Customer-led design of new government services strategy for Australia Post

Australia Post is a government owned corporation that provides local and international postal services from locations across Australia. Australia Post is Australia’s oldest continually operating organisation, having been founded in 1809.

With over the counter service revenue declining, Australia Post sought to understand customers’ desire to undertake a broader range of transactional government services through Australia Post. Nous was engaged to support the research and development of a customer driven strategy to grow the organisation’s government services business.

Over a period of nine months we worked collaboratively with Australia Post staff to:

Understand the challenge and set parameters for success – The project started with a review of previous research, staff and customer interviews, and customer workshops to understand current experiences and expectations. This information was then synthesised to create customer personas and define design principles for the government transaction service.

Develop and extensively test prototypes – Based on the insights gleaned from our extensive research, we developed three service prototypes and tested them with customers. To further confirm service viability, Nous developed a supporting survey to validate qualitative insights with a representative sample of the Australian population. We also led the development of a market model to project market size and the potential benefit to government of transitioning services to Australia Post.

The work we undertook in partnership with Australia Post identified a $500m new service opportunity for the business. It has provided the organisation with a clearer understanding of the service features customers value; the implications of taking on new government services; and the financial opportunity for both Australia Post and government.