Policy & Practice December 2018

technology speaks

By Stacy Taylor and Jake Solomon

Mobile Technology in Human Services: Lessons From 5 Million Downloads

F resh EBT is a free mobile app that helps electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cardholders manage their benefits and improve their finan- cial health. Since its initial release on December 25, 2015, more than 5 million Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) par- ticipants have used the service. This article summarizes key insights from our experience building Fresh EBT that we hope will help leaders in health and human services build great mobile technology for clients. for information about human services programs, they usually do so from a smartphone. More than 70 percent of Google searches for each of these phrases originate on a mobile device: “apply for food stamps,” “medicaid office,” “ebt balance,” “section 8 apart- ments,” and “wic clinic.” 1 Sixty-seven percent of low-income adults own a smartphone, nearly a third depend on their smartphone for Internet access, and more than a third have submitted a job application directly on their phones. 2 All of these numbers increase each year. Mobile design in human services is accessible design, and it is getting more important every day. But developing effective services to be delivered on mobile devices remains challenging, and projects frequently underdeliver on their potential after years of careful planning, procure- ment, and implementation. This article distills some key lessons that our team has learned in the process of building Fresh EBT over the last three years. We Introduction When people search the Internet

hope these lessons are instructive to all public- and private-sector organiza- tions that aspire to build great mobile technology for clients. Help Clients FindYour Services OnlineThrough Search and Facebook As of today, Fresh EBT is actively used by more than 1.5 million SNAP and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants. In the process of growing the service, we have discovered two disproportionally effec- tive outreach and distribution strategies. Over the last three years, we have experimented with a number of ways to reach EBT cardholders: We have posted paper flyers in low-income neighborhoods, partnered with com- munity-based organizations, trained caseworkers about Fresh EBT, texted participants at food pantries, part- nered with human services agencies to hang posters in lobbies, and included postcards about Fresh EBT in direct mailings from human services agencies. While each of those channels has been invaluable in helping us reach new users, we have learned that, somewhat unsurprisingly, the large majority of clients discovers smartphone services directly on their smartphones.

The peculiar reality of 2018 is that the majority of people finds smart- phone services through three tiny text boxes controlled by two large tech- nology companies—Google and Apple (see Chart 1). To help clients find your services through these search boxes, it is important to use names, titles, and descriptions that match common search terms. For example, when deciding on the name for Fresh EBT, we used free research tools 3 to discover that clients are 10 times more likely to search for “EBT balance” and “food stamp balance” than “SNAP balance.” Curiously, while the search term “SNAP” is nearly 20 times more common than “EBT”—more than 4 million people search for “SNAP” every month—the vast majority of these queries reflects people searching for the popular smartphone app Snapchat rather than nutrition assistance. We decided specifically to name the app “Fresh EBT—Food Stamp Balance” in order to reflect the most common search terms while avoiding overlap with Snapchat. Lesson Learned: Help clients find your services online by using names, titles, and descriptions that match common search terms.

Chart 1

Google Search

Google Play Store (Android apps)

Apple App Store (iPhone apps)

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