Government Customer Satisfaction Drops After a Two-Year Gain

After two years on the rise, American satisfaction with government services has taken a dive, according to the newly-released American Customer Satisfaction Index report. Citizen satisfaction with federal customer service has dropped 3.4% over the past year to a benchmark rating of 66.1 (on a scale of 0 to 100).

This puts the government second to last overall in comparison with private sector industry satisfaction scores. Only internet service providers came in lower with a customer satisfaction benchmark score of 65. Just above the federal government at 66 are the subscription television service  (68) and airline (69) industries.

This reverse in year-over-year momentum is due in part to a drop in government website satisfaction, according to the report, hurt certainly by the very public, problem-ridden rollout of Healthcare.gov in 2013. This proved to be a black eye in the improving perception of public-facing government websites, with the satisfaction rating dropping two points over the past year from 74 to 72 out of 100.

Government agencies must continue to improve in this area as the ACSI federal government report shows that more than one-third (35%) of all users of federal services say that they most often interact with government agencies via the web now. In comparison, only 19% say they use the telephone most often and 11% prefer in-person interactions.

While good for the federal government that citizens are increasingly using the web, a less costly and more efficient way to serve customers at scale, this also presents a challenge in keeping up with the growing demand for online information and support. Self-service options such as searchable and search-engine friendly knowledgebases/FAQs will continue to be a major focus as the trend toward online service and support continues to climb.

The full ACSI Report on U.S. Federal Government is available for free download. Click here to view and access the report.