Recent Data

Marketing and Take-Upof the On-Line Channel

Prepared by:

Cathy Ladds

Chief Information Officer Branch

March 2005

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Internet Use in Canada

• 78% of Canadians indicated they had used the Internet in the past three months – slight increase over 2003 (75%)

• Younger Canadians still more likely than older Canadians to be on-line:

– 94% for less than 25 years of age– 36% for 65 years of age and older

• Gender difference no longer exists

• Income difference remains:

– 57% for less than $20K– 93% for 100K and more

• Regional differences/Urban rural differences still exist – highest in BC Alberta, Ontario – lowest in Quebec and Atlantic Canada

Source; Ekos RIH 2005

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Channel Usage – Where Are We?

• 32% of Canadians had contacted the federal government for a personal service or for information in the past three months.

• Channel usage – most recent contact

• Comparable to Statistics Canada – 32.2% of Canadian households had used the Internet to look for government information (2003)

40%

31%

18%

11%

Telephone

Internet

Mail

In-Person

Source; Ekos RIH 2005

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Clients increasingly complete transactions

on-line…

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

2002 2003 2004

Internet

Mail

Phone - agent

In-person

Phone - IVR

GOL filings as of December 21, 2004; All data filed by transaction services; Note: the total number of reported clients by channels for 2002 is 65.2 million, 2003 is 67.7 million, and 2004 is 73.1 million

Q.3a3 Distribution of unique clients across all channels by how they have "completed" their transaction

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Take-Up Comparisons – Online Purchases

Source; Ekos RIH 2005

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Take-Up Comparisons – Online Banking

Source; Ekos RIH 2005

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Satisfaction by Channel

• Overall, across all channels, 67% of Canadians were satisfied to very satisfied with their most recent contact - 81% were satisfied with the Internet channel

5 10 12 41 31

10 10 16 37 25

5 12 21 38 24

3 6 9 62 19

3 10 24 44 18

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

In-Person

Telephone

Email

Internet

Mail

Extremely dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Neither

Satisfied

Extremely Satisfied

Source; Ekos RIH 2005

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Canadians’ Thoughts on Take-Up

• 42% of Canadians feel that they will do most of their transactions with the GoC over the Internet in the next five years

• Conversely, 42% don’t expect that they will do most of their GoC transactions on-line

• 60% of Canadians think the Internet/e-mail will be their main method of contacting the government five years from now Source; Ekos RIH 2005

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Why Canadians are NOT using on-line government Services?

Some very basic reasons…

• Privacy and security

• Lack of Awareness

• Internet is impersonal

• Technology is complex and so is dealing with the government

• Change is not always a good thing

LINKED

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Privacy and Security Concerns

• Auditor General speaks out…

Fraser told a news conference she was disappointed the government does not meet its own minimum standards for information technology security, even though most of them have been well known for more than a decade. The auditor general likened it to a homeowner leaving the back door open - eventually someone will break in."Government must fill in the gaps," she said. "There are weaknesses in the system." (Source: Jim Bronskill for Canadian Press)

• When it comes to this area, Canadians are strongly influenced by the media, friends and family.

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Privacy and Security Concerns

• Canadians are worried about the safety of the data they may send over the Internet – in focus groups, we regularly hear about:

• Identity theft• Hacking• Viruses• Government computers being lost/misplaced• Private sector accessing public sector data• Use of biometrics to improve security – 66% of

Canadians agree with the use of fingerprint scan by government if it means better service and lower risk of identity theft

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Privacy and Security Concerns

• Ipsos Reid’s Government Services Study found that maintaining security, confidentiality of personal information is the most important aspect of Government of Canada service delivery – 72% considered it to be very important

– more important to Canadians than accuracy of information (64%), reliability of service (55%), ease of access (55%) and even timeliness (43%)

• 48% of Canadians think it is somewhat to extremely likely that they will experience a serious invasion of personal privacy in the next two years (Ekos)

• 48% of Canadians think the federal government has one large database for all personal information (Ekos)

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Privacy and Security Concerns

• 56% of Canadians indicate they want to have more than one electronic passport/password for their dealings with different federal departments as they do not want any of their personal information shared between departments (Ekos)

• 45% of GoC Internet panellists feel concerns about privacy and security will stop them from using new personalized, on-line government services.

Key Message:Governments need to reassure Canadians that the Internet, in general, and government systems more specifically are safe.

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Lack of Awareness

• Quote from a participant in a recent focus group upon seeing the Canada Site (Canada.gc.ca) for the first time…

“Where has this site been hiding – this is Canada’s best kept secret.”

• 71% of Canadian Internet Users have visited a Government of Canada Web site in the past year but…

• Most are “Googling” to get there – going direct to departmental site – getting the information/service they need – not learning about other services available and then forgetting about Government until the next time a need arises

• In most instances, each access to Government on-line is like starting from scratch

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Lack of Awareness

Danger old stats…but I don’t think things have improved much

• In 2003, only 25% of Canadians said they knew the URL for the main Government of Canada Web site (Ipsos-Reid)

• When asked how familiar they were with federal services offered over the Internet, only 11% were highly familiar (Ekos – 2003)

Key Message:Government needs to spend $$$ to educate Canadians about its on-line offerings – and they need to do it in a coordinated fashion so that the messages reinforce each other.

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Technology & Government are Complex / Internet is Impersonal

• To Canadians, dealing with the government is:

– serious business -- not to be taken lightly– complicated – lots of forms, people and bureaucratic language

• Canadians are looking for the reassurances that sometimes only government employees can provide – for example,

– I have the right information and it is complete– My transaction has been completed accurately– My question/requirement has been properly understood and

acted upon

• Canadians are becoming more experienced Internet users – yet there is still some hesitancy to move to transactions on-line

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Technology & Government are Complex / Internet is Impersonal

• 57% of Canadian Internet users felt that they don’t deal with the government frequently enough to be bothered with obtaining a username and password that would allow them to do transactions with the government over the Internet (Ekos)

• Focus groups confirm – dealing with governments on-line is too much work for infrequent transactions

• From the focus groups, Canadians react very positively to some of Government’s on-line reassurance mechanisms:

• My Account – clear record of transactions – provides verification and confirmation

• “Your transaction has been successfully completed” – important message to include on-line

• Providing users confirmation numbers that they can print off

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Technology & Government are Complex / Internet is Impersonal

Key Message:Governments need to emphasize how fast and simple it is to conduct business on-line.

Governments need to inform Canadians about the validation and confirmation mechanisms that have been built into the systems so Canadians can be reassured about the accuracy of their on-line transactions

Finally, Governments need to inform Canadians that the systems are transparent and accountable – advise them that there is an easy avenue for recourse and that back-up systems (human and computer) exist.

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Change Not Always a Good Thing

• There are no hard statistics but basically some people are uncomfortable with or averse to change – they would rather continue to interact with government through their tried and true methods -- even if dissatisfied with previous experience

• Most participants in a large, national focus group project said that they tend to use the same service channel for all of their government transactions

Key Message:

Governments need to communicate the benefits to Canadians to help them make the switch to the on-line service delivery channel.

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Segmentation of Internet Users – Model 1

• This segmentation model is based on data from the Government of Canada’s Internet Panel…

Non-users (6%)

•Online, butnot using GOL

•55 plus•Lower income

•Beginners•French-speaking

•Quebec

Late adopters(7%)

•First time orrecent users

•Lower income

CautiousUsers(45%)

•Using GOL forinformation only

•Concerned aboutprivacy/security•Expert users

ComfortableUsers(26%)

•Willing totransact online,

but still useother channels

Web Enthusiasts

(17%)•Web is

preferred channel•Under 25

•Higher income•French-speaking

•Quebec•Expert users

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Segmentation of Internet Users – Model 2

• This segmentation model is based on data from the 2003 Ekos Rethinking the Information Highway Study…

Internet Experience

Level ofEnthusiasm

High

Low

HighLow

Enthusiastic Embracers

SkepticalVeterans

PromisingRookies

SkepticalNovices

20%20%

18%17%

Non-Users

25%

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Why Segmentation is Important?

• Not all Canadians are the same – d’oh!!!

• A researcher’s attempt at messaging…

– Enthusiastic embracers – need regular communications that will update them on “what’s new” to keep them coming back

– Skeptical veterans – need independent, 3rd party endorsements – reassurance on privacy and security

– Promising rookies – need instructional/informational messages on what the government has to offer/how to access

– Skeptical novices – need reassuring messages from trusted sources combined with an educational component

– Non-users – need to be introduced to local community Internet assistance programs such as Seniors Net in PEI or IC’s CAP

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Ideas for Improving Take-Up

• In an open ended question, we asked Canadians what government could do to make them more likely to use on-line government services in the future…

– Make websites more user-friendly (23%)– Promote the services that already exist on-line (18%)– Improve security (17%)– Make more services/programs available on-line (9%)– Ensure access to live help (8%)– Increase trust in government (8%)– Provide free Internet access (8%)– Be more responsive (7%)

Source; Ekos RIH 2005

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Impact -- Government’s Ideas for Take-up

% of Canadians who would be “MUCH MORE LIKELY” to use GOL Services - Ekos

Knowing you are guaranteed faster processing time 47%Knowing you would be able to use the Internet to take a look at the personal information the government has on you

43%

Knowing there was a clear and easy way to get in touch with a government employee to resolve a problem

42%

Knowing you would be able to talk to a government employee while you were doing the transaction online

42%

Knowing you would receive a discount or incentive 42%Knowing there is an easy way to understand privacy policy 33%Knowing you would be able to create a personalised list of all the services you use in a single secure website

25%

Knowing millions of Canadians use government services on the Internet. 14%

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Discussion/Questions

Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. Voltaire

Truth fears no questions. Anonymous