GovDelivery: April 2008 Archives

Email is clearly the most efficient way for governments to reach citizens. According to David Daniels, Vice President of JupiterResearch, "87% of Consumers online time is spent reading their emails" (Dec. 2007).

Not surprisingly, most citizens use common operating systems, browsers, and email clients to register for subscriptions and read their email.

More than 95% of citizens registering for government subscription options hosted by GovDelivery use a computer equipped with a Microsoft Windows operating system, and more than 85% use Internet Explorer. The following chart shows the browser operating system combinations for one federal government department.

Email client and ISP choices are a bit more diverse, but there are still clear winners. Citizen subscribers, at a rate of 65.7%, receive government emails sent through GovDelivery at one of the top 5 email domains, including Yahoo!, AOL, Hotmail, Gmail, and Comcast. We can only assume that the vast majority of citizens are using the email clients provided by these vendors to read the messages, and not forwarding the messages to a separate email client, such as Mozilla Thunderbird or Microsoft Outlook. The following chart shows the ISP usage statistics for all GovDelivery subscribers.

The GovDelivery statistics are fairly consistent with overall US Internet usage. While it may be tempting to disregard the small minority of users who use Macintosh, Linux, or PalmOS, government serves everyone. When it is viable, I know that governments want to accommodate these users.

Accommodating email clients and operating system/browser combinations includes avoiding commonly unsupported content, like Flash, javascript (or other scripting languages), or large attachments. It also includes sending emails using common protocols, like Multi-Part MIME or Plain Text that most email clients can render. As technology evolves, and more citizens use more mobile devices to access their email, being flexible will be even more important.

I hate having to make choices all the time.  As empowering as it should be to have options... they are usually just annoying. 

I think that is why someone invented suits-- business casual is more comfortable, but it takes me an extra 5 minutes to get dressed because I have to make a bunch of choices.  (Quick side note on the benefit of suits: I didn't even know that I was color blind until I started going business casual.)

I spent 3 minutes yesterday trying to pick which kind of apple I was going to buy.  Why does Whole Foods give me 10 different choices of apples?  If they have to do this, could they at least have the "recommended apple" sitting out in a prominent location?

Microsoft has figured out how to make the default count.  That's why they have "fast setup" which requires few choices and "advanced setup" which, in all honesty, I have never used so I don't really know what it does though I imagine it would give me a bunch of annoying options that I don't need.

When I provide input into software and Web design at GovDelivery, I always push for the same approach.  I want clients to know that if they take the path of least resistance, it will probably be the right path.

A recent article in the New Republic titled, "Easy Does It: How to Make Lazy People do the Right Thing" (unfortunately requires a subscription) addresses this opportunity in the public policy context. 

For example, did you know that by allowing employers to make 401K plans opt-out instead of opt-in, the government has been able to greatly improve participation in 401K plans?  Turns out, the average non-saver isn't choosing not to participate in their 401K plan, they are choosing not to fill out any forms.  Make them fill out a form to opt-out of saving, and the same choice (don't fill out any forms) leads to a better outcome (401K participation).

The only thing I reject about this article is the reference to the public as "Lazy."  I don't think I'm lazy, and I don't think you're lazy either, but in this day and age, almost everyone is busy and making choices takes time. 

When you're communicating with the public, it can be scary to recommend something, but you can do the public a favor in your web design and software design by thinking of your "default option" as the "recommended option."

Hopefully, this slight shift in thinking will lead you to put more thought into the default and will raise your design standards so you're not just making it easy to make choices, you're also making it easy for users to succeed without making any choices at all.