General Services Administration
Using Digital Analytics to Improve Customer Experience Online
By CX CAP Goal Team
GSA CAP goal
Over 28 million people visit government websites each day. Understanding how these users navigate our websites and online resources is critical to improving the online customer experience. Through digital analytics, agencies and programs can track their online data and update websites in an agile way that is responsive to the needs of customers.
The Digital Analytics Program (DAP) allows federal agencies to easily access advanced web analytics, training, and professional resources. A shared service hosted by GSA’s Technology Transformation Service, DAP provides comprehensive analytics which are scalable to a broad range of government websites and digital services. There are currently 62 agencies participating in DAP, and it is offered as a free service to federal government customers.
In collaboration with the Customer Experience Cross-Agency Priority Goal team, the DAP team has generated common reports for each of the 2018 A-11 identified High Impact Service Providers (HISPs), including number of users, sessions, page views, average time on page, and average session duration.
DAP Report for Department of State | Bureau of Consular Affairs | Passports
This data helps establish rough benchmarks such as: the number of customers viewing content, how long users spend searching for and using specific services, and how often they return to those services. Additionally, data points such as the number of sessions per user, bounce rate, average page load time, and number of pages per session can serve as a rough proxy to identify when users have had a hard time finding what they were looking for.
An example of DAP in action, the Federal Trade Commission reviewed DAP data for FTC.gov and found many visitors were coming to the site to perform mission-related tasks, such as filing a complaint or reporting identity theft. Unfortunately, those tasks were not easy to find on the homepage and most were hidden under the global navigation menu. The FTC.gov homepage was revised with a new “Take Action” area prominently displayed at the top of the page to enable users to quickly find the top tasks that motivated them to visit FTC.gov.
Interested in learning more about DAP? Visit analytics.usa.gov or contact dap@gsa.gov.
DAP reports of the 25 High Impact Service Providers
- Department of Homeland Security | U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- Department of Homeland Security | U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services
- Department of Homeland Security | Federal Emergency Management Authority | Disaster
- Department of Homeland Security | Transportation Security Administration
- Department of Interior | National Wildlife Refuge System
- Department of Interior | Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians
- Department of Labor | Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
- Department of Labor | OSHA | Voluntary Protection Programs
- Department of Education | Federal Student Aid
- Department of Health and Human Services | Healthcare.gov
- Department of Health and Human Services | Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | Medicare
- Department of Housing and Urban Development | FHA Single Family Loans and Resource Center
- Multi-Agency | Recreation.gov
- Office of Personnel Management | Retirement Services
- Office of Personnel Management | Federal Employment Services | USAJOBS.gov
- Patent and Trademark Office | Patents
- Small Business Administration | Field Operations
- Social Security Administration
- Department of State | Bureau of Consular Affairs | Passports
- Department of Treasury | Internal Revenue Service
- Department of Agriculture | Farm Service Agency
- Department of Agriculture | Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Department of Veterans Affairs | Veterans Benefits Administration
- Department of Veterans Affairs | Veterans Health Administration
- Department of Veterans Affairs | Veterans Health Administration