UK Companies have a long way to go in Engaging Visitors Online

The Engaged Web, a benchmark study published by EpiServer, has revealed that many online brands have not yet taken advantage of increasing levels of visitor engagement on their website. The Engaged Web report analysed eighty companies ranked by Hitwise as being the most visited in the UK, spanning eight vertical sectors – Telecoms, Charity, Retail, Sport, Travel, Public Sector, Finance and Utilities – and scored them against a matrix of criteria for an in-depth assessment of their online engagement and interactivity strategies.   The criteria assessed a range of different components that make up an engaged website including Blogging, Communities, Multimedia Content and Social Media to name a few. The key findings have been identified below.

The scores and key areas of neglect clearly varied between the vertical sectors. For instance every one of the ten Sports sites featured a blog and community, Travel sites were also not far behind with 60% of sites maintaining a blog in an attempt to engage with their audience. In other sectors the results were not quite as impressive with the Finance and Telecoms sectors failing to provide sufficient sticky content to hold visitor attention and encourage them to return.

Key Findings Include:

Blogging

Blogs are not getting the attention they require yet they tend to be easy to use, implement, update and offer businesses the opportunity to speak directly to visitors in a personable way.  Just less than half of the sites (40%) featured a blog, however too many were not frequently updated, defeating the key objective of a blog as readers quickly lose interest. Only 34% of the blogs were updated on a regular basis, while only 19% of the brands assessed were identified to be advertising the blog across the rest of the website. The results also differed between the eight sectors as every Sports website reviewed featured a blog along with the majority of Travel and Community websites.

The report identifies that the uSwitch blog is an example of how it should be done, although the blog is not promoted prominently enough across the rest of the site. It is also felt that by pulling in the RSS feed on the homepage the blog reference could be made more prominent.

Communities (Forums, Community Blogs & Message Boards)

Communities allow visitors to generate content on the site but they do require ongoing management to really make visitors feel valued and are continually encouraged to contribute constructively. Only a third (34%) of the companies studied featured a community on their site, with Telecoms brands coming out on top, closely followed by charities. In terms of usage only 44% of companies with a community actually attempted to initiate a conversation with visitors, although more do tend to respond to queries or questions from users, with 70% actively engaging with users. However not a single company studied was identified to be regularly uploading content to their community.

The report highlights RSPB community as a best practise example, with plenty of features and content to keep users interested and keep returning on a regular basis.

Multimedia Content & Rich Media (Images, Videos, Podcasts, Presentations)

Multimedia Content is one of the best ways to quickly and instantly grab visitor attention and encourage them to further explore the website. Only 28% of the companies assessed have some sort of multimedia content on their websites. Sports sites came out on top again, yet other brands have a long way to go in this section.  Copy was also assessed to determine how engaging it is to viewers. On average companies assessed were scored around 4.8 out of 7, thus suggesting there is more to be done to capture the attention of web visitors.

Paddy Power is identified as a stand out website in this category, offering a number of videos and live sports streaming is provided for registered members. The use of video is also closely related to the purpose of the Paddy Power site, thus encouraging visitors to remain on the site for longer.

Social Media

The Econsultancy indicate that other studies have found that brands fail to sufficiently advertise their Social Media accounts on their websites and this study is no different. The scores were significantly low with brands failing to encourage online interaction with their visitors and customers or integrate and optimise their online presence. Only 15% of companies were identified as advertising their Twitter account directly on the homepage and only 19% draw attention to their Facebook fan page. In addition 34% of the sites provide links that allow a visitor to share content on a social network, but only 16% allow the visitor to rate and tag content.

The report identifies ASOS as a strong example of a brand with an integrated social media strategy.  It clearly promotes its social media presence on the website and has accounts on the four biggest Social Media channels.

Whilst many companies have taken a number of steps to make their website more engaging for visitors, the study indentifies that there is still more to be done. As the web is continuing to grow in importance, delivering engaging online experiences will become critical for businesses looking to encourage brand loyalty and improve their business online. Online engagement can ultimately bring a number of benefits including increased brand affinity, loyalty along with bottom line results.

EPiServer also suggest that companies can become more efficient by using an online platform to publish information quickly, introduce multimedia content and build and host online communities. Our Redfish ecommerce application has been designed with improving customer engagement in mind, offering the opportunity to refresh the online shopping experience and provide more inspiring imagery.  Don’t hesitate to contact us to find out more.