The Best Practices for Creating Positive Digital Experiences

Studies show that citizens expect their governments’ online services to be highly functional, efficient and well designed. Creating effective digital government experiences can help federal, state and local government agencies save costs, increase efficiencies and build public trust. At a time when public trust in government is decreasing, and agencies are continually expected to accomplish more with less, successful digital transformations should be top-of-mind.

Here are some best practices government agencies should keep in mind when developing new digital experiences for citizens and employees

In order to use a digital transformation to improve constituent relations, government agencies should keep in mind the five dimensions of a positive online experience.

1. Citizen Journey: Agencies must consider the reasons an individual would want or need to engage with the agency in the first place, and the needs each citizen may have

2. Mobile:  Services should be made available on websites that are optimized for and responsive on multiple devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

3. Design: The design of the experience comes next; agencies must think about the way graphics, visuals and content work together to benefit the user’s experience.

4. Relevance: Each digital experience should be tailored to and personalized for the individual user or group.

5. Relationship: Individual digital experiences affect the relationship between the user and the agency, in both positive and negative ways.

Ultimately, agencies looking to use digital transformation as a means to improve constituent relations should focus on what their citizens are looking for from online government services. Adobe and WPP surveyed more than 7,000 citizens in seven countries across the globe in an effort to better understand the factors that drive citizen needs and influence their online experiences, and where government agencies can do better. The study found that agencies often excel at creating experiences tailored to the citizen journey and mobility, a good sign that their digital tools are built on a solid IT infrastructure.

Where government agencies often fall behind is in the relationship and relevance categories. It is easy to understand why: relevance and relationships are not dimensions typically considered when designing a digital transformation strategy. If government agencies want to succeed, they should keep customer-centricity at top of mind for everything they do. Doing so could go a long way in developing meaningful connections between agencies and their citizens.

To thrive in an increasingly-digital landscape, government agencies should undertake digital transformations that focus on creating customer-centric experiences, grounding every digital initiative in a design that puts the citizen first. To do this they will need to embrace collaboration, metrics and technology that drive outcomes, foster relationships between IT and business roles and measure success with hard data.

Citizens expect online experiences with federal, state and local government agencies to be highly functional, efficient and well-designed. In order to give their citizens what they need out of their governments, public sector agencies first need to understand them. By keeping customer experience and citizen needs at the forefront, agencies can better ensure their digital transformation will be successful, and they will be able to experience more efficiency, cost-savings, mobility and positive consumer experiences.

Learn more and register to attend the 2018 Adobe Government Symposium here.

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