Citizen Experience: the practical guide for the digital PA 2025

Index

1. What is Citizen Experience in Digital PA

3. Strategies for improving digital experience

The citizen experience in public administration reveals a surprising gap: while 70% of public managers believe they offer services on par with the private sector, only 47% of citizens are satisfied with online services.

In fact, digital transformation is becoming increasingly crucial, with 81% of public organisations aiming at full or partial digitisation. This challenge becomes even more important when one considers that only 40% of citizens currently trust the public bodies they interact with.

What is Citizen Experience in Digital PA

The citizen experience represents the complex system of interactions between citizens and public institutions, together with the perception of the quality of services offered. According to recent surveys, 60 per cent of citizens show a strong preference for digital channels, thus highlighting the need for a significant transformation in public services. In this context, where it is precisely the citizen who is demanding easier, faster and less bureaucratic interaction, the PA has no alternative but to keep up with the times.

89.5% of public administrations agree that online interactions between users and PA should be qualitatively meaningful. The citizen experience is realised through multiple exchanges, from searching for information, obtaining documents and licences, requesting assistance to making payments.

At present, 70.5 per cent of administrations believe they have reached a fairly advanced maturity in terms of citizen experience. However, as expressed above, this perception does not always correspond to the reality experienced by citizens.

The digital citizen experience has three fundamental characteristics:

Citizen-oriented and data-driven
Integration of contact points in order to maintain a history of requests made and make the whole process more streamlined;
Personalisation of the digital experience: the citizen feels an active part of the PA and his judgement towards the municipal or state administration can only improve

Native-digital' services are being complemented by “figit” alternatives, i.e. hybrid services combining physical and digital elements, including tools such as telephone contact centres. Furthermore, citizens expect an immersive, consistent and completely paperless experience of digital services.

The implementation of an effective citizen experience brings tangible benefits for both citizens and public administration:

For citizens:

Increased accessibility of public services
Significant time savings in accessing services
Flexibility in interaction with the PA

For the PA:

Improved service levels
Optimisation of internal processes and consequent staff savings
Reduced intake times
Increased accuracy of responses

Modern technology solutions enable the PA to acquire valuable information during the citizen journey, which becomes increasingly omnichannel across different contact points. This approach allows for a deeper understanding of the moments that really matter to citizens, thus facilitating the development of services increasingly geared to real user needs.

How to measure Citizen Experience

Measuring citizen experience represents a significant challenge for the Italian public administration. Currently, less than half of the administrations (47%) have concrete tools to assess citizen experience.

Italian administrations still show a limited approach in understanding citizens' expectations. In fact, only 16% of Italian officials say they ‘always’ base their strategies on a clear understanding of citizens' requests, ranking last compared to the global average of 36%.

To improve this situation, the main aspects to be taken into account are:

Completion rate of digital services
Response time to requests
Accessibility of interfaces
Level of multi-channel integration

The evaluation of the experience can be realised through the analysis of the main indicators typical of the customer experience including:

NPS, the Net Promoter Score
OSAT, to assess overall satisfaction with the service requested and received
CES, very important in the context of PA

An NPS survey will be used to monitor citizens' loyalty over time, a CES survey to find out how easy it is for them to get the assistance they need, and a CSAT/OSAT survey to find out how satisfied they are with certain areas and moments they experience through the citizen journey (the so-called key drivers).

In addition, administrations may use other analysis tools:

Direct monitoring through web questionnaires and periodic telephone surveys
Indirect analysis based on email and contact centre communications
The technical evaluation based on the analysis of browsing behaviour

The feedback collection process consists of two main steps. In the first, the question ‘How easy was it to use this service?’ is asked with a rating from 1 to 5 stars. Subsequently, specific information on the positive or negative aspects of the experience is requested based on the score given.

The analysis of feedback should not be limited to simple data collection. In fact, artificial intelligence solutions (through text mining and sentiment analysis) and tools for analysing online conversations provide important details on the interactions between PA and citizens, allowing concrete opportunities for improvement to be identified.

Through these tools, administrations can better understand whether a user has had a positive experience using a service, regardless of the answers given in traditional surveys.

Strategies for improving digital experience

To optimise the digital experience of citizens, public administrations are adopting innovative, evidence-based approaches. This stems from the fact that only 13% of European public managers consider their organisation ‘ready for digital transformation’.

Personalisation is a key element in improving the interaction between citizens and PA. By differentiating the channels available to the user, the personalisation aspect of the service is reinforced.

To ensure a customised experience, administrations must:

Analysing user data to anticipate their needs
Adapt content to the specific characteristics of the medium used
Offer simple and intuitive paths based on individual preferences

Accessibility is also a key pillar in the design of digital services. Public administrations need to design inclusive services that meet the different needs of people, particularly the elderly and people with disabilities.

Multichanneling emerges as a key strategy for successful service delivery. A multichannel front office must enable administrations to deliver equivalent services over multiple access channels, both physical and virtual.

The experience of the Municipality of Milan demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach: through a well-structured multichannel strategy, the municipal site has come to deliver up to 70 per cent of the total number of certificates issued.

To implement multi-channel integration effectively, it is necessary to:

Coordinate different communication channels
Ensuring consistency in the information provided
Maintain quality of service on each platform

The combination of these elements makes it possible to create a fluid and accessible digital experience, responding to the growing expectations of citizens who demand instant answers and constant feedback.

Technologies for Citizen Experience

Innovative technologies are redefining the way public administration interacts with citizens. In fact, 54% of European public managers plan to invest in the modernisation of digital services.

Digital platforms are at the heart of the transformation of public services.

To ensure effective services, administrations use:

Voice of customer software to constantly monitor citizens' feedback;
Responsive websites with intuitive interfaces;
Secure authentication systems;
Cloud platforms for greater scalability.

With this in mind, artificial intelligence is emerging as a key element in modernising the public sector with the aim of:

Automating repetitive processes
Analysing large amounts of data
Providing real-time answers to citizens

The spread of dedicated apps is also revolutionising access to public services, allowing citizens to

Receiving communications from public bodies
Make digital payments
Manage personal documents
Digitally sign contracts and documents
Monitor public transport services
Manage health bookings
Report urban issues
Access tourist and cultural information

Conclusion

The digital transformation of public administration represents a significant challenge that requires constant commitment. Although the gap between citizens' expectations and the provision of public services remains considerable, many advances are emerging through the adoption of innovative technologies and targeted strategies.

Experience shows that the most effective administrations are those that place the citizen at the centre of their digital strategy. Certainly, the integration of multi-channel platforms, combined with artificial intelligence and mobile applications, is producing tangible results in improving public services.

The road to the Digital PA 2025 requires a balanced approach between technological innovation and attention to the real needs of citizens. Therefore, constantly measuring the quality of the user experience and adapting services based on the feedback received becomes crucial to ensure the success of the digital transformation. Tools such as LiveNow to monitor and measure the Voice of Citizen over time is a clear example of a tangible tool useful to accelerate the digital transformation of PA.

Administrations that know how to seize this opportunity for change, investing in the right technologies and strategies, will be able to offer public services that are increasingly efficient and geared to the real needs of citizens.