CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Despite a year of intense focus on customer experience (CX), federal CX remains far worse than the private sector. According to Forrester’s US Customer Experience Index (CX Index™), 2016, 73% of federal agencies fell into the lowest two categories (poor and very poor), and agencies averaged a paltry score of 58 out of 100 compared with the private sector’s average score of 70.
Forrester today released a new report that takes a closer look at the CX scores of 15 major federal agencies and programs, identifying the ways that Washington is failing to serve its customers with satisfactory experiences. The research confirms that federal CX is weak because agencies do not focus their efforts on the drivers of great customer experiences that matter. Instead, agencies have three big strikes against them: They ignore emotion, obsess over technologies instead of empowering employees to perfect customer interactions, and concentrate on what customers claim to want rather than what data shows actually drives better CX.
“Federal agencies have their CX priorities all wrong, and it shows,” Rick Parrish, principal analyst and government CX expert at Forrester, said. “Though technology plays an important role in CX, creating a mobile app or another digital offering does not necessarily give customers the emotional solution or support that they are looking for. Customers want the advances that digital brings, but only when it’s done right — and right now, agencies are failing at that mission.”
The 15 government and federal agencies ranked in the 2016 US CX Index, listed in order of lowest to highest scores, are: Healthcare.gov, USAJobs.gov, Department of Education, Transportation Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Medicaid, Department of Veterans Affairs, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration, Medicare, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Tricare, United States Postal Service, Bureau of Consular Affairs, and National Park Service. The scores ranged from 42 to 76.
To help government officials overcome these CX obstacles, Rick is hosting Forrester’s first government-focused event, CXDC, at the W in Washington, D.C., on September 12. To register, please visit forr.com/CXDC2016.
About Forrester’s CX Index
Based on a survey of 122,500 US
online adult consumers, Forrester’s CX Index measures and ranks more
than 300 US brands across 18 industries to identify how leading brands
build loyalty through the quality of the customer experiences they
provide. It is the most complete and powerful CX tool in the market
today, giving businesses a deep and actionable understanding of the
quality of their customers’ experiences, competitive benchmark data so
business and technology leaders know how they stack up against their
peers, and the ability to model which improvements will have the biggest
impact on revenue.
For more information, please visit forr.com/cxindex or contact us to learn more about how Forrester’s CX Index can help your business.
About Forrester
Forrester
(Nasdaq: FORR) is one of the most influential research and advisory
firms in the world. We work with business and technology leaders to
develop customer-obsessed strategies that drive growth. Forrester’s
unique insights and frameworks are grounded in annual surveys of more
than 500,000 consumers and business leaders worldwide, rigorous and
objective methodologies, and the shared wisdom of our most innovative
clients. Through proprietary research, data, consulting, events, and
exclusive executive networks and programs, the Forrester experience is
about a singular and powerful purpose: to challenge the thinking of our
clients to help them lead change in their organizations.
