Improvement plan · Step 3 of 7: What
If nobody can say why a form field is there, should it be?
Every question you ask a resident spends some of their patience. Make sure each one earns its place.
The problem
Think of every question you ask as weight in a rocket. Someone applying for a school place will push through a long form, because they must. Someone reporting a broken streetlight on a whim will not. If the checklist is heavier than their drive, they don't take off, and they pick up the phone instead. Take weight out and more residents take off.
The story
When a Channel Islands government began taking walk-in services online, following the UK government's digital standards, some of the paper application packs ran to 17 pages with hundreds of fields. Moving them online wasn't a matter of copying the form. We had to ask, field by field, what the service really needed and what the applicant needed to know first.
What to do
Walk through every page of your chosen task, from the first page a resident lands on to the confirmation, and list:
- what the resident needs to know to decide and act: cost, deadline, eligibility, what happens next
- what you ask them for, field by field, and why
- what they must do: upload, pay, book
Keep this list separate from the order of the steps. The list is what must be exchanged; the order is step 4.
Then audit every question: the section it sits in, the question, how it is asked (drop-down, text field, checkbox) and why you ask it. Just taking the time to fill that in shows you what to improve. A "why" that says "we don't use it any more" is a question you can remove today.
Try this week
Print the form for your chosen task. Next to each field, write who uses the answer. Circle the ones nobody can name.
Fix guides for this step
All fix guides-
Fix guide
Fewer bin day calls start with one thing the best service pages do
Most council tax pages let residents pay in a few taps. Bin day, school places and adult social care pages often explain the service but stop short of the answer, and that gap ends in a phone call. This guide shows you how to spot those pages and fix them, no developer needed.
What else helps
Want help with this step?
Book a free 30 minute call, or email david@digitaljourneycoach.com.
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