Essex.gov.uk
Who are our users
The user groups that we need to engage with vary depending on the products that we’re delivering.
Essex County Council website
essex.gov.uk has a very diverse group of users:
- Age range includes young people, parents, older people
- Earnings range from some of the most affluent in the country to areas of significant deprivation like Jaywick
- A broad range of abilities and levels of technology adoption which Mosaic defines as:
- Innovators
- Early adopters
- Early majority
- Late majority
- Laggards
- Residents, businesses, professionals
- Desktop, tablet and mobile users
- Users who may have conditions affecting mental health, sight, hearing or mobility
- Staff who are using it as an information tool such as Customer Services Advisors
Young Essex Assembly
This is in contrast to a website like the Young Essex Assembly which has a much narrower group of users:
- Young people between the ages of 11 to 19 who want to take part in or find out more about the Young Essex Assembly
- Users that are more likely to be digitally literate and to favour phone over deskto
- Users who may have conditions affecting mental health, sight, hearing or mobility
Identify your user group
It’s important to identify your user group early on.
You can play back your user stories and confirm that they’re right, or highlight the gaps. You can show them early designs or prototypes and get their feedback.
Users might be part of an existing user group or forum.
- Ask services if they have them or can put you in touch with users
- Ask the Insight and Intelligence Team if they have user groups
- There may be a partner organisation such as Age UK that can help