UPDATE: Corporate website

Visiting the corporate website is always also an experience users have with your company. Your website should therefore represent your company as well as possible and explain who you are and what sets you apart. To get an initial impression of whether your website already fulfils this function, you can ask yourself the following questions:

Usability / user experience

• What do users feel when they visit the website?

• Is this perception positive, and does it fit the company?

• Does everything work, or are there frustrating errors/dead ends? 

• Are loading times short enough?

Content

• Is it clear what the company stands for?

• Is the content relevant to the target audiences?

• Are contents displayed appealingly and clearly?

• Does the website content share the same tone as the rest of the corporate communication?

• Can the target audience find the website content via search engines?

Networking

• Does the website offer entry points to all other communication channels, such as social media accounts, blog etc.?

• Are there interfaces to customer relationship management and media asset management?

A good corporate website is always also a sales channel, your digital shop floor. You can decide how you want to present your offering. This depends heavily on which products or services your company offers. 
Our experience with companies, for example from the B2B and financial sectors, teaches us that your website should answer these important questions with yes:

• Is there enough relevant information about the products/services?

• Is this information prepared in a customer-friendly and engaging way?

• Can users experience the products in a multimedia way, e.g. through photos, video, 360° shots, animations, interactions?

• Is there an interface to the PIM (product information system) and thus a single point of truth for product information?

The skills shortage is probably the biggest challenge many of our clients currently face. Employer branding is seen as a very important task in B2B too. For many companies, job listings are the main reason visitors come to the site. Your website's careers section is therefore more important than ever. To keep up in the fight for talent and well-trained staff, you should be able to answer yes to these questions about your careers section:

• Is all the important information available for applicants?

• Is the online application process straightforward and short? 

• Are enough contact options provided to key contacts?

• Is the corporate culture and corporate values conveyed vividly?

• Do you tell inspiring stories about your employees?

• Is there an integration with your HR system?

• Do you offer applicant tools such as a job board with filter function or job maps?

• Do you use adequate encryption for the transmission of personal data? 

Outstanding corporate websites anticipate the behaviour, knowledge and technical setup of target audiences. And not only regarding the status quo, but also long-term. At the same time, a website must integrate into your company's technical circumstances. If your current website is in good technical shape, you should be able to answer the following questions with yes:

• Is the website displayed adequately and smoothly on target groups' (mobile) devices?

• Is the content management system (CMS) user-friendly for both target audiences and the editorial team?

• Can users complete their most important tasks on the page quickly and easily (order a product, submit an application)?

• Can the website communicate with third-party systems (PIM, CRM, etc.)?

• Can the website be continuously developed without complications?

International companies face many challenges that a good corporate website can ease. These challenges include, for example:

• International companies manage global, local and/or regional content (different languages, imagery, product variants, news, etc.)

• Your corporate brand should be communicated consistently across all countries.

• Domain strategy: different countries use different top-level domains.

• Centralised or decentralised editorial processes must be regulated internationally.

• In some countries, search engines other than Google are used. 

A CMS that can be used globally without issue by various content managers and editors, and that is, for example, prepared for different language variants and right-to-left script, is the first step towards simplifying international collaboration. To communicate brand values and corporate design consistently, integrating an international brand portal is advisable.

A good corporate website should:

• Be tailored to users' needs.

• Bringing your corporate brand to life digitally

• Present your products/services in appealing and informative way

• Company as attractive employer presented

• a technical foundation that fits your IT landscape, meets user needs and can be developed further

• Internationally processed and deliver localised content

Not sure whether your company website currently delivers on this?

Get in touch with us!