The best and worst FTSE 100 sites

The Investis Quarterly (IQ) Corporate Website Ranking uniquely measures each of the FTSE 100’s corporate sites against almost 200 individual, objective criteria in eight different categories in order to identify companies who lead the way in online corporate communications.

The IQ Ranking looked for effective use of corporate websites for the disclosure and availability of real-time Investor Relations data, media and analyst relations contacts and the use of web 2.0 tools that keep stakeholders informed of information and decisions that can affect the minute-by-minute reputation of a company.

Life insurance giant Aviva topped the poll with leading scores in every category and forward-thinking personalization tools and optimization of the site for the Blackberry. 

Food retail was the most successful sector with initiatives like Sainsbury’s web-focused annual review and CR report trail blazing online corporate communications.  The mining sector performed worst overall with four of the ten FTSE 100 mining companies in the bottom ten of the ranking.

Bucking this trend amongst the miners, Anglo American was singled out for its innovative use of an interactive mapping feature across its website.

One of the lowest-performing categories was in the take-up of multimedia, with more than 75% of companies scoring below 50% in this category. This is in stark contrast to the proliferation of multimedia material now available on the websites of many media outlets with which companies now compete for a share of voice.

The banking sector is revealed as one of the lowest performing sectors relative to its size, with researchers citing little industry perspective available through corporate sites and poor or slow response to crisis.

Royal Bank of Scotland was praised for making some attempt to keep pace with the banking crisis through its Economic Insight content, but the sector as a whole has done little this year to keep its non-customer stakeholders informed of developments through their websites.

Commenting on the review Investis Director Al Loehnis said: “In this dynamic and volatile business environment, reputations can be lost in the time it takes rumours and speculation to spread, which is why effective and pro-active online corporate communications is essential to protect reputations.”

The corporate website is now regarded as a primary disclosure medium by regulatory bodies including the SEC and usage of corporate websites has risen by 30 per cent in the last 12 months*.  Despite all of this, the IQ Corporate Website Ranking highlights a trend away from best practice towards ‘peer practice’, where companies only provide information in the same way and in the same depth as their competitors within the same sector.

Elisabeth Lewis-Jones, President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, said: “Research that highlights website best practice, allowing companies to learn from this, can only be a good thing. A website is like a company’s shop window. It needs to invite people in and then give them what they want to turn them into repeat visitors.

“Because websites allow companies to communicate directly with the stakeholders upon which their reputations depend, a well managed one can make the difference between merely surviving and success. As the current economic situation bites, organisations are likely to rely even more heavily on their online communications, which are more responsive to change and comparatively cost effective, to differentiate themselves from their competitors. And, they are going to want to stand out for the right reasons.”

The IQ Corporate Website Ranking will be updated quarterly, with future rankings including FTSE250 companies and constituents of major global stock market indices.

Companies performance in the Investis Quarterly Corporate Website Ranking

Source: www.investis.com