CX in the Public Sector

What happens when customer experience principles meet public service? Jeannie Walters answers a thoughtful question and explores how government agencies and public institutions can create exceptional citizen experiences despite not being driven by traditional profit motives.

The conversation begins with reimagining success metrics beyond customer acquisition and retention. For public sector organizations, value creation takes different forms—like operational efficiencies, higher compliance rates, and broader service accessibility. Jeannie explains how connecting back to purpose through an experience mission statement creates the foundation for meaningful improvements that align with public good.

Journey mapping emerges as a powerful tool for identifying friction points in citizen interactions. By examining specific processes with clear goals and scope, organizations can simplify procedures, humanize interactions, and clarify requirements—addressing common complaints about government bureaucracy.

The podcast explores practical strategies for co-creation with citizens, employee empowerment, and designing for inclusivity. Jeanne shares compelling examples of public institutions that transformed service delivery models to reach underserved populations, demonstrating that creativity and empathy can flourish even within government frameworks. Her insights on communication improvements, measuring meaningful metrics, and sharing success stories provide a roadmap for any public sector organization ready to elevate their citizen experience.

Ready to transform your organization's approach to citizen service? Listen now for actionable strategies that respect people's time, needs, and dignity—ultimately strengthening public trust and delivering on your mission.

Resources Mentioned:
Experience Investigators -- https://experienceinvestigators.com

Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

Episode Transcript

MC (00:00):
Experience Action.
Let's stop just talking aboutcustomer experience, employee
experience and the experience ofleaders.
Let's turn ideas into action.
Your host, Jeannie Walters, isan award-winning customer
experience expert, internationalkeynote speaker and founder of
Experience Investigators, astrategic consulting firm

(00:20):
helping companies increase salesand customer retention through
elevated customer experiences.
Ready set action.

Jeannie Walters (00:31):
It's the Experience Action Podcast.
Guess what?
We got another fantasticquestion from one of you.
Let's listen in.

Listener Question (00:40):
Hello Jeannie , my name is Raminta and I work
as a customer experience projectmanager at the Central Bank of
Lithuania.
First of all, I trulyappreciate your LinkedIn
learning courses and yourpodcast.
They've been incrediblyinsightful and inspiring, and I
have a question I'd love yourperspective on.
What would you recommend forpublic sector organizations that

(01:04):
want to adopt customer-centricsolutions and improve customer
experience, especiallyconsidering that they are not
driven by profit?
Thank you very much in advanceand best regards.

Jeannie Walters (01:17):
Well, first of all, thank you so much for your
kind words and for your work incustomer experience.
It's really exciting to hearabout how customer experience is
becoming a strategic focus inpublic institutions,
organizations, cities, states,everything and it's so exciting
to hear that you're curiousabout this.

(01:39):
So thank you for this question.
Now, when we talk aboutcustomer experience in the
public sector and that caninclude a lot of different
things and this might be basedon your region or your culture
but essentially in the UnitedStates, we have things like
public utilities.
They don't have to earncustomers right.
Customers are just there usingtheir electricity.

(02:01):
Sometimes we have things thatare run by cities or states, or
the cities and states themselves, the countries that are serving
.
You know, it's interestingbecause there's so much movement
around this, that recently atthe Customer Experience
Professionals Association CXLeaders Advance Conference,
there were discussions about howdo we include customer

(02:25):
experience in government.
So this is a hot topic and I'mproud to say that at Experience
Investigators, we have workedwith various institutions like
public utilities, like citiesand like public agencies,
governmental agencies helpingserve citizens and residents,

(02:46):
not necessarily the traditionalcustomers that we think of.
So, yes, a lot of the ways thatwe value growth and we value
things like retention within ourkind of business acumen, we
have to apply differentstandards when we are talking
about serving citizens andpeople who aren't necessarily

(03:10):
customers.
So let's think about this in acouple of ways.
One is we want to think aboutwhy is the institution there?
What is the purpose of theinstitution?
It's usually around some sortof public value.
There is usually a purpose toit.
So, for example, if you areworking in the transportation

(03:35):
department of your city now itmight be easy to think, well, we
want to put out more parkingtickets or speeding tickets or
something.
But really think about why areyou there?
You're probably there toprovide more safety to your
citizens.
You're there to make sure thatthings are easy to get around.
But really connect back to whatis the purpose of your

(03:58):
organization and what is thepublic good.
That's why everything's there.
So get back to reallyconnecting with that.
So, just like I talk about withgoing back to your customer
experience mission statement,that applies here as well.
Now, instead of using the wordcustomer, you might want to use
the word citizens or simplyexperience mission statement.

(04:19):
What are we trying to do?
How do we show up for people.
Why is that important?
How do we better their livesonce we serve them?
That's a really powerfulquestion.
So start with purpose.
Start defining that.
Then you want to think aboutwhat are we really trying to do
and what are those frictionpoints that they're running into

(04:40):
?
This is where mapping thejourneys can be so effective.
We want to make sure we're notonly mapping the journey for the
citizen or the person thatwe're serving.
We want to understand how doesthat intersect with the people
within the public sector who areinteracting with them.
So look at how peopleexperience the services that we

(05:02):
offer.
So there are key moments thatyou probably already know about.
But if you're servingbusinesses, maybe they have to
apply for a license and wait forapproval.
That's a key moment for them.
Maybe you are sending outfinancial information that is
critical for people to know.
How are they receiving thatinformation and how do you know

(05:24):
that they're receiving it in theright way?
How are they accessing supportif they need help?
All of those questions can leadyou to really understanding
where do you need to understandthe journey more and how can you
map it?
So one of the things I alwayssay about customer journey
mapping, or any mapping is thatwe need a goal, a specific goal

(05:44):
and a scope.
So, once you've kind ofidentified those friction points
, think about what is the goalof mapping this.
Well, look for opportunities tosimplify.
People are constantly sayingit's cumbersome to deal with the
public sector.
What can you do to simplify it?
What can you do to humanize it?
How can you clarify theprocesses that are there?

(06:05):
How can you make sure thatpeople are following the rules
because the rules are easy tounderstand.
So there are lots of ways toreally set the right goal around
what you're trying to do, andyou can tie that back to other
organizational wins for thepublic sector.
For example, if you streamlinea process so that there is less

(06:28):
need for people to visit anoffice, wait in line all the
things that come with that, well, you're going to be saving
expenses.
Now, depending on what you'redoing in the public sector,
those expenses could apply tobetter things.
Maybe you haven't been able toinnovate your technology.

(06:50):
What if you could streamlineenough processes so you're not
getting as many service calls?
What if you can clarify whytaxes and fees and license
application fees, why they'reimportant, so that people are
more likely to pay them on time.
When we start connecting thosedots, it's less about, maybe,
profit, but it's more about, hey, this helps us be efficient and

(07:13):
meet the needs of those we'reserving in better ways.
So there are ways to connect tothose types of financial
results, organizational goalsand simply making it better for
the people that we serve.
And, of course, we want to dothis in a co-creation way.
We want to make sure we'reincluding the people that we're

(07:33):
serving.
So some cities, some states,use something called voice of
the citizen.
How do we collect feedback atkey points to make sure we are
including them in this process?
So this isn't just aboutsurveys, but we want to make
sure we are capturing thingslike emotions and how long are
they waiting in line and what dothey feel about that.

(07:55):
So interviews can be reallyhelpful here.
Inviting citizens into creatingwhat's next can be very helpful
.
Partnering with civicengagement platforms there are
different associations andgroups that can really help you
connect to the people thatyou're serving.
So get creative here.
Look around.
How can we co-create with thepeople that we're serving so

(08:18):
that we get those insightsbefore we put policies and
processes in place to reallydeliver to the public?
And we also want to empoweremployees.
You know we say sometimes thatcustomer experience is
everyone's business, and we meanthat both at the macro level.
Everyone in business, everybusiness, every organization

(08:41):
needs to think about customerexperience and everyone in the
organization needs to understandwhat it is.
Because if they understand whatthis is what we're trying to do
, then they can becomeexperienced engineers.
They can start looking aroundand thinking you know, why are
we doing it this way?
I have an idea, I have a betterway.
So allow that.

(09:03):
Empower employees to reallyconnect with either the
experienced team, or maybe it'sa suggestion box or something
simple where they can say youknow, we're doing it this way,
but I think we could speed it upfor the people we serve.
Those types of ideas andbringing that awareness to the
forefront can really help anyorganization, but especially in

(09:24):
the public sector look aroundand think about how are we going
to do this better for ourpublic?
And that's where you can comein with things like an
experience champion program.
You can incorporate someexperience metrics into team
goals.
You can really get those deeperinsights and turn those
insights into action, which isexactly what we need to do, and

(09:47):
so we want to apply what we'retracking, our key performance
indicators with the mission.
And so if the mission is toserve people in a friendly and
helpful way to help them livetheir best lives, well, it's
hard to live your best life ifyou're waiting in line for two
hours.
So things like decreasing waittime, decreasing processing time

(10:08):
that can actually help you livea mission like that,
introducing and getting adoptionaround, things like digital
self-service options can alsohelp people get to what they
need faster and in the way thatis better for them more
convenient, more mobile all ofthose things that people are
asking for today.

(10:29):
And then we also want to reallylook at communications.
A lot of the complaining frompublic sector, citizens or the
public in general, it's aboutcommunication.
How are you communicatingthings in a way that people can
understand?
So look at your communications.
Can you make those friendlier,more open?
Can you give more options forhey, if you get stuck here, if

(10:53):
you need help, here's how youaccess support.
That's another thing we hear inpublic sector that people don't
know where to go when they havethese problems.
So make it as easy,straightforward and clear as
possible as you're communicating, because if you can make these
changes, you can start trackingthings that tie right back to

(11:14):
that mission.
So if we're communicating moreclearly, that means maybe people
are paying those fees on time,maybe they're voting more, maybe
they are depositing more intothe public bank, maybe they are
using less energy because theyunderstand how to do that more
efficiently.
We can tie things back toexperience metrics that align

(11:38):
with that mission and thenreally in any organization we
would say this but this isespecially important when
talking about the public sectorwe want to create inclusive
experiences.
That means looking at reallyunderstanding, designing for
accessibility and equity, andthat is so important in the
public sector.

(11:58):
We want to serve everybody, sothat means really including
people who can help you withthat conversation and design,
making sure it's not just thephysical spaces that we're
talking about.
It's making sure that everybodyhas equal access to the
information, resources andservices that you provide.

(12:18):
Sometimes that takes beingcreative.
One of my favorite examples ofthis is a library that basically
realized that a lot of youngparents couldn't get to the
library during working hoursbecause newsflash many of them
were working, so they weremissing out on a lot of the
programs designed for youngchildren.

(12:39):
So the library started bringingthe library to them.
They had a service where youcould invite a librarian to come
to your home with a series ofkids' books and really work with
your child one-on-one.
They also did group events onthe weekends in parks and things
like that where kids would be,so bringing it to them, making

(12:59):
it more of their service in away that worked for the very
people they were aiming to serve.
We need to think about how do weinclude more people and what is
it we're not seeing?
What is it that we maybe areassuming that we need to invite
those customers, if you will,into that conversation?

(13:19):
That's where mapping,observation, customer interviews
, that type of thing can be very, very helpful.
And when you are workingthrough this, just like any
other organization, as theleader in experience.
We have to tell that story.
We have to make sure that weare sharing the wins with the
people who need to hear that andin the public sector, that

(13:43):
could include not only ourleaders, but also our citizens,
also the public.
Make sure they're hearing thesestories of impact.
Make sure you are celebratingthe wins as you get them.
So really, as we think aboutexperience work in the public
sector, a lot of it is bringingover those best practices from

(14:04):
customer experience.
It's just a matter of using aslightly different lens to
figure out okay, what is it thatwould be success for us?
So it might not mean morecustomers, it might not mean
more retention, but it couldmean more efficiency, greater
efficiency.
It could mean that we areliving the mission.

(14:25):
We are delivering to morepeople that we promised, that we
are helping people understandand access the very services
that are due to them that maybethey're just not aware of.
So really, look for what arethose things you can measure and
what are the ways that effortinto the experience can make an
impact on really these people'slives.

(14:46):
It's incredibly important workand I think it's fantastic the
number of people who dedicatetheir lives to this.
We really can't thank themenough.
This is incredibly importantfor everybody across the world
to get what we need to havefresh drinking water and
electricity and, you know,schools and all sorts of things.

(15:07):
So we need to make sure that weare telling those stories in
ways that people can reallyunderstand them.
It's really about respect andempathy and inclusion, and I'm
really excited about that.
So thank you for asking thisquestion.
For all of you out there.
If you're curious, how can Iask a question?
It's super easy.

(15:27):
Just go to askjeannievip andyou can record a voicemail for
me.
You can do it on your phone oryour laptop.
You can be anonymous or shareabout you like Raminta did.
So we are so happy you're here.
Thank you so much for joiningus and I will see you next time.
To learn more about ourstrategic approach to experience

(15:49):
, check out free resources atexperienceinvestigatorscom,
where you can sign up for ournewsletter, our Year of CX
program and more, and pleasefollow me, Jeannie Walters, on
LinkedIn.