Finnish corporate websites: great in content, lacking in visualisation

By Timmy Fredriksson

Finnish companies are once again the best in Europe at fulfilling the capital market and jobseekers’ desires for information on corporate websites when ranked against stakeholder needs. Finnish companies excel in areas such as press, IR and sustainability. But with large amounts of information comes the challenge of comprehension: visualisation becomes the jester in a land where content is king.

Comparing the results of the 20 largest companies in each of the 13 countries listed in the summary, Finland places at number one with a score of 65.9 (out of 100). The average for the whole of Europe is 52.7. Finnish company websites are the best compared to their European counterparts, but there is still some distance to 100 points. Clarity regarding business models and better visualisation is at the top of the list for the Finnish companies. But, let's start with the good news.

See what Markkinointi & Mainonta writes about the results.

Careers keep on improving

Career sites have previously been one of the Finnish companies' challenges, something they've clearly worked on to amend since last year. They placed as 4th in last year's ranking, whereas they're first place this year compared to their European counterparts. Although the Finnish companies are the best in Europe, the average fulfilment (average score divided by max score) for careers is 46%. There is still room for improvement. Where Finnish career sections mainly lack information is in statements about compensation & benefits for employees and contact details for general HR contacts. The fulfilment is 22% and 9% respectively.

Best in class in terms of career sections in Finland is Kesko with a score of 10.2 points out of 13.

Company information is the new improvement area

Finnish companies are amongst the best in Europe when it comes to presenting company information. On average, the companies present 47% of the desired material in this subject. That number was actually 55% last year. The average for Europe is 45%. Looking deeper into that number, it's clear that there are big discrepancies in different kinds of information. On the topic of market share and competitors, 84% of the Finnish companies are clear about their positioning, either geographically or in their industry. But presenting their main competitors or market share is something only 20% of the companies manage to do. That number is in itself higher than both the Nordic and the European average, but something in which Finnish companies definitely should improve their transparency.

Be clear about how your business works

At times where there's talk of a recession coming, it becomes even more important for companies to show that they have a strong foundation. Convincing shareholders and investors to keep the faith is the goal. The biggest part of that foundation is the business model. The need from stakeholders to be able to get a good understanding of a company's business model is something that has grown in recent years as well, since it's becoming more and more important. In light of this need and the clarity it requires, not many Finnish companies provide a full description of their business model. Out of the 50 Finnish companies that were ranked, 30% explained their business model.

Taking it a step further, Finnish industrial goods & services company Valmet not only describe their business model, they visualise it in conjunction with an explanation of their value creation.

Visualisation gets the point across

Since Finnish companies are overall great at providing content for their stakeholders, a key focus should then be to make the content comprehensible. Bigger websites tend to become text heavy and an illustration or graph in the right place can make the difference in getting tired from reading or finding the desired information. This applies to many parts of the website and although the Finnish companies are better than the European average, there's a lot of room for improvement.

For example, 22% of the Finnish companies illustrate their business model with some kind of visual complement. Business models can really benefit from well-designed graphics in terms of comprehension. 92% of the Finnish companies present their overall business goals, whilst only 30% complement that information with some kind of visualisation. Yet again, another piece of content that can benefit from visual aid.

Although Finnish industrial services & goods company Lassila & Tikanoja isn't part of the top 10 in Finland, they are the ones to look at in terms of illustrating key information on their website.

The Finnish winners and climbers

Finnish industrial goods and services company Wärtsilä have done it again, and they’re the winner for the third year in a row. With a lower score than last year, 88.7 compared to 92.5, they maintain their place at the top. The silver medallist this year is Valmet who has climbed from 3rd to 2nd place, switching places with this year’s number 3: Kesko. The award for best climber goes to Nokian Tyres. They managed to increase their score with an impressive 13.4 points by focusing on improving IR and sustainability communication.

See the full Finnish results