Government Satisfaction Scores

ACSI Commentary: Federal Government Scores

Government Finds Success Making Services More Efficient

After declining slightly in 2005, satisfaction with the Federal government reverses course this year, improving to an eight-year high, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The aggregate federal government satisfaction score, comprised of results from dozens of Federal agencies, increases by 1.4% over the last 12 months to 72.3.  Customers of federal agencies rate government services generally easier to access and use and more timely than in any previous ACSI measure.  The gap between government and private sector satisfaction remains about the same, however, as the national ACSI improved this year as well.  Nevertheless, the federal government ACSI score is the highest recorded since measurement began in 1999.

Although aggregate satisfaction with the Federal government is higher, not all agencies have improved customer satisfaction. Among the two-dozen agency segments measured both this year and last, 50% show improved satisfaction, while 42% have seen their satisfaction decline and 8% are unchanged. Furthermore, as in previous years there is a significant gap between the best and the worst performing agencies. Leading the way is the U.S. Mint, an agency that has performed very well in the past. With a score of 87 for buyers of its numismatic and commemorative coins, the Mint does as well as or better than most private sector organizations, and is on-par with high-profile e-retailers like Amazon.com (87) and Barnesandnoble.com (87). At the other end is the IRS measure of Individual Paper Tax Filers, which registers a score of 51.

Despite historically low scores for the IRS, some positive trends are apparent. While Paper Tax Filers are still relatively less satisfied than other customers of government, the measure of All Individual Tax Filers - which represents a weighted average of Paper and Electronic Tax Filers - is up 2% to a score of 65, an all-time high for IRS.  Satisfaction among electronic filers declines 1% to 76 while paper filers satisfaction improves by 2% to 51.  The upward trend overall for tax filer satisfaction is attributable to an ever increasing number of filers turning away from the less satisfying paper method to the vastly more satisfying electronic format.  Two additional IRS segments, Small Business Corporate tax filers (up 2% to 61) and Large and Midsize Business Corporate filers (up 8% to 52), also improve this year.

Another noteworthy improvement this year is the Federal Aviation Administration measure of commercial pilots. Up 6% to 70, the FAA registers its highest-ever ACSI score. The FAA commercial pilots score is up nearly 21% since 1999, a dramatic turn-around. Several years ago the agency instituted a "plain language" initiative aimed at simplifying and clarifying the regulatory burden on commercial pilots, and this initiative may be responsible for the improvement in pilot satisfaction.

Federal agencies that provide earned benefits to citizens tend to outperform agencies with largely enforcement and regulatory missions like IRS and FAA by a wide margin and this year is no exception.  Agencies like the Social Security Administration and the Veterans Health Administration continue to provide services that rate among the highest in government.  The one decliner this year is the Medicare program, which falls 4% to 73, its lowest score since 1999, possibly impacted in part by the overhaul to its prescription drug benefit, which finally took effect at the beginning of 2006.

Users of government programs have long rated customer service highly.  This year customer service dips slightly, with both courtesy of agency personnel and their professionalism in terms of being knowledgeable and helpful down 1% to 86 and 85 respectively.  Still, customer service remains the hallmark of government as these two key elements of the service experience easily surpass all other facets of government services.  Historically, customers have found government services friendly and helpful but not particularly timely or efficient.  This year, the overall improvement in satisfaction with government is attributable to an increase in the efficiency with which services are delivered.  Ease of access to and use of programs and service timeliness are improved by 4% to all-time highs of 78 and 75 respectively.  Even though the federal government is perceived to be strongly customer-service oriented and to have improved efficiency, expectations of government services remain quite low compared to the private sector.  As the chart below shows, there is a large gap between what customers expect from government and what they ultimately experience in terms of the quality of services, whereas in the private sector the gap is very narrow.

 Long-Term Findings

In addition to the findings for 2006, ACSI research into satisfaction with Federal government agencies has revealed a wealth of additional information over the last eight years. This data is especially useful to public managers seeking to improve the satisfaction of their customers, users, and stakeholders.

Analysis of ACSI government data shows that regarding customer service the professionalism of service personnel is paramount in the mind of the Federal government customer. In fact, professionalism is far more important as a determinant of satisfaction than customer service-as-courtesy. The implications to be drawn from this finding are significant, contradicting some accepted ideas about customer service delivery. Agencies that focus on training personnel to exude professionalism (through appropriate skills, knowledge, and expertise) are more likely to create higher levels of satisfaction than emphasizing training on courtesy or politeness.

Federal agency customers tend to differ in their satisfaction with agencies as a function of certain basic demographic characteristics. Women and older customers tend to be more satisfied with the Federal government experience than men or younger customers, while customers with more education and income tend to be less satisfied. These findings reinforce the importance of careful agency customer relationship management, highlighting the importance that senior executives understand who their customers are and the particular challenges different agency customer groups might present.  

Federal Government Websites

ACSI also measures satisfaction with nearly 100 different Federal government websites. The ACSI e-Government index for 2006 is flat at 73.9, identical to a year ago, up to a score of 73.9.  E-Government is one of the means by which government is striving to deliver services more efficiently, and government services delivered online are generally more satisfying than traditional offline services, in large measure because online services can more easily facilitate the accurate and speedy exchange of information and other service deliverables.  Still, online government services are not uniformly high in user satisfaction.  In fact, the range of best to worst performing sites is similar to offline government with a high score of 88 for the Social Security Administration's benefits application site to a low of 58 for the USDA Advantage site run by the General Services Administration.  This year 18% of the measured websites score 80 or better, but an even greater proportion of sites, 28%, score below 70, suggesting that many agencies still face considerable challenges in providing high quality websites to deliver their services online.