Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( Lock Locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Digital.gov Logo

Guidance on building better digital services in government

  • News
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Communities
  • Tools
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Write for us
  • Contact

All Resources

Personas

News and Events on Personas

24 posts

The Data Briefing: How to Build a Chatbot in a Weekend

As chatbots have become more popular, some online sites will let you create a chatbot with little or no programming.
Posts by Bill Brantley
Sep 27, 2017

Shedding Light on Underserved Users through Research

How user interviews helped spotlight the needs of a previously forgotten group. We may not like to admit it, but, most web services or sites have users that (for whatever reason) just aren’t well understood—and in turn, not well served. Conducting user interviews and making sure you get good participation from those groups can help
Posts by Tyrus Manuel
Aug 17, 2017

Improving Customer Experience with Digital Personas

Keeping the customer’s needs front and center is important when developing new digital tools. We recently developed a set of user personas as part of our work to establish a more robust—and data informed—understanding of the individuals that engage digitally with the National Archives (NARA). User personas are fictional, but realistic representations of key audience
Posts by Archivist of the United States
Jun 20, 2017

Voices of Veterans: Introducing Personas to Better Understand Our Customers

Understanding our Veterans and their unique needs and experiences is at the heart of creating a more Veteran-centered VA. By listening to their voices and the stories they share, we can design services and experiences that meet the needs of Veterans. Taking a step towards a deeper understanding of our Veterans, in the fall of
Posts by VA Center for Innovation
Sep 29, 2016

Government Product Managers Play a Key Role in UX

Government product managers sit at the intersection of three circles—business, design and technology. We play a key role in user experience (UX), because we are tasked with understanding users to build a product that is desirable and viable. This product could be a paper or online form, a website or a mobile app. Product management
Posts by Karen Trebon
Nov 27, 2015

National Customer Service Week Is Over, but Our Work Is Not!

Get your customer personas right, and you will improve the customer experience (CX) for the rest of your audience. That’s advice Rick Parrish from Forrester Research gave in response to an audience question during the September 29 DigitalGov University webinar on the state of CX in the federal government. Your key customers are those that are most important to the organization, and often most
Posts by Karen Trebon
Oct 20, 2015

Journey Mapping the Customer Experience: A USA.gov Case Study

Journey maps are a visual representation of a customer’s end to end journey with your product or service. They are a powerful tool for exploring key interactions and experiences with your organization, programs, and/or services. Journey maps describe a customer’s entire journey, even the parts that occur before and after contact with your organization. They
Posts by Mary Ann Monroe Posts by Michelle Chronister
Aug 12, 2015

2015 Customer Service Trends: a Mid-Year Update

Earlier this year, we published 15 Government Customer Service Trends for 2015. We’re halfway through the year now—how are these trends holding up? 1. Centralized Customer Offices A few agencies have created centralized customer offices, while others question the need for a single organization that focuses on the customer. As the public’s overall satisfaction with
Posts by Martha Dorris
Jul 08, 2015

Getting to Know Your Users: Tips and Tricks from Veterans Affairs

Design research isn’t rocket science. But for many of us in the federal government, it can seem daunting and unfamiliar. We’re here to to help demystify the process of design research for those of you ready to wade into the waters. We’ve both done our fair share of design researching at the Department of Veterans
Posts by Sarah Brooks Posts by Mollie Ruskin
May 29, 2015

The Content Corner: Connecting With Customers at Labor

Here at DigitalGov, customer service is a focal theme during the month of May, and by some type of cosmic chance, I was invited to share my insights on content strategy and content creation at a Customer Service Community of Practice event at the Department of Labor. The event focused on topics I commonly discuss here
Posts by Tyrus Manuel
May 18, 2015

Government Services Through a Life Events Approach

The federal government is increasingly focused on designing and delivering citizen-centered services with enhanced experiences that deliver value to customers. These ideals are established in the Presidential Management Agenda Customer Service Cross-Agency Priority Goal, the Digital Government Strategy, and various open government activities. Designing services to be responsive to be life events that drive public
Posts by Mary Ann Monroe
May 15, 2015

Customer Experience Roundup 2015

This month, our round up focuses on customer experience (CX). As I was rounding up the CX events and articles we’ve shared on DigitalGov over the past year, I realized that CX touches all of the work we do. From Web to mobile to contact centers and social media, we need to not only be
Posts by Alycia Piazza
May 11, 2015

USA.gov in Beta: Tell Us What You Think

Thirteen years in digital is an eon, and on the eve of its 13th birthday, we at USA.gov found ourselves reckoning with a mid-life crisis. In the thirteen years since Firstgov.gov was launched (and ten years for FirstGov en Español), the sheer volume and sophistication
Posts by Sarah Crane
May 04, 2015

Trends on Tuesday: The Total Market Approach

Your audience is not homogenous. No matter the agency, target audiences are not only diverse, they are diverse on a multitude of factors. Recently, evolving trends in multicultural marketing have gained attention as organizations adjust their marketing and outreach strategies to meet 21st century realities. Marketers who recognize the need for a coherent, effective multicultural
Posts by Ashley Wichman
Apr 21, 2015

The Content Corner: Finding Your Voice

No, this is not another post about podcasting but about a different voice entirely. It is the words you use, the conversation that you are having with your users. Is your content using the most effective language possible to communicate and to convey emotions like trust or empathy? As an article from Larsen Design states,
Posts by Tyrus Manuel
Apr 20, 2015

Using Personas to Better Understand Customers: USA.gov Case Study

Personas are fictional characters that describe an organization’s customer behaviors, emotions, attributes, motivations, and goals. They are an important tool to share customer insights and understanding across an organization. Personas also serve as a check to make sure your organization’s actions meet the needs of the majority of customers, including visitors to your website, contact
Posts by Michelle Chronister
Apr 06, 2015

Persona Development Case Study: NCI and Spanish Language Outreach

Government websites need to address the needs of diverse audiences. Although translations are a first step towards engaging non-English speaking audiences, the intended audience may be alienated if information is not presented in a culturally relevant way. The
Posts by Ashley Wichman
Mar 02, 2015

ForeignAssistance.gov’s Redesign: Using Agile Methodology to Keep Users in Mind

Content is one of the most important things about your site. After all, it is what keeps your users engaged and keeps them coming back to your site. Depending on the type of website your agency manages, you should always think of ways to best deliver your content to your end users. If the content
Posts by Kendrick Daniel
Feb 27, 2015

Institutionalizing User Experience: Building Usability into Your Organization

So, you have some systems or tools your customers or employees access. Maybe you want to put together a robust capability to conduct usability testing. How do you start formalizing user experience (UX) into your organization? Brad Ludlow at GSA tossed this topic out on the User Experience community listserv, and I’ve encapsulated the superb discussion that
Posts by Beth Martin
Feb 13, 2015

Agency Perspectives on Personas (Use, Development and Challenges)

Personas are tools your agency can use to learn about your end users and drive decisions. Personas are so useful because they serve as a communication tool for your team. You can keep these personas in mind to guide any work that your agency performs. Let’s delve a bit deeper into personas and review two
Posts by Kendrick Daniel
Feb 02, 2015
  • 1
  • 2

Join 60,000 others in government and subscribe to our newsletter — a round-up of the best digital news in government and across our field.

Return to top

Learn

  • News
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Communities
  • Tools

Contribute

  • Write for us
  • Host an event
  • Edit on GitHub

About

  • About Us
  • Site Policies

Social

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • RSS
  • Email us
GSA logo

Digital.gov

An official website of the U.S. General Services Administration

  • About GSA
  • Accessibility support
  • FOIA requests
  • No FEAR Act data
  • Office of the Inspector General
  • Performance reports
  • Privacy policy
Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov
Report an issue