Underperforming websites could be costing councils £11m a month
09 January 2010

Underperforming websites could be costing UK councils collectively up to £11m a month as people unsuccessful in accessing online information and services turn instead to other, more expensive-to-service channels like the phone or walk-in contact centres.

This finding comes from data collected in September by Socitm Insight’s Website Takeup service, and is published in its latest Customer Access Improvement Service briefing, published on 18 December. Copies of the briefing can be downloaded free of charge from www.socitm.gov.uk by subscribers to Socitm Insight and subscribers of any component of the Customer Access Improvement Service.

On average, a fifth of site visitors couldn’t find the information they needed. That equates to 4.4 million failures in dealing with online enquiries across all local authorities. As each call to a council is estimated to cost roughly £2.50 to handle, local authorities could be haemorrhaging up to £11m each month.