Digital experience

What is Digital Experience?

Digital experience is the interaction a customer has with an organization on the Internet. Think about the way you feel when you visit a website or use a mobile app, and how you feel after interacting with it. Does it frustrate you? Do you feel engaged? Were you able to do what you came for? People expect an easy online experience, and if we want satisfied customers, we need to deliver.

Digital experience is impacted by:

the content on the site
the way the content is organized
a person's ability to complete tasks on the site

You can create a positive digital experience for your users by making it easy for them to complete the task they came for, whether it's finding information, filling out a form, or making a purchase. If people can find what they're looking for quickly and easily, they're happier with the interaction and, hopefully, with your agency.

There are laws and policies that set standards and requirements for many parts of the digital experience:

21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act - sets digital improvement requirements for public sites
DotGov - domain requirements for .gov
IT Accessibility - law and revised standard
Connected Government Act - requirement for mobile-friendly websites
M-15-13 - HTTPS-only standard for secure web connections
Executive Order 13166 - Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency

21st Century IDEA and GSA

Besides being a smart business practice, providing an enjoyable digital experience is now the law. The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act, otherwise known as 21st Century IDEA, aims to improve the digital experience for government customers and reinforces existing requirements for federal public websites. Any new or redesigned executive agencies' digital services (like sites, forms, and applications) must be:

accessible and usable
based around user needs and tasks
consistent in appearance
securely hosted and connected
original, not duplicating existing content
searchable
mobile-friendly

Agencies will also have to show their progress in a series of annual reports, and move paper-based systems online. It's a heavy but much-needed lift, and we pooled some resources to help agencies implement 21st Century IDEA and improve digital experience.

Shared Services

Digital Analytics Program (DAP) - understand how people are using your content
Dotgov.gov - use .gov domains to make your government services easy to identify on the internet
Federalist - build, launch, and manage an accessible website
Search.gov - help people find the information they need on your website
U.S. Web Design System - design websites that are accessible, mobile-friendly, and easy to use (version 2.0 available now!)

Tools

18F Methods - bring human-centered design into your project
Analytics.USA.gov - see analytics on federal website performance
Digital Dashboard - see reports on federal website performance
Pulse - see how federal government domains are meeting best practices on the web

Buy

18F- find top-of-the-industry digital consulting services
FEDSIM - hands-on, mission-focused program, financial, and acquisition management
IT Schedule 70 - purchase tools and services to build your websites and digital services

Learn & Connect

Websites

Digital.gov - tools, methods, practices and policy guidance for effective, accessible digital services
LEP.gov - resources for limited English proficiency
Plainlanguage.gov - plain language tools, resources, and examples
Section508.gov - create accessible products and services
Usability.gov - tools and resources for a better user experience

Communities