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Create a service that is usable, accessible and intuitive enough that users succeed first time.

How point 2 improves the service

All users should be able to complete the task their service provides the first time they try, as quickly and easily as possible. This includes user with disabilities or those who need assisted digital support. If users find it difficult to complete the task the first time, they may avoid using their service or contact their organisation to get help.

How they’ll be assessed

Their assessment and the questions the assessors ask them will vary depending on their service and what it does.

In the discovery assessment

To pass, the service team usually need to:

  • show that they can explain their service in a simple and accessible manner
  • show that they have thought about how they will assess the success rate of users
  • show that they have a plan in place to support users with assisted digital needs

In the alpha assessment

To pass, the service team usually need to:

  • explain their service in a simple and accessible manner
  • show the majority of users of their service are succeeding the first time they try to use it
  • explain how they used research, testing and analytics to make substantial iterations to their service, including the assisted digital support model
  • explain all end-to-end user journeys, including assisted digital journeys, demonstrate that they work and how they tested them
  • explain the design options they’re considering for their assisted digital support
  • explain how they’ve designed their assisted digital support model to meet user needs and how they’re providing it - if they’re not providing it by telephone, face-to-face, talk through and on-behalf-of, they must explain why
  • explain how their assisted digital support will be sustainably funded and free to users and how this will be done

In the beta assessment

To pass, the service team usually need to:

  • show their service is accessible
  • explain how they’ve done usability testing, including users with the lowest level of digital skills
  • explain what they learned by testing their assisted digital support model
  • explain how they made design and content decisions based on user research, usability testing and analytics
  • discuss how many rounds of usability testing they’ve done, the users they included, the tasks they set, and the materials they gave them to complete the task
  • explain how they’ve changed the interface design in response to usability testing, showing their build, measure, and learn cycles, the hypotheses they tested, what happened and how they reacted

They also need to:

  • show how most people can get through the service end-to-end without assistance
  • explain how they’ve tested their assisted digital support model (the way they plan to help people who lack the skills, confidence or internet access to complete the service on their own)
  • discuss whether their usability testing included the supporting content and proposed start page for the service
  • explain how they tested whether the name of their service makes sense to their users
  • how they’ve used analytics and user research to reduce dropout rates for their digital service