Problem is that if you make physical contact information the most prominent form of contact, you are encouraging folks to use that medium. And traditional contact (phone and in-person) has a much higher per-interaction cost (like 5 to 10 times the cost) than a web-based interaction.

My thought is that we don’t necessarily want to deter citizens from contacting us in ways other than the web, especially since Reno has a call center open 10 hours a day.

PEW Internet research from April 2010 supports the importance of phone contact:

Among the population as a whole, when faced with a question, problem or task that requires contact with government:
• 35% prefer calling on the phone
• 28% prefer online contact (web or email)
• 20% prefer visiting in person
• 11% prefer writing a letter

It seems to me that a government website should connect citizens with anything they need – including how to contact us over the phone and in person. I think those who want to call us will be happier with our customer service if we make it easier for them.

Nonetheless, rather than looking at the home page, look at your landing pages and see if there is any way you can make them work better for your citizens. Maybe limiting choices and moving dynamic content from the static site to blogs and using feeds is in order?

I think the problem with promoting physical contact info is that you’re defeating the very nature of a government website. You don’t *want* them calling you or coming down. You want them using the site- so taking up valuable real estate with a feature you don’t want them using seems counterintuitive to me.