WebProNews

Citizen satisfaction with e-government dipped for a third straight quarter, according to the fourth quarter report of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. (ACSI) Over 100 federal Web sites that were measured fell 0.5 percent to 72.9 on the ACSI's 100-point scale, the lowest score since the second quarter of 2005.

"The e-government sector reflects some of the challenges faced by the e-business sector, which was also down this year," said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. "There haven't been any widespread innovations in these sectors that help diverse segments of site visitors navigate through vast amounts of information quickly and easily."

"Private sector e-commerce, on the other hand, is doing a better job of innovating and setting higher standards for the web experience, and ultimately that influences citizens' perceptions of their e-government experiences as well."

Even with the declining scores for e-government, satisfaction with federal online services still outperforms satisfaction with the overall federal government. E-government scored 8 percent higher than overall federal government, which scored 67.8

Top performing government Web sites, those that score 80 or higher, are inline with private sector top performers. The Social Security Administration continues to lead all e-government Web sites with two top-performing sites: Internet Social Security Benefits Application (88) and Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs (87).

"Improving satisfaction with federal websites will drive more citizens to use the channel, which has the beneficial effect of making them more satisfied with government overall," said Claes Fornell, founder of ACSI at the University of Michigan.