WHAT’S INSIDE In the first part of this e-book series — Kickstart Your Mobile Strategy with Email & Social Media — we discussed how your organization could begin leveraging mobile technologies by incorporating email and social media channels into your comprehensive digital communications strategy. Ultimately, this can offer your organization more opportunities to save on service delivery, improve government-to-citizen communications, and engage the public in critical situations. In this e-book, we’re going to explore ways your organization can use innovative mobile technologies to bring your digital communications efforts to an even more prominent place and why going mobile is critical to your organization.
SECTION 1: THREE WAYS TO MOVE TO THE CUTTING EDGE
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APPS ARE WHERE IT’S AT Today, consumers have multiple avenues from which to gather information, and they expect to have that information delivered when they want it, in a way that’s convenient for them. For more and more people, that means using mobile applications – otherwise known as apps – on a smartphone or other digital device, so they can automatically access the information they’re seeking. Government organizations are increasingly revamping their communications to meet this public demand by developing, and releasing, their own apps to satisfy citizen needs. In a Reach the Public two-part blog post, we detail the ins and outs of launching a mobile app in the public sector. A great example is the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) IRS2GO app. The IRS stepped more firmly into the mobile technology arena last spring, announcing an update to their IRS2GO 2.0 mobile app on iOS and Android platforms. The app was “designed to provide taxpayers easier access to practical tools and information.” The mobile app included an Application Programming Interface (API) integration with GovDelivery, which allows app users to sign up to receive tax tips via email from the IRS.
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SECTION 1 | THREE WAYS TO MOVE TO THE CUTTING EDGE
Over the last few years, the public sector app space has become increasingly crowded, with more apps and more choices than most citizens would know what to do with. Some cities and agencies have even launched their own app stores, where open data and open source projects are available for any developer to build on and further contribute to the expansion of available apps. The Mobile Apps Gallery on USA.gov showcases hundreds of apps developed with public data, most of which are available for no cost to stakeholders. But apps should not be viewed as a silver bullet solution to engaging citizens through mobile. Sometimes what you’re looking to accomplish might be a better fit for other more automated channels that will not need the same level of resources as building an app, such as a text message campaign that enables you to reach subscribers on the go that may not have access to the Internet or a smart phone. King County, Washington’s recent text messaging campaign allows people to receive updates for local health insurance education events all through texting on their phones. Additionally, Prince George’s County Public Schools sends out alerts to parents and families through text messages, which has allowed some of the low-income residents without Internet at home to receive regular communications from the school for the first time. The public sector can use text messaging to communicate with hard to reach audiences and get them to take action.
govdelivery.com or govdelivery.co.uk | info@govdelivery.com | U.S. (866) 276-5583 | U.K. 0800 032 5769
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APIS GET SOFTWARE COMPONENTS TO COMMUNICATE An application programming interface (API) is a protocol used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other. As part of work to revamp the federal government’s digital efforts, Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel tweeted, “‘API’ #thereIsaidit #yesitisthesecretsauce #gov20” in response to a Fierce Government article that “speculated APIs would play a major part in the … digital strategy.” (Source: NextGov) If you want to jump on the API bandwagon, now is absolutely the right time. The White House’s Digital Government Strategy highlights how government agencies and organizations can automate to drive efficiency and effectiveness, and at the heart of the strategy is mobile technology and APIs. In a recent GovDelivery webinar, “Using APIs for Success in Government,” Richard Fong, technical implementation consultant for GovDelivery, noted that API use has become more critical because the way we access information has dramatically changed. Since the IRS2GO app was GovDelivery’s first mobile app and API integration, success metrics were followed closely. Specifically, subscriber metrics (since the app integration was designed to encourage more subscribers) were followed from the launch of the app until tax day – April 15, 2012 – to see if the app could help extend the IRS’s reach.
“In the past, businesses and organizations went to the Web because that’s where the customers were … we all sat in front of our desktop monitor and browsed the Web to get content. Then something happened. Technology evolved. The browser stopped being the exclusive gateway to information and content. A few trends that pushed this included: social media, mobile, and location-based services. The public started to consume content using smartphones, tablets and other intelligent devices.”
RICHARD FONG
TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION CONSULTANT
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GROWTH IN # OF SUBSCRIBERS
SECTION 2 | APIS GET SOFTWARE COMPONENTS TO COMMUNICATE
16K 14K
16,000
12K
51%
10K
BOOST IN SUBSCRIBERSHIP
8K 8,100
6K 4K 2K
JAN–FEB 2012 (before the app)
FEB - MAR 2012
GROWTH IN # OF SUBSCRIBERS
One month after release: The IRS added more than 16,000 subscribers to the Tax Tips topic as a result of the mobile app. To compare, 8,100 subscribers were added the previous month before the app launched. The app helped boost IRS communications outreach by 51 percent.
96K
168,000
TOTAL NEW SUBSCRIBERS
64K 32K 16K JANUARY 2013
FEBUARY 2013
MARCH 2013
APRIL 2013
In 2013, from January to April, this integration proved even more successful, contributing to more than 168,000 new subscribers for the IRS. While it’s becoming more and more common for government organizations to have mobile apps, your organization also needs to build mobile into your overall digital communications strategy in order to efficiently and effectively serve your customers. Mobile apps with API integrations can help you gain a wider outreach while continuing to promote your content in new ways and through new channels.
govdelivery.com or govdelivery.co.uk | info@govdelivery.com | U.S. (866) 276-5583 | U.K. 0800 032 5769
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SCALABLE EMAIL/MOBILE OPTIMIZED EMAIL If you’ve read anything lately about technology, you’ve probably heard the term scalable. No, you aren’t going to scale Everest, but you do need to make sure that if you send an email, people will be able to read it regardless of whether they’re sitting at a desktop computer, smartphone or tablet. In other words, the content, graphics and message all need to scale to the size of the device the message recipient is using – regardless of which type of smartphone the recipient uses. A scalable email design makes sure that when an email is reduced to half its size on a mobile device, it is still 100 percent readable and 100 percent finger-tip clickable.
SCALABLE DESIGN USE: Single layout regardless of screen size
Typical single-column stacked layout Large-scale design elements, such as bigger font sizes of 14 points or more; and large buttons that are easy to see and click on
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SCALABLE EMAIL EXAMPLES
govdelivery.com or govdelivery.co.uk | info@govdelivery.com | U.S. (866) 276-5583 | U.K. 0800 032 5769
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SECTION 2: MAKING MOBILE
SUCCESSFUL
Developing these cool new mobile technologies is only part of the puzzle. Promoting these technologies to encourage and foster engagement is a vital component to the continued success of your digital communications.
GovDelivery has compiled the following tips from the successes of our government clients using effective promotion to successfully guide their mobile move. React quickly to events. Events present an opportunity to engage with your stakeholders. Often, your website and digital properties will see increased traffic before, during and after an event. Ensure you maximize subscriber opportunities whenever something occurs. Provide support for multiple mobile channels. Your audience uses different channels for different activities. To reach the widest possible audience you need to support as many of these channels as possible. Email, social media, and mobile apps are the most popular. Align mobile goals with overall outreach goals. If your goal is to get more people to take action or be more informed, understand how your mobile efforts are impacting your total engagement with stakeholders. Don’t stop promoting. Never be satisfied with the subscriber figures you have. You can always do better. Continuous promotion and innovation will help you achieve greatness.
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CONCLUSION With the move to mobile charging ahead at full speed and the digital world becoming increasingly mobile, digital communication continues to be a top priority for all levels of government. Your mobile strategy needs to be on the cutting edge and embrace the use of apps, APIs and scalability. In addition, your organization needs to ensure the success of your mobile strategy by promoting your offerings in a variety of ways. And promotion isn’t a once-and-done activity – it’s something that needs periodic review and adjustment to continue to match the needs of your citizens. While the potential cost savings alone are a huge benefit to recognizing a comprehensive mobile strategy, your organization will ultimately find the greatest reward in its ability to keep your audience willing and able to engage in the way that makes them happy. Offering advanced mobile technologies can help your organization further increase your reach and continue to drive mission value.
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govdelivery.com or govdelivery.co.uk | info@govdelivery.com | U.S. (866) 276-5583 | U.K. 0800 032 5769