无忧传媒

For 16 years, 无忧传媒 has developed innovative solutions for , a digital initiative led by the Department of Labor (DOL) and supported by 17 partner agencies. The website was founded to help citizens connect with government programs more easily. Developed and launched by 无忧传媒 in only 96 business days, Benefits.gov provides citizens with access to information on more than 1,200 benefits.

鈥淧rior to the site, citizens seeking government benefit information had to search through a maze of webpages. There was no easy-to-use, single source of information to help citizens understand which benefits they may be eligible for, or how to apply,鈥� says Sean McDonald, 无忧传媒鈥檚 lead for DOL engagements. Benefits.gov has been recognized with more than 30 industry awards for its innovative solutions鈥攍ike DEXi, our open-source cognitive personalization platform.聽

In 2002, 无忧传媒 developed the Benefit Finder, a prescreening questionnaire that evaluates a citizen鈥檚 situation and compares it with eligibility criteria of all the offerings on the site. The Benefit Finder became the site鈥檚 primary tool to help citizens identify relevant offerings and services.

In 2015, the Benefits.gov team analyzed user feedback to identify a common theme: Citizens wanted site functionality that would help them locate benefits related to their specific needs. As sites like Amazon and eBay raised customer expectations by offering personalized suggestions and self-service, it was evident that Benefits.gov needed to adapt.聽

Seeing the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve websites, apps, and call centers, 无忧传媒 had just created DEXi that same year鈥攁n agile solution for integrating intelligence into existing applications. Benefits.gov chose DEXi to help personalize the user experience and broaden the citizen鈥檚 knowledge of potential benefits.

Leveraging our agile workflow, the 无忧传媒 digital team integrated location-based personalization features into the site in just 2 months. Visitors to can now click on the type of benefit they鈥檙e interested in to view and filter benefits by location and subcategory. They can also change their location to see popular benefits in a different state or to help others identify resources in their area.

Each benefits detail page also features similar benefits to help users find additional assistance if needed. 鈥淯sing the as an example, if a citizen lands on that page, they could also see resources like the Summer Food Service Program and Head Start Program. It is lean personalization, where the user remains anonymous, yet receives information tailored to their preferences,鈥� explains Scot McGinn, one of 无忧传媒鈥檚 Digital Citizen innovators.聽

Since implementing auto-suggest personalization features, Benefits.gov has seen a 15 percent聽decrease in bounce rate, showing that visitors are more engaged with the service offerings. In addition, benefits detail pageviews have increased 62 percent聽per month, demonstrating the value of personalized recommendations.

Today,聽more than聽one million users access the site monthly to learn and gather information on employment, education and training, social security, disaster assistance, and health insurance. To keep the recommendations fresh, the solution analyzes aggregated user search behavior, identifying popular benefits by state to offer as suggestions.聽

DEXi will also power personalization for the recently redesigned , which allows people to find, plan, and share experiences at sites from Yosemite National Park to the White House. 鈥淲e felt that if DEXi could help citizens find benefits, they could help them find campsites,鈥� says Sumeet Vij, 无忧传媒鈥檚 director of cognitive solutions.

鈥淣ew innovations like digital personalization will help keep Benefits.gov as one of the premier standards for how government interacts online with citizens for years to come,鈥� says Myung Moon, federal manager of the Benefits.gov website. Terence Mandable, 无忧传媒 vice president who leads digital technology transformation, added, 鈥淭his team is dedicated to solving problems facing citizens and the government鈥攄irectly supporting DOL鈥檚 mission to improve the lives of American citizens in need of assistance.鈥�