Key Takeaways:
- People value omnichannel benefit program customer experiences: 60% will call an agency when seeking information — nearly as many as will visit a website
- Agencies need to invest more in online enrollment to meet demand: 79% plan to enroll in a government program in the next three years and want to do so online
- Online enrollment CX can be streamlined to reduce remote identity proofing burden: One in four planning to apply online were concerned about significant delays in accessing benefits
Keys to reduce enrollment burdens: Remote identity proofing and an omnichannel customer experience
Constituents often don’t utilize government benefit programs they may be eligible for due to administrative costs — or the “time tax” — required to learn about a program, complete paperwork, gather required documents and engage a government agency. Transforming the federal customer experience (CX) to reduce these burdens and be more efficient has been the focus of administrations going back to the 1990s.
Private sector firms excel in delivering on-demand, omnichannel customer experiences that have shaped consumers’ expectations. To make benefit programs more efficient, agencies have focused on the online availability of program education, benefit application, eligibility certification and support information. While agencies have improved CX and streamlined benefit enrollment and administration, there’s still room for improvement.
In many instances, programs improved access to populations and communities by enabling benefit enrollment online. Unfortunately, online benefits administration cannot singularly improve CX. In fact, this can actually introduce new burdens while opening programs to digital fraud, waste and abuse — as seen on an unprecedented scale during the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To protect benefit programs while delivering more seamless CX, agencies need to mitigate the time tax related to remote identity proofing. To understand the scope of this burden and provide insight into mitigation, TransUnion surveyed consumers about their experiences, preferences and beliefs regarding enrollment in government benefit programs.*
Why is omnichannel CX for government benefit administration important?
Gone are the days of constituents trudging to their local social services, Social Security, unemployment or farm bureau office to apply for a benefit program. But that doesn’t mean people have completely abandoned personal interactions with agency officials. In fact, the opposite is true. Constituents value an omnichannel experience that harmonizes online, mobile, call center and in-person channels to help them get information and assistance needed to access benefits.
Call center equally important to online channel for support
Nearly as many people seeking information about benefit programs will call an agency as will visit an agency website; 60% and 61%, respectively. The call center channel is even more important when constituents are responding to unexpected communication delivered via postal mail; 66% indicated they’d call the agency in response vs. less than half (47%) who would visit the agency website. Not only that, 39% indicated they’d visit an agency office in this situation.
While people predominantly rely on agency websites for information, education and benefit administrations, agencies should curate more seamless omnichannel experiences — especially in support channels — to drive CX initiatives. The IRS Filing Season 2023 Report Card found the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was able to hire new customer service representatives, enabling the agency to cut phone wait times in 2023 to 4 minutes compared to nearly 30 minutes the previous year. Beyond expanding staffing resources, agencies can implement call tools and technology to introduce more time-effective automation and authentication procedures. When a caller identity is verified automatically before reaching customer service, agents can begin more calls by immediately diving into customer concerns.
Online channel is preferred for benefit enrollment
The only area where constituents have a clear preference for online services is when enrolling for benefits; 46% stated they prefer to apply online using a personal computer or tablet, and 22% said they prefer online via a mobile phone. Despite this, if they run into trouble while completing an online application, they’re equally likely to pick up the phone and call an agency for help as they are to use a digital channel like a website chat function.
Why invest more in CX for online benefit enrollment?
Most (69%) constituents were clear in indicating their preferences for online channels when it comes to benefit enrollment. But even more constituents planned to apply online. Overall, 79% of respondents who said they planned to enroll in a government program in the next three years intend to do so online. This is an attitude shared broadly across age and income groups which highlights both the demand for online government services and the need to design equitable, accessible experiences across demographic groups. It’s important government agencies consider all aspects of constituent experiences to support this demand for online benefit enrollment.
Planning to apply for programs remotely in the next three years by age (Q0)
How do agencies evaluate administrative burdens in online enrollment?
While there’s been success in reducing administrative burdens across many agency programs, online enrollment is ripe for evaluation given how important it is to constituents. Improving access by reducing burden in the online enrollment process involves delivering on all aspects of the constituent experience, and instilling confidence and trust in the process.
People who enrolled online were more likely to report delays or denials compared to respondents engaging in-person or via phone enrollments.
Current online benefit enrollment is good but not great
The majority (59%) of respondents who’ve previously enrolled for benefits online said the application process was convenient. At the same time, 21% were not able to complete their applications quickly. In addition, of those who’ve never personally applied online, 19% said the application process looks too difficult or confusing, and 11% said they didn’t have the documents required to apply. While agencies have improved the process through online enrollment, there’s still work to do to broaden access.
Some consumers have bypassed online applications due to perceived difficulty
Of those who’ve previously applied for government benefits, more than 80% did so remotely. Among the 16% of respondents who hadn’t recently applied for a government program online, less than 25% said that was because they preferred offline options.
For the remainder, lack of online avenues or difficulty following an online process meant consumers used a less convenient channel for engaging the government. Agencies have an opportunity to correct the notion their online processes are difficult, unsecure and/or unavailable.
Online enrollment lags other channels in effective application processing
While most respondents found online enrollment convenient, people who enrolled online were more likely to report delays or denials compared to respondents engaging in-person or via phone enrollments. The most significant areas of difference between online and in-person enrollment involved providing proof of eligibility (4.8-percentage point difference), trouble understanding forms (4.5-percentage point difference) and providing proof of identity (4-percentage point difference). Another 5.1% of respondents indicated the government agency couldn’t verify their identities during the online enrollment process, particularly troubling for those who may benefit from a government program the most.
People associate online identity verification with delays in accessing their benefits
Despite a clear preference for online enrollment, that preference comes with some sense of trepidation regarding identity verification. Respondents noted a disconnect between expectations and reality regarding the length of time required to collect the information needed to verify one’s identity during online applications. Nearly half (46.3%) of respondents would prefer to spend less than 10 minutes doing so, but just 37.0% of respondents with prior online applications indicated their experiences met that expectation.
Not only did remote identity verification take more time than expected, about one in four respondents planning to apply for a government program online in the next three years said they were “concerned” or “very concerned” identity verification could result in a significant delay in accessing that benefit or service.
What are the experiences versus expectations of online application identity verification?
How to streamline online enrollment CX by reducing identity verification burden
While online identity verification is clearly a burden to some who complete online enrollment applications, it’s proverbial low-hanging-fruit. Constituents value the ability to verify their identities online and are willing to share the required information to prove this remotely. ity verification?
Consumers prefer online rather than in-person avenues for identity verification
When asked specifically about identity verification — often the most cumbersome portions of an enrollment process — 70% of respondents preferred online over in-person options. However, agencies prepared to offer online ID proofing need to consider people’s expectations regarding ease of use. A poor online experience may be worse than not having one at all.
Constituents willing to provide necessary documentation for online identity verification
Most respondents were comfortable providing different forms of identifying information via a device like a PC, smartphone, laptop or tablet during an online enrollment process. They’re most comfortable sharing a government issued ID (78%) and least comfortable sharing financial documents (27%). Agencies should consider biometric identity proofing carefully; respondents were more comfortable sharing a photo of their faces than their thumbprints (70% vs. 63%, respectively). While people may be comfortable with sharing this data, agencies must consider the challenges involved with collecting this information from people remotely, and ensure they have robust “help desk” procedures for struggling applicants.
How to reduce administrative burden in online benefit enrollment
Current enrollment application CX processes can be further improved to meet constituent expectations.
- While people prefer online, on-demand channels for enrollment, they expect robust on-demand services for navigating process inquiries and challenges.
- The shift to online enrollment will likely also increase volume to agency hotlines and call centers, so agencies should prepare accordingly to reduce administrative burdens related to an omnichannel service model.
- Of particular importance is ensuring identity verification processes are designed to meet the needs of constituents, especially those with less traditional backgrounds. This can be improved using a variety of data sources for identity verification that reflect the diverse life experiences of an agency’s constituents.
Bolster call center operations to manage constituent inquiries
Despite many agencies improving the availability of educational materials on agency websites, consumers with questions or concerns will use whichever channel is most convenient at the time to contact an agency with an inquiry. That means applicants will continue to use call centers as an opportunity for recourse. It also means agency leaders need to work with teams in every channel, including call centers, to break down data siloes and ensure a consistent account authentication process is applied regardless of channel.
Consumers with questions or concerns will use whichever channel is most convenient at the time to contact an agency with an inquiry
Call center leaders should implement integrated inbound call authentication technology based on robust phone and device reputation. This allows applicants and recipients to seamlessly utilize both call center and digital channels without the risk of being inconvenienced by further scrutiny due to false positives.
For call centers, high-risk calls can immediately be routed for additional authentication or to fraud teams. It also allows trusted calls to move through to interactive voice response (IVR) or representatives with little to no additional authentication
Invest more in online constituent experiences to meet demand
Agencies still struggle to respond to persistent digital fraud. Identity verification and authentication checks play a role in reducing fraudulent payments and costs associated with damaged reputations and recovery. However, agencies looking to improve digital constituent experiences must meet demand while reducing fraud risk.
Agency performance means enabling enrollment and utilization for those eligible. This requires reducing friction for applicants and benefits recipients alike. Minimizing friction increases consumer convenience, as well as confidence the agency will protect their personal data and deliver the digital experience they seek.
To increase confidence in consumer identities and reduce the need for additional verification, fraud leaders should utilize an identity graph. Implement a solution that provides access to robust offline and online identity attributes like name, terrestrial address, email address and phone number. That identity data, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) can be combined in a graph that continuously connects relevant identity attributes.
To increase confidence in consumer identities and reduce the need for additional verification, fraud leaders should use a solution providing access to robust offline and online identity attributes.
Leveraging identity graph technology for identity verification can help streamline new applications by reducing additional verification steps in the first critical moments of the user experience.
Leaders should focus on risk-based authentication — continuous assessment of the user session — to interrogate the user further if risk of fraud appears to increase. Agencies should implement multifactor authentication like secure one-time passcode OTP (for SMS, ensure evaluation for phone takeover risk) or an app-based push notification. They might also consider a seamless authentication process facilitated by device-based authentication.
Streamline online enrollment to reduce remote identity proofing burden
Concerns of benefits delays demand improving all the tools in the remote identity proofing toolkit. Using device reputation tracking (aka device fingerprinting) can aid in assessing risk to reduce friction. But relying exclusively on device reputation is risky: Fraudsters often cycle through real or emulated devices to thwart the tracking of previously seen devices. Unknown devices may present a question mark to a device fingerprinting solution, leading to an increase in fraud risk, false positives and unnecessary friction. Without additional risk signals, there’s no way to determine whether users behind new devices deserve a warm welcome or additional scrutiny.
Using additional risk signals helps determine the trustworthiness of the device and the identity using it before authentication is initiated, potentially catching fraudsters early in the user journey to better avoid unnecessary downstream costs. It can help reduce false positives for consumers using a new device or new users establishing a new application.
Keys to a better omnichannel benefit enrollment experience
Whether in the public or private sector, constituents value omnichannel experiences. The overwhelming majority of constituents plan to enroll for government benefits online. While the experience with online enrollment is generally positive, agencies need to continue to improve all steps in the process. For example, though people predominantly rely on agency websites for information, education and benefit administrations, they may use many channels throughout their enrollment journeys. Investment in online enrollments to meet demand — as well as tools to improve interactions in constituent support channels like call centers — will be critical to the successful design and delivery of modernized experiences. Online enrollment specifically must also be streamlined to further reduce administrative burdens and provide more accessible and equitable services for Americans.
TransUnion to learn how we can help your agency or organization improve benefit utilization by reducing benefit enrollment burdens.
Methodology*
TransUnion partnered with Dynata to conduct a nationwide survey in mid-2023 of 1,006 adults living in the United States (incl. territories) who said they previously applied for government benefits and/or plan to do so in the next three years, randomly selected from a broad data panel. This survey was administered via the Qualtrics platform, and all responses were anonymized prior to analysis. Standard R & Python libraries were used to facilitate data ingest, cleanup and analysis.
