Web100 Research
Is your website serving its purpose?
Your corporate website is a vital part of the communications mix. It is ever more important in communicating your corporate story. It influences what investors think and their investment decisions; is the most popular route for prospective employees to apply for a job and is the go-to resource for journalists.
Every year we conduct an in-depth analysis of corporate websites, exploring the latest trends, features and content to assess how well they are delivering to the needs of each of stakeholder group. It gives us the insights to help you understand how well your website is serving your purpose, and how it stacks up against your peers and best practice.
Is your website serving its purpose?
Your corporate website is a vital part of the communications mix. It is ever more important in communicating your corporate story. It influences what investors think and their investment decisions; is the most popular route for prospective employees to apply for a job and is the go-to resource for journalists.
Every year we conduct an in-depth analysis of corporate websites, exploring the latest trends, features and content to assess how well they are delivering to the needs of each of stakeholder group. It gives us the insights to help you understand how well your website is serving your purpose, and how it stacks up against your peers and best practice.
How do we benchmark websites?
An effective website requires two key ingredients. The first is quality, relevant and timely content. So we assess the completeness, consistency, and clarity of content and how well it meets the needs of different stakeholders. The second is the experience through which this content is delivered, and so we assess creativity and desirability, usability of the site and the findability of content. Across these two dimensions we look at approximately 200 different metrics.
We also use analytics to understand what stakeholders are looking for, and to help shape our assessment and prioritisation of the content. This places a 'real-world' overlay onto the analysis we do.
The resultant mix is a unique insight into corporate websites and how we can make them work even harder to serve your purpose.
How do we benchmark websites?
An effective website requires two key ingredients. The first is quality, relevant and timely content. So we assess the completeness, consistency, and clarity of content and how well it meets the needs of different stakeholders. The second is the experience through which this content is delivered, and so we assess creativity and desirability, usability of the site and the findability of content. Across these two dimensions we look at approximately 200 different metrics.
We also use analytics to understand what stakeholders are looking for, and to help shape our assessment and prioritisation of the content. This places a 'real-world' overlay onto the analysis we do.
The resultant mix is a unique insight into corporate websites and how we can make them work even harder to serve your purpose.
2022: How 'purpose full' is your website?
Once again we see increased investment in corporate websites and how they are used to reach, engage and influence stakeholders. This year we have seen 3 key trends:
1. Purpose driven
Purpose is increasingly at the heart of corporate communications, and for websites we see a continued focus on purpose in 3 ways:
- Purpose led: 84% of organisations now have a clear statement of their purpose with half of these having a dedicated page for purpose.
- Purposefully different: with content that reinforces their purpose such as research, insights, or interactive features.
- Purpose with outcomes: now the emphasis is on how purpose makes a difference, brought to life through case studies, people profiles or sustainability projects.
2. Audience centric
In 2022 we have seen a much greater focus on ensuring the content required for the different audiences being tailored for those audiences and brought to the fore. Whether investors, prospective employees or customers, content is increasingly being curated for the specific audiences.
3. Experience enriched
This has been a trend with growing momentum year on year. Corporate websites are finally catching up with the experiences provided by other digital channels - and in some cases even overtaking! This we see in 4 main ways:
- More engaging content delivery through the greater use of video, ambients, GIFs and the way content is loaded and served in the page
- Continual improvements in navigational aids to ensure easy access to content
- Better use of interactive features that bring to life key differentiators or points of competitive advantage
- Emergence of gamification to increase user engagement and understanding
All of these are enriching the user experience and driving greater readership and deeper understanding.
View the Web100 results
2. Audience centric
In 2022 we have seen a much greater focus on ensuring the content required for the different audiences being tailored for those audiences and brought to the fore. Whether investors, prospective employees or customers, content is increasingly being curated for the specific audiences.
3. Experience enriched
This has been a trend with growing momentum year on year. Corporate websites are finally catching up with the experiences provided by other digital channels - and in some cases even overtaking! This we see in 4 main ways:
- More engaging content delivery through the greater use of video, ambients, GIFs and the way content is loaded and served in the page
- Continual improvements in navigational aids to ensure easy access to content
- Better use of interactive features that bring to life key differentiators or points of competitive advantage
- Emergence of gamification to increase user engagement and understanding
All of these are enriching the user experience and driving greater readership and deeper understanding.
View the Web100 results
How does your website stack up?
Your website is one of your most important communications channels - if you want to find out how yours stacks up against best practice and what your peers are doing, why not ask for a benchmark?
Our benchmark will analyse your website across both our content and experience scores, and we will provide specific recommendations on improvements you should make.
We can also provide an analysis against named peers.
