What are the preferred channels for citizens to contact

- If New Zealanders wanted to contact government to find information, half (48%) would prefer to do so by website or email. The other half (51%) would choose a non-online option - telephone (30%), face-to-face (18%) and post (2%). Those aged 40-49 years were significantly more likely to prefer to use website or email (58%) than other age brackets. Those aged 60-69 years and 70 plus were significantly less likely to prefer this channel (29% and 10% respectively). Face-to-face and telephone were their preferred channels.

- When New Zealanders have to contact government to have a problem dealt with, their preferred channel of communication is telephone (56%), followed by face-to-face (28%), then website or email (10%) and post (3%). Those aged 40-49 years are significantly more likely than other to choose website or email (18%), however this is not the most preferred option. Older New Zealanders are significantly more likely than others to prefer the face-to-face option (60-69 years 47%; 70+ years 43%).

- When booking a facility or making an appointment with government telephone was the preferred option for more than half of New Zealanders (58%). Face-to-face was preferred by 20%, website or email by 19% and post by 2%. Those aged 30-39 years were significantly more likely to prefer website or email than others (27%), however this was not the preferred option of the majority. One-third of those 60-69 years (34%) and 70 + years (32%) preferred face-to-face - a significantly greater proportion than other age groups.

- When New Zealanders apply for a grant or benefit, they would prefer to contact government face-to-face (48%). 21% would prefer the telephone, 15% website or email and 9% post. Younger New Zealanders, those aged 20-29 years are significantly more likely to prefer to website or email than others (24%) and although one third (36%) would prefer to use face-to-face channels, this is still significantly less than other age groups. Two-third of older New Zealanders (60-69 years 68%; 70+ years 65%) would prefer face-to-face communication.

- When contacting government to pay for services, more than half of New Zealanders would prefer to do so face-to-face (53%). Website or email was preferred by 19%, post by 18% and telephone by 8%. Those aged 30-39 years were significantly more likely to choose website or email (27%) than others although face-to-face was still their preferred option. Older New Zealanders were significantly more likely to prefer the face-to-face option than others (60-69 years 63%; 70+ years 64%).

- Government Online users were significantly more likely to choose website or email as a preferred method of contacting government for all reasons than non-users, however with the exception of finding information other channels were the option preferred by the majority of them.