Trends for corporate websites in 2008 - part III

11 dec 2007

4016 viewsrating: rating: 3 of 5

comments: 0

How to meet the needs of each target group on your corporate website? How to address individual visitors? And how to use your corporate website as a medium to communicate your 'brand'? An investor or job-seeker may also be one of your customers! Read the final trends for 2008.

Shift in goals for corporate websites

For the 2007 FD Henri Sijthoff Prize, Jungle Rating examined the quality of Dutch corporate websites for the fifth consecutive year. Jungle Rating sees five clear trends.

An increasing number of companies:

expose views and topical matters
establish an active dialogue with their visitors
enrich visitor experience through image and sound
consider individual stakeholders´ needs
use the corporate website as a medium to communicate their ‘brand’

In today’s article we discuss the last two trends.

4. Consider individual stakeholders´ needs

Many techniques are available to personalize information for a visitor’s specific needs. Nowadays, most corporate websites have RSS feeds, e-mail alerts and interactive graphs with share price performance. But much more is possible.

The Benchmark Financial Communication shows that trendsetters also provide financial figures in Excel format, podcasts, vodcasts, personalized and interactive annual reports and a mobile version of their corporate website.

What do stakeholders expect?
Corporate stakeholders look for corporate information that is relevant to them. But how they want this information differs. Journalists are short on time and expect the latest press release to appear automatically in their inbox or RSS reader. Financial analysts take the time to puzzle over financial figures in Excel. A private investor is only interested in the ‘letter from the CEO’ in the latest annual report. It is very important that you anticipate the increasing need for personalization through the corporate website.

	“I have to prepare an analysis of ING Group’s financial ratios during the past 10 years.”

	“On business trips I have time to examine the stock listings and Vopak’s latest press releases on my mobile telephone.”

Follow this trend?
Personalization of corporate information is increasingly important. Financial stakeholders also expect this. Therefore, you’ll have to put yourself in the position of your website visitors and help them to make the information they seek easier to find and use.

Best Practices
Wolters Kluwer offers visitors the opportunity to download both podcasts and vodcasts from presentations. In this way, stakeholders can also view them offline on portable media players or iPods where and when it best suits them.
Travelling financial stakeholders also require up-to date information. Consider the journalist looking for contact data from the Investor Relations department, or an analyst who would like to check the latest share price. Aviva meets this need with a mobile website.
Not all stakeholders are interested in a complete annual report or sustainability report. UBS cleverly anticipates this by having the visitor compile his own report, in which he can combine various chapters from various reports.

5. Use your corporate website as a medium to communicate your brand

In addition to pure financial facts, an increasing number of corporate websites also contain business-related information. Companies are starting to realize that they can also use their corporate website to support their company objectives. The distinction between corporate and business information – and the use of two different websites – is blurring

What do stakeholders expect?
Financial stakeholders are not only interested in the figures and the annual report. They would also like insight into the ‘business’ of your company; its market position, power of innovation, etc. This gives financial stakeholders a complete picture of your company.

Moreover, customers, job-seekers or other interested parties also visit your corporate website. They look for information about products or services and expect to be referred to the business or retail website. An investor or job-seeker may also be one of your customers!

	“As an analyst, I’d like to receive a total picture of the company. Business information is indispensable.”

	“From the corporate website, I’d like to be able to surf quickly to the site of a subsidiary. I’m looking for a certain product for my engineering business.”

Follow this trend?
Your corporate website offers extensive possibilities to achieve marketing objectives through branding or lead generation.

If many (potential) customers come to your website, it is extremely important that they are properly referred to the right products or services. Your corporate website then generates leads for the business. In any case, from a branding perspective, it is best to emphasize business-related information on your corporate website, for financial stakeholders as well.

Best Practices
Bayer shows that it is an innovative company by dedicating a separate section on ‘Research & Innovation’ on its website. Bayer shows how the company is innovative in examples and videos. This has a positive influence on Bayer’s image.
On the Ahold website, detailed information can be found on all of the holding’s divisions. Visitors can acquire a good picture of the various company divisions and can also view advertising campaigns. They give them a good total picture of the holding.
Procter & Gamble’s corporate website not only offers financial information. P&G also shows the product line and provides information on how this product range was developed. This offers visitors better insight into the product development at the company.