# GOV.UK User Research: Support tickets can guide product research and fixes [Canonical reading](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/gov-uk-user-research-support-tickets-can-guide-product-research-d0d94315) GOV.UK User Research argues that support tickets should be part of user research, not treated only as a queue for resolving bugs and technical issues. The tickets offer feedback users provide without prompting from researchers, revealing issues and feature requests they consider important. The team describes a shared method for analysing tickets across GOV.UK Notify, GOV.UK Pay, Registers and GOV.UK Platform as a Service. It agreed what to record, developed a taxonomy—a set of categories for tagging requests—and began by tagging tickets manually. Later, the team added tags to its support system so staff could apply them while replying, allowing monthly automated reports. The reports helped the team spot recurring requests and questions. GOV.UK User Research says some findings led to quick fixes to product pages or documentation; other findings prompted usability testing to investigate what was going wrong. The team also says it tracked ticket volumes over time to assess whether a solution was working. This approach connects user feedback to product work and gives the team a way to check whether certain kinds of contact become less frequent. The article does not report ticket counts or show the results of those checks. It also says the team found some tags were not actionable or useful, so it removed them and revised its categories as products changed. Headline and summary by Escape Meridian, prepared by Luna from the attributed source. A source check is not independent confirmation of the source’s claims. ## Original source GOV.UK User Research · Article Original source date: Oct 23, 2018 (2018-10-23). Date basis: Date basis not provided. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-05T16:09:08.067Z. First observed: 2026-11-05T15:41:56.887Z. Retrieved: 2026-11-05T16:08:06.948Z. - [How user support ticket analysis shapes what we do on Government as a Platform – User research in government](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Limits The article gives no ticket counts or reported results showing whether ticket volumes changed after fixes. The article describes the team's method and conclusions but does not provide comparative evidence that ticket feedback is unbiased. ## Open question After a fix was introduced, how did the volume of the relevant type of support ticket change over time? ## Source-stated GOV.UK User Research argues that support tickets provide unprompted feedback about issues users consider important and should be included in user research. > They are a constant source of feedback and feature requests that, unprompted by us, reveal the issues that are most important to our users. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source-stated The team developed a shared approach to analysing tickets across four Government as a Platform products. > our Government as a Platform products: GOV.UK Notify, GOV.UK Pay, Registers and GOV.UK Platform as a Service. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source-stated The team used a taxonomy to categorize requests, moving from manual spreadsheet tagging to tags in its support system and monthly automated reports. > We have since moved away from manually tagging tickets and now create tags in our support ticket system so anyone in the team can assign tags when they reply to them. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source-stated Ticket analysis identified recurring requests and questions; some findings led to quick fixes, while others led to usability testing. > In some areas we have been able to implement quick fixes, for example to obvious gaps in our product pages or documentation. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source-stated The team says it tracked ticket volumes over time to assess whether solutions were working. > Once we have come up with a solution, we’re able to measure whether it is working by tracking the volume of certain types of ticket over time. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source-stated The team revised its taxonomies, removing tags it found not actionable or useful. > We have found some findings are not actionable or useful to our teams so we’ve cut back on some tags altogether. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source and contributor context GOV.UK User Research · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media declared by the original publisher; availability checked separately from the editorial reading. - [A photo with a presentation screen showing the phrase 'GaaP components' · GOV.UK User Research](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/102/2018/10/image5-768x512.jpg) ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## GOV.UK User Research GOV.UK User Research is a UK government blog publishing accounts of user research methods and their use in public services. - [Explore this context](/entities/gov-uk-user-research) - [Reference](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/) ## GOV.UK GOV.UK is the UK government's website publishing official guidance, policy documents, statistics and research. - [Explore this context](/entities/gov-uk) - [Reference](https://www.gov.uk/) ## TIME TIME is a news magazine publishing reporting on world affairs, business, technology and the workers behind digital services. - [Explore this context](/entities/time) - [Reference](https://time.com/) ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: 2fdf606d-8a76-473e-8a27-5ddd8374b4a1. Prepared by gpt-6-luna; grounding review by gpt-6-luna. Source check: passed by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-05T16:09:08.067Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: historical\_context. Observation: 490f0ce826cadfa9f5486b62c8daf8913b9f0b624b71a1f42584dc441557ba7e. Source text hash: c29f33012c46f93a286bab336f2a222b6f087dd9f0f324b2a6b294488037c5eb. ## Revision and source-check history ### Version 1 — 2026-11-05T16:09:08.067Z GOV.UK User Research argues that support tickets should be part of user research, not treated only as a queue for resolving bugs and technical issues. The tickets offer feedback users provide without prompting from researchers, revealing issues and feature requests they consider important. The team describes a shared method for analysing tickets across GOV.UK Notify, GOV.UK Pay, Registers and GOV.UK Platform as a Service. It agreed what to record, developed a taxonomy—a set of categories for tagging requests—and began by tagging tickets manually. Later, the team added tags to its support system so staff could apply them while replying, allowing monthly automated reports. The reports helped the team spot recurring requests and questions. GOV.UK User Research says some findings led to quick fixes to product pages or documentation; other findings prompted usability testing to investigate what was going wrong. The team also says it tracked ticket volumes over time to assess whether a solution was working. This approach connects user feedback to product work and gives the team a way to check whether certain kinds of contact become less frequent. The article does not report ticket counts or show the results of those checks. It also says the team found some tags were not actionable or useful, so it removed them and revised its categories as products changed. ## Original source GOV.UK User Research · Article Original source date: Oct 23, 2018 (2018-10-23). Date basis: Date basis not provided. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-05T16:09:08.067Z. First observed: 2026-11-05T15:41:56.887Z. Retrieved: 2026-11-05T16:08:06.948Z. - [How user support ticket analysis shapes what we do on Government as a Platform – User research in government](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Limits The article gives no ticket counts or reported results showing whether ticket volumes changed after fixes. The article describes the team's method and conclusions but does not provide comparative evidence that ticket feedback is unbiased. ## Open question After a fix was introduced, how did the volume of the relevant type of support ticket change over time? ## Source-stated GOV.UK User Research argues that support tickets provide unprompted feedback about issues users consider important and should be included in user research. > They are a constant source of feedback and feature requests that, unprompted by us, reveal the issues that are most important to our users. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source-stated The team developed a shared approach to analysing tickets across four Government as a Platform products. > our Government as a Platform products: GOV.UK Notify, GOV.UK Pay, Registers and GOV.UK Platform as a Service. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source-stated The team used a taxonomy to categorize requests, moving from manual spreadsheet tagging to tags in its support system and monthly automated reports. > We have since moved away from manually tagging tickets and now create tags in our support ticket system so anyone in the team can assign tags when they reply to them. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source-stated Ticket analysis identified recurring requests and questions; some findings led to quick fixes, while others led to usability testing. > In some areas we have been able to implement quick fixes, for example to obvious gaps in our product pages or documentation. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source-stated The team says it tracked ticket volumes over time to assess whether solutions were working. > Once we have come up with a solution, we’re able to measure whether it is working by tracking the volume of certain types of ticket over time. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source-stated The team revised its taxonomies, removing tags it found not actionable or useful. > We have found some findings are not actionable or useful to our teams so we’ve cut back on some tags altogether. - [Supporting source](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform) ## Source and contributor context GOV.UK User Research · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media declared by the original publisher; availability checked separately from the editorial reading. - [A photo with a presentation screen showing the phrase 'GaaP components' · GOV.UK User Research](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/102/2018/10/image5-768x512.jpg) ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## GOV.UK User Research GOV.UK User Research is a UK government blog publishing accounts of user research methods and their use in public services. - [Explore this context](/entities/gov-uk-user-research) - [Reference](https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/) ## GOV.UK GOV.UK is the UK government's website publishing official guidance, policy documents, statistics and research. - [Explore this context](/entities/gov-uk) - [Reference](https://www.gov.uk/) ## TIME TIME is a news magazine publishing reporting on world affairs, business, technology and the workers behind digital services. - [Explore this context](/entities/time) - [Reference](https://time.com/) ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: 2fdf606d-8a76-473e-8a27-5ddd8374b4a1. Prepared by gpt-6-luna; grounding review by gpt-6-luna. Source check: passed by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-05T16:09:08.067Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: historical\_context. Observation: 490f0ce826cadfa9f5486b62c8daf8913b9f0b624b71a1f42584dc441557ba7e. Source text hash: c29f33012c46f93a286bab336f2a222b6f087dd9f0f324b2a6b294488037c5eb. ### passed — 2026-11-05T16:09:08.067Z — anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 Publication: 2fdf606d-8a76-473e-8a27-5ddd8374b4a1 attribution — pass: The reading attributes the argument and method to GOV.UK User Research, the blog publishing the post on behalf of GDS. No individual author is named in the evidence, and claims stay attributed to the team rather than presented as established fact. > At GDS, we have developed a common way of analysing the support tickets we receive for our Government as a Platform products summary — pass: The title, summary and question accurately present the argument and the five-step method. The reading explains taxonomy in plain language and is readable without prior context. Optional repair: it omits the closing claim that structured analysis helped improve products and reduce contact. Adding that as an attributed, unquantified claim would preserve the source's conclusion. The question follows from the absence of reported results. > Having a structured way to analyse support tickets has helped us to improve our products and reduce contact from our users. date — pass: The originalPublished value of 2018-10-23 matches the date embedded in the source URL path for this blog post. There is no sign of a later revision being used. > https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2018/10/23/how-user-support-ticket-analysis-shapes-what-we-do-on-government-as-a-platform/ support — pass: Each claim matches its excerpt. The statement that the team tracked volumes to assess solutions fairly reflects the source's description of measuring by tracking. The limitations correctly note that no ticket counts or comparative evidence for the unbiased-feedback claim are given. No unsupported benefits or stakeholder impacts are added. > Once we have come up with a solution, we’re able to measure whether it is working by tracking the volume of certain types of ticket over time. media — pass: The selected media is the verified direct link to the original article, which is the most direct way to access the source. The alternative image only shows a generic presentation screen. ## Recorded references Explicit citations in public readings and public file attachments to this reading. Shared topics are not citations. Other artifact types need an explicit reference adapter. No public references recorded here yet. [Reference data (JSON)](/readings/d0d94315f3ff4fd52031769da57c5584b3fbc727334905a627ebc2129cbc2cc4/references.json) ## Corrections and challenges [Send a correction or an opposing source](https://escapemeridian.com/corrections/) [JSON record](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/gov-uk-user-research-support-tickets-can-guide-product-research-d0d94315.json)