New “Yelp for Government” Is a Five-Star Idea

With surveys painting a largely unflattering portrait of federal customer experience, government agencies are increasingly seeking new pathways toward serving citizens. This means, among other things, placing a greater emphasis on obtaining and incorporating customer feedback. A recent GBC report shows that agencies are aware of this need: according to federal employees, organizations are using a wide range of methods to seek out feedback from taxpayers.

In spite of agency investment in customer feedback, it appears that these channels are still very much a work in progress – less than half of respondents feel that their organization is doing a good job of soliciting feedback.

However, recent developments on the federal customer service front are encouraging: Washington is teaming up with the private sector to create a new “Yelp for Government” initiative. The service, which will allow citizens to rate and review their experiences with federal services on Yelp’s platform, provides agencies with an unprecedented opportunity to engage with customers on a direct and personal level. As Rep. Ron Kind, one of the project’s chief proponents, remarked, “This is kind of exciting. It’s trying to pull the federal government into the high-tech, 21st-century global economy.” With any luck, Yelp for Government just might be an indicator of greater things to come in the realm of federal innovation and customer experience.

Methodology: GBC deployed a survey to a sample of Government Executive, Nextgov, Defense One, and Route Fifty print and online subscribers on May 12, 2015. The pool of 410 respondents included employees at the GS/GM 11-15 grade levels and members of the Senior Executive Service. Respondents included representatives from at least 31 federal and defense agencies. Click here to see the full report.