How to make the business case for content design in government

The business case for content design in Australian government is not hard to make. I know this because I have made it, and the results were measurable. What most proposals get wrong is framing the argument around quality rather than cost.

Why most proposals fail

Most content design investment proposals in government fail before they reach the decision-maker who matters. They frame the problem as: "our content is hard to read" or "users are confused." Both of those things may be true. Neither of them is a budget argument.

Decision-makers in government approve investment when it reduces cost, manages compliance risk, or improves measurable service delivery. Content design proposals that argue for quality — for better writing, clearer language, or more user-centred structure — are competing with everything else on those grounds.

Proposals that argue for call deflection, reduced complaints, faster task completion, or lower rework costs are arguing in the language of investment decisions. That is where content designers need to be.

The numbers already exist in your organisation

Most agencies already have the data to make this case. They are just not connecting it to content.

Call centre data is some of the most underused evidence in content design. If users are calling to ask questions your website should answer, that is a content failure with a measurable cost. A single call to a government contact centre typically costs between $12 and $30 to handle. If your website is driving 50,000 avoidable calls a year, that is a six-figure content problem.

Content rework costs are similarly overlooked. When agencies commission a website redesign, fail to address content, and return eighteen months later to fix what the redesign did not, that is the cost of not investing earlier. Most agencies have experienced this cycle at least once.

Compliance risk is a third lever. Accessibility requirements for government digital services are becoming more explicit, including expectations that public-facing content meets WCAG 2.2. Inaccessible content is not just poor practice — it can also expose agencies to complaints and legal risk under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

What good framing looks like

The strongest business cases I have seen connect content investment to a specific, quantifiable problem the organisation is already paying to manage.

"We will reduce call centre contacts about [topic] by 20 per cent" is a fundable statement. "We will improve the user experience of our website" is not. The difference is specificity, measurability, and a direct line to something the organisation already tracks.

Start with call drivers. Ask the contact centre what the top five call reasons are. Map those back to your website. If any of them should be answered by existing content, you have the foundation of a business case before you have written a word of new content.

Then quantify. Use your contact centre cost-per-call data, your web traffic data, and your task completion rates if you have them. If you do not have task completion rates, name that gap in the proposal — because the absence of a measurement baseline is itself a governance risk.

What decision-makers need to see

A content design business case for government should include four things: the problem and its cost, the proposed scope of work, the expected return with a measurement plan, and the risk of doing nothing.

The risk of doing nothing is often the most persuasive section. Agencies that have navigated a poorly managed website consolidation, an accessibility complaint, or a call centre spike after a content failure understand what it costs to manage reactively. Content design is cheaper than the problem it prevents.

The Style Manual and the Digital Service Standard both require agencies to write plainly and accessibly. As does WCAG 2.2. They are not optional standards. If your agency is not meeting those requirements, that is a compliance gap — and compliance gaps are fundable problems.

The question worth asking

What does it currently cost your agency to handle the calls, complaints, and rework that is driven by content your website should have handled? If you do not know, that number is exactly what a well-scoped content design engagement would help you find.