Results from Better Connected - Libraries

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betterconnected.socitm.net @btrconnected
Better Connected Reviewer
Aideen Flynn
Results for libraries task:
‘Renew library book’

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Libraries…so much on offer…so much online…
E-Audiobooks
E-magazines
Renew loan
Research

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7% of all council
website visits are
library tasks.

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‘Renew library book online’ – why this task?
• Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat task
• Problems found when tested in 2012 on desktop and 2014 on mobile
Customer benefit:
• Convenient – anytime 24/7
• Accessible online– no library visit
needed
• Expected – everything’s online now
Business objective:
• Cost savings by increasing self-
service and reducing F2F and
phone contacts
• Meeting customer requirements

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Typical customer journey for ‘renew library book’
Content

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Measuring task promotion for ‘renew library book’
Can search engines find this task?
We asked:
Q1 - Does a Google search for ‘Xxxxx Council renew library book’
lead you to the task?
94% of councils got a yes
Q12 - Does a site search for ‘renew library book’ return the correct
result listed in the first five results?
90% of councils got a yes

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Measuring task promotion for ‘renew library book’
Is the task signposted with a prominent link?
We asked:
Q10 - Does the home page link me directly to the task?
82% of councils got a yes
Q13 - Does the A to Z list include this task?
62% of councils got a yes*
*lower figure as many sites no longer have an A to Z.
Let’s see
some
examples…

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Homepage links - a simple topic link is good:

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Homepage links – a task link is also good

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Measuring task promotion for ‘renew library book’
Is the task signposted with a prominent link?
We asked:
Q11 - Does the libraries landing page link me directly to this task?
91% of councils got a yes
Good, bad and ugly examples…

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Can I see
the
signpost?
• Above the
fold
• Words
describe
task
• Clean white
space
• Uncluttered
page

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Can I see the
signpost?
• Above the fold
• Words describe
task
• Clean white
space
• Uncluttered
page
(Hartlepool)

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Can I see the
signpost?
• Above the fold
• Words describe
task
• Clean white
space
• Uncluttered
page

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Measuring task promotion for ‘renew library book’
We asked reviewers to score each council for quality of promotion:
How effectively is this council promoting this as a task? (0-3)
0 – no promotion of the task on site: 7%
1 – some promotion but poor overall: 24%
2 – task is promoted but could be better: 32%
3 – strong and consistent promotion of task: 37%

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Customer journey
We asked:
Q2 - Does the link for renewing library books take you to a page with a
library account log-in?
20% got a No for this question

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Customer
journey –
When the
‘renew’ link
takes you to the
wrong page…
Content

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Customer journey – the wrong page…
Content

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Customer journey – how do you log in?
In order to carry out this task, you must be able to log in to your library account.
All library systems we looked at needed a library card number as a minimum.
We asked:
Q3 - Is it clear that I have to enter the number on my library card to
login?
21% of councils got a No
And:
Q4 - If a password or PIN is required to log in to my library account, is
there a 'Forgotten your password/PIN?' link next to the login?
33% of councils got a No

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Customer journey:
What if I’ve lost my library card?
Looking at the library account login page and the libraries landing
page…
We asked:
Q5 - Can I find information about what to do if I’ve lost my library card /
library card number?
63% of councils got a No
Q6 - Can I report a lost library card online?
99% of councils got a No

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Customer journey – does this catalogue help or
hinder logging in? (Sirsi Dynix)
What is the
User ID?
No ‘forgotten
pin’ link
Would your mum
click this button??
No ‘lost
library card’
link

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Customer journey – does this catalogue help or
hinder logging in? (Capita Prism)
Where would I
find my
Borrower
Number?

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Customer journey – does this catalogue help or
hinder logging in? (Civica Spydus) Clear labelling on
fields & button

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Customer journey – does this catalogue help or
hinder logging in? (Axiell Arena)
Clear labelling
on fields &
button

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Customer journey:
Late renewals - how much is the overdue fee?
We asked:
Q7 - Is an up to date list of library fines/charges available from
the renew library books page or the account login page?
55% answered No to this question

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Customer journey:
I don’t want to pay fines – can I have a reminder?
We asked:
Q8 - Can I sign up for email or text reminders that library books are due
for renewal?
80% of councils got a No

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Customer journey:
I don’t want
to pay fines
– can I have
a reminder?

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Customer journey:
Bucks CC
uses Library Elf –
not part of the
library system

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Customer journey:
West Sussex uses
Axiell Arena –
which has it’s own
alert capability.
Instructions are
provided about
how to sign up

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Customer journey:
Was it smooth?
We asked:
Q9 - Were all the relevant pieces of information/pages for this task linked
together to make a smooth, coherent journey??
66% answered No to this question

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Typical customer journey for ‘renew library book’
Content

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Library account holders & Single Customer Accounts
• Trend for withholding online services from customers who haven’t
got a Single Customer Account including online forms, library
renewals etc
• Forcing registration will interrupt the customer journey
Carrots not sticks:
• Provide an optional signup
• Warn that it will be mandatory by x date – so they know it’s coming
• Provide a positive list of advantages
• Spell out what’s required
See this example from Lambeth Council:

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About Single Customer Accounts & library renewals
Advantages
listed
Prize –
incentive
with date
for signup

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About Single Customer Accounts & library renewals
Step-by-step
registration
process
Anticipates
customer’s
worries
Anticipates
need for
help

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141 councils were tested:
• English County Councils
• Metropolitan District Councils
• English Unitary Councils
• Welsh Unitary Councils
Results:

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How to improve?
Improve the customer journey
• Map the journey for this task
• Link related information together
• Anticipate problems like lost library card number & forgotten PIN
• TEST the journey!
Improve promotion and signposting
• Big signpost for ‘renew library items’ on libraries landing page
• Big signposts for ‘libraries’ on homepage & AZ
• Check task is easily findable using site search and google
Improve logging in
• Make account login fields easy to find
• Use ‘library card number’ not ‘Borrower ID’ or ‘User ID’
• Label buttons as a simple action like ‘sign in’

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How to improve?
Check out the eight 4 star sites:
www.eastriding.gov.uk www.eastsussex.gov.uk
www.northlincs.gov.uk/libraries www.oxfordshire.gov.uk
www.staffordshire.gov.uk www.surreycc.gov.uk
www.westsussex.gov.uk www.warwickshire.gov.uk