Ask a resident what they want from their council website and the list is short: bin days, permits, paying things and reporting things that are broken. Ask a council what its website contains and the answer runs to several thousand pages.
The gap between those two lists is where contact volume comes from.
Bins and collections
Nothing else comes close for volume. People want to know which colour goes out this week, what happens when a crew drives past, how to replace a cracked bin, whether a particular item belongs in the recycling, how to book a collection for a sofa, and what shifts around over a bank holiday weekend.
Resident: They did not take my recycling this morning. Assistant: The missed collection page explains that crews sometimes return later the same day, and asks residents to report it after the time shown if the bin is still there. It also explains the common reasons a bin is not emptied, such as the wrong items inside or the bin not being out by the collection time. Would you like the reporting form?
Parking permits
Residents ask how to apply, what documents are needed, how long it takes, how to get a visitor permit, what to do when they change vehicle and how to renew. Each has a form, and the value is getting them to the right one first time.
Council tax
Payments, moving home, single person discount, exemptions and what to do when struggling to pay. The last of these needs care: the website should explain the support process and point to free independent debt advice, never assess anyone's circumstances.
Reporting problems
Fly-tipping, potholes, street lighting, graffiti and overgrown vegetation. The quality of a report matters as much as the volume, so prompting for location, a photograph and a description produces reports that can actually be actioned.
Planning and licensing
Residents ask how to comment on an application, when decisions are made and what is allowed without permission. A council website can explain the process and point to the public register, while leaving any judgement on a specific application to planning officers.
Bulky waste and garden waste
Bulky collections and garden waste subscriptions generate constant questions about what is accepted, what it costs, how to book and when collections run through the year. Both are chargeable services in many areas, so clear answers turn enquiries into completed bookings rather than messages asking how to pay.
Accessibility and alternatives
Plenty of people cannot or will not use an online form, and that is not a failing to be designed around. A visible route to a human being has to sit alongside everything automated, never behind it.
Urgent matters
Danger, a family with nowhere to sleep tonight, concern for a child or an adult at risk, or a hazard in a public place all need the emergency or out-of-hours route immediately, ahead of anything else.
Location questions
Where services are, opening times and how to get there are constant, and they work the same way as the directions questions described in directions, parking and accessibility questions for clinics and answering service area questions.
The wider pattern
The underlying problem, and the fix, is described in resident questions councils answer again and again, and public-facing organisations everywhere see it, as in donor questions that go unanswered on charity websites.
Getting started
Rewrite your highest-volume topics in residents' words, link the forms directly and answer at any hour. SpideyChat for public and nonprofit organisations answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.