RELI Group: Influencing the Shifting Tide of CX

In keeping up with RELI Group’s recently published perspectives on Human-Centered Design, Defining the Customer, and the importance of Crafting a Customer Experience, it made sense to turn to its HCD/UX/CX champion, Angela Mercado, RELI Group’s Senior Director of National Security and Safety. Throughout our conversation, Mercado stressed that even with limited resources, government agencies can still deliver personalized services that make citizens feel valued. “Everything is centered on prioritizing the person who’s utilizing your service, your website, your product,” she explains. As RELI Group continues to influence the CX landscape, they offer a roadmap for how agencies can adopt personalization strategies—despite budget constraints.

Making Customers Feel Seen and Heard

The foundation of CX is ensuring that customers feel understood and valued. Mercado, a champion of human-centered design at RELI Group, explains how listening to the customer drives better service. “The real focus in any experience practice, whether it’s user experience, customer experience or employee experience, is human-centered design.” By putting people at the center of CX, there is an opportunity to help government agencies rebuild public trust in a digital-first world.

In a December 2023 survey by Medallia and the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), CX professionals pointed to budget limitations as the primary reason they are not prioritizing personalization. However, the current administration has made CX a priority, issuing an executive order aimed at improving the quality of government services. This order is coupled with a $500 million budget request to support CX initiatives across federal agencies. While this increased focus and funding mark a significant step forward, many agencies are still grappling with how to implement personalization effectively given their current resources.

Even small adjustments though can make a big impact. “There are those smaller agencies that have less-than-zero budgets and are short-staffed, trying to figure out how to do this. These are the audiences I’m thinking about.” By focusing on practical, scalable solutions, industry can help these agencies improve personalization despite their financial constraints.

Identifying Key Customer Groups

Before personalization can begin, it’s essential to understand who your customers are and what they need. Identifying key customer groups is the first step in delivering tailored services, using existing data to gain insights. By leveraging data and creating customer personas, agencies can deliver more relevant, personalized experiences to their diverse user base.

Leverage Existing Data

One way to help agencies improve CX is by encouraging them to make better use of the data they already have. Government agencies collect valuable data through surveys, web analytics and customer feedback, but often don’t realize the potential of this data to drive personalization. “Not every complaint should trigger an immediate response, but when you see consistent patterns, those are opportunities to improve services.”

Collect and Analyze Data Regularly

It is also critical to use continuous data analysis to monitor customer experiences. When multiple complaints or requests surface around a particular issue, it’s an opportunity for agencies to investigate and resolve it. “If you start getting multiple calls about a specific issue, it’s a sign to dig deeper into that problem and address it.” Through ongoing feedback, agencies can make real-time adjustments, ensuring that personalization evolves as customer needs change.

Create Customer Personas

Based on user data, customer personas—detailed profiles that represent different types of users- can help agencies better understand user needs and tailor services accordingly. While these personas should be broad enough to avoid making users feel targeted, they should also allow people to feel understood. “You don’t want users to feel overly targeted, but they should be able to see themselves reflected in the experience you design. When you’re building these experiences, there is no ‘general public.’” These insights allow agencies to deliver more relevant, personalized interactions.

Once customer groups are identified, the next step is to understand how they interact with your services. Optimizing customer journeys involves mapping out these interactions to pinpoint pain points and areas for improvement. Helping agencies establish baselines for their customer journeys and continuously analyzing data ensures users are met with a seamless experience at every touchpoint. “People don’t just come to federal websites to browse. They come with a specific purpose, a trigger or a need, and the experience should reflect that.” By understanding these journeys, industry can help agencies identify areas where users may encounter delays or confusion, enabling improvements to streamline the experience.

Fancy Tech is Nice, But Not Required

While advanced technology can enhance personalization, it’s not always necessary to make meaningful improvements. Many agencies can achieve significant CX gains by starting with simple, low-cost solutions. “Technology is moving so fast in the private sector that government can’t keep up, and that contributes to a lack of trust. If we can leverage technology to help government understand the users’ needs, make them feel seen and understood, we can help rebuild that trust.”

While AI is all the buzz in the federal space, many agencies do not have the budget to support implementation. There also remains the question of how to ethically incorporate AI into customization. “Even budget dollars set aside for CX and the increased focus across the government, there is no one solution that will solve everything. And when we think of AI, like any technology, it may be a tool to help reach an outcome, but it is not the solution.”

Snag the Low-Hanging Fruit

The opportunity to start small when it comes to personalization can generate immediate and tangible forward steps. “You don’t need fancy technology to improve CX. Start with the low-hanging fruit.” One example is creating dedicated lines for frequent user groups, such as veterans or seniors, to speed up in-person processes. These small changes can make a significant difference without requiring major investments.

Targeted Digital Content

On the digital side, personalizing content for different user groups by utilizing simple tagging or filtering systems is an easy win. “If your content management system allows for it, use tagging or basic filters that let users find content most relevant to them.” These adjustments make digital platforms more user-friendly without the need for advanced technology, further reinforcing RELI Group’s commitment to practical, budget-conscious solutions.

Never Underestimate the Power of a Pilot

Implementing new CX strategies can feel risky, especially for agencies working within tight budgets. Piloting new solutions on a small scale to test their effectiveness is an easy way to generate a quick win, or understand a new direction is needed. By starting with pilot programs, agencies can gather valuable data, refine their approach, and demonstrate success before scaling up. Pilots offer a cost-effective way to drive innovation in CX while minimizing financial risk.

RELI Group Leading the CX Charge

In an era where customer experience (CX) has become critical across all industries, government agencies are increasingly tasked with delivering services that meet citizens’ rising expectations. Private sector companies like Disney, Target and Chick-fil-A have set the standard for personalized, responsive customer service, and now, government agencies must follow suit. RELI Group, a leader in human-centered design (HCD) and CX within the government sector, is at the forefront of this shift.

As agencies across the government sector work to improve their CX strategies, RELI Group is leading the way by promoting human-centered design, personalization and practical solutions that fit within limited budgets. Angela Mercado’s insights demonstrate that meaningful change doesn’t require massive investments—just a commitment to putting the user first. By focusing on personalization, data-driven decision, and collaboration, RELI Group is influencing the shifting tide of CX in government. As Mercado reflects, “For those of us who have been working behind the scenes for decades, this is really exciting. We’re seeing CX teams within agencies looking at data, understanding user expectations, and meeting them where they are.”

Angela Mercado – Senior Director, National Security & Safety

Angela Mercado is RELI’s Senior Director of National Security & Safety. She is passionate about connecting people to the services and information they need, exemplified by the breadth of her experience supporting government communications, technology and change management initiatives. From winning a ClearMark award from the Center for Plain Language in 2012 for her plain language rewrite of the HHS website Flu.gov, to leading the design and implementation of TSA’s customer experience strategy, which resulted in the TSA client team receiving the 2021 Service to the Citizen award, Angela keeps the human at the center of her work.

With two decades of digital services, communications and human-centered design experience, Angela has supported both the legislative and executive branches of the government. After beginning her career in the private sector, she spent more than four years supporting the U.S. House of Representatives as a web content developer and reference assistant. Angela has dedicated the last 12 years to government service as a consultant for various small to large consulting firms. Her experience primarily focused on public health through HHS and its numerous staff and operating divisions, before broadening her scope at RELI Group to include defense and security agencies, including TSA.

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