Rethinking user registration
The Environment Agency has provided a flood warning service since 1996. Throughout that time, we have required users to register to the service so we can send them flood warning information via their account.
We receive regular feedback that our current registration process for the flood warning system is too complex and hard for our users to manage. On average, 72% of new registrations are via our online pages, but only 31% of account updates and 13% of account cancellations are completed online. The rest need to be done manually by local staff or through our call centre agents at Floodline. On average, 27% of all the calls we get to our Floodline call centre are related to registering, updating or cancelling a flood warning account. In busy periods, this can go up to 50% of all calls. Much of the complexity stems from the historical data requirements of our systems.
The Digital Services team, who are responsible for delivering the flood warning service within the Environment Agency, have been exploring options to improve the online registration and maintenance process for their users.
Contact first
By examining how user data is collected, stored and maintained in the systems we have identified an entirely new approach to our customer data model, we are calling “contact first”. By making the contact (telephone number or email address) the primary part of the account, we can use the contact as the method to log-in to the online pages. This means that users do not have to remember a username or password — a common complaint of the existing service. This model also ensures that:
- We only ask the users for the minimum amount of information we need to provide an accurate service (following GDPR principles) and ensuring data privacy by design
- Existing users can be migrated to the new data model
- Users are given more choice on the locations they register for
- Users opted in via our work with telephony providers can also use the online pages to manage their accounts
- We can remove duplicate contacts from the system, often spread across multiple duplicate accounts, allowing for a more efficient, faster warning service
Alongside Fujitsu, the supplier of the current flood warning system, Digital Services have developed a prototype that will be used to test the new process with real users. Through this user testing, Digital Services will be able to see how the new model works and ascertain whether moving to the new model is appropriate. This prototype uses data held within it to simulate how the process would work for a real user.
New features
The prototype has been designed to the Government Digital Service (GDS) design standards. We have been careful to create as seamless an experience as possible, whether a user is registering for the first time or trying to update or cancel their details.
With this new data model, we can better support for our users who have been proactively opted-in to receive flood warnings via details provided anonymously from their telephony provider. Currently, it’s not possible for these users to access our current online registration pages. These users make up the majority of our customer base for the flood warning service (over 70% of our 1.5 million users.)
For the first time, we can also allow users to sign up to properties and wider geographical locations — addressing a common user feature request. Users will be able to get flood warning information for their hamlet, village, town or city so they can get a view on flooding happening in their area of interest.
What’s next
We’ve already begun user testing the new design, and have been reacting to the feedback. We have made changes to the content of the prototype to enable a clearer, simpler design to enable quicker user journeys.
If you are interested in helping us test the prototype, please get in touch via Twitter
