1.4: User Expectations and Customer Service

Ensure that websites are meeting user expectations and needs and that the customer experience with websites is continually enhanced.

Other Information:

How does your Agency currently ensure that websites are meeting user expectations and needs and that the customer experience with websites is continually enhanced? The NRC routinely solicits, receives, and responds to feedback on our public website through the following targeted mechanisms to inform our incremental site improvements and periodic redesigns: * First, our Index of All Contact Pages (http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/contactus/contact-pages.html) lists more than 60 electronic forms that site visitors can use to send questions, comments, criticisms, and ideas to NRC staff in specific subject areas. * Second, the NRC Blog (http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov/) is an easy-to-use citizen-engagement tool, which enables site visitors to share ideas with the NRC in a moderated forum. It also serves as a vehicle for informing, explaining, and clarifying the actions, roles, and responsibilities of the NRC, and raising awareness about our agency and its mission. (See our response to Question 3 for usage statistics that substantiate the popularity of this new feedback mechanism.) * Finally, the NRC uses a web measurement survey to enable site visitors to share feedback regarding their experience with our site, in a manner consistent with the American Customer Satisfaction Index (http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/open/evaluating-progress/site-satisfaction-benchmark-rpt.xls). This standardized approach allows the NRC's site performance to be objectively benchmarked against that of other Federal agencies and private industry. We use this feedback to assess and inform our continuous incremental improvements. Toward that end, an independent third-party provider administers the survey in accordance with OMB Guidance for Measuring Customer Satisfaction (http://www.howto.gov/web-content/analytics/measuring-customer-satisfaction), and the survey instrument provides the current OMB control number. In addition, our public website provides a notice (http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/privacy.html#web-tech) to inform site visitors about the survey and explain how the data will be collected and used. The web measurement survey is offered randomly, so that the results can be generalized to the overall population of site visitors. Site visitors who choose not to participate may opt out simply by closing the dialogue box in which the survey invitation appears. Completing the survey is entirely voluntary, and site visitors who opt out of completing the survey are still able to access all information and services provided on the site. Ratings collected from site visitors relate to their experiences on the site, including ease of navigation, look-and-feel of the design, ability to find what the visitor is looking for, overall satisfaction with the site, and whether the visitor would return and/or recommend the site to others. Additional questions of a descriptive nature are sometimes asked to aid in understanding the interests and needs of site visitors. Site ratings are aggregated for analysis and reporting purposes and retained in the aggregate to facilitate change/improvement tracking over time. (See our response to Question 3 for recent survey trends). In addition to these targeted feedback mechanisms, the NRC goes to great lengths to solicit public input as a basis for site redesigns. For example, in preparation for the April 2011 redesign, the NRC sponsored a 4-month study, which involved 10 focus groups to obtain an understanding of how the American public perceives the NRC. These included eight in-person sessions and two teleconferenced sessions, involving residents living near four U.S. nuclear power plants, as well as nuclear energy activists. A total of 82 people participated in this study, which resulted in the Information Experts' report, entitled "Gauging Public Perception: External Focus Group Findings, Analysis, and Communications Recommendations for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission." Similarly, during Phase 1 of the redesign, the content assessment team analyzed the NRC-supplied survey data and usability audit reviews to identify the demographics of site users, and assess their perceptions of the site's strengths and weaknesses. In addition, the assessment team conducted usability testing with a pool of test subjects representing the spectrum of site visitors, and the test results formed the basis for the team's redesign recommendations.

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

Content