The importance of KPIs as success for government websites
Residents rely on (local) government websites for access to essential services, information and transparency. In practice, however, measuring the effectiveness of these websites is challenging. This is where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in. Let's take a deeper dive into why KPIs are critical to the success of government websites.
The core of KPIs
KPIs act as measurable units that reflect an organization's success in various areas. For government websites, KPIs can range from user experience to accessibility to security to achieving policy goals. Using KPIs allows your team to set goals and evaluate its performance in a structured way. This also provides tools for internal communication and accountability to stakeholders. But what exactly are KPIs?
Accessibility as a priority
One KPI for government websites is accessibility. Having the website tested and addressing the issues identified is usually not the biggest challenge. It is mostly the operational processes and policies regarding accessibility that are perceived as bottlenecks. Setting simple goals that focus on the core problem can already make a big difference. For example, you might have a goal of having templates set up for Word documents by Q2 2024, doing a (repeat) Awareness session with internal stakeholders to raise awareness, or reducing the turnaround time for resolving reported accessibility issues to 7 days.
Safety as a measure
We all know that online security has become more important due to increases in both online services and cyber threats. So you would expect government websites to be fully compliant. We examined 101 third-party subsites, and from this we can conclude that as many as 74% cannot yet be considered fully secure. Several sites even process personal data. We see that this is often vendor-dependent. It is therefore necessary not only to gain insight into this, but also to set up KPIs for assurance.
"Of more than 100 municipal websites surveyed, as many as 74% are currently not fully secure."
Increase civic engagement
Websites often have different purposes. These may be to inform about products and services or policy development, but also about events or for the purpose of participation. KPIs that measure the degree of goal achievement offer valuable insights, such as the number of downloads of completed forms asking residents on a campaign website to plant a tree, the number of times a video has been viewed or shared for city marketing or the frequency in which the ambition agreement has been downloaded. This data can help evaluate the effectiveness of online services. And guiding policy developments also helps identify community needs and concerns.
Performance KPIs
In addition to accessibility, security and citizen engagement, it is important to relate KPIs to themes that promote overall user-friendliness and have a positive contribution to issues such as search engine optimization. Consider the frequency of monitoring for broken links, HTML errors and proper use of open standard documents.
Continuous improvement through analysis
Implementing KPIs is not enough; continuous monitoring and analysis must also be addressed. By regularly reviewing KPI data, you can gain insight into trends, identify bottlenecks and develop strategies for improvement. A cyclical process of measurement, analysis and adjustment is the key to successfully implementing KPIs on your Web site.
Getting started with your online landscape?
At Shift2, we understand the complexity of managing websites within local governments. Before you can get started on your KPIs, it's important to have a complete picture of your online landscape. We are happy to help you map this out. For this we take all your websites under the loop. Also from third parties. Below you can read how we do that:
- We first make sure we have a map of your organization's current online landscape. We analyze existing websites and identify opportunities for improvement;
- We provide overview of your online landscape and insight into key KPIs within performance;
- By using our consultants, we provide extra hands. We relieve you in the process and this saves time;
- Based on the analysis, we highlight specific areas for quality improvement. Think web management, laws and regulations, accessibility, etc. We provide practical solutions to take your online landscape to the next level.
