigration Services, www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis, all at 81.

The two SSA sites scoring 90 beat out all other private-sector companies measured by the ACSI, including perennial satisfaction champions Netflix (87), Amazon (86), and H.J. Heinz (88). The ACSI measures more than 250 private-sector companies. No other ACSI-measured entities score over 90 other than two of the Social Security sites included in this report.

The average federal e-commerce and transaction site, of which there are 10, scored an 80. The average career and recruitment site, of which there are five, scored a 78. The average portal and department main site, of which there are 34, scored at 75; and the average news and information site, of which there are 62, scored a 74.

Only two federal sites scored below a 60 -- the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, www.nrcs.usda.gov, at 55, and the Health and Human Services federal grant application site, www.grants.gov, at 58.