Digital Experience Policy checklist for existing services: Digital Inclusion Standard

The needs of your diverse users and how the experience of the service differs between individuals from diverse backgrounds are understood.

Best practice approaches:

• Continuously involve users in the service delivery process by incorporating their perspectives, needs and feedback. Encourage shared ownership by co-designing accompanying artifacts, such as tutorials and guides, using language that is meaningful to all. Collect analytics and data and conduct interviews, surveys and observation on user needs, goals, expectations and behaviours.
   

The service meets the needs of all cohorts that access the service.

Best practice approaches:

• Conduct regular usability testing with individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those with different abilities, ages and cultural contexts. Recognise that various aspects of a person’s identity, such as race, gender and age, all work together to shape their digital experience. Tailor the digital service to meet specific needs of user groups and promote inclusion to make sure support is provided at the appropriate level.

The service clearly communicates , or communicated upon release, the benefits of being digital. 

    Best practice approaches: 

• Provide clear and comprehensive information about the purpose and benefits of digital services. Where possible, highlight time savings, convenience and emphasise how these enhance the overall user experience.
• Use inclusive language and imagery, avoiding stereotypes and biases when communicating with your audience. Consider diverse cultural perspectives and make sure content is simple, respectful, and welcoming for all.
   

The motivations of the services’ targeted audience are understood.

 Best practice approaches: 

• Use research and insights to understand the motivations of users and encourage them to remain engaged. This will help you understand if a service is too complicated or lacks support. To determine your current baseline of engagement, assess what proportion of your target audience engages online and work towards practices that encourage greater inclusion.
   

The digital service is easy to use.

Best practice approaches:

• Consider demonstrating the service to new users. If possible, allow them to interact with the service and experience it firsthand. Prioritise interfaces that prioritised content that’s easy to find and make interactions as straightforward as possible.
• Craft user guides with step-by-step instructions and include visual aids to support deeper levels of understanding. Provide a tiered structure in your support documentation, such as basic content for beginners and advanced topics for more experienced users. Determine where a self-service approach, such as online forums, can help users through their challenges.
• Address challenges and make sure services are accessible so they allow for independence, empowerment and digital success. Remove barriers that may force users to help to others for help. This is particularly important for services that detail finance or health-related information that the users may prefer to keep private.
• Encourage users to take their first digital step by lowering the barriers to getting started. For instance, promote awareness of the service through a variety of channels and offer hybrid service options, where available, that allow users to start a process offline and complete it online, easing them into the digital option.
• Review internal and external data collection methods, where possible, support users to provide information only once. Minimising duplication helps reduce frustrations for users.
   

There are processes in place to ensure a safe digital environment for users of the service.

Best practice approaches:

• Hate speech and online abuse impacts participation and inclusion. Establish clear community guidelines on acceptable behaviour and proactively moderate digital content. Where appropriate, leverage technology to identifying instances of malicious behaviour and align to best practices outlined by the eSafety Commission.
   

The service has measures in place to counter scams and misinformation.

Best practice approaches:

• Many digital users have encountered scams, fraud and loss of personal information. These experiences impact attitudes towards digital use. Help to ‘build trust in design’ by supporting the work of the National Anti-Scams Centre and mitigate misinformation by supporting the work of the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
   

Transparency and feedback loops are provided for users of the service.

Best practice approaches:

• Communicate the safety measures that are in place to safeguard users against potential threats. Set up clear communication channels to report safety concerns and commit to resolving issues promptly.

The service is accessible.

Best practice approaches: 

• Simplify language, provide consistent navigation and minimise interface distractions to help users access content. Use proper heading structures, descriptive links and alternative text for images to enhance the user experience. Offer multilingual support to cater to a diverse range of users and use accurate translations that maintain the same level of accessibility.
• Leverage Australian Government technology and anticipate how emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, impact accessibility. Use automated accessibility testing, where appropriate, in addition to testing with real people. These tools help identify common issues and streamline the testing process.
• Services remain inaccessible if they do not work with the tools users rely on. Keep technology compatible with assistive technologies such as keyboard inputs, voice commands and screen readers. Update software, plugins and third-party tools as your service evolves. As new features are deployed, give users time to learn the features and how to use them with assistive technologies.
• When procuring, determine if the proposed solution can be used by everybody. Include accessibility requirements in your procurement processes so vendors adhere to accessibility standards. Where appropriate, refer to established standards.
• Make sure teams are well-versed in accessibility principles and empower them to incorporate best practices throughout the service lifecycle. Engage with accessibility experts during the design and development process and use their insights to overcome potential accessibility challenges.
• Keep accessibility documentation current. This includes guidelines, standards and resources. Provide accessible support resources such as tutorials and contact information that will empower users to find the help they need, when they need it.
   

• Disability Discrimination Act 1992
• latest version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
• Australian Government Style Manual.
   

The service provides users flexibility and choice in how they engage with it.

Best practice approaches:

• Make sure your service has a responsive design that allows for compatibility across various devices and screen sizes, accommodating users who access services through different platforms. Responsive designs allow for compatibility across various devices and screen sizes, accommodating users who access services through different platforms.
• Include elements that can be customised and adapted to allow personalised experiences. This may include flexible layouts, themes to support enhanced day and night vision and tailoring the interface to different devices. Include preferences for written, audio and visual information and other settings that enhance user comfort and accessibility.
• Implement save and resume functionality that allows users to complete tasks immediately, or later. This is beneficial for processes that may require multiple steps to complete or information gathering. Disperse information gradually to prevent overwhelm. Be mindful to provide enough time to complete tasks and avoid time constraints that may pose challenges to individuals with cognitive or motor disabilities.
   

The service supports seamless experiences across delivery channels.

Best practice approaches:

• Consider the support users need for a complete service experience and maintain non-digital channels for those who need it. Map user experiences to identify pain points and opportunities and ensure a consistent look and feel across all channels, including websites, mobile apps and in-person interactions.
• Where possible, use real-time data synchronising across all service channels (where possible). This prevents inconsistencies and lets users to access to the most up-to-date information regardless of where or how they interact with the service.