Webranking by Comprend is the leading survey of digital content presented by listed companies. This year's ranking found that German companies have improved their digital communications activities. Important improvements were made primarily to the corporate governance and about us sections. In addition, German companies have substantially improved the availability of responsive websites.
Webranking by Comprend is the leading survey of digital content presented by listed companies. This year's ranking found that German companies have improved their digital communications activities. Important improvements were made primarily to the corporate governance and about us sections. In addition, German companies have substantially improved the availability of responsive websites.
Webranking 2015-2016 ranked a total of 803 corporate websites of listed companies from 36 countries. The survey included 61 German companies – all of them part of the Financial Times Europe 500 list. The companies were ranked on the basis of 100 criteria that sum up the expectations of important stakeholders like business journalists, analysts, investors and jobseekers. This year's results showed that German corporate websites have increased the average score by almost 3 points from last year (from 43.7 to 46.3 points).
Company introductions: progress since last year
An effective introductory section about the company is crucial to provide a clear and thorough overview of a company's business and services. Likewise, it is demanded by 94.0% of stakeholders.
German companies have made considerable progress in providing fast facts with key information about the company, such as financial highlights and number of employees. This year, the average fulfilment level is 70.4% – compared to 43.1% last year. In addition, three out of four German companies present comprehensive information about different business units.
Careers information: best performer in Europe
German companies have recognised the importance of an extensive and appealing career section. This is important as prospective job applicants often turn to the corporate website when evaluating a company. Although still a way to go, Germany's progress is rewarded by being the country with the highest average score among all its European counterparts (45.9%) in the career section. The corresponding average score for the 500 largest companies in Europe is 36.6%.
German companies score highly on displaying vacancies (82.0%), as well as competence development opportunities (75.4%), company culture (60.7%) and work environment (59.0%). German companies are also transparent when discussing policies and principles for remuneration and compensation (59.0%).
Corporate direction and control: improved, but still scarce information
Despite scoring lower than the Nordic counterparts, German companies have increased communication about corporate control and direction. The average fulfilment level is 42.0%, compared to 36.4% last year. The corresponding figures for Sweden and Finland are 64.4% and 76.0%, respectively.
All 61 German companies ranked fail to present updated information about the shareholdings of the Board of Directors and Group Management. Also, information about executive and group management remuneration is scarce, with an average fulfilment level of only 21.9% – in contrast to the 83.0% of stakeholders who find it important.
Access from mobile devices: better addressing user experience
Visitors from mobile devices are raising, so it is important to facilitate access and enhance user experience by offering a responsive corporate website.
On website functionality, German companies have an increased performance of 18.1 percentage points from last year (from 33.2% to 51.3%). The advancement is mainly explained by the 39.3% of companies that offer a responsive website, compared to only 10.7% last year.
The German results of Webranking by Comprend 2015-2016
Bayer takes the top position this year with a total score of 73.2 points, increasing its score by 7.2 points since last year. Previous year's winner BASF slips down to the second position, receiving 70.1 points. Munich Re is awarded third place, scoring a total of 67.7 points. One of this year's most improved is Hannover Re, which rose from 16th place last year, to 6th place in this year's ranking.
See the full results here
“Bayer has taken a significantly big step forward to improve its web presence and increases its score with 7.2 points from last year, which is rewarded with a top position this year. It is especially the enhanced information on investor-related topics and the strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) section that brings the company to the top,” says Helena Wennergren, Head of Research at Comprend.
Webranking by Comprend – est.1997
Webranking by Comprend is Europe's leading survey of corporate websites. It is the only research that has every year since 1997 ranked over 800 websites according to how well they address the information requirements of corporate stakeholders.
More about Webranking
To find out more please contact Helena Wennergren (+46 70 971 12 10, helena.wennergren@comprend.com) or send an email to webranking@comprend.com.
