Every day, millions of residents interact with city services. From filling out forms, accessing online resources, reporting issues, and seeking information, there’s big and small touch points across every service. But how often do cities truly understand what residents experience when they’re using these services? U.S. Digital Response (USDR) and the City of Long Beach, California both believe user research, a methodology that prioritizes listening plus action, is the key to better government.
Across 10 weeks and five projects, USDR and City officials used user research methods to uncover insights that transformed their public services. Our work in Long Beach highlighted several key principles for delivering public services effectively:
- Listen first: The most powerful tool in service design is genuine curiosity about user experiences.
- Transparency builds trust: Residents want to understand how services work, and why they should take certain actions.
- Simplicity matters: Complex language and cluttered designs can create barriers.
- Small changes make big differences: Thoughtful, user-centered improvements can transform resident experiences.
Recycling services: cutting through confusion
Challenge: Long Beach's Environmental Services Bureau wanted to understand residents' knowledge, motivations, and barriers to recycling and composting prior to embarking on a planned initiative to deepen outreach in communities with limited English proficiency.
Research: USDR volunteers conducted an intensive research project, diving deep into the community's relationship with recycling through ten 1:1 interviews with an economically and racially diverse group of participants.
Findings: The research uncovered critical communication barriers such as language that was inconsistent and confusing to residents. Even simple terminology varied — the city used "carts" while the research revealed residents said "bins,” which resulted in confusion around what actions residents should take.
Recommendations included: Detailed feedback on existing flyers outlined how to prioritize the most important information, create clear visual messaging, and explain the why behind recycling.
Impact: By reimagining how recycling information is communicated, the City can increase resident participation, reduce confusion, and make environmental programs more accessible to everyone.
Team: Divya Kaushal, Meghan Sutherland, Tiffany Teng, Joseph Wiltberger
Digital library: making library resources easier to find
Challenge: Long Beach Public Library wanted to help residents better find and use their online resources. While the library offered many digital services, they wanted to better understand how to organize them for increased usability.
Research: USDR volunteers gathered community input through a survey that reached 2,595 local residents and detailed conversations with eight library users. The survey asked residents about what library services they currently use, their frequency of use, and their understanding of existing terms on the website.
Findings: Most residents were unaware of the full range of digital resources available to them. When trying to find these resources, people struggled with confusing menu labels and an unreliable search tool. Even those who knew about some digital offerings, like ebooks and audiobooks, often missed out on other valuable services because they were buried in the website. The problems were even worse on mobile devices, where long descriptions and large images made the site difficult to navigate.
Recommendations included: Easier ways to find and filter resources, such as improved search tools and filtering options; improvements to the mobile website experience, ensuring increased access for the growing number of users on their phones; and suggestions for plain language to reduce confusion and make the website more inclusive to a diverse audience.
Impact: These changes help ensure residents can easily find and use all the library's digital resources, from ebooks to research tools to educational materials.
Team: Rachel Chang, John Khuu, Tessa Kohl
Health & Human Services: reimagining digital resources
Challenge: The Long Beach Department Health & Human Services (Health Department) wanted to make it easier for residents to find health information and services online. While the website contained valuable resources, it was organized in a way that made sense to city staff but was confusing for residents.
Research: USDR volunteers conducted usability testing with 20 Long Beach residents; interviewed Health Department staff members and call center employees responsible for guiding residents to the best resources; and analyzed data from the most visited website pages to better understand how users navigate city services online.
Findings: The research revealed significant barriers to accessing vital health services online. Most residents struggled to find basic resources, with less than half succeeding on their first attempt. With important services buried under confusing category names, both residents and staff were impacted - department staff spent valuable time helping with navigation rather than providing services, while inconsistent updating processes left information outdated. As a result, many residents had to call for information that should have been readily available online.
Recommendations included: A detailed playbook offering suggestions to reorganize information based on how residents look for services, as well as thorough end-to-end guidelines around website ownership and governance.
Impact: The design changes tested with residents showed success rates nearly doubled, with 86% of residents finding what they needed. People spent less than half the time searching for information, meaning faster access to critical health services and resources.
Team: Melissa Renau Cano, Leigh Rogers, Jin Tran
Data privacy: building trust in technology
Challenge: Long Beach’s Technology and Innovation Department wanted to explore residents' perspectives on data collection and privacy as they introduced their new Digital Rights Platform, a webpage and resource hub designed to explain how the City uses data and technologies while providing a channel for community feedback.
Research: To explore issues of resident trust in digital data collection, USDR volunteers used a mixed-methods approach, including an online survey with 48 respondents and in-depth interviews with 7 residents.
Findings: The research revealed an important gap between residents' trust in local government and their comfort with government technology. While residents trusted the city overall, they were hesitant about sharing personal information through digital systems because they weren't clear about who had access to their data and how it was being used. The City's technical language made it hard for residents to understand data collection practices, leaving many uncomfortable using digital services. This communication barrier directly affected how willing people were to engage with City services online.
Recommendations included: Suggestions around how to frame new technologies in the context of familiar tools; examples of using plain language to explain technology's purpose and value; methods to increase outreach through existing City communication channels.
Impact: These insights are helping Long Beach develop more effective ways to communicate about technology and build trust with residents through clearer language and proactive outreach.
Team: Lisa Carter, Margaret Plumley
311 app: improving service requests
Challenge: Long Beach’s Technology and Innovation Department aimed to enhance their Go Long Beach app, the City's primary channel for citizen service requests. While the 311 app was functional, the City needed to understand how well it was meeting resident needs and where improvements could make the biggest impact.
Research: To better understand the challenges facing the 311 app, USDR volunteers analyzed 1,359 survey responses from 2022 to 2024, conducted in-depth interviews with 12 residents, and systematically reviewed feedback from app store reviews.
Findings: The research showed that while residents valued having a digital way to request city services, the app left them uncertain about their requests' status. Many weren't sure if their submissions were received, and when updates came, they lacked helpful details about actual progress. Basic technical challenges - like marking locations, choosing service categories, and uploading photos - turned simple requests into frustrating experiences. This made residents less confident in using the app to get their needs addressed.
Recommendations included: Implementing automated acknowledgment notifications; suggestions to add clear progress tracking with specific milestones; ways to simplify category selection with plain language.
Impact: The recommended changes aim to reduce common frustrations with service requests, like unclear status updates and confusing category selections. By implementing clearer communication and simpler processes, the City can help residents get their needs addressed more efficiently.
Team: Karina Castellanos, Irene Chung, Marirose Manuel, Jana Nishi Yuen
A call to action for cities
User research doesn’t have to take months or rely on complex methodologies. At its core, it’s about sitting down and understanding the people you serve, then using those insights to develop actionable recommendations for improvement. Any city, no matter its size or budget, can begin adopting these principles. Are you ready to reimagine your city's services? U.S. Digital Response is here to help you take the first step.
Interested in learning more about USDR’s research cohort? Contact us
By: Amy Meng, digital delivery program manager at U.S. Digital Response and Nina Turner, user research contractor at U.S. Digital Response
Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash
