QUINT|essential

Welcome to the latest edition of the QUINT|essential newsletter. The QUINT|essential is Phase 5's synopsis of new ideas, issues, and techniques related to marketing research for a multichannel world. The QUINT also keeps our clients and partners current on news at Phase 5.

In this issue:

• Case Study: Predicting Traffic Impacts of New Web Site Designs
• White Paper: Website Performance Measurement - Matching Metrics With Objectives
• Phase 5 Completes Landmark TCOB Study
• Phase 5 Launches Government Transformation Subscription Study
• Phase 5 chosen for prestigious Citizens First study

Feature Case Study

Predicting Traffic Impacts of New Designs: A Case Study

By: Doug Church

Issue

Managers responsible for Web channels often want to know how design changes will affect user behaviour. While traditional lab-based usability testing can help identify impediments to successful user experience, the qualitative nature of the research makes it hard to predict how design changes will affect actual behaviour once the site is launched.

Insight

Automated task-based testing allows managers to accurately predict the impact of design alternatives on customer behaviour. This methodology also gives managers quantifiable performance benchmarks against which future enhancements can be measured.

Background

The Canada Site is the Government of Canada's main portal for government information and services. The site is divided into three main areas (known as Gateways) directed at Canadians, Non-Canadians and Canadian Business. Within these three Gateways, subject or audience-based sections lead users to information and services based on their needs, irrespective of their knowledge of the government's organizational structure.

The goal of the Gateways and subject/audience clusters is to ensure seamless, one-stop access to information by transcending organizational boundaries, by first aggregating, and then organizing, information in ways that resonate with the situational needs and expectations of Canadian and non-Canadian audiences.

In March 2003, the Canada Site was redesigned to reflect behaviour observed in usability testing and other research exercises. One of the main changes made to the Canada Site home page was the redesign of the Gateway entry points as buttons, with direct links to specific subject areas under the Canadians Gateway heading.

^ Top

Feature White Paper

Website Performance Measurement - Matching Metrics With Objectives

By: Arnie Guha and Michael Dolenko

Any Web site Performance Measurement (PM) initiative ought to begin with the most fundamental questions: Why did we invest in this Web site? What do we seek to achieve by it? What are the site’s – and our – strategic objectives?

Your answers to these questions may include any of the following, and more:

• Increasing awareness of your organization and its products and services
• Gaining cost-efficiencies through effective use of service, communication and transaction channels (telephone/call-centre, Web site, branch, etc.)
• Enhancing customer loyalty by using the site as a focal point of a continuous relationship between our organization and our customers

Understanding these strategic objectives is the foundation to developing an effective Performance Measurement framework and strategy.

Phase 5’s white paper on Web site performance measurement highlight’s our approach to helping clients focus their site’s strategy and implement measurement methodologies that go beyond traffic analysis.

^ Top

Other Stories

Phase 5 Completes Landmark TCOB Study

Phase 5 is pleased to announce the release of the landmark Taking Care of Business study commissioned by The Institute of Citizen-Centred Service (ICCS) and the Institute of Public Administration Canada (IPAC).

Continuing on the groundbreaking work achieved by the Citizens First reports undertaken in 1998, 2000 and 2002, the Taking Care of Business study explores drivers of satisfaction, service quality and delivery performance, service standards, and key CRM principles for government services delivered to Canadian businesses.

Taken together, findings from the study offer Canadian public sector managers invaluable insight into Government-to-Business service delivery from the perspective of the business community.

Based on a representative sample of nearly 6,000 businesses across the country, the Taking Care of Business study was sponsored by thirteen jurisdictions: the Government of Canada, nine provinces, one territory, and three municipalities, as well as the Municipal Information Systems Associations of Ontario and British Columbia.

A summary of the study is available online at http://www.iccs-isac.org/eng/TCOB.htm. Information on purchasing a copy of the full report is also provided.

For further information on this study, or to learn how Phase 5 can help your organization better understand your clients’ service preferences and expectations, contact Andreas Noe at (613) 241-7555 ext. 106.

^ Top

Phase 5 Launches Government Service Transformation Subscription Study

Recognizing that Governments are transforming service delivery, with an emphasis on self-service channels, Phase 5 - in conjunction with ViewStats Research - conducted an important study to track the extent to which Canadians are migrating to online channels for service delivery.

The research consisted of an online survey of more than 1,800 Canadian Internet users, followed by behavioural tracking of 300 members of a recruited panel (using ViewStats iDiary software).

Phase 5 was able to describe the service interactions that these Canadians had with various levels of government. We also obtained valuable data on the specific usage patterns for eGovernment interactions.

Called the Government Service Transformation Panel, the study will enable subscribers to monitor the extent to which Canadians are migrating to online service delivery channels, benchmark the service experience for a range of federal, provincial and municipal online services, identify opportunities for service improvement, and better understand audience behaviour and traffic patterns.

Data collection is complete and results from the first study will be released in November, and will be made available on a subscription basis to interested clients.

For more information, please contact Doug Church at 613-241-7444, ext. 101.

^ Top

Phase 5 chosen for prestigious Citizens First study

Phase 5 is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the contract to conduct the Citizens First 4 (CF4) Study in partnership with the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) and the Institute for Citizen-Centred Service Delivery (ICCS).

The project is the latest in a series of groundbreaking studies that offer government service managers a better understanding of citizens’ expectations of, and experiences with, government services.

In undertaking this fourth wave of research into citizen satisfaction with government services in Canada, Phase 5 will replicate the three previous waves of Citizens First research to confirm findings and provide trend information, and explore other topics related to citizen-centered service, including service access, drivers of satisfaction, service quality, security and privacy in electronic service delivery, and communication of service options.

The ultimate goal is to help managers in partner jurisdictions determine how best to improve service to citizens. Phase 5 is very well positioned to meet the challenges of this initiative.

Through our work on the first Taking Care of Business study and more than a decade of custom research in many sectors, Phase 5 has developed extensive expertise in service quality research, and has the value-added skills required to build on the groundbreaking research completed in previous stages.

For additional information, please contact Andreas Noe at (613) 241-7555 ext. 106.

^ Top