Success Story | Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)
How DVSA increased readership and engagement and improved satisfaction
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) improves road safety in Great Britain by setting standards for driving and motorcycling, ensuring that drivers, vehicle operators, and MOT garages understand and adhere to roadworthiness standards. As an executive agency of the Department for Transport, the DVSA also offers a variety of licensing, testing, education, and enforcement services.
SITUATION
“Moving On,” a quarterly eight-page newspaper, kept large vehicle fleet drivers and operators engaged and informed about changes to road safety regulations. The challenge now is to find a way to deliver the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) news digitally to a highly mobile audience.
SOLUTION
To respond to a clear customer preference for email communications and support the government’s drive to go Digital by Default while saving on print and postage costs, the DVSA stopped printing “Moving On.” Instead, the agency began sending the newsletter as an email starting in November 2012. The design of the new email reflected the original print newsletter, ensuring that customers would recognize the publication.
However, weak analytic returns prompted DVSA to update its digital strategy when it transferred content to GOV.UK in November 2013. The agency transformed the email newsletter into a blog, opting to email article summaries that linked back to the blog, aiming to drive more readers to their web pages. Eight months later, DVSA refreshed its design to align the “Moving On” brand more closely with GOV.UK.
By incorporating design best practices, the agency helped customers better navigate content and find articles of interest. Reducing email size, creating clearer calls to action, and adding ‘read more’ links at the end of each summary resulted in improved analytics for DVSA. The emails now feature a main article and graphic at the top, listing the most recent blog updates. Each article includes a clear title, summary, graphic, and link to the full article on the blog, all written in the Government Digital Service style—clear, concise, and easy to understand.
In addition to generating 94.5% of DVSA’s blog visitors, “Moving On” has provided critical
information about:
• Online ‘Find your nearest testing station’ service
• Load security
• Preparing large vehicles for MOT
• CPC deadline for truck drivers
• New risk rating reports
• New enforcement methods
• Providing IVA updates
• Drivers hours and keeping work records
• New Guide to Maintaining Road worthiness
• Messages from the Office of the Traffic Commissioner
• DVLA’s ‘No more tax disc’ campaign
RESULTS
Since its inception, the evolution of a compelling design has driven the growth of “Moving On” to over 77,200 subscribers, with an average open rate of 34% over the last year. “Moving On” reaches 56% of all operators, who account for 85% of commercial vehicles on British roads. This topic constitutes 75% of the overall subscriber numbers for the DVSA’s suite of direct email alerts.
A customer survey conducted in January 2014 revealed that 66% of respondents read “Moving On” to stay compliant with updates about rule changes. With a satisfaction rating of 94%, 96% of respondents reported sharing “Moving On” with colleagues.
