DIGICOM

Date of issue: 06 July 2016

ESS.VIP DIGICOM Inventory Report

Work Package 1 – User Analysis

1). User Interaction via Social Media

2). User Needs Assessment & User Profiling

3). User Satisfaction

4). Web Analysis

5). Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

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DIGICOM Inventory – WP1 1. User Interaction via Social Media

1. Introduction Social networks, used by hundreds of millions of people all around the world, have become one of the most popular forms of online communication. They enable prompt communication and exchange of multimedia content (photos, videos, presentations, etc.). NSIs, in general, recognized social networks as the platform that can improve communication and dissemination of official statistics as well as enhance customer service in general and create numerous opportunities at a moderate level of investment. The purpose of this document, based on the DIGICOM Inventory and the Destatis survey (both conducted in 2016), is to identify current ESS practices in user interaction via social media that can serve as a solid basis for setting-up of a social network platform for users of statistics and designing appropriate social media policy guidelines at the ESS level.

2. What is going on in Member States (level of development)

In recent years, NSIs have become aware of the importance of being present on social networks, and of their influence among the population, so that almost all NSIs have become active in some way. Only two NSIs (Slovakia and Bulgaria) are not engaged in any kind of social media interaction. NSI presence on social networks in previous years was monitored to some extent by Eurostat´s Press Office and the prESSnet community. According to the information gathered by press officers, 93.1% of NSIs had a Twitter account in 2015 and 62.1% of them had a Facebook profile. If we compare these data with the ones obtained from the Inventory and from the Destatis survey in 2016, we can conclude that the number of NSIs using Facebook grew in number by 13.7% compared to the previous year, while the proportion of NSIs with Twitter accounts remained the same. Generally, almost all NSIs have Twitter accounts (26 NSIs), most of them have Facebook accounts (18 NSIs), while some of them are also active through additional channels such as YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Flicker, Slideshare etc. (12 NSIs). A goal that NSIs share in their use of social media can be summed up as the desire to increase the impact and range of official statistics. Communication via social media can generally be characterised as being mostly planned and used as an additional dissemination and communication channel. In addition to that, it is clearly seen that NSIs using more than one social network adjust their interaction to the specificity of each social network. One may presume the usage of different communication strategies adjusted to different users and/or different goals. Any engagement regarding social media platforms is powered by internal resources and all daily tasks are mainly performed by press officers with the help of other specialists when needed. Twitter is above all, used as a real-time communication channel mainly for the communication of highlighted data and daily releases, often accompanied by infographics. Communication on Twitter is much more frequent and more interactive. Almost all NSIs with Twitter accounts tweet in their official languages (24/26) and many of them also have an account in English (13 NSIs). The Netherlands´ Twitter account has the highest rate of followers in comparison with the total population (0,7%).

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On Facebook, NSIs mostly post interesting and proactive content, usually accompanied by visualisations of data or pictures, adjusted to a wider scope of users. The content is often related with data that are in public focus at a certain time, data related to various international days or trending data, providing users with usable and above all understandable information. According to the number of Facebook account likes, Estonia has the highest rate of Facebook fans in comparison with the total population (0,2%). Only few NSIs have started using the YouTube channel (7 NSIs), which is mostly used by them to promote statistics. Videos aim to back up statistical literacy and to explain the main statistical operations. Besides these three social channels, which are the most popular and the ones most used for communication, NSIs have begun exploring other options in order to track trends. The use of other social networks is not as widespread as it could be. Only few NSIs have official profiles on LinkedIn, which is mainly used to post recruitment announcements, or on Slideshare, a platform for the sharing of presentations, or on Instagram and Pinterest, which are used for posting photos. Other mentioned social networks, such as Flicker, Scoop it!, Storify, Dailymotion and Blog, are rarely used by NSIs. Regarding EFTA counties, we have to mention Norway and their contribution to the presence of official statistics on social networks.

3. Identified good practices All NSIs that employ social networks as a part of their daily communication have already made significant progress towards implementing a user-friendly way of promoting official statistics. This can be seen in the following identified good practices:

Promotion targeted at specific user groups e.g. Latvia and their “corner for teachers”. Micro-segmentation enables an increasingly user-oriented and efficient service to be provided, with useful information being supplied to specific groups, and which one may best compare to a tailor-made product.

Asking users/followers/subscribers to express their opinions In Germany, feedback from users in cases of technical or content innovation provides insights that can be used to improve planned innovation as well as overall customer experience. It can be a good starting point for detecting key statistical users and establishing a future dialogue.

Response time as short as possible The UK determined response time of maximum two hours

Highly proactive approach In the UK, content is published three times daily on Twitter and five to eight times weekly on Facebook and LinkedIn. The ONS has a full-time team that is exclusively committed to work on social networks.

Social media content synchronised with the content on website In Sweden, detailed planning and coordination of all activities in different communication channels provides a very good example of web promotion through social media, which should be the ultimate goal of using social networks.

Planning and drafting content for upcoming releases In the UK and Sweden, social media team work closely with statisticians and the media relations team.

Live tweet In Finland, the live sharing of information from the main seminars can be a very efficient

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way of building up a relationship between producers and users of official statistics, especially when users can immediately ask questions on certain topics and obtain answers from specialists.

Active usage of data visualisation

Sharing and/or retweeting content from other NSIs and Eurostat

4. Points for discussion Since different strategies are used in different NSIs regarding user interaction via social media, the following are open questions and points for further thought and discussion:

Expanding activities into social networks that are less represented at the moment – for example, YouTube for videos, Slideshare for presentations, Instagram for photos, etc.

Different approaches to different social networks – bearing in mind user characteristics and the specificities of each social network

Presence on social networks 24/7 – the responsibility of being at users´ disposal all the time (replying to questions/comments on weekends/holidays/outside the working hours)

Handling negative comments and trolls

Paid promotion of accounts on social networks – does the purpose justify the means (cost)?

Automatic publishing of the content from the website to social networks – good or bad practice?

Vlatka Petrić (Croatian Bureau of Statistics), Iva Ilić (CBS), Maja Marković, (CBS), Maja Pekeč (CBS)

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DIGICOM Inventory – WP1 2. User Needs Assessment and User Profiling

1. Introduction This report will provide information about the current level of development in the field of user needs assessment and user profiling. It will look specifically at the methods and techniques employed by countries across Europe and highlight popular approaches and good practice. All information analysed in this report, unless otherwise mentioned, has been obtained from the DIGICOM Inventory April 2016, obtained from a survey sent to all participating countries. In total 29 countries were surveyed to gather this information.

2. Current situation From the 29 countries surveyed to produce the DIGICOM Inventory, 21 countries had experience in user needs assessment and user profiling, of which 20 countries provided detail about how they operate these functions. This shows that the majority (72%) of the countries surveyed have experience in this field. From the DIGICOM Inventory, current practices for gathering and assessing user needs are quite varied across the different countries. Within these methods there are some common themes, so many of these techniques can be grouped together. Table 1.1, overleaf, shows the specific functions that various NSIs mentioned, and how they have been grouped.

Table 1.1

Grouped functions Description Individual function

Direct feedback Usually face-to-face feedback from users at a pre-arranged event

Focus groups

Meetings

Advisory boards

Feedback at conferences

Consultations

User forums

Surveys Asking users questions and analysing responses

Surveys

Questionnaires

Web Feedback Analysing how users use the website (also includes web based feedback via forms/buttons)

Web forms

Analysis of search terms

Analysis of web metrics/traffic

Personas Creating customer profiles based on what different users groups need and how they use resources

Personas

User profiling

Monitoring communications Recording and analysing requests and contact from users

Contact centres

Phone calls

E-mail/mail/fax feedback

Monitoring Social Media Recording and analysing comments and contact from users via social media

Monitoring social media

User research/testing Testing, piloting, trialling products with users and analysing feedback/findings

Usability lab

User research

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All Inventory respondents stated they had been undertaking these functions either since; before 2013, or 2013-2014, so all countries have at least 2 years of experience in some kind of user needs assessment or profiling. All respondents utilise internal resources to conduct this work (with the exception of Estonia, who did not respond to this question). Detail about some of the methods – what are they, pro’s and cons

Direct feedback – not too resource intensive and can provide both general and specific insights.

Surveys – relatively quick and cheap to set up, allows you to reach a large number of people, but are inflexible, and can be subject to misinterpretation depending on the wording of questions. Surveys are good for gathering information from large groups of people, but not ideally suited for specific feedback.

Web feedback – often detailed and specific feedback, but because of this it can be a lengthy and resource intense process to review and analyse the feedback.

Personas – can take a lot of time and resource to develop, but once developed offer a lot of benefits for user-driven design.

Monitoring Comms & Monitoring Social Media– similar to web feedback, requiring time and resources for analysis. In addition to feedback, these methods offer the ability to learn what new products users want/need instead of just feedback on existing products.

User research/testing – can offer quality, detailed insights and evidence with a targeted approach, although a specific resource is required.

The most popular methods for gathering and understanding user needs are:

Direct feedback

Monitoring Communications Unfortunately, although the inventory shows us which methods are most popular, it does not tell us how effective they are in practice or if departments are undertaking the same action in different ways. In this respect the inventory also cannot tell us whether a particular method is better or worse than any other, as we do not have the detail about how they are each conducted. For the basis of this report, the grouping of various functions allows for generalisations to be made about the various techniques and approaches.

3. Other examples not included in the Inventory In addition to the information within the Inventory, further investigations were conducted and found that Denmark, Australia and Estonia have also developed personas:

Denmark have been using personas since 2012 and have 3: Tourist, Farmer, Miner (for more information please see Annex 1)

Australia also use similar personas: Tourist, Harvester and Miner

Estonia use personas for: Key users, Local Governments, Entrepreneur and Journalists The personas used by Denmark and Australia are very similar and may be the result of the NSIs working together to produce the personas or one helping the other.

4. Best practice There is no single method that will provide all the insights and information you need, but some can offer greater insight, or take less time/resource than others, which can make them more or

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less suited to certain products or situations. The techniques listed below are examples of good practice, if completed to a high standard:

Direct feedback

Usability testing

Monitoring comms & social media

Personas Meeting regularly with stakeholders and users is the most widely used method – not too resource intensive, yet provides good information.

5. Plan for future investigation The following points are all recommendations for further investigation to allow for a better understanding of current practices and to determine best practice for a variety of techniques.

Denmark and Australia both have very similar personas. It would be beneficial to investigate if the two NSIs worked together to create them, if one helped the other or if they independently created very similar personas. More investigation will result in better understanding the process the NSIs went through to develop their personas, allowing us to learn from their mistakes.

It would be beneficial to obtain more information about how different NSI’s undertake the best practice techniques:

o Direct feedback o User testing o Monitoring communications o Monitoring social media o Creating personas

This information will highlight any differences in approach and determine the best practices for each of the techniques.

Norway state that they engage in user testing, but do not explain how they undertake this in the Inventory. It would be beneficial to gather more information about exactly what they do and how they do it, as this can feed into best practices.

Annex 1 https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/82eef33a-619e-4068-8af8-a4f0e278eeb2/05_usability.pptx

John Lewis (ONS, Newport, UK)

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DIGICOM Inventory – WP1 3. User Satisfaction

1. OVERALL LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT IN THIS FIELD Each country except for Switzerland and Lituania asks its users – or customers – to obtain information and to input it, in order to improve products and services. Some countries address themselves to specific subsets of the public, while others carry out surveys on specific topics, which sometimes amounts to the same thing. Each country, except for Germany and Finland, uses internal resources to carry out user satisfaction surveys. Thank you to the participants, the level of detail of the inventory is rather good, on average.

2. IDENTIFYING GOOD PRACTICES

2.1 Good practices identified and classified Good practices are divided into five themes: asking multiple targets; varying ways of obtaining user feedback; building and tracking an action plan; involving top management in the process; publishing the improvements resulting from feedback. from the questionnaire and the people involved to the publication of the report containing the improvements coming from the feedbacks, via the tracking of the action plan. Not forgetting to involve the top management in the process.

A) Involving different user groups PROS To avoid having more than one iron in the fire and not being effective In order to implement specific/delimited/effective actions CONS Could be expensive, especially when outsourced Concentrating on specific target groups may lead to neglect of the public as a whole. E.g. Targeting fast multipliers, young multipliers (DE); Having user registers (FI); Customer feedback systematically collected from all chargeable assignments of over 1000 € (FI);

B) Use specific ways to ask questions to specific user groups

PROS Makes it easier to understand what (specific) users need (specifically) CONS If we are too patronising, we could miss out on spontaneous comments (a weak risk if there are open questions, in which respondents are free to express themselves) E.g. Ask about awareness of the NSI’s output (EE) [we assume the question behind would be: “Did you know that we did/produced/disseminated/analysed all of this?”]; Chaining different methods when possible (online questionnaire, focus groups, user forums, face to face, telephone...) (HU); Carrying out an image survey (FI, FR); providing an open feedback form (FI); “Did you find this information useful?” on each website page (IT)

C) Always make an action plan and keep track of it

PROS Because collecting satisfaction feedback and, especially, complaints is not an end in itself.

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CONS Should not be a white elephant (too big to manage) E.g. A detailed report includes suggestions for improvement (CZ); Annual tracking of the action plan (FR) [not written in our stocktacking exercise])

D) Take the results of the user surveys into account at the highest levels of the NSI

PROS Because answering users’ needs is a matter of strategic importance, in accordance with the ESS vision 2020 “engages users proactively and meets their demands in a cost-efficient and responsive manner” CONS Not always possible to build a strategy from individual remarks E.g. Results are discussed at top management level (AT); Inquiries made in connection with preparing the strategy and developing activity (FI)

E) Publish the improvements made as a result of user feedback

PROS Because, in an era of web 2.0, the users are our partners, it is a question of trust and credibility, as well as a matter of good communication CONS None E.g. Publishing all responses in full (UK); Results of the satisfaction surveys published on the internet (AT, IT)

2.2 Good practices in the field (list from the stocktacking exercise)

A) Involving different user groups

1. Using invoices to ask customers (systematically?) (DK)

2. Carrying out a reputation analysis to obtain information on potential users and how to meet their requirements. (DE)

3. Targeting specific groups (respondents, fast multipliers, young multipliers), asked about basic needs and delighters (DE)

4. Asking respondents who have already been in contact with the SO SR (asking for information) in the last period (SK)

5. Asking key stakeholders and individuals (1 500 from 1 200 organisations) (UK)

6. Asking about specific domains: statistics helpline, commissioned statistical research, access to microdata (UK).

7. Establish and consult advisory boards (national equivalent of ESAC?) (NL)

8. Asking regular customers and those “whose activity has a substantial influence on the society” (EE)

9. Keeping a user register (FI)

10. Systematically collecting customer feedback from all chargeable assignments of over 1000 € (FI, SE)

11. Targeting pre-selected experts (AT)

12. Targeting specific user groups (local governments) (PL)

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13. Continously asking journalists about satisfaction (SE)

B) Questions asked to specific user groups in specific ways

1. The UK statistics authority measures public confidence in official statistics (UK)

2. Asking about awareness of the NSI’s output (EE)

3. Asking a simple one-choice “question of the week” (HU)

4. Asking How familiar are you with the NSI (FI)

5. Adding a topic to each classical satisfaction survey (FI)

6. Asking a simple question on each website page: “Did you find this information useful?” (IT)

7. Asking about needs that are not covered (ES)

C) Always make an action plan and track it

1. Writing a detailed report including suggestions for improvement (CZ)

2. Keeping track of the improvements report annually (FR)

D) Take into account the results of the user surveys at the highest levels of the NSI

1. Making enquiries in connection with preparing strategy and developing activity (FI)

2. Discussing the results at top management level (AT);

E) Publish the improvements resulting from user feedback

1. Reacting immediately by contacting the customer

2. Publishing the results of the satisfaction surveys on the internet (AT)

3. Informing users about implemented improvements (PL)

4. Discussing detailed report at the headquarter meeting (CZ)

5. Publishing all responses in full and an updated response setting out the actions taken (UK)

6. Reacting immediately to the feedback received by contacting the customer (FI)1

F) (optional) Follow a standard for the user satisfaction survey

Referring to ISO Norm (TS10004-2010 This standard has been revised to: ISO 10004:2012) to measure user satisfaction (PT) allowing for comparable results among different types of users and from different surveys through time.

3. WHAT WE SHOULD DIG INTO FOR FURTHER ENGAGEMENT

Experience with “fast and young multipliers” (DE)

What is the 'Promoter Index methodology' (EE)?

More about the “Specialist qualification in product development” (FI)

How to carry out a web survey “after approx. 2 minutes on our site” (SE)?

How does Statistics Portugal manage its “Suggestions and complaints system”?

How does Statistics Portugal takes into account the ISO Norm TS 10004:2010 (now ISO 10004:2012)?

1 Not related to the point but a good practice anyway!

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4. QUESTIONS RESULTING FROM THIS EXERCISE Advantages/drawbacks to the NSI's of sharing the same tool for the preparation of online questionnaires (e.g EUSurvey, used by Eurostat whose user interface is available in all official EU languages, LimeSurvey, used by IT)?

How to use a web analytical tool to assess user behaviour/satisfaction? (HU)

Are the users answering our satisfaction surveys representative of our users?

Michela Troia (ISTAT) and Jean-William Angel (INSEE)

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DIGICOM Inventory – WP1 4. Use of Web Analysis by the NSIs

1. INTRODUCTION

There are a number of ways of collecting data as users interact with websites. The most widely adopted are: web logs and page tagging. These two methods may produce different numbers which cannot be compared. There are pros and cons with each method.

1.1 WEB SERVER LOG FILES

A web server delivers resources to requesting clients. To keep track of this activity, web servers offer logging capabilities.

Advantages of using web logs

Ensures better data privacy, because you own the data.

Involves the results of robots’ data collection as, usually, requests to web robots such as search engine robots are collected on web logs.

It can track the number of bits transmitted to the client and completed downloads.

It can also differentiate between completed and partial downloads.

It is easy to implement as request logging is part of the web server process, no additional setup is therefore required.

Disadvantages of using web logs

It only ensures limited visibility, because analysis can only report on what is in the log files (and they are primarily aimed at providing technical information and not “business” information).

There is a problem concerning proxy server inaccuracies, because proxy servers have a negative impact on log file, as the request for content may be served by web proxies and never reach the web server. Furthermore, the use of a proxy server may alter the estimate of web site visitors because the IP address cannot be used as a unique identifier.

It consumes resources as the processing needed to parse log files grows along with the number of requests.

It is difficult to manage in case of cluster or web server farms.

There is a strong dependence on organisational structure. IT and the department responsible for performing web analysis need a clear agreement on the priority given to this activity.

1.2 PAGE TAG

Page tag is a client-side data collection method, where data serving is separated from data capture. Usually, data about the visitor session are collected by a third-party infrastructure. Generally, it uses JavaScript code on each page to notify a data collection server when a page is rendered by a web browser. Additionally, cookies are used to determine the uniqueness of the visitor.

Advantages of using page tagging

It is accurate, because data are collected directly from the end user, not from the web server, and client-side data collection is generally more accurate than web server log files. In fact, JavaScript can access DOM2 information or user events and the code is executed each time the page is loaded, avoiding cache side effects.

2 The Document Object Model (DOM) is a cross-platform and language-independent application

programming interface that treats an HTML, XHTML, or XML document as a tree structure wherein

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Because most web robots do not execute JavaScript code, the data collected mainly refer to the activity of human users.

There is greater control of data collection because, having the ability to implement custom tags on special pages, it is possible to capture additional data for those pages.

The dependence of an IT department on various data capture requests is reduced. It can further be reduced when using a Tag Manager System.

Disadvantages of using page tagging

It relies on the execution of JavaScript and the setting of cookies. If these technologies are disabled (often for privacy or other reasons) then data are not collected.

It requires adding a JavaScript tag to every page intended for tracking.

Information about downloads, error pages or redirects is not available out of the box.

Data availability and/or usage are limited in time, in case the service is provided by a third-party. This is something to check when access to historical data is important or when the traffic generated by monitored web sites is high.

2. STATE OF PLAY IN THE RESPONDENT NSIS In the original survey, 27 countries reported some activity related to weblog-analysis, two (Slovakia and Portugal) stated not to be performing such kind of activity. We have no or practically no information from three NSIs (Bulgaria, Ireland and Lithuania). We have sent out a complementary questionnaire, based on which the information available is somewhat more detailed. 12 NSIs provided answers to this questionnaire. Most countries started web analysis activity before 2013. Implementing the activity is mainly based on internal resources, Finland and Romania being the exceptions as they work with external contractors.

each node is an object representing a part of the document. The objects can be manipulated

programmatically and any visible changes occurring as a result may then be reflected in the display of the document. Source: Wikipedia.

51,85% 11,11%

14,81%

14,81% 7,41%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Page Tagging

N/A

Web logs

Distribution of web analytics tools among NSIs

Google Analytics

Piwik

Awstats

Own software

Outsourced / Commercial

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Among the respondents, 13 countries mentioned using Google Analytics, 4 Awstats, 3 Piwik. Another free software, Splunk is used by Italy (it is available in a light version, which is free, up to a certain amount of logs per day; Italy is using the version for a fee). Vizzit is mentioned by Sweden as a software that was abandoned in 2014. Certain other tools, customised to the needs of the respective NSIs are used in several institutions. It seems to be regular practice to use a combination of tools and, based on the answers provided, that is the case with 9 respondent NSIs. The indicators monitored are most often: number of visitors, number of page views, downloads, top sites, search terms, but most often it is not stated or possibly not all indicators are stated. A certain measure of frequency is reported by 14 countries, although answers are very diverse. Usually a combination of more regular standard reports and a less frequent option for specialised reports is used, but the scale ranges from weekly to annual reports. Analyses providing a detailed interpretation of results are less widespread than are simple reports. As for the two methods to follow the turnover of a website, most of the NSIs use a page-tagging tool, namely Google Analytics, which is able to provide indicators when there is a strong interest on human activity (excluding robots) on the website. Where a combination of tools is mentioned, it is not clear whether it is a necessity when several websites are monitored (for example, weblog data are used when the source code of the website is not accessible thus preventing the insertion of page tag) or it is a complementary tool to provide information not easily available with the other method (mainly information about download).

3. GOOD PRACTICES IDENTIFIED Web analysis is about using website data to determine the success or failure of a web dissemination strategy. A good practice defines a priori goals and then identifies which indicators may contribute to achieving those goals. Without clearly defining the goal and the related indicators, it is very unlikely to identify best practices. In the inventory, one finds a mixture of declared goals without any mention of related indicators, as well as monitored indicators without assigned goals. Therefore, only a certain number of behaviour patterns common to NSIs could be identified, such as:

Measuring key indicators (mostly named are: number of visitors and page views);

Measuring downloads of publications and use of various applications;

Measuring the effectivity of communication campaigns;

Monitoring the behaviour of identifiable users on the website, analyzing paths, watching registered users; and

Monitoring media coverage. Other aspects to be considered are human resources and financial constraints. In order to reach the declared objectives, given the available level of staff, and staying within the allocated costs, it seems important that the optimum level of staff should be ensured and that costs also be taken into consideration. These points were not covered in the questionnaires and require further investigation. One must note that, depending on the desirable outcomes, the web analysis needs to be complemented with data from other sources. For example, to verify whether production efforts meet user interests, one may compare the percentage of page views coming from a certain area (this measurement can be obtained by using a web-analytic tool) with the distribution of content in the same area (this measurement is not available from a web-analytic tool).

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Regarding the use of other data sources as a complementary source of information, the 12 NSIs responding to the supplementary questionnaire stated that they apply satisfaction surveys most frequently (10 out of 12), while applying qualitative methods (8), using internal search analytics (7) and gathering spontaneous feedback (6) were less used. Only two NSIs (Italy and UK) use additional data sources beyond those listed. Finally, based on NSI subjective judgment, the following countries said that they are satisfied with their practice or said explicitly that they consider theirs to be a good practice (where a country definitely declared not to consider theirs a good practice, that evaluation was accepted): Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

4. FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS Web analysis is considered to be an essential method by the majority of NSIs. Nonetheless, there is a general feeling that we are only scratching the surface. Measuring results alone is not enough as they should be fed back into the dissemination and communication process, in order to make continuous improvements. It is therefore crucial to make web analytical statistics comprehensible for decision-makers. Where a practice of regular reports exists, results preferably being interpreted and explained to a necessarily high level of management, and where management reacts to this information, practice can be deemed to be good. A number of areas are mentioned by NSIs, in which they would find further exploration useful, essentially:

Exchanging experiences on using web analytics tools;

Which other sources – beyond tracking and search analytics – could be useful and how could they be combined in a productive way?

Defining a site’s goal, interpreting the results and producing a helpful report;

Monitoring site reputation and social network activity;

Defining campaigns and measuring their effectiveness;

Discovering ways of finding out more about users.

5. USEFUL LINKS There are a lot of resources on the web regarding web analysis. This is a short list of resources which may be a good starting point:

Google Analytics for government - training manual - II edition Web analytics report templates Web Analytics Success Measurement For Government Websites Analytics tools

Maurizio Firmani (ISTAT) and Kátainé Marosi Angéla (HCSO)

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DIGICOM Inventory – WP1 5. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

1. INTRODUCTION, DEFINITIONS

It is important to distinguish between CRM as a process and the CRM-tools being applied. CRM is basically an approach, consisting of the three following elements:

a) Registration and treatment of user requests.

b) Creation of a user-focused database with a CRM software, and analysing these data.

c) Feedback to customers / users based on the results, e.g. using customised marketing tools, making special offers, organising targeted marketing projects, running customised advertising campaigns, etc.

The following IT tools are necessary to implement CRM: Contact Center, Website, Social media channels, CRM software.

The following figure summarises a possible architecture of CRM-processes in statistical institutions.

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Customer relationship management (CRM) is an approach to managing a company's interaction with current and future customers. The customer relationship management approach involves the analysis of data about customers' history with a company, in order to improve business relationships with customers, specifically focusing on retaining customers, in order to drive sales growth.3 In the case of statistical institutions the latter aim is not primary, objectives are rather to retain and preserve trust in statistics and the statistical institution and to have decision-makers make use of statistics in as many cases as possible, in an appropriate way. One important aspect of the customer relationship management approach are the CRM systems that compile information from a range of different channels, including a company's website, telephone, email, live chat, marketing materials, social media, and more.4 The primary goal of a customer relationship management system is to integrate and automate sales, marketing, and customer support.5

2. EXPERIENCE WITHIN THE NSIS

The questions asked on CRM experience did not make a distinction between the method and the IT background. Thus the responses basically provided information on available ’grades’ of the CRM approach.

a) Users

16 out of 28 NSIs stated having at least some experience of CRM. 9 of them implemented this using internal resources, 7 did so with the help of an external contractor.

b) Not users:

The following 12 NSIs reported not having a CRM activity, which is not easily plausible: CH, SK, EL, CY, HR, AT, PL, SE, NO, IE, BE, PT.

No information was received from Bulgaria through this questionnaire. A more detailed questionnaire was sent out to the given contacts, specifying more clearly what we mean by this activity and what we would like to know. Eight NSIs gave answers to the questionnaire. Out of the countries stating not having a CRM activity, Iceland and Slovakia confirmed the existence of certain elements of CRM.

Altogether four NSIs mentioned that they have used a specific CRM software: Lithuania, Germany, Estonia and Finland. The software programs explicitly mentioned were: Coheris and Microsoft Dynamics (planned use). The most complete systems seem to have been built in Germany, Estonia and Finland, where the systems embrace channels of incoming information to a complete database, which is treated and operated by a CRM-software. Data are analysed, feedback is also provided.

3 "Management Tools - Customer Relationship Management - Bain & Company". www.bain.com. Retrieved 2015-11-

23., cited by Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management

4 Shaw, Robert (1991). Computer Aided Marketing & Selling. Butterworth Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-1707-9.,

cited by Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management.

5 "Types of CRM and Examples | CRM Software". www.crmsoftware.com. Retrieved 2015-11-22, cited by Wikipedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management

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However, many of the respondents mention more traditional ways of recording their customer relationships, such as a database, Excel files, etc. Quite a number of countries mention the existence of Contact Centres. However, in those cases, there is no systematic analysis and feedback to customers (or it is not mentioned). As for the respective elements, contact centres and call centres are mentioned most often. Of the sources used to acquire contact details, the ones most often mentioned were: a specific media list, data requests, and visitors at events. Registrations for a newsletter are also frequent among respondents. As for the registered information type, the themes the user is interested in that are mentioned most frequently are: contact type and user type following.

3. AIM OF CRM ACTIVITY

Most of the countries indicated that they understand the significance and importance of using the CRM, which allows receiving and collecting large amounts of information concerning consumers, their classification into user groups, and which enables the preparation of comprehensive analyses. The NSIs record customer requests in order to keep track of them and to update databases with their users´ contact information. The information is mainly used for user satisfaction surveys.

4. INFORMATION ABOUT USERS

Germany - the CRM allows the recording of numerous details concerning users (e.g. contact details, name of organisation, user type, number of requests, etc.). A record is also made of which theme each request relates to. Finland – the CRM is the main database for collecting data concerning users - including participation in events, training courses, purchases of products and services, etc. Hungary - detailed information is collected about the type and character of applicants, the purpose and subject of their data request, how often and in which form the requested data are supplied, etc. The complete documentation of data supply (correspondence, offer, contract, invoice preparation) is collected.

5. USER-FRIENDLINESS OF CRM SYSTEM

The need for manual registration is a serious drawback of such systems. According to Lithuanian experience, theirs is not a very user-friendly system, from this aspect. As for the German software, requests arriving via the online contact form are automatically entered into the system, while requests arriving via eMail or telephone have to be registered manually. Existence of standard replies is a great plus, and the German CRM system is able to handle those.

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Information on specific customer behaviour allows a deeper analysis. The Estonian system is able to handle that. Tracking the status of user requests from outside is a great plus for customers, a function that is explicitly mentioned by Italy and Hungary.

6. GOOD PRACTICES Functions of dedicated CRM systems

Germany - standard CRM software package, regularly adapted, registers all statistical requests. Users are encouraged to contact Destatis via online contact form. Any requests sent via this form are automatically entered into the system. Additionally, requests entering via eMail and telephone are entered into the CRM system. The CRM system is used by all author units within Destatis. There is a central unit treating requests, which deals with a large proportion of all questions. If requests are complex or relate to detailed methodological issues, they are transferred to the specific author unit using the CRM software. The CRM system also includes a large number of pre-defined standard answers, which reduces the burden of replying to straightforward requests. The system is also used to analyse received requests. The system is used to improve and extend the website (including FAQ).

Estonia - centralised CRM system keeping track of relationships with stakeholders. The CRM system allows: the treatment of orders (subscriptions to publications, orders for information, information telephone calls); making analyses with the purpose of organising marketing activities; conducting marketing campaigns (target group selection, mass-mailing); presenting information concerning release calendars and products on the website; providing an overview of feedback from users; the exchange of information with other information systems used by Statistics Estonia (bookkeeping system, website, Estonian Business Register for Statistical Purposes, metadata information system, document management system).

Systems without a dedicated software

United Kingdom – the ONS does not use a special software package for the recording of its customer relationships. The ONS manages engagement with key customers centrally using a range of tools - Lotus Notes databases, Excel files, shared MS Outlook calendars, etc. Similar systems are employed for other customers and users, although these tend to be based on topic (e.g Census, Migration statistics) or system (e.g. customer complaints, parliamentary questions).

Hungary - despite the absence of special CRM software, all incoming data requests are registered through the contact center in a special system,. The information recorded ensures a wide range of possibilities for carrying out queries and analyses from different aspects. Customers can monitor the status of their requests. Another system (originally for invoicing) is used for sales of publications, enabling queries to be made on certain user groups and on the publications they have purchased. The Information service also has a call center. In spite of that, Hungarian practice has room for development, considering the integration of information from these sources.

DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS ACTIVITY

This area was not covered in the original questionnaire. However, based on the contact details received, we made a categorization. Dissemination is in most cases responsible for this activity, usually through the involvement of the Information service (or the unit taking and answering

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user requests). In some cases other units are named, but those are usually connected with dissemination activity. A unit responsible for media relations is explicitly named in a few cases.

Antoaneta Ilkova (Нси, Bulgaria) and Kátainé Marosi Angéla (HCSO, Hungary)