ACSI and ForeSee research said citizens are
quite satisfied with federal government websites that provide a range of
services, from securing benefits to serving as a resource for research
and information.
Interestingly, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)
e-government index climbed 0.8 percent to 75.3 on a 100-point scale.
This happens to be among the highest scores ever recorded and about the
same as it was a year ago.
ForeSee found that e-government continues its dominance in overall
government in terms of customer satisfaction. The 3Q 2010 e-government
score is 10 percent higher than the overall federal government score of
68.7 measured in the fourth quarter of 2009.
According to the research, a key driver of satisfaction with federal
websites is online transparency. However there still are areas requiring
improvements and to this end federal agencies are working to comply
with the Open Government Initiative. In the study, ForeSee concluded
that increased transparency leads to citizen satisfaction and trust in
government.
“Citizens are consumers of government services, and what makes them
so satisfied about federal websites is that they are generally able to
find what they want and accomplish what they have set out to do. This
provides a win-win for citizens: easier and more accessible information
and services at a lower cost to taxpayers,” Larry Freed, president and
CEO of ForeSee Results mentioned in the report.
According to the study, highly satisfied citizens (those who score 80
or higher in satisfaction) rate their trust in the government unit 58
percent higher than dissatisfied citizens.
“There is often a disconnect between citizens’ personal experience
with the federal government online and offline. Online sectors of the
economy typically perform better than offline sectors in terms of
customer satisfaction, and with government services it is no different,”
said Claes Fornell, founder of ACSI and a business professor at the
University of Michigan.
In a recent report produced by the American Customer Satisfaction
Index (ACSI), news websites were found to have customer satisfaction
levels, on average, of 74 on the study's 100-point scale. In contrast,
ForeSee Results clients scored a 76, two points and 3 percent higher than the average for news websites
Madhubanti Rudra is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.