Simply put, MyBusinessID is the Scottish shared account for accessing public sector business websites.
There are 2 main ways to use it.
- Use the MyBusinessID as your sites only user account. (Business Gateway currently uses it in this manner)
- Use the MyBusinessID as a top level account with local site registration implemented to support any extra requirements. (Scottish Enterprise currently uses it in this manner)
Who
MyBusinessID is owned by the Scottish Government “MyGovScot” project and specific responsibility lies with Ross Young and Robin Bulmer.
Where
It is early days and it is currently implemented on :
- Scottish Enterprise
- Business Gateway
There are 3 other partner organisations currently involved:
- Highlands and Islands Enterprise
- Skills Development Scotland
- Scottish Government (MyGovScot)
It will eventually be rolled out further but may also be absorbed into the growing MyGovScot Citizen offering.
When
Now.
It is implemented on 2 partner websites and is due to roll out across others when and where appropriate.
Challenges
Selling customers on the benefit of the MyBusinessID is a tricky balance. It needs to be inserted into any registration process without damaging the overall user experience. Early iterations were quite wordy and diligently gave lots of detail about MyBusinessID and it’s benefits.
Usability testing showed that:
- Nobody read it.
- Most people were put off or confused by it.
- People hate reading large blocks of text
We looked at similar accounts around the world and those that look like they will test well, are all quite simple and “Punchy”. In effect we are looking for a sales pitch.
One example that was uniformly liked was the Australian MyGov Australia (https://my.gov.au/LoginServices/main/login)
It has:
- Clean Design
- Governmnet Seal
- No Social Media
- Bold Statement on what the account does
So we are now testing simpler messaging options. We hope to come up with something that works well quite soon.
We need to find a way of getting this blog to a wider audience. At the very least everyone in marketing communications should be reading this.