CX is not just a set of actions, but also focuses on feelings. How do your audiences feel about your organization and brand? At every customer “touchpoint,” you can improve how your stakeholders feel about you.

Your website is a crucial brand touchpoint. It’s where a significant amount of your audience members will come to look for more information, resources, and products. 

There has never been a more critical time for mission-driven organizations to prioritize creating an inclusive customer experience. A positive CX with a brand, resource, or service significantly impacts an organization’s success.

How do you track how satisfied your customers are with your website?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to this process. Every organization has different goals that they will need to track against, and different challenges that make tracking website success difficult. Whether it’s determining what content leads to conversions, or tracking the CX experience among a complex system of different branded websites, there are some unique challenges that mission-driven organizations face when it comes to tracking customer satisfaction.

There are several CX key performance indicators (KPIs) we recommend to get started. You can use these to gauge how the customer experience of your website improves or worsens over time, and ultimately evaluate the success of your website against your organization’s outreach goals.

Valuable CX KPIs to consider 

1. Engagement time and scroll depth

One very helpful metric to understand your audience’s experience of your content is a combination of engagement time and scroll depth. Looking at both of these metrics together tells you much more than just one of them alone. If someone spends enough time on your page and scrolls down far enough to read your content, that indicates that they found it interesting and useful. Conversely, if they spend time on your page but don’t scroll, or scroll but don’t spend very long, then they may be looking for something else, or perhaps they are interested but want to save it for later, or find a different format. Depending on your measurement system, combining these metrics usually means creating some custom tracking, but the increased insight can be well worth it!

2. Content versus views

There are other metrics that can provide a glimpse into your site’s CX as well. Comparing the relative size of a group of content to the relative amount of views it gets can help you decide what type of content is most valued by your audience. For example, if pages within your “about us” section constitute 25% of all pages on your site, but only get 5% of the views, it is likely that this content is not highly valued by your audience. But if a “research” section is another 25% of all pages and receives 50% of all views, that indicates that your audience really values the content and it would be worthwhile to create more of it.

3. Search activity

If your site has an internal search function, this can be a goldmine for audience insight. You can see which terms people entered, and consider what this means about your site. Perhaps you have content related to the term, but it isn’t easy to find. That is an indicator that your site structure or terminology is confusing to your users. Or perhaps you don’t have related content, and you can get good ideas for what to publish next. You can also track situations where someone uses your site search but then leaves– a good indicator that they did not find what they needed.

These are several KPIs that can help you begin to measure your website’s CX. They will give you a better understanding of the kinds of content that are most relevant to your audiences, and whether people are finding what they are looking for when they come to your site. As you track these metrics over time, you will be able to see whether changes to your site have the impact you intended and are meeting your larger CX goals.

Once the website is built—the scaffolding, structure, and design—your content is what brings it to life. But when you start adding up all the pages and posts and images and assets on your website, this might feel like a daunting project. Here are a few guiding principles and tips to help you feel empowered and organized as you head into this pivotal process.

You can never start too early

Content migration isn’t just about copying and pasting your current content into a new site. (There will be a lot of copying and pasting though.) It often entails rethinking how you want to communicate about your organization in the new structure and style you’re pursuing with your redesign project. While the bulk of the hands-on work of content migration will happen near the end of development, you should start planning for this phase as soon as the project starts. Some key things to consider early on include establishing your content goals and policies: What content will be most impactful on your new website? What’s the review and approval process? What’s your content retention policy? 

You can also start the content preparation process early, usually as soon as your sitemap and content model are finalized. It is better to finish content preparation early and have time at the end for proofing and finessing content, rather than facing a mad scramble to write and review content at the end that may delay the quality assurance process or website launch date.

As you start creating and gathering content, set up a shared workspace, where folders can be created, collaborative documents can be edited and reviewed by the team, and documents and images can be gathered.

Build your content team

Creating and migrating content to your new website is a team effort. When you start your project, you’ll also want to identify who will contribute to and manage the content team. You’ll want to answer: 

• Who has the ultimate authority on your content?
• How many people on the content team need to look at each piece of content? 
• Whose voice or perspective should be captured?
• What other teams will be impacted by the website content? 
• Who has the skills to manage hands-on content management in the CMS?

You can leverage a RACI matrix (outlining who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed) as a foundation for these conversations, and use this as an opportunity to generate buy-in across your organization for the website project.

You’ll also need to consider your team’s capacity. Factor in how much content needs to be created or reviewed, who needs to review it, and who needs time to write it. Set aside time for content editors to write, review, and attend recurring meetings, and plan ahead for this to take some time in everyone’s schedule. This is also the time to ensure you have organizational support for this work to take priority.

Get to the finish line

Once your website is ready for content loading, it’s crunch time. Even with all the preparation and planning, the effort of manual content migration is going to be a big lift for you and your team. Head into this phase with a marathon mindset. 

A common misconception is that this process can happen automatically. While automated migration is an option, especially for less stylized or more standardized content, even automated migration will require some time and effort to review and polish to ensure migrated content fits well into your new website. 

On average, manual migration takes between three and six minutes per piece of content. So if you have 100 pages on your website, you’ll need up to ten dedicated hours of content migration time. If you have 1000 pages, you may need 100 hours. Content with images, attachments or customized layouts will take longer to migrate, so consider prioritizing which pages leverage the full suite of paragraph components for launch, which need to be live for launch, and which or could be tackled later.

Figure out what you need to execute this work successfully. For some people, setting up a “war room” where everyone involved can focus on this task and have a central place and time to work is helpful. For others, setting aside one dedicated hour per day over a span of a few weeks is more manageable. Everyone should have some chocolate (or your snack of choice) on hand, and consider setting up some sort of small reward process for each content group you finish to keep the motivation strong. Find what works best for you and give yourself the space you need to get the work done.

Celebrate your new site and content

Content migration may seem like a heavy and time-consuming task, but it’s also the time you get to know your new website, how it works for you, and how it can help tell your story in new and dynamic ways. And as you look forward to launching your new website, you’ll feel that much more confident!

All our mission-driven partners want an accessible website that helps users easily find information and perform important tasks. The website also needs to comply with laws and regulations. Automated accessibility checkers can be extremely helpful, but only cover about 30% of potential issues.

What about the other 70%?

How to test for accessibility standards that automated tools can’t cover

For a website, automated checkers are great at testing parts of success criteria, flagging potential issues for manual review, assisting with manual reviews, and checking for compliance with WCAG standards. But humans are still needed for judgment. Truly ensuring accessibility requires evaluating whether an experience is “equivalent” to the common use, judging if captions, alt text, and other supportive material are accurate, and determining intent. Unfortunately there’s no such thing as a fully automated accessibility check system. 

A detailed process for accessibility checking isn’t possible to cover in one blog post. But here we’ve outlined 12 major areas and processes for accessibility review, with tips along the way for what you’ll need to test manually, and what free tools can be used to help. Reference the presentation slides for a detailed list of methods to use to test for specific WCAG success criteria.

1. Automated Checks

Run an automated checker first, before manual testing. Consider if you want to fix issues caught in this step before manual testing, and if you do, run the automated checker again before manual testing. 

Free tools: 

• Accessibility Insights for Web
• Siteimprove Accessibility Checker*
• Axe DevTools*

* Siteimprove and Axe DevTools have free browser extensions in addition to their paid products.

2. Content Review

In a content review, check that everything that should be a heading is tagged as one, and that nothing is tagged as a heading that doesn’t function as one (don’t use headings as a way to apply styles). Ensure your content structure is clear and headings describe the topic. Avoid images of text, and make sure the language of the page is set accurately. 

Free Tools:

• WAVE Browser Extension
• W3C Easy Checks Heading Structure
• W3C Easy Checks Image Alternative Text
• W3C Easy Checks Language of Page

3. Keyboard and Screen Reader

Perform manual testing while using a keyboard and screen reader. Skim content and tab through the page to ensure content is announced in a meaningful order and focus indicators are functional and logical. 

Free Tools:

• NVDA (free downloadable screen reader for Windows)
• Voiceover (screen reader included in Mac OS)
• W3C Easy Checks bookmarklets:
  • Page Title
  • Skip Link

4. Mouse / Pointer

Use a mouse to test mouse and pointer-specific success criteria. Ensure that hover content is dismissible, hoverable, and persistent, and that all functionality can be operated using a single pointer without dragging. 

Free tools: None of note. 

5. Auto-play

If the page has content that automatically plays or moves, check to ensure users can pause, stop, or control volume separately from system volume, that there’s no flashing, and that any moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating action can be paused, stopped, or hidden. 

Free tools: None of note. 

6. Multimedia

If the page contains embedded multimedia, check to ensure that captions and audio descriptions are provided, and that transcripts or other equivalent content is provided. 

Free tools: None of note. 

7. User Input / Forms

If the page contains fields the user can change, check to confirm that labels and instructions are  accurate and errors are clearly explained and fixable. Automated tests will typically flag if labels are missing or not associated with an input field.

Free tools: 

• W3C Easy Checks Form Field Labels
• W3C Easy Checks Required Fields

8. Contrast

Automatic checkers will flag some contrast issues, but not all, and will give some false flags. Use a tool with an “eyedropper” function to test contrast with text against an image background

Free tools: 

• Colour Contrast Analyser 

9. Screen Settings

Screen settings cover a user’s ability to enlarge text or spacing, or change the page orientation. Some of these settings can be disruptive, so it’s helpful to group them together in testing. 

Free tools: 

• Accessibility Insights for Web for text spacing 

10. Across Multiple Pages

Ensure users can navigate content easily, find important information like contact and help, and move from page to page in multiple ways such as through search, interlinking, table of contents.

Free tools: None of note. 

11. Other

While even the above list is not exhaustive, there are other components to consider. Test for common issues around relying solely on color or sensory characteristics, tables, target size, and authentication. Make sure that no uncommon scenarios apply, such as custom keyboard shortcuts, timing, or motion actuation.

Free Tools: 

• ANDI for reviewing tables

12. Record and Report

You might use a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) to create an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). A less-formal report would include a summary, recommendations for priorities, methodology, areas of success, and outstanding issues.

There’s a lot to do! 

Don’t let the complexity of accessibility standards deter you. Whether you’re looking to assess your progress or create a sustainable self-evaluation process, we’re here to help. Get in touch below!

What is Brand Positioning?

Brand positioning can be summarized as the process of establishing the uniqueness of your organization’s brand to convey its value proposition. In other words, a brand position explores what sets your organization apart from competitors, identifies your target market, and showcases the value and promise you bring to that market.

A brand positioning strategy can bring several positive impacts:

• It clarifies what your organization does. Most organizations have an easy time explaining what they do and how they do it, but many struggle with digging deeper into why they do it. Why does your organization exist? Why should people care about what you do? A brand positioning strategy will help answer these questions and bring a deeper clarity about what you do to your audience.
• It helps you stand out to your audience. There’s an ever-growing list of items that compete for our attention each day, which makes it even harder for organizations to stand out to their audiences. Your brand positioning strategy will provide the framework needed to ensure your messaging cuts through the noise and resonates with the right audience.
• It creates alignment across your internal and external messaging. Cohesion across messaging is a vital part of a brand’s long-term success. It aids in brand recognition, helps build trust and credibility, and provides your audience with a seamless experience across all touchpoints with your organization.
• It drives strategic decisions. A brand positioning strategy lays the groundwork for informed decisions. Often, you need to make strategic decisions fast. This strategy serves as a clear direction for what strategic moves are in line with your brand, allowing you to move forward quickly when needed.

Key Parts of an Effective Brand Positioning Strategy

Ready to put together a brand positioning strategy? Here are a few key elements to include:

• Brand Promise – When creating your brand positioning strategy, begin with your commitment to your audience. A brand promise, while typically short and memorable like a slogan, serves as the foundation for an organization’s identity and tells your audience what they can expect each time they interact with your brand. It should be short and memorable, unique, and convey value. For example, the brand promise of Coca-Cola is reported to be, in part: “To inspire moments of optimism and uplift.”
• Insight Discovery – Generating insights about your brand and audience can help form many aspects of your brand positioning strategy. Generate insights by determining the true drivers behind your audience’s current behaviors, perceptions, and needs. Once discovered, these insights can help guide your communication about your organization’s value.
• Positioning Statement – No brand positioning strategy is complete without a solid positioning statement, which documents the unique value your organization brings to your target audience. This statement should be developed for an internal audience but used as a guide for all marketing communication. When developing your positioning statement, begin by answering these four questions:
  • What is my organization’s target market?
  • What industry is my organization in?
  • What is my organization’s unique value?
  • How does my organization provide this value?

While brand positioning strategies should be unique to every organization, they are similar in their framework for delivering compelling messages. A successful brand positioning strategy will help you communicate your organization’s unique value and create messages that resonate with your audience.

Ready to get to work on a brand strategy of your own, or don’t know where to start? We’re happy to help and ready to talk: reach out to inquiries@forumone.com.

IAAP advocates for the inclusive design and creation of accessible products, content, services, and spaces to ensure no one is left behind due to a physical, sensory, cognitive, health or psychological related impairment.

Why Accessibility Matters

For many years, we’ve written about our commitment to helping mission-driven partners achieve their accessibility goals. Back in 2020, with the post Accessible Design is Good Design: Humanizing Section 508 & Accessibility, we explored not only the requirements side of accessibility, making sure that websites pass 508 compliance standards, but why truly understanding and embracing accessibility empowers all users:

“Stop thinking of Section 508 and accessibility as some troublesome, annoying box you need to check, and start thinking of it in terms of helping human beings. Think of it in terms of doing the right thing. This is a moral issue, a humanist issue. It’s important. It means something. If you are out there doing a job you don’t really think makes a difference in the big scheme of things, but has within it the possibility of making your website accessible, you can indeed make a difference. Your job is important. Go make a difference in someone’s life. Make your website accessible.“

Last year, Forum One’s Accessibility Lead Jeanette Stair presented at Drupal GovCon on accessibility. As all publicly-funded web projects must comply with accessibility standards, this is a big topic at the conference. Jeanette’s presentation, and the blog post adapted from it, walked partners through the process of evolving accessibility in existing projects, shifting mindsets from “passing” at launch to a continuous process of prioritizing accessibility. 

Today, our membership in IAAP is just one more concrete step we’re making to ensure our organizational culture and strategies support accessibility for our own internal team, our clients, and the external audiences they all reach.

Learn more

Want to understand more about accessibility? Dive into our back catalog of posts on the topic:

• A Content Editor’s Guide to Writing Good, Meaningful Alt Text
• Demystifying the Cost of Accessible Websites: Is Accessibility Worth the Commitment?
• Three Steps to Get Started with Accessibility
• Design Series: Ensuring Accessibility
• Best Practices: Creating Alt Text for Social Media
• An Accessibility & Inclusion Checklist for Virtual Events
• 5 Things You Can Do to Make the Web a More Inclusive Place

As a major historic landmark and tourist attraction in New York City, Trinity Church Wall Street has a vast audience base, including international tourists (Alexander Hamilton’s gravesite is there), active churchgoers, music lovers, art historians, academics, and community groups. Each has different interests and purposes, so delivering unique personalization as a way to serve discrete audiences with different needs is paramount. Forum One has been working with Trinity for over four years to optimize its approach to website personalization, by creating online experiences that spark engagement.

Using AR to take engagement to the next level

Most recently, in collaboration with Trinity and Cortina Productions, Forum One supported the development of an Augmented Reality (AR) experience integrated with the website, that offers visitors a limited number of interactive tours of the Church’s art, architecture, and history, including the multiple stories hidden in plain sight in a new stained glass window at the entrance to the church.

AR experiences that offer choice and selection 

To provide experiences that meet the needs of differing by major audience groups, the AR experience features three tour options: 

• A cemetery tour, highlighting notable figures like Alexander Hamilton 
• An exploration of the stained glass window 
• An explanation of the stories and sacraments depicted around the altar

The interactive experience allows visitors to engage with Trinity’s rich history in a new and innovative way. To develop the AR experience, Forum One and Cortina Productions took a phased approach, first launching a beta version, and then making content available through Contentful, a headless CMS. This approach enabled Trinity staff to independently manage and update the AR experience’s content.

Leveraging a taxonomy-driven approach, the app drives traffic to more in-depth content on their website, creating a deeper level of engagement to connect in-person visitors to their digital offerings.

Delivering results

Expertly executed digital personalization enables Trinity to authentically connect with diverse audiences on an individual level. The AR platform received more than 10,000 views in the first four months after launch, engaging onsite visitors with informative and interactive insights. The success of the AR experience demonstrated the potential of digital technologies to enhance the visitor experience at historic sites and landmarks.

The collaborative effort between Trinity, Forum One, and Cortina Productions in creating the AR experience exemplifies the power of immersive digital experiences to transform how visitors engage with cultural and historical institutions. 

By leveraging technology and creative collaboration, museums and landmarks can create innovative experiences that transcend physical limitations, offering visitors a deeper and more interactive understanding of their surroundings.

The Collision Awards is a prestigious, global awards program dedicated to honoring excellence in Animation and Motion Design in all its forms. 

Out of thousands of entries from over 30 countries, Forum One’s digital work with the Freedmen’s Bureau Search Portal, produced by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), was selected a Silver Collision winner in the category of Marketing & Communications – Arts & Culture.

The Freedmen’s Bureau Search Portal

In 2016 NMAAHC launched the Freedmen’s Bureau Transcription Project in the Smithsonian Transcription Center to ensure the millions of federal records that documented formerly enslaved individuals in the U.S. were not lost. Since then, thousands of volunteers have transcribed hundreds of thousands of image files of the more than 1.7 million pages of documents in the Freedmen’s Bureau archive, the largest transcription project ever undertaken by the Smithsonian.

To make these files as searchable as possible, NMAAHC teamed up with Forum One and Quotient, to build the Freedmen’s Bureau Search Portal. Through this online portal, anyone can search the transcribed and indexed Freedmen’s Bureau Archive in one place. 

Congratulations to the NMAAHC team, Quotient, and everyone on the Forum One team for their award-winning work!

So, how should you adjust your digital strategy over the next few months? As we get closer to Election Day, here are some key things to consider:

Don’t take a big pause from now until December 

If your organization has big fundraising goals or missions to accomplish this year, the election shouldn’t stop you. Even in contentious elections, life goes on. For example, we know that people still donate to nonprofits during an election year, with fundraising in 9 of the last 10 presidential elections actually increasing year over year.

But be smart about timing and targeting 

More than $16 billion is expected to be spent on advertising for the elections this year. That’s a lot of noise! It will be particularly acute in swing states. So, especially if you’re trying to reach people in places like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, or Georgia, launching a new campaign in October or a new website the first week of November might not yield the best ROI. You may also face restrictions on where and how you can invest your marketing dollars due to both competition and rules imposed by social media companies in the lead-up to Election Day.

Focus on solutions

Much of the noise caused by election coverage and advertisements will be focused on the problems we experience in the US and which side is to blame for them. People are desperate to hear solutions, and mission-driven organizations are often the ones at the center of providing solutions. Use the moment to connect with your audiences and demonstrate what that solution is.

Look at your data and listen to your donors and constituents

This is true for non-election years too, but the best way to understand how to move your audiences is to listen to them. Find a way to connect one-on-one with audience members. Build a survey, do user testing, or engage on social media and ask them how and what they want to hear from you during this time. You can also dive into your data from four years ago to give a picture of what to expect from your audiences. Though some online user behavior has changed since the last election, looking at whether (at all) the last presidential election had an impact on traffic or engagement can help you anticipate how your audience might react during this election cycle.

Remember that there’s a lot more than the election going on

We are experiencing big changes in how people engage with mission driven organizations. With the rise of AI,  shifts in institutional expectations, and fewer people engaged with and donating to nonprofits, there are more reasons than the election that you’ll need to be taking a close look at your digital strategy. 

Have questions about how to optimize your digital strategy during the election season? Let’s chat.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that global internet usage accounts for 3.7% of global CO2 emissions, equivalent to the emissions of global air traffic. Organizations utilizing digital products to create meaningful change should not only aim for robust and efficient solutions but also solutions that minimize their overall environmental impact. 

This post explores the critical elements involved in building sustainable digital products, from developing the initial product strategy and design to sustainable development practices and choosing the right infrastructure.

Begin with Sustainability in Mind

Sustainability should be a core consideration from the earliest stages of digital strategy and planning. When devising the strategy for a new website or digital product, it’s essential to consider the long-term impact of the project. This means planning for scalability, longevity, and energy efficiency from the outset.

• Set Clear Goals: Integrating sustainability into the digital strategy from the outset ensures long-term viability and efficiency. This involves setting clear goals that align with sustainable outcomes such as reducing server loads and optimizing energy consumption. Each phase of a digital product’s lifecycle, from planning to deployment, should aim to minimize environmental impact.
• Lifecycle Thinking: Consider the entire lifecycle of the digital product. From planning and design to development and deployment, every stage should be optimized for minimal environmental impact.
• Renewable Energy: When evaluating third-party vendors, consider their use of renewable energy and/or carbon offsets as an important factor in measurably reducing environmental impact.

Design with Purpose

The design and user experience of a digital product can have an enormous impact on how much energy it uses. Good design and user experience are not only good for users, but good for minimizing environmental impact. 

• Streamlined User Journeys: Design with a user-first approach to help users find what they need faster and reduce the amount of time spent searching for information and completing tasks, thereby reducing the energy consumption associated with server requests and page loads.
• Mobile-First Layout: Ensure sites are optimized for mobile devices, which is not just good UX—but also a sustainability practice. Digital Products designed to be Mobile-First, load faster and consume less data, which translates to lower energy use.
• Dark Mode and Color Palettes: Implementing a dark mode can significantly reduce power usage on devices with OLED or AMOLED screens. Moreover, using dark mode from the start can further decrease energy consumption across all devices.

Optimize for Performance

The way a digital product is built can significantly affect its environmental footprint. Following best practices when it comes to performance and accessibility can dramatically decrease the carbon footprint.

• Minimize Data Transfer: Reduce the size of files that need to be downloaded by minifying CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files, and leveraging compression techniques like Gzip.
• Clean Coding Practices: Use clean, streamlined code and avoid unnecessary or bloated libraries, plugins, modules, or frameworks that add overhead and increase load time and processing power.
• Image Optimization: Consider next-gen image formats such as WebP and utilize tools that automatically optimize images for format and file size. 
• Adaptive Strategies: Implement features like lazy loading for images and other media and leverage browser caching to further decrease the energy footprint.
• Consider Composable Solutions: Composable architectures, such as those built on microservices, allow for more granular scaling. This means only the components experiencing high demand need to be scaled up, which can lead to significant energy savings compared to scaling an entire monolithic application.

Choose the Right Infrastructure

The choice of hosting solutions can make a significant difference in the sustainability of a digital product. Opting for hosting solutions that prioritize energy efficiency can significantly reduce carbon emissions.

• CDNs and Edge Networks: Utilize CDNs and Edge Networks to minimize latency and reduce the energy required to deliver content to global users. By caching content closer to the end user and reducing the data travel distance, the carbon footprint is reduced.
• Database Optimization: Optimize database queries with indexing, proper schema design, and efficient query statements.
• On-Demand Resource Utilization: Deploy digital products into cloud environments and utilize technologies like containers or serverless functions to ensure that resources can be precisely allocated based on real-time demand and de-allocated or not spun up when not in use, minimizing idle resource consumption.
• Third-Party Services: Opt for third-party services and APIs that are committed to sustainability, whether through low-resource allocating code and practices, energy-efficient infrastructure, carbon offsetting practices, or renewable energy usage.

Validate and Maintain

It’s important to validate along the way that the product being developed meets the goals that were initially set out. In order to do this, a regular audit process should be put in place to assess performance and carbon emission KPIs.

• Performance and Sustainability Audits: Conduct regular performance and sustainability audits to understand the impact and identify opportunities to decrease carbon footprint.
• Integration of Carbon Calculators: Integrate carbon calculator tools, such as Website Carbon and Ecograder, to regularly measure and better understand the carbon footprint of a digital product.
• Sustainable Maintenance Practices: Adopt maintenance practices that emphasize sustainability, such as optimizing existing features instead of adding new ones that increase resource usage.

Sustainability as the Standard

At Forum One, we envision a future where sustainability is as standard as accessibility and performance in digital product design and development. By aligning with emerging guidelines such as the W3C’s Web Sustainability Guidelines, we aim to create digital solutions that not only meet our clients’ needs but also contribute positively to our planet’s future.

We believe following these standards will not just enhance the digital user experience but also make a significant impact on the global carbon footprint. Join us in redefining the intersection of technology and sustainability, paving the way for a greener digital future.

The Digital Services Playbook, developed by the U.S. Digital Service, an Executive Office agency launched in 2014, provides a set of key practices and principles to help create effective, user-friendly digital services. 

Nearly a decade old, the playbook compiles best practices designed to help government agencies build digital services that are simple, effective, and easy to use. While originally intended for federal projects, its principles universally apply to any organization seeking to enhance digital products and ensure their accessibility.

Core principles of the Digital Services Playbook

The playbook includes 13 “plays” which serve as guiding principles for approaching and developing digital products. Core principles from these plays  that resonate deeply with us at Forum One are:

Understand what people need

• Start with user research to understand the needs, behaviors, and contexts of the people who will use the service.
• Continuously gather and analyze user feedback to refine and improve the product.

Address the whole experience, from start to finish

• Consider the entire journey of the user, from discovering the service to using it and seeking help if needed.
• Ensure a seamless, cohesive experience across all touchpoints.

Build the service using agile and iterative practices

• Develop the service in small, iterative cycles, allowing frequent testing and feedback.
• Adapt and respond to changing user needs and technological advancements.

Choose a modern technology stack

• Employ current, proven technologies that are scalable, secure, and maintainable.
• Favor open standards and interoperability to ensure flexibility and future-proofing.

Deploy in a Secure and Accessible Way

• Prioritize security and privacy to protect user data.
• Ensure the service is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities.

How Forum One integrates the playbook into product development

The playbook influences how we approach our product development for the myriad of nonprofit organizations and government agencies that we support. Here are some of the key areas that guide us.

1. User-centered design: At the heart of our projects is a deep understanding of our users. We conduct extensive user research, including interviews, surveys, and usability testing, to ensure our solutions meet real needs. This aligns with the playbook’s emphasis on starting with user needs and continuously improving based on feedback.
2. Holistic user experience: We map out the entire user journey, identifying and addressing pain points and opportunities for improvement. This approach ensures that every interaction a user has with our product is intuitive and efficient, reflecting the playbook’s principle of addressing the whole experience.
3. Agile and iterative development: Our development process is agile, allowing us to release incremental updates and quickly respond to user feedback. This iterative approach ensures that we are always moving towards a better product, in line with the playbook’s recommendation for agile practices.
4. Modern technology stack: We leverage the latest technologies to build robust, scalable, and secure digital solutions. By staying current with technological trends, we ensure our products are not only effective today but also adaptable for the future.
5. Security and accessibility: Security and accessibility are non-negotiable components of our development process. We implement stringent security measures to protect user data and adhere to accessibility standards to ensure our services are usable by everyone, including those with disabilities.

We have seen significant successes by integrating the U.S. Digital Services Playbook into our product strategy. For example, our work with a major nonprofit organization involved revamping their digital platform to better serve their community. Through user research, iterative development, and a focus on accessibility, we delivered a solution that significantly improved user engagement and satisfaction.

The path forward

The U.S. Digital Services Playbook is more than just a guide; it’s a framework that helps us deliver digital solutions that truly make a difference. By staying true to its principles, we ensure that our work at Forum One is not only innovative and effective but also user-centered and impactful.

We are committed to continuously refining our processes and adopting best practices to better serve our clients and users. The U.S. Digital Services Playbook will remain a cornerstone of our approach as we strive to create digital experiences that are simple, effective, and delightful.