Criterion 4. Measure if your digital service is meeting customer needs

Criterion 4 – Measure if your digital service is meeting customer needs

Design and deliver digital services with a focus on customer satisfaction.

Your responsibilities

To successfully meet this criterion, agencies need to:

identify the most appropriate measure to monitor the satisfaction rates of the digital service
give users the ability to rate their satisfaction/dissatisfaction
continuously monitor customer satisfaction of the digital service and act to improve outcomes.

When to apply

Apply Criterion 4 at all times in the Live environment and consider it during Discovery. Compile metrics and monitor the digital service with a holistic approach. Report the results to build government’s view of its digital services landscape.

Customer satisfaction is an industry-standard measure of digital service quality. At a minimum, customer feedback channels should be available on each page and at the end of a digital transaction.

A mature monitoring framework:

adopts a best practice approach
integrates feedback tools as users actively use digital services
surpasses baseline requirements and provides in-depth insights on the user experience.

Apply Criterion 4 to encourage user-centred design and contribute to internal continuous improvement processes.

Questions for consideration

Can users easily provide feedback within their digital experience?
What can be learnt about the customer’s journey?
What can agencies learn from digital services that have high customer satisfaction?
Are user expectations aligned to their actual experience?
What impacts factor into customer satisfaction?

How to apply criterion 4

Use a methodology that suits the digital service: Customer satisfaction is a widely implemented, industry-standard measure of digital service quality. There are many quantitative methods to measure user sentiment. When designing a methodology, implement effective mechanisms that suit the digital service. For example, users can quickly and easily choose ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ options, which results in high response rates. A feedback form with an open text field requires more effort from the user, but provides more specific insight as to why a customer has provided that rating.
Design convenient feedback mechanisms: Design a feedback mechanism that is easy and accessible for users and encourages engagement. The higher the response rate, the closer the data will be to the true sentiment of users. Having accessible and prominent feedback channels across every webpage and digital service will result in more valuable insights to enhance the user experience.
Listen to and understand user needs: By capturing and tracking customer satisfaction with the digital services, agencies can learn how users feel about the quality of their digital service(s) and the areas to be improved. This includes understanding user expectations and what they need from government digital services. Positive customer satisfaction indicates well-designed, accessible and inclusive digital services.

Guidance to measure if your digital service is meeting customer needs

Choose an appropriate method and tool to monitor levels of user satisfaction:
- Consider the outcomes and goals of your digital service, and the needs and expectations of your users. See also: Define clear objectives.
- When choosing a tool, consider how to minimise the burden on your users, along with the frequency, timing, and sample size of your data collection.
- The DTA recommend a simple thumbs up/down sentiment tool on each page of the digital service that is followed up by a free text feedback dialogue. See also Choose monitoring tools and methods.
Configure your selected tool as an easy way for users to provide feedback about the service:
- Craft precise and straightforward questions or statements to gauge user satisfaction.
- Validate questions and the tool’s functionality by testing with a representative sample of users to ensure reliability and accuracy.
- Make sure customer feedback tools are available on each page and at the end of a digital transaction.
Regularly assess customer satisfaction with your digital service and make improvements:
- Implement a tool to measure the user satisfaction measurement in your digital service and monitor the results regularly.
- Use data visualisation and reporting tools to communicate the findings and trends to your stakeholders.
- Evaluate the impact of your user satisfaction measurement on your digital service performance and use the insights to identify areas for continuous improvement or innovation. See also Develop processes for continuous improvement.
- Test and iterate your digital service based on user feedback and satisfaction data.

Digital Performance Standard