Black Sun is pleased to announce the release of its latest piece of digital research ‘Are Corporate Websites Getting More Effective?’. The research builds on the first edition, launched early last year, and examines the 20 FTSE sites redesigned or relaunched in 2015.

Research has shown that the corporate website is a key source of information for all stakeholders, and while improvements are seen overall there are still some areas lacking.  

Some key findings from the research:

• Communicating purpose to stakeholders is crucial for companies today. Interestingly, only 45% of the FTSE 100 state their purpose on their homepage, vs 67% of the FTSE 250

• Astonishingly, the number of companies that include strategy, business model and KPIs within their sites are still very low with only 9% of new FTSE 100 sites including this information, up slightly from 4% in 2014. FTSE 250 performs slightly better at 22%, however that is actually down from their 2014 figure of 32%

• The creativity of sites is advancing aided by the use of video. Our research shows 100% of new FTSE 100 sites featured videos in 2015, vs 78% of FTSE 250, significantly higher for both than in 2014

• The corporate website provides a good opportunity for companies to engage with their stakeholders through feedback and sign up features. However, companies seem to be afraid to engage! Only 35% of FTSE 100 sites allow audiences to receive news updates for specific areas. Interestingly the FTSE 250 perform better at 67%

The research conducted by Black Sun provides key insights on the trends in new FTSE websites, highlighting where there have been improvements and in some cases decline from 2014’s findings. The areas examined included the ‘four C’s’ which we believe, if done right are the key to best-in-class corporate websites. The ‘four C’s include: coherent story, compelling creative, captivating experience and customised content.

Richard Dixon, Black Sun's Chief Digital Officer commented “Your website is at the heart of your communications; it directly affects shareholder and analyst investment decisions, attracts or deters prospective employees, but most importantly can evidence a sustainable, and thus more valuable, business. While most results were encouraging, we expect to see more improvements in next year’s research”.

For access to the research, please follow this link.

 

For more information, or a benchmark of your website against the FTSE 100 websites, please contact:

Sergey Maslennikov, International Business Development Manager

[email protected]