Public Companies Remain Divided Over Web Communication

While many large companies have come through the dot.com hype having implemented clear and effective online communication strategies, others appear to have gone backwards by failing to adjust their global Internet strategies to meet public demand. This is the conclusion of the third annual Rainier Web-Index(TM) Study on the use of the Web by FTSE 100 and the top 100 Fortune companies.

According to Rainier CEO Stephen Schuster "Never mind the digital divide, we're witnessing the development of a communication chasm. While the Rainier 1999 and 2000 studies revealed a shocking number of companies that did not respond or could not be contacted, this year's results show that companies have either invested heavily in Internet communication, or have made an initial investment then turned their backs on it. You have to wonder if customers and investors feel they have been let down the companies that have slid backward."

The Rainier Web-Index(TM) is a metric developed by Rainier marketing consultants to measure the effectiveness of an organization's Internet communication strategy. With the study, Rainier sought to find whether or not FTSE and Fortune 100 companies had taken steps to ensure that their public Web response capabilities were, at the very least, as effective as telephoning, faxing or writing to their national or international headquarters.

In the USA, the Rainier Web-Index(TM) Study found that 86 Fortune 100 companies could be contacted by e-mail, up from 77 last year. However, 19 of them, including Home Depot, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Sprint, failed to respond to a request for basic investor information after a wait of 30 days, compared to 21 of the companies surveyed last year.

The study also found that US companies were marginally better than their UK counterparts for the fastest responses, with the 10 fastest Fortune 100 companies responding in an average 8.4 minutes, compared to 9.7 minutes for their FTSE equivalents. The three fastest Fortune 100 respondents were Coca Cola (instantaneous), UtiliCorp (1 minute) and Conoco (1 minute). The three slowest Fortune 100 respondents were Motorola (6 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes), Target (7 days, 45 minutes) and Safeway (13 days, 4 hours, 40 minutes). The 11 Fortune 100 companies that could not be reached by e-mail via their website included Dow Chemicals, Exxon Mobile and PepsiCo.

By comparison, 87 of the UK's FTSE 100 companies could be contacted by e-mail via their website, compared with 71 in the 2000 study. Of the 87, 23 companies, including British Airways, Capita Group and Marks & Spencer, failed to respond to a request for basic investor information after a wait of four weeks, compared with just over 20% of the 71 contacted last year.

The three fastest FTSE 100 respondents were Carlton Communications (2 minutes), WPP Group (2 minutes) and South African Breweries (4 minutes). The three slowest FTSE 100 respondents were British American Tobacco (10 days, 20 hours), Cadbury-Schweppes (15 days, 5 hours, 26 minutes) and PowerGen (20 days, 21 hours, 35 minutes). The 10 FTSE 100 companies who could not be contacted via their websites included HSBC Holdings, EMI and The Hilton Group.

The Rainier Web-Index(TM) Study showed that companies who published clear contact details for different areas of the organization were able to respond more quickly than those who simply offered a single online form to submit. It also highlighted the importance of setting workable response times. "Large companies need a straightforward strategy for ensuring that their main Web site is as effective a public communication mechanism as their main switchboard number at headquarters. They need dedicated resources for answering company emails 24 hours a day, with a clear process for satisfying the question or request at a departmental or geographical level if the central communication team cannot do so immediately," added Schuster.

A copy of the third Rainier Web-Index(TM) management report, results, summaries and graphics are available online at www.rainierco.com/.

In conducting the study, a research analyst from Rainier attempted to visit the Web sites of each of the FTSE 100 companies (source: www.ft.com) and each of the Fortune 100 (source: www.fortune.com). Each of the web sites was reviewed in detail to locate address, telephone and e-mail contact information. Where e-mail contacts could be found, Rainier sent an e-mail requesting basic investor information about the company. The time and date the e-mail was sent was recorded and if the company responded, the time and date of response was also recorded.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.