The Government Digital Service (GDS) has introduced ‘real user monitoring’ (RUM) to the GOV.UK website in an effort to improve the user experience.
RUM provides detailed, anonymous information about how a website is performing for its users based on the device they are using and their internet connection speed. The information is only collected if users consent via cookies.
GDS said this it will be able to collect information on the devices and browsers used, along with the size of the screen. This shows how the complexity and structure of the website impacts the speed that a page loads up and how these factors affect issues like memory and battery use
It will also gain a knowledge of users’ bandwidth and connection speeds and how these might be limiting how the pages can be viewed and interacted with.
Overall, the team managing the site will be able to see patterns and trends that can identify problematic pages, understand why a page is performing badly and how to fix it.
GDS said that no personal data is used in this process, and the data is only collected when a user has given explicit consent to the use of cookies for analytics purposes. The site’s cookie information has been updated to make clear that users can opt in if they want this information about their visit collected.
Reliability and accuracy
Jen Allum, head of GOV.UK said: “With more than 53 million visits a month to over half a million pages of information, making sure that GOV.UK remains reliable, accurate and continues to meet user needs is one of the most important things GDS does.
“While users’ personal data is not collected, RUM means we are able to find out more about where and how visitors view GOV.UK. This helps us to work out which parts of the website aren’t performing well.
“If we know, for example, that some of our pages aren’t easy to access for people viewing on their phone, or if a slower broadband speed is making some pages difficult to load up, we can fix them to make sure they are easier and quicker to use.
“As always, users of GOV.UK have to give their consent before information about their visit to the site is recorded so users are always able to choose and remain in control.”
Strong understanding
Matt Hobbs, head of frontend development at GDS, said that RUM was chosen over the alternative of synthetic testing because having a user who matches the parameter provides a stronger understanding than if the results are just estimates of how the site performs.
“By effectively crowdsourcing this performance data, one user’s poor experience gives us the information we need to understand the reasons why that happened, and thereby improves future experiences for all users,” he said.
He said the expected benefits include improving the performance of the site – which removes a barrier to entry for many users – improving its usability on older devices, reducing user stress and answering fundamental questions about users’ experience. The latter covers issues such as the experience in rural areas with flaky Wi-Fi connections and whether the design of the site is having an effect.
“Ultimately, using RUM analysis will allow us to understand ‘what good looks like’ for a government service hosted on GOV.UK,” Hobbs said.
GDS hopes to develop a clear insight from the data over the next six months on where GOV.UK needs to improve.
It added that it is looking to make further improvements in the site over this year, including making it easier for users to find their way around it and continued work on personalisation so they can find information on a specific topic.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
