Prayag webwatch 2014

WebWatch 2014

Prayag’s Annual Website Benchmark Analysis Report

From the Principal‟s desk

The annual Prayag Website study benchmarks

websites of companies operating in the Indian

IT and BPO sectors against global best

practices for website design, navigation, content

strategies and online marketing

The study showcases websites that stand out

for their innovative design, navigation and

content strategies

Best-in-class tactical ideas and practices are

also highlighted

Prayag‟s Annual Website Benchmark Analysis Report 2

Corporate websites in the study


• The study examined 54 corporate websites.

• The companies studied represented the typical mix of

technology companies.

• The study included both domestic companies and

multinationals operating in India

• List of companies studied is available at the end of the

report

10 10

13

10 11

IntegratedService Providers

IT Products Emerging andMid-size players

BPO Other

Number of corporate websites analyzed • Integrated Service Providers (IT

Services): Companies with

revenues flowing from diverse

vertical and horizontal services.

• IT Products: Companies with

revenue attributable mainly to

software product sales.

• Emerging and Midsize Players

(E&M): IT companies with

increasing presence in the IT

market.

• BPO: Companies deriving a

major portion of their revenues

from BPO services

• Others: Miscellaneous

technology companies

Assessment criteria

Navigation

Interaction cues

Flexibility and search

Sitemap

Contextual Navigation

Mobile responsiveness

Personalization


Content

Highs and lows

Content style

Value proposition marketing

Employee and client speak

Design Aesthetics

Hygiene habits

Packaging

Hall of Fame

SEO

Page Title

Meta Description Tags

Content & Structure

Navigation

• Interaction Cues

• Flexibility

• Sitemap and Search

• Contextual Navigation

• Personalization

• Mobile Responsiveness


Forrester Research estimates that

approximately 50% of potential sales

are lost because users can't find

information and that 40% of users do

not return to a site when their first visit

is a negative experience.

Attention deficit

syndrome

Interaction cues feature in the

websites studied and their

purpose is to capture the

attention of the users and

provide them with ways to

engage with the company.


No more wild goose chases

Flexibility

• Flexible navigation features allow the visitor

to steer through the site effortlessly.

• Breadcrumbs afford one-click access to

higher site levels allowing for easier and

quicker navigation.

Case In Point

• The Aegis site with dynamic menus,

breadcrumbs, sectional and contextual

navigation makes it easy to use the site.


Navigational features % using this feature

Breadcrumb trail 65

Breadcrumb trail with

backward navigation 63

Dynamic menus/ Tab

Metaphor 94

A combination of Breadcrumb trails and dynamic

tabs are key to a good website

A blueprint of the website

Who has included sitemaps? Zensar’s detailed sitemap


Other than IT product and E&M players, most others had them thus organizing information in a structured manner

80

54 58 70 73

20

46 42 30 27

IT Services IT Products Emerging andMid-sized

players

BPOs Others

Without sitemap

With sitemap

A combination of Breadcrumb trails and dynamic

tabs are key to a good website

Different strokes for different people

An example of a site with a mobile responsive website:


B2B sites reported that between 8% to 15% of visitors, accessed their site from mobile devices and this is bound to

increase.

Given this statistic, it is surprising that almost 70% of companies studied in this report had NOT enabled their site for

multiple devices.

DESKTOP

VIEW

TABLET

VIEW

Information – no further than a click or two away

The majority of websites surveyed were structured for optimal navigation and

provided critical information within 2-3 clicks


How many clicks to your critical information?

% ISPs IT Products E&M Players BPOs Others

Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

1-2 clicks 40 60 0 100 46 54 20 80 9 91

2-3 clicks 50 50 50 50 54 46 80 20 55 55

3-4 clicks 0 100 40 60 0 100 0 100 18 82

Inconsistent 10 90 10 90 0 100 0 100 18 82

Note: Critical information represents web pages that provide important information on the company and do not include any

downloadable material

The Related Zone

Contextual Navigation

• Contextual navigation bars encourage users

to visit more pages. It promises improved

user experience as it provides relevant

content. A win-win for all!

• Niche company sites displayed increased

contextual navigation as they need to present

relevant content owing to the specialized

nature of their business

Case in Point

• All things related to business are available a

click away – encouraging the user to learn

more about that offering.


Category Websites with contextual

navigation(%)

IT Services 70

IT Products 100

E&M Players 85

BPOs 90

Others 100

Appealing to the global user

Site localization which was seen more prominently in the websites of larger

companies is now featuring in the websites of emerging and medium-sized

companies as well.

Unity in Diversity


Category % of sites with

personalization

ISPs 70

IT Products 90

E&M Players 46

BPOs 80

Others 100

CONTENT

The highs and lows

Content style

Value proposition marketing

Employee and client speak


Technology creates the

context for persuasion, but

content persuades

– Colleen Jones

The highs and the lows

Hits

• Acknowledgment and acceptance that

content is key to an effective website

• Use of multiple ways to communicate a

message and going beyond text to attract a

reader and retain their attention

Misses

• The content on some websites were

overloaded with technical details, making it

hard to read.

• A text-heavy style without diagrams or tables

was another reason making the content a

difficult read.


Content is King

Use of Diagrams

Wipro‟s array of

collaterals have images

and illustrations that go

with each of them


Most sites contained case studies, whitepapers, and articles. Some included reports that were results of academic or

other collaborations.

Diagrams, charts and animations were used extensively, for greater visual impact, especially among IT services

companies.

30

60

30

14

30

60

20

10

72

30

10

20

60

14

40

IntegratedService

Providers

Product Emergingand Mid-

sizedPlayers

BPO Others

% of Limited % of No % of Yes

IBM has showcased

its significant

collection of case

studies effectively

A potpourri of content

Content Mix

• All company sites in the survey provided

content through a mix of technical and non-

technical topics.

• Technical content was limited while

contextual and diagrammatic representations

were popular.

Case in Point

• Accenture illustrates its solutions with

illustrations and graphics that captivates the

reader.


18.4

32.8 25.8

18.4

38.4

60.2 63.2

28.8

14

Contextual Use ofResources

Use of Diagrams Technical Style ofContents

Content presentation across segments

% of Partly/Limited % of No % of Yes

What they said and

What I heard

Case in Point

It is essential to convey your value

proposition clearly.

Adobe‟s site announces its

message in a simple and clear

manner along with key information

required for the site visitor.


All the basic details needed to inform and attract

customers

Your brand ambassadors

Brand promotion

Companies used employee quotes and even

videos to showcase their work environment

Case in Point

Product offerings and solutions too were

introduced through client testimonials videos or

quotes by some companies like SAP.


For

professionals

seeking jobs

For jobs in

customer

service

For interns

and

freshers

Link to customer specific solution

details and testimonial

DESIGN AESTHETICS

Hygiene Factors

Packaging

Hall of Fame


A tricky affair

• Judging website designs can

be highly subjective. We

structured our review into two

parts. In the first part, we

graded the reviewed websites

according to different hygiene

parameters

• Color Impact

• Legibility

• Readability

• Consistency

• In the next part we looked at a

few sites, which had that

“certain something”, that

warranted a second look.


Just the basics The winning design attribute once

again was

• A white backdrop with either black or grey

font. An overwhelming 97% of the websites

surveyed had used this background.

Other observations

• Use of the company‟s brand colors in all

websites.

• A shift to brevity in content.

• Only 19% of the sites maintained page length

consistency.

• Three out of four surveyed sites maintained a

clutter-free homepage

• Shifting trend towards increased content in the

menu.


Thinking outside the box...

• Running TATA logo in the background

reinforces the brand association

• Marketing the cloud with creative design

enhances the appeal


TCS

Engaging the user

• More use of visuals and colors

• Tables and images to break monotony of long explanations

Adobe

Home sweet home: Pages that are easy on the eye

Sitel

• Uncluttered homepage with bright image

sliders that highlight what they do

Intel

• Site has all the right elements- from a simple

design to use of brand colors to introduce their

key services


Beauty in simplicity

Mindtree

Pleasant mix of brand colors makes the site

appealing

Capgemini

Provides all information creatively despite the

absence of a slider


ZenSar and Global

Logic

A catchy caption combined with the

right colors, visuals and placement

hit the bull‟s eye


THE HALL OF FAME

And the winners are…


Aegis

Crisp copy, effective use of brand

colors, and well spaced out – the

Aegis homepage has it all.


Cognizant

Content flow has been designed to

sustain reader interest.


NetApp

Clever use of illustrations without

compromising on business context

to add appeal in the NetApp

website


Search Engine

Optimization

Hygiene Factors

• Bigger companies appeared

unhindered by rules on search

engine optimization.

• A surprise observation was the

absence of blogs in over 70%

of the sites studies. Blogs are a

„must have‟ feature for SEO as

they enrich the content on your

site.

• Whitepapers and case studies

which play the same role, were

however, used more commonly.


Have a question?

Suggestions? Feedback?

We would like to hear from you

Thank You

Team Prayag

Companies covered in this study

Integrated Service

Providers

• TCS

• Infosys

• Wipro

• Cognizant

• HCL technologies

• IBM

• HP

• Accenture

• Capgemini

• CSC

IT Products

• Tally

• SAP

• Oracle

• Microsoft

• Cisco

• Citrix

• Intuit

• McAfee

• Adobe

• NetApp

Emerging & mid-size

players

• InMobi

• Zensar

• Mindtree

• 3i Infotech

• Aditya Birla Minacs

• KPIT Cummins

• Persistent

• ITC Infotech India

• Aditi

• Global Logic

• L&T Infotech

• Tech Mahindra

• Hexaware Technologies

BPO

• Aegis

• EXL Services

• Genpact

• WNS

• First Source

• 24/7 Customer

• Sitel

• Convergys

• Hinduja global

• Serco

Other

• Dell

• Honeywell

• Symantec

• Quest

• Qualcomm

• Lenovo

• Avaya

• Nokia

• Intel

• Samsung

• Nvidia

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Documents

Prayag webwatch 2014