1. Multichannel marketing : An experiment on leading citizens to online public services Marije Teerling Telematica Instituut Marije.Teerling@telin.nl www.kanaleninbalans.nl Willem Pieterson University of Twente W.J.Pieterson@utwente.nl

2. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Channels in Balance | Research background Government Multichannel management Partners: national government agencies, ministries, local government, universities Basic principle: –Citizens’ are able to choose their preferred channel Key topics –Channel synchronization: how to realize consistent information for customers across channels and services –Channel marketing: how to entice customers into using the most cost efficient channel given their problem (usually the electronic channel)

3. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Multichannel marketing| Trends & developments ’90  introduction new (digital) service channels Digital channels  efficiency, lower costs Citizens still mainly use the traditional channels! How can governments lead citizens to the online public services?

4. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Multi-channel marketing | Examples of instruments Singapore eCitizen helpers Municipal Rescricted access to the front desk Land registry (office) Online prices lower than offline prices

5. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Four categories of instruments Citizens prefer soft instruments, like communication and web service offering Strong correlations between ‘positive’ instruments Citizens do not favor compulsory or discriminatory instruments Effectiveness instruments is unclear Communication web service (CWS) Legal / Distribution (LED) Price Web services (PWS) Web Service Offering (WSO).05.26.03.39.62.34 Multichannel marketing instruments | Citizens’ preferences Teerling and Pieterson (2008)

6. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Objective So: Citizens continue to use digital channels. Service provision through digital channels can be more cost efficient. Citizens & governments seem to favor softer instruments like communication. Lack of clarity on the effectiveness of multichannel marketing instruments. Our objective: To determine the effectiveness of communication – specifically through a personal letter – in 1.influencing citizens’ choice of channel and 2.its effects on citizens’ perceptions of service delivery

7. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Multichannel marketing | Field experiment with the SVB Field experiment with Dutch government agency responsible for pensions and child benefit (SVB) First time a citizen submits a claim for child benefit 2 nd – x th child fully automated process Goal: ensure all citizens who are entitled to child benefit receive it as soon as possible 2x2 field experiment Procedure –Current –Experimental Group –Experimental branch offices –Control branch offices

8. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Apllication procedure for child benefit MBR SVB Bi-weekly mailing (3000 ex.) Mailing company System filled Internet application is online Letter & form Application of DigiD Internet form Form send by mail SVB judges application Inform citizen by mail Citizen (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)(8) (9) Standard procedure: Citizens receive a letter and a pre-completed form Experimental procedure: Citizens receive a letter indicating them to go online

9. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Data collection Data collection period: June 2008 during two bi-weekly periods Group ProcedureChannel choiceOffices Customers in the collection period Experimental LetterPost and Website Rotterdam, Zaandam, Deventer, Nijmegen, Roermond 344 per office/mailing; 3,444 in total Control Letter and pre- completed form Website and Phone (followed by post) Groningen, Utrecht, Leiden and Breda 373 per office/mailing; 2,982 in total

10. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Data collection | Measurements Measurement before experiment Average number of claims through each channel (post versus website) Number of letters sent June 2007 Measurement during/after experiment Number of claims through each channel for each group Number of citizens in the experimental group that call for a form Survey amongst citizens in both groups measuring their perceptions with respect to the SVB and the procedure for claiming child benefits

11. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Results | Channel of application % Applications Experimental offices % Applications Control offices OfficePostWebsiteNotOfficePostWebsiteNot Deventer 11,182,36,6 Utrecht 57,738,93,4 Nijmegen 13,581,74,8 Groningen 60,936,82,3 Rotterdam 13,076,210,8 Leiden 59,639,31,1 Roermond 9,580,510,0 Breda 65,432,42,1 Zaandam 11,579,88,6 Average11,780,18,2Average60,936,82,2 Channel of application before the experiment: 63% applied through post (equal for control and experimental offices) 37% applied through the website

12. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Results | Forms requested by phone 333 citizens in the experimental group contacted the SVB to request a form Reasons to request a form: –About 40% did not have access to the internet 33.8% have no access at all 7.7% temporarily did not have access –DigiD 15% did not have a DigiD 20% got stuck using it –Other obstacles Clumsiness in using the internet Language problems Technical problems on the website

13. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Results | Citizens’ perceptions | The letter Respondents are similar in their view of the letter, regardless of which they received. In both conditions respondents were equally pleased with their choice of channels.

14. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Results | Citizens’ perceptions | The procedure

15. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Results | Citizens’ perceptions | Satisfaction

16. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Results | Demographics Average age is 31.89 –Is the approximate average in the Netherlands for women to have their first child Gender –Women are more likely to apply through post than men Experimental group: 16.4% versus 10.7% Control group: 26.2% versus 20.8% –Men are more likely to apply through the website than women Experimental group: 49% versus 39.8% Control group: 19.5% versus 17.6% Education –% of elementary or high school educated citizens is highest in the experimental group applying through phone & post (resp. 26% and 46%) –% of college educated citizens is highest in the control group and experimental group applying through the website (resp. 47% and 42%)

17. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Conclusions Adoption literature indicates the following crucial aspects for adoption: –a well-functioning web service –increasing awareness of e-services –showing that the e-services provide more value than services offered through the traditional channels –building trust Citizens who called for a form: –Lacked trust (in themselves and DigiD) –Got stuck  well-functioning web service By increasing awareness of the e-service through a simple letter –Advantage of the web over the other channels was reached by leaving out the pre-completed form –Usage was practically doubled –Respondents still felt they had a sufficient choice of channels

18. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Experiment | Conclusions Customer groups –Digital divide (based on education level) still needs attention Governments should carefully consider –Implementing a recall mailing possibly with the pre-completed form –Keep website functioning at all times –Make e-services as simple as possible –Improve the identification procedure (DigiD) SVB management was advised to implement the experimental procedure as the standard.

19. www.kanaleninbalans.nl Multichannel Marketing| Future research Communication as information or as propaganda Effectiveness of the other instruments / combinations of instruments Removing barriers to internet use Further research within the project Kanalen in Balans –Qualitative study for the Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs –New smart forms of communication @ SVB –Training & self-service technology @ IBG –From channel choice research to defining a multichannel marketing plan @ 3 Dutch municipalities –Improving the web channel (chat function) @ UWV

20. HICSS – 42 January 5 – 8, 2009 Q