by Dave Lewan
Ahhh, there’s nothing like an election year to spur on Americans’ sentiment about the federal government. While there is little evidence that the 2012 presidential election has anything to do with it, we do, however, with the release of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Government Satisfaction Index (Q3 2012) today, see a slight dip in the citizen satisfaction among the 106 federal agencies and departments measured in Q3 2012.
After reaching an all-time high of 75.6 in Q2 2012, the aggregate satisfaction score registered a minor decrease this quarter, posting a 75.3. Regardless, citizen satisfaction has been at 75 or higher for 12 out of the last 13 quarters, which is a great achievement. To see all of the aggregate, category and individual department scores, download the full report.
The first part of the report, Feedback vs. Measurement – Listen to the Silent Majority takes a good look at the differences between feedback and measurement and how there is a large group – a silent majority – that is not represented in feedback. While feedback tends to be a little more reactive, measurement allows agency leaders to be more proactive when developing strategies and implementing improvements. When trying to manage organizations with only feedback there’s a certain amount of risk in losing engagement with or trust of citizens because their expectations, needs and wants were not met.
Measuring with precise customer experience analytics to randomly intercept users at the right time with the right survey creates a more representative sample of the entire visitor base than simple feedback mechanisms can provide. This helps determine, strategically and tactically, where to focus improvements to move forward by applying valuable time and budget to the right areas that will make the biggest impact.
I highly recommend reading the full intro and the entire report to see how having a scientific and predictive survey technology is an essential part of measuring the customer experience.
