Audience Insight Report 2015

Investis IQ research www.investis.com twitter/investis

3%INCREASE IN VISITS TO CORPORATE WEBSITES FROM 2013 TO 2014

Audience Insight Report 2015Understanding your digital audience

OF VISITS COME FROM SEARCH ENGINES

31%ANDROID’S SHARE OF MOBILE VISITS

46%LINKEDIN’S SHARE OF SOCIAL MEDIA VISITS TO CORPORATE WEBSITES

54%

INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015 INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015

2 3

The two-year trend for visits to corporate websites is still climbing.

+6%

Predicted proportion of visits to corporate websites from mobile devices by March 2016.

30%

Nearly a third (31%) of all mobile visits to corporate websites are from Android devices.

31%

More than half (54%) of all visitors come via search engines – and climbing.

54%

The vast majority (92%) of referrals from social media sites come from LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

92%

Welcome to the third Investis IQ Audience Insight report, which tracks the evolving use and changing requirements of visitors to corporate websites.

OVERVIEW


2 3

On average, we are tracking nearly 3.5 million visits to corporate websites and over 11 million page views per month.

In order to provide insights to as broad a range of companies as possible, we have carefully selected websites of differing sizes and market caps, covering a cross-section of global companies. Large companies are defined as having a market cap in excess of £2 billion; medium in the range of £500 million to £2 billion; and small with a market cap less than £500 million.

There have been some interesting developments since our last report in Q1 2014. Overall visits to corporate websites are still increasing – but the number of visits from desktop PCs is showing a slight decline, as mobile visits take an ever-increasing share. Responsive websites are nearly three times as popular as dedicated mobile websites. Android is now the single most popular mobile device for visits to corporate websites – although together the iPad and the iPhone still account for 61% of mobile visits. LinkedIn remains the most common social referrer of visits but the number of visits from Facebook and Twitter is growing.

We currently review and aggregate the website analytics of some 115 corporate websites globally, for which we hold data for at least two years, to provide insight into how they are used.

39%Small Cap

29%Medium

32%Large Cap We monitor

companies across a broad range of geographies, sectors and market caps.

11mPAGE VIEWS PER MONTH

INTRODUCTION


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Percentage increase in corporate website visits

Q1 2013 Q2 2013 Q3 2013 Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014 Q1 2015

20%

40%

60%

80%

0%

-20%

Excluding mobile visits -5%

Overall visits (underlying trend) +6%

Overall visits+5%

Mobile visits+68%

VISITS TO CORPORATE WEBSITES

The number of visits to corporate websites in Q1 2015 is up 5% on Q1 2013 – but when mobile visits are excluded, the number of visits has decreased. Comparing all of 2013 with all of 2014, visits from desktop PCs are down by 3%, visits from mobile devices are up 33% and visits overall are up 3%.

This latest data reinforces the argument that companies must provide a mobile solution for their website visitors, especially given that the proportion of visits to corporate websites from mobile devices is still increasing (see chart 2).

However, the proportion of desktop visits to corporate websites is declining more slowly than for all websites globally, showing that the desktop website remains highly valued. This suggests that companies need to keep working on both their desktop website and their mobile solution if they are to serve their corporate audiences successfully.

More people than ever are using corporate websites – but fewer are viewing on their desktops and more are visiting from mobile devices.

VISITS FROM MOBILE DEVICES

3%INCREASE IN VISITS TO CORPORATE SITES FROM 2013 TO 2014

Corporate website visits from desktops are in decline


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The number of visits from mobile devices has increased by 62% in the past two years. That said, corporate mobile visits as a percentage of all visits are still not growing as quickly as the visits overall global use , which are now pulling rapidly away. Globally, 37% of all website visits now come from mobiles and tablets.

As demonstrated in the previous chart, mobile is vitally important for companies hoping to engage their corporate audience – and it is encouraging that the number of companies providing dedicated mobile websites or responsive websites is still increasing (see Investis IQ data on page 6).

Last year, we predicted that mobile use will continue to grow, albeit more slowly, perhaps being responsible for a quarter of all corporate website visits by March 2015. The current trend suggests that this prediction is still correct – and a further 12 months may see the proportion hit 30%.

Just under a quarter (22%) of all visits to corporate websites come from mobile devices – up from 14% in January 2013.

Mar 13 Jun 13 Sep 13 Dec 13 Mar 14 Jun 14 Sep 14 Dec 14 Mar 15

5%

30%

10%

20%

25%

35%

40%

45%

15%

Mobile visits to corporate websites 22%

Mobile visits to all websites globally 37%

VISITS FROM MOBILE DEVICES

NB SOURCE: IQ INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015 / STATCOUNTER GLOBAL STATS

Nearly a quarter of all visits to corporate websites

now come from mobile devices

3% 30%PREDICTED PROPORTION OF VISITS TO CORPORATE SITES FROM MOBILE DEVICES BY MARCH 2016


6 7

DOW JONES

NYSE US 100

DAX 30

OMXH 25

FTSE 100

AverageS&P 100

Euronext 100

NASDAQ 100

OMXS 30

OMXC 20

SMIExpanded

IBEX 35

OBX MDAXFTSE 250

ATX WIG 30

MICEX/ RTS

PSI 20

TA-25

91%

90%

88%

87%84% 80% 73%

68% 55%

54%

52%50%

50% 48%

44%

40%37%

30%

25%

11%

0%

20%

40%

60%

The number of companies providing a fully responsive

website has more than doubled in a year

Even more striking is the explosion in the use of responsive design. A year ago, 17% of companies had a dedicated mobile site while just 15% had a fully responsive website and a further 2% had a responsive section of their website. Today, just 12% have a dedicated mobile website, 32% have a fully responsive website and 8% have a responsive section. In other words, responsive websites are now almost three times as popular as dedicated mobile sites.

There are oddities. Dedicated mobile sites remain the solution of choice in the Israeli TA-25, the Polish WIG 30 and the Russian MICEX/RTS – although these indices tend to lag behind global practice in multiple areas. More surprisingly, a high proportion of German, Austrian and Swiss companies also still use them.

A year ago, only 40% of websites surveyed were catering for their mobile audience. Today, 56% of companies are.

MOBILE-FRIENDLY WEBSITES MOBILE SHARE

56%COMPANIES OFFERING A MOBILE-FRIENDLY SOLUTION

Dedicated mobile site

Responsive website

Responsive section

Total


6 7

Mar 13 Jun 13 Sep13 Dec 13 Mar14 Jun14 Sep 14 Dec 14 Mar 150%

80%

40%

20%

60%

100%

Android devices are still gaining ground and are now sending 31% of all mobile visits to corporate websites, having overtaken the iPhone in the past few months (although note that this is far below the global trend, where Android devices outperform both iPhones and iPads combined, with 57% of all website visits from mobile devices, compared to iOS globally on 30%).

The iPad, the most popular device for visiting corporate websites since 2012, has now slipped into third place, behind Android devices and the iPhone – although it remains the most popular tablet device. The iPhone’s share has stayed more or less constant but the iPad’s share has fallen from a high of 42% at the beginning of 2013 – although together iOS devices still account for over 60% of all visits.

BlackBerry’s share has continued to fall and is now at just 1%. The Windows Phone has remained steady on 2% but, intriguingly, we are seeing growth in the proportion of visits from other devices – up at 6%.

Android is now responsible for the most visits from mobile devices to corporate websites, just ahead of the iPhone.

Nearly a third (31%) of all visits to corporate websites

from mobile devices now come from Android devices

MOBILE SHARE

iPhone 31%

Windows Phone 2%

BlackBerry 1%

6%Other

iPad 29%

Android 31%

56% 31%ANDROID’S SHARE OF MOBILE VISITS


8 9

Over half (54%) of all visitors to corporate websites come via search engines

SOURCE OF VISITS

This proportion is edging upwards over time, driven in part by the fact that it is easier to search for a company on a mobile than to type in the whole website URL (if known). Around 90% of all search engine visits come from Google – a proportion that has barely shifted in the past two years.

The average proportion of direct visits (i.e. visitors using a bookmark or entering the website URL) and visits referred by other sites (e.g. specialist sectoral sites, online news sources etc.) are slowly reducing in importance.

Visits from social media sites do not appear to be significant in the past 2 years – and still only represent around 1% of all visits. Social media is undeniably important as part of the overall communications mix but it is not a significant driver of traffic to corporate websites, despite a marked increase in the number of corporate accounts (see Investis IQ data on page 9).

Visits from search engines (i.e. visitors finding the site by searching on Google, Bing, etc.) has risen to 54% of all traffic, up from 51% two years ago.

Sources of visits to corporate websites

Mar 13 Jun 13 Sep 13 Dec13 Mar 14 Jun 14 Sep 14 Dec14 Mar 15

Search engines54%

Social media visits 1%

Direct traffic27%

Other18%

54%OF VISITS COME FROM SEARCH ENGINES


8 9

0%

40%

10%

30%

50%

60%

70%

20%

LinkedinFacebookGoogle+N.B. Our methodology has changed to include all companies scored in the previous six months, rather than just in the previous quarter.

Twitter Any network

Q1 2013

Q1 2014

Q1 2015

50%

38%42%

16%

55%

67%Percentage of companies with IR/corporate social media accounts

YoutubeFlickrSlideShare

10%7%

Percentage of index with at least 1 IR/corporate social account

97%97%

DOW JONES

NYSE US 100

DAX 30

OMXH 25

FTSE 100

Global average

0%

80%

60%

100%

40%

20%

93% 93% 92% 89% 85% 85%79%

74% 73%67%

60% 60% 58%52% 50%

33%

20% 20%

S&P 100

Euronext 100

NASDAQ 100

OMXS 30

OMXC 20

SMIExpanded

IBEX 35

OBX MDAX FTSE 250

ATX WIG 30

MICEX/ RTS

PSI 20

American and European take-up of social media is now broadly similar amongst the biggest indices

Two-thirds of companies (67%) link to at least one IR/corporate social media account from their corporate website

SOCIAL-FRIENDLY WEBSITES

54%

INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015 INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015 INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015

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Facebook is not often seen as the most obvious social media channel for corporate use. Its uptake amongst corporates has not been as rapid as Twitter and LinkedIn and it remains less popular than Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube (see chart B).

Nevertheless, many companies that have adopted Facebook as part of their corporate social armoury have shown impressive commitment to regular updates and the most compelling stories are shared far and wide. The posts (and therefore the referred audience) are rarely investor-focused but Facebook is proving increasingly effective at communicating companies’ wider stories.

Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are responsible for over 92% of social referrals to corporate websites. However, whereas we used to report on the percentage of visits from Flickr, SlideShare, Google+ and YouTube, these visits are negligible and share a similar proportion with the likes of Pinterest, reddit and Sina Weibo (a Chinese hybrid of Twitter and Facebook). The proportion of these other referrals is only around 8% but this is another interesting development.

SOCIAL MEDIA

LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are responsible

for 92% of social media referrals

LinkedIn 46%

Facebook 34%

Twitter 12%

8%

0%

80%

60%

100%

40%

2013 Q1

20%

Other

2013 Q2 2013 Q3 2013 Q4 2014 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2015 Q1IQ INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015

Nearly half of all visits from social media sites come from LinkedIn and over a third come from Facebook.

46%LINKEDIN’S SHARE OF SOCIAL MEDIA VISITS TO CORPORATE WEBSITES

INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015 INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015 INVESTIS IQ RESEARCH Q1 2015

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46%

We know it’s your reputation. We’re Investis

We plan, create and manage corporate websites, apps and social channels for companies across the world.

Helping companies to communicate with, engage and understand their audience so they can build stronger, trusted connections with the people that matter.

USA+1 646 766 9000

Corporate & IR websites • Tools • Apps • Social • Video & animation • Audience Insight • Webcasting

Finland+358 40 748 8864

Germany+49 (0) 931 35610

Sweden+46 31 80 26 10

Rest of World+44 (0) 20 7038 9000

[email protected]

InvestisLtd@investis

Contact24 Fashion Street, London, E1 6PX

+44 (0) 207 038 9000

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If you would like your company’s corparate website to be included in our research, or if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please email our Research Director, [email protected]

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Audience Insight Report 2015