The General Services Administration’s main website (gsa.gov) has seen a dramatic 18-point improvement in citizen satisfaction since the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) began measuring federal website approval ratings in 2003.

The index, measured every quarter with the latest released on Thursday, showed that GSA scored 74 points in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 56 when ACSI began taking the temperature of customer satisfaction with federal government websites. Overall report results indicate Americans are more satisfied with services provided by the U.S. federal government than they were a year ago.

GSA has been listening to the citizens, their customers and what changes they can make.” – Larry Freed

As for GSA, the agency still has a long way to go, acknowledges Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee, the customer experience analytics firm which partners with ACSI in releasing the e-government numbers. The agency’s numbers still trail other popular sites. Two websites from the Social Security Administration are dramatically higher – SSA’s iClaim website scores 91 and its Retirement Estimator scores 90.

Nevertheless, “GSA has been listening to the citizens, their customers and what changes they can make,” Freed said.

“It’s not only good for the citizens, it’s good for government,” Freed said. “It lowers the cost of delivering services via the web.”

“When you go to the main GSA website, there’s an incredible number of things you can go to and they’ve done a pretty good job of organization,” he said.

Sarah L. Hyder, GSA’s director, enterprise web management, said the latest numbers reflect how satisfied visitors are with how well the search and navigation tools work.

“We’ve simplified the site, made it easier to find things,” Hyder said.

GSA.gov gets 1.5 million visitors per month, traffic that doubles to 3 million a month between now and April 15, a time period where government employees are seeking information on their per diem rates for travel to complete their taxes.

GSA has been working diligently to create a better website for its customers. Among the changes that have been made recently:

• Redesigned the look and feel of website, making it easier to read with more white space.
• Enhanced the search feature, making it more user friendly and easier for people to find information.
• Created a link to gsaadvantage.gov where people can find specific products and services on various GSA schedules.
• Simplified the site, making it easier to find things and highlighted the most requested links on the front page.
• Stood up a new blog feature in June 2011 highlighting news and information.
• Enhanced staff directories to make it easier to find people by first name, last name or office.
• Made greater use of social media.
• Developed guidelines for various government activities that range from accessibility to noise pollution to coastal zone management.

Hyder said GSA is continually monitoring its customer satisfaction survey as well as customer comments to respond quickly to fix any problems.

GSA has a metrics expert looking at customer satisfaction constantly. It has a large number of web content managers to analyze information. Hyder said the GSA is looking to do more advance training for the web content managers so they will have a better handle on how to evaluate the information.

This year will see more improvements and features coming the public’s way, including:

• An e-mail subscription service that will allow people to sign up for regular e-mails about subjects they are interested in.
• Plans to expand in the next two months to other subjects on gsa.gov, including per diem, schedule information and small business information.
• Launching a mobile site so GSA content is readable on a mobile device.

The following is a ranking of the top e-gov performers:

Department	Website	Satisfaction
SSA	SSA iClaim: www.socialsecurity.gov/applyonline	91
SSA	SSA Retirement Estimator: www.ssa.gov/estimator	90
SSA	Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs:www.socialsecurity.gov/i1020	88
DHS	U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Español: www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis-es	86
GSA	GobiernoUSA.gov website: www.gobiernousa.gov	86
DHS	U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Resource Center: www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/citizenship	86
HHS	MedlinePlus: www.medlineplus.gov	86
HHS	MedlinePlus en español: www.medlineplus.gov/esp	85
HHS	National Women’s Health Information Center (NWHIC) main website: www.4woman.gov	84
HHS	NIAMS public website: www.niams.nih.gov	84
HHS	HHS Healthy People: www.Healthypeople.gov	83
SSA	Social Security Internet Disability Report: www.ssa.gov/applyfordisability	83
PBGC	MyPBA: https://egov.pbgc.gov/mypba	83
HHS	National Cancer Institute Site en Español: www.cancer.gov/espanol	83
SSA	Social Security Business Services Online: www.ssa.gov/bso/bsowelcome.htm	83
HHS	CDC main website: www.cdc.gov	83
DOD	DoD Navy: www.navy.mil	83
HHS	National Cancer Institute main website: www.cancer.gov	83
FTC	FTC OnGuardOnline: www.onguardonline.gov	82
HHS	National Library of Medicine: www.aidsinfo.nih.gov	82
CIA	CIA recruitment website: www.cia.gov/careers	82
DHS	U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis	82
HHS	NIDDK: www2.niddk.nih.gov	81
DOS	Recruitment website: www.careers.state.gov	81
NASA	NASA main website: www.nasa.gov	81
DOJ	NIJ main website: www.ojp.gov/nij	81
HHS	SAMHSA Store: www.store.samhsa.gov	81
HHS	AHRQ Effective Health Care Program: www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov	81
DHS	U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: www.uscis.gov/e-verify	81
DOC	National Geodetic Society, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website: www.ngs.noaa.gov	81
HHS	AHRQ Health Care Innovations Exchange: www.innovations.ahrq.gov	81
DOJ	FBI main website: www.fbi.gov	80
HHS	National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research: www.nidcr.nih.gov	80
DOD	Pentagon Channel: www.pentagonchannel.mil	80
HHS	National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: www.nichd.nih.gov	80
DOD	DoD Air Force: www.af.mil	80
DOI	National Park Service main website: www.nps.gov	80