Though agencies are taking steps to improve the customer experience (CX), technology and procedural gaps remain. In many cases, there is a burden of knowing in government communications: If the customer does not know about something, should the onus be on them to figure it out?
To alleviate customer burden and improve overall satisfaction, government must effectively communicate its services and offerings to the public.
Identifying the Four Communications Stages
Granicus Experience Group (GXG) has identified four critical stages that best enable government to communicate with customers and accelerate progress. These stages build upon each other to form a communications funnel that creates a singular pathway for agencies to reach, inform, and engage with customers. These four stages are:
- Awareness & Opt-In
- Trust & Consideration
- Decision & Action
- Management & Engagement
Learn more with our guide: 4 Stages of Communications for a Successful Government Customer Experience
Awareness & Opt-In: The Foundation of Action and Growth
Creating awareness should be a forethought, not an afterthought. It is a critical first step that lays the groundwork for future communications stages like building trust and facilitating action. Simply put, government agencies must ask and answer this question for themselves: “If a digital service launches in the dark and no one knows about it, does it make an impact?”
Integrating awareness into your program from the beginning can set your agency up for success and make full use of the power of digital services. Digital experiences create modalities for two-way communications and help keep customers feeling informed, respected, and included in the process.
Overcoming Challenges in the Awareness Stage with Digital Solutions
Bringing awareness of initiatives to a wide-reaching audience is not without its challenges. Contrary to a widely held but misguided belief, creating awareness around programs or services is not solely the responsibility of the communications team; digital and communications staff must work together to prevent programs, services, and benefits from being underutilized and underfunded.
Pairing digital solutions with the communications layer presents government with a critical opportunity to engage with people through authentic digital transformation. Simply making a form into a PDF and posting it on your agency’s website is not digital transformation. Moving from a “lift and shift” perspective of replicating the brick-and-mortar experience to adopting a truly integrated experience can be daunting but it is an essential component in building genuine customer engagement and improving CX.
Implementing Custom Technology and Digital Solutions Tailored to Your Needs
People use technology in their daily interactions and expect the same in communicating with their government bodies.
Digital tools such as email, SMS, and social media help effectively break through the daily clutter and distractions to reach customers at any given point in their day with timely, targeted, and meaningful messages. Solutions like govDelivery provide integrated communications tools to help government agencies stay connected and engage with customers. Additionally, the platform’s built-in tracking, targeting, and measurement tools provide helpful data in determining the impact of each message and make it easy to pivot when necessary.
Granicus Webinar Series: Learn More About the Digital Transformation
A comprehensive communications strategy that incorporates digital components can make all the difference in reaching, growing, and educating customers. As government agencies look to new and innovative ways to improve the customer experience, the importance of digital solutions will continue to grow.
Learn more about how Granicus is driving the digital transformation and paving the way for government to adapt to changing customer communications expectations in this on-demand webinar, the first in a four-part series.
