{"id":5337,"date":"2025-01-22T09:31:45","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T09:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/digital\/?p=5337"},"modified":"2025-01-22T09:31:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T09:31:45","slug":"how-text-message-notifications-helped-more-than-2000-social-security-scotland-clients-use-unspent-benefit-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/digital\/2025\/01\/22\/how-text-message-notifications-helped-more-than-2000-social-security-scotland-clients-use-unspent-benefit-payments\/","title":{"rendered":"How text message notifications helped more than 2000 Social Security Scotland clients use unspent benefit payments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest blog post from Jake Keith, Content Designer, Social Security Scotland.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Social Security Scotland SMS (short Message Service) pilot led by the Product and Design team has helped hundreds of people access cash paid to them but left unspent. A total of 2,205 clients have spent money on their prepaid card since the start of the Best Start Foods notification drive.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a huge success story involving experts in user centred design, business analysis and product development.<\/p>\n

Where the problem was<\/strong><\/p>\n

For some time, the organisation has been trying to encourage people getting Best Start Foods to spend the money on their cards. Most do use the cash but there are some people with significant unspent balances.<\/p>\n

The payments are designed to help towards the costs of buying healthy foods during pregnancy and for young children, including formula milk. That means the payments could make a big difference to parents dealing with the expense of raising a child.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Who got the texts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two batches of texts were sent in summer 2024. They were all sent to people who have activated their card at some point and have a large unspent balance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Team\u2019s pride over results<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the weeks after the texts were sent, the team pored over the statistics. They showed lots of these people spending money they may not have known they had.\u00a0As of 21 August 2024, 29% had reduced their balance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Heather McLaren, who is leading on parent project \u2018Getting Communications Right for Clients\u2019, says those involved are proud of the results. She said: \u201cWe got feedback that after just two weeks over \u00a333,000 had been spent and one person spent \u00a3555. There were genuine celebrations in the office to be like \u2018this is amazing\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the immediacy that\u2019s amazing, that somebody\u2019s been in right away and been able to go to the shop and spend the money. You can make your own assumptions about what they’ve been able to buy that week that they had maybe missed out on previously.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can definitely give you a wee kick, in terms of why we do the things we do and how important it is to get these things right for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why we sent texts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Letters were initially sent to clients telling them they had a large unspent balance in October 2023. Although this made a difference, ultimately only 11% reduced their balance in the first few weeks after. The government Notify service was used to send the texts in batches to people. At 2p per text, it is around 97% cheaper than sending a letter. It\u2019s also much quicker and prompts action more effectively.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Content design approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

The content was designed by Sarah Waterfield who said her team colleagues helped her simplify the text in a crit. She also redesigned a Best Start Foods mygov.scot page to make it more clear and action-based.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cInitially we had a few different versions of the content for different situations, but we pared it back (after a good crit!) \u2013 we realised the key message is simple: you\u2019ve got money. And the action is: go to the mygov page.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to support such a brief text with a really strong and helpful resource on mygov.scot page. We redesigned this page and referenced the text message on it to support users in their journey from receiving their text to spending their balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe original mygov.scot page was originally a long text page that took a long time to scroll down. It was not scannable or optimised for people on mobile. It did not focus on the actions users needed to take and had long paragraphs without many headings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How the mygov page is improved<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new version:<\/p>\n