Benchmarking competitors’ websites

 Benchmarking competitors websites

Benchmarking of competitors’ websites is vital in positioning a website to compete effectively with competitors that already have websites. Given the importance of this activity, criteria for performing benchmarking have been describe.

Benchmarking should not only be based on the obvious tangible features of a website such as its ease of use and the impact of its design. 

Benchmarking criteria should include those that define the companies marketing performance in the industry and those that are specific to web marketing as follows:

● Financial performance (available from About Us, investor relations and electronic copies of company reports) this information is also available from intermediary sites such as finance information or share dealing sites such as Bloomberg (www.bloomberg.com) for major quoted companies.

● Conversion efficiency – sites can be compared to published results of average conversion rates (see, for example, SmartInsights.com).

● Marketplace performance – market share and sales trends and, significantly, the proportion of sales achieved through the Internet. This may not be available directly on the website, but may need the use of other online sources. For example, new entrant to European aviation easyJet (www.easyjet.com) achieved over two-thirds of its sales via the website and competitors needed to respond to this.

● Business and revenue models (see Chapter 5) – do these differ from other marketplace players?

● Marketplace positioning – the elements of the marketing mix covered in the including Product, Pricing and Place.

● Marketing communications techniques – is the customer value proposition of the site clear? Does the site support all stages of the buying decision from customers who are unfamiliar with the company through to existing customers? Are special promotions used on a monthly or periodic basis? Beyond the competitor’s site, how do they pro-mote their site? How do they make thorough use of intermediary sites to promote and deliver their services?

● Services offered – what is offered beyond brochureware? Is online purchase possible? What is the level of online customer support and how much technical information is available?

● Implementation of services – these are the practical features of site design that are described in this chapter, such as aesthetics, ease of use, personalisation, navigation, availability and speed.

A review of corporate websites suggests that, for most companies, the type of information that can be included on a website will be fairly similar. 

Many commentators make the point that some sites miss out the basic information that someone who is unfamiliar with a company may want to know.

Such as:

● Who are you? ‘About Us’ is now a standard menu option.

● What do you do? What products or services are available?

● Where do you do it? Are the products and services available internationally?

● What makes you different? Why should I use your site/services compared to your competitors’? This includes communicating the online value proposition.

Designing the information architecture Rosenfeld and Morville (2002) emphasised the importance of information architecture to an effective website design.

They said:

It is important to recognise that every information system, be it a book or an intranet, has an information architecture. ‘Well developed’ is the key here, as most sites don’t have a planned information architecture at all. They are analogous to buildings that weren’t architect in advance.
Design decisions reflect the personal biases of designers, the space doesn’t scale over time, technologies drive the design and not the other way around.

In their book, which is still the basis for good practice in web design, Rosenfeld and Morville (2002) give these alternative definitions of an information architecture:

1 The combination of organisation, labelling and navigation schemes within an information system.

2 The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content.

3 The art and science of structuring and classifying websites and intranets to help people find and manage information.

4 An emerging discipline and community of practice focussed on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

In practice, information architecture involves creating a plan to group information logically it involves creating a site structure which is often represented as a site map.

A well-developed information architecture is very important to usability since it determines navigation options and findability (Morville, 2005). The research to improve findability and in particular through optimising on-site search engines can yield major benefits to site owners. A planned information architecture is essential to large-scale websites such as transactional e-commerce sites, media owner sites and relationship-building sites that include a large volume of product or support documentation Information architectures are less.

Designing the user experience

 Designing the user experience

Once analysis has determined the business and user needs for a site, the site can be designed. The design phase is critical to a successful website since it will determine the quality of experience users of a site have; if they have a good experience they will return, if not they will not! A ‘good experience’ is determined by a number of factors such as those that affect how easy it is to find information:

For example, the structure of the site, menu choices and searching facilities. It is also affected by less tangible factors such as the graphical design and layout of the site. As mentioned at the start of the chapter, design is not solely a paper-based exercise, but needs to be integrated into the prototyping process.
The design should be tested by review with the client and customer to ensure it is appropriate. Since the main reason given for returning to a website is high-quality content, and content effects conversion too, it is important to determine, through analysis, that the content is correct. However, the quality of content is determined by more than the text copy. It is important to achieve high-quality content through design.

Nigel Bevan (1999a) says: 

Unless a website meets the needs of the intended users it will not meet the needs of the organisation providing the website.

Website development should be user-centred, evaluating the evolving design against user requirements.  How can this customer-orientated or user-centred content be achieved? User- centred design starts with understanding the nature and variation within the user groups. According to Bevan (1999a), key issues to consider which are still fundamental for digital experiences, whether desktop or mobile site, app or social network company page;

include: 

● Who are the important users? 

● What is their purpose for accessing the site? 

● How frequently will they visit the site? 

● What experience and expertise do they have?

● What nationality are they? Can they read your language? 

● What type of information are they looking for? 

● How will they want to use the information: read it on the screen, print it or download it?

● What type of browsers will they use? How fast will their communication links be? 

● How large a screen or window will they use, with how many colors Rosenfeld and Morville (2002) suggest four stages of site design that also have a usercentred basis: 

1 Identify different audiences. 

2 Rank importance of each to business. 

3 List the three most important information needs of audience. 

4 Ask representatives of each audience type to develop their own wish lists.

Evaluating designs

A test of effective design for usability is dependent on three areas according to Bevan (1999b):

● Effectiveness – can users complete their tasks correctly and completely?

● Productivity (efficiency) – are tasks completed in an acceptable length of time?

● Satisfaction – are users satisfied with the interaction?

Elements of site design

Once the requirements of the user and marketer are established we turn our attention to the design of the human–computer interface. 

Nielsen (2000) structures his book on web usability according to three main areas, which can be interpreted as follows:

1 site design and structure – the overall structure of the site;

2 page design – the layout of individual pages;

3 content design – how the text and graphic content on each page is designed. There is also the additional area of branding and messaging which is a key part of persuasion, as explained earlier in this Site design and structure The structures created by designers for websites will vary greatly according to their audience and the site’s purpose, but we can make some general observations about common approaches to site design and structure and their influence on consumers. 

These are often known as best practice principles of website design and in this section we will summarise some of the main factors. Of course, there are exceptions to such rules of thumb or ‘heuristics’, but often a design approach that works on one type of site will work on another, particularly if it is a common feature across the majority of sites. Rosen and Purinton (2004) assessed the design factors which influence a consumer (based on questionnaires of a group of students). They believe there are some basic factors that determine the effectiveness of an e-commerce site. 

They group these factors as follows:

● Coherence – simplicity of design, easy to read, use of categories (for browsing products or topics), absence of information overload, adequate font size, uncrowded presentation.

● Complexity – different categories of text.

● Legibility – use of ‘mini home page’ on every subsequent page, same menu on every page, site map. You can see that these authors suggest that simplicity in design is important. Another example of research into website design factors supports the importance of design. They sked students to review sites to assess the credibility of different suppliers based on the website design. 

They considered these factors most important:

Design look 46.1%

Information design/structure 28.5%

Information focus 25.1%

Company motive 15.5%

Usefulness of information 14.8%

Accuracy of information 14.3%

Name recognition and reputation 14.1%.

What about Landing pages on digital marketing

What about Landing pages on digital marketing 

Deciding on the page template design for different forms of landing pages is particularly important for site owners seeking to maximise conversion rate since many first-time visitors don’t arrive on the home page, they arrive deeper in the site from search engines orlinks from other site Chaffey and Smith (2012) suggest these are typical aims and corresponding questions to consider for increasing landing page conversion rate:

● Aim 1 – Generate response (online lead or sale and offline callback). Does the page have a prominent call-to-action, such as a prominent button above the fold; and repeated in text and image form?

● Aim 2 – Engage different audience types (reduce bounce rate, increase value events, increase return rate). Does the page have a prominent headline and subheads showing the visitor is in the right place? Does the page have scent-trail trigger messages, offers or images to appeal to different audiences? For example, Dell has links on its site to appeal to consumers and different types of businesses. A landing page containing form fields to fill in is often more effective than an additional click since it starts committed visitors on their journey.

● Aim 3 – Communicate key brand messages (increase brand familiarity and favourability). 

Does the page clearly explain who you are, what you do, where you operate and what makes you different? Is your online value proposition compelling? Do you use customer testimonials or ratings to show independent credibility? To help with this, use run-of-site messages (on all pages) across the top of the screen or in the left.

● Aim 4 – Answer the visitor’s questions (reduce bounce rates, increase conversion rates). Different audiences will want to know different things.Have you identified personas and do you seek to answer their questions? Do you use FAQ or messages which say ‘New to company’?

● Aim 5 – Showcase range of offers (cross-sell). Do you have recommendations on related or best-selling products and do you show the full range of your offering through navigation?

● Aim 6 – Attract visitors through search engine optimisation (SEO). How well do you rank for relevant search terms compared to competitors? Do your navigation, copy and page templates indicate relevance to search engines through on-page optimisation?

Blueprints illustrate how the content of a website is related and navigated while a wire frame focuses on individual pages; with a wireframe the navigation focus becomes where it will be placed on the page. Wireframes are useful for agencies and clients to discuss the way a website will be laid out without getting distracted by colour, style or messaging issues which should be covered separately as a creative planning activity.

The process of reviewing wireframes is sometimes referred to as storyboarding, although the term is often applied to reviewing creative ideas rather than formal design alternatives. Early designs are drawn on large pieces of paper, or mock-ups are produced using a drawing or paint program.At the wireframe stage, emphasis is not placed on use of colour or graphics, which will be developed in conjunction with branding or marketing teams and graphic designers and integrated into the site after the wireframe process.

According to Chaffey and Wood (2010), the aim of a wireframe will be to:

● integrate consistently available components on the web page (e.g. navigation, search boxes);

● order and group key types of components together;

● develop a design that will focus the user onto core messages and content;

● make correct use of white space to structure the page;

● develop a page structure that can be easily reused by other web designers.

Common wireframe or template features you may come across are:

● navigation in columns on left or right and at top or bottom;

● header areas and footer areas;

● containers, ‘slots’ or ‘portlets’ – these are areas of content such as an article or list of articles placed in boxes on the screen. Often slots will be dynamically populated from a content management system. 

● containers on the homepage may be used to: 

1– summarise the online value proposition

2– show promotions

3– recommend related products

4– feature news, etc

5– contain ads.

Web accessibility requirements

Web accessibility require 

Web accessibility is another core requirement for websites. It is about allowing all users of a website to interact with it regardless of disabilities they may have, or the web browser or platform they are using to access the site. The visually impaired are the main audience thatdesigning an accessible website can help. However, increased usage of mobile devices also makes consideration of accessibility important.

The following quote shows the importance of accessibility to a visually impaired user who uses a screen-reader which reads out the navigation options and content on a website

For me being online is everything. It’s my hi-fi, it’s my source of income, it’s my supermarket, it’s my telephone. It’s my way in.

(Lynn Holdsworth, screen-reader user, web developer and programmer) Source: 

RNIB Remember, as we explained that many countries now have specific accessibility legislation to which website owners are subject. This is often contained within disability and discrimination acts. In the UK, the relevant act is the Disability and Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995.

Recent amendments to the DDA make it unlawful to discriminate against disabled people in the way in which a company recruits and employs people, provides services or provides education. Providing services is the part of the law that applies to website design. Providing accessible websites is a requirement of Part II of the Disability and Discrimination Act published in 1999 and required by law from 2002.

Guidelines for creating accessible websites are produced by the governments of different countries and non-government organisations such as charities. Internet standards organisations, such as the World Wide Web Consortium, have been active in promoting guidelines for web accessibility through the Website Accessibility Initiative (see www.w3.org/WAI). 

MT his describes common accessibility problems such as:

Images without alternative text; lack of alternative text for imagemap hot-spots; misleading use of structural elements on pages; uncaptioned audio or undescribed video; lack of alternative information for users who cannot access frames or scripts; tables that are difficult to decypher when linearised; or sites with poor colour contrast.

A fuller checklist for accessibility compliance for website design and coding using HTML is available from the World Wide Web Consortium (http://www.w3.org/WAI/).Localisation A further aspect of customer-centricity for website design is the decision whether to include specific content for particular countries. This is referred to as localisation.

A site may need to support customers from a range of countries with:

● different product needs;

● language differences;

● cultural differences – this approach is also referred to as ‘cultural adaptation’.

Localisation will address all these issues. It may be that products will be similar in different countries and localisation will simply involve converting the website to suit another country. However, in order to be effective this often needs more than translation, since different promotion concepts may be needed for different countries. Note that each company prioritises different countries according to the size of the market, and this priority then governs the amount of work it puts into localisation.

Singh and Pereira (2005) provide an evaluation framework for the level of localisation:

● Standardised websites (not localised). A single site serves all customer segments (domestic and international).

● Semi-localised websites. A single site serves all customers; however, contact information about foreign subsidiaries is available for international customers. Many sites fall into this category.

● Localised websites. Country-specific websites with language translation for international customers, wherever relevant. 3M (www.3m.com) has adapted the websites for many countries to local language versions. It initially focussed on the major websites.

● Highly localised websites. Country specific websites with language translation; they also include other localisation efforts in terms of time, date, postcode, currency formats, etc. Dell (www.dell.com) provides highly localised websites.

● Culturally customised websites. Websites reflecting complete ‘immersion’ in the culture of target customer segments; as such, targeting a particular country may mean providing multiple websites for that country depending on the dominant cultures present.

Durex (www.durex.com) is a good example of a culturally customised website. Deciding on the degree of localisation is a difficult challenge for managers since while it has been established that local preferences are significant, it is often difficult to balance localisation costs against the likely increase or conversion rate through localisation. 

In a survey published in Multilingual (2008), localisation was seen as important with 88 per cent of managers at multinational companies stating that localisation is a key issue and 76 per cent of them saying that it is important specifically for international customer satisfaction. 

Yet over half of these respondents also admitted that they allocate only between 1 per cent and 5 per cent of their overall budget for localisation. An indication of the importance of localisation in different cultures has been completed by Nitish et al. (2006) for the German, Indian and Chinese cultures, assessing localised websites in terms not only of content, but cultural values such as collectivism, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity.

The survey suggests that without cultural adaptation, confidence or flow decreased so resulting in lower purchase intent.