In my last column, I made the case for the critical need for agencies to put citizens' needs and expectations at the center of all they do. Citizen Experience, or CX, is a citizen-centered cultural shift that will help build trust and confidence in government if we focus on delivering the information, assistance, services and relationships people must have in a way that works best for them.

Once an agency has done the research required to understand its citizens, and shifts its focus toward fulfilling their needs, and is committed to meeting those needs with a vision, the real transformational work can begin. But where to start?

For most CX advocates committed to making an effective change, the direct authority, funding and governance required to execute a big-bang approach to CX transformation may be out of our grasp. However, if we focus on incremental change within our spans of control, everyone in the agency has the power and responsibility to make a change that will positively affect the citizen experience.

Those with influence over a single touchpoint or communication channel with the citizen can have a significant effect on your agency's CX. Focusing on a single channel allows the agency to test ideas, fail gracefully and safely, learn from that failure and gain allies who can influence the agency as the effort moves forward.

To enhance channels of communication for the citizen experience, agencies have to assess the ways current channels are meeting or not meeting citizen expectations and needs. They also have to assess how communication methods have met expected service levels and where the agency would like to be in the future. Once the agency identifies those metrics, it can create an action plan with measurable goals and hold the performing organization accountable through multiple metrics.

Metrics should measure the citizen journey, not just a single touchpoint in a single channel. For example, a first-call resolution (FCR) statistic should measure how often a citizen feels their issue is resolved after a single contact, whether that be a call or an email. In practice, FCR can mean a number of different things.

In some agencies, a call might be considered resolved if it is transferred to another division for processing because in that silo, it has been resolved. But that way of thinking does not keep citizen experience in mind. The call may be over, but the issue isn't resolved at all.

FCR can also be measured externally (which may be a more effective gauge), where citizens determine whether their issues were resolved at the first touchpoint. External methods of determination include post-call surveys and end-of-call scripts, among others.

While FCR is only one metric, it has proven critical. Studies indicate that for every percent increase in FCR, agencies find a corresponding one percent increase in citizen satisfaction. Financially, FCR can translate into savings for agencies. With fewer calls coming in, resources can be diverted to other efforts.

Once metrics are decided and goals are set, accountability and visibility to those goals should be built into the action plan. Everyone in the specific communication channel has to buy into change to make it happen. As changes occur in that specific channel, the agency moves toward citizen-centric practices that can be replicated in other communication channels. A cultural shift only happens when there are no more silos and the whole agency puts the citizen first.

With metrics in place, the performance of the channels need to be honed to meet the goals. Unfortunately, there is no right answer about how to optimize the citizen experience. It is critical to keep in mind that any agency serves a huge cross-section of citizens, all of whom have varying levels of comfort with individual channels of communication.

Sometimes, well-meaning but misinformed decision-makers believe they are optimizing citizen experiences by shifting the volume of citizen touchpoints from traditional channels to digital channels. While some citizens might be most comfortable reaching out or responding to an agency digitally, such as by email or social media, others prefer to rely on more traditional channels, such as call centers or postal mail.

If an agency does not meet citizens where they are and respect their preferences, they don't understand the reasons behind optimization in the first place. They have to remember that the mission is to improve citizen experience within the agency.

After researching the citizen's needs, the agency should understand which channels need improvement and which channels have been working well. This effort is called omnichannel management, and it should be essentially invisible to citizens. The best-in-class omnichannel management systems allow citizens to choose among communication options when they need to contact an agency.

Citizens should not feel forced into channels that do not work for them. No matter which option they choose, they need to receive the same information. If they have to switch between methods of contact, they should not have to answer the same series of questions they did before; their information should be accessible by any channel or contact employee. This is accomplished through cross-channel integration, which will be the subject of our next column.

Share:
In Other News
Load More