2011 eBusiness Index Report
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the best Website of all? To find out, we evaluated 23 Websites on the siteIQ eBusiness Index. We stepped them through 1,200 types of content & features. Put them through their usability paces. Checked them from top to bottom – and turned them inside out. We scored, ranked, and rated every one. Then we put all of the answers in this nifty report.
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Working on the Web these days is like living inside a moving puzzle.
While you are busy managing projects, budgets, team members, contractors & agencies, herding kids – and keeping your bosses in the loop — your competitors are busy trying to change all of the rules. They are launching new sites. Crafting new content. Inventing new features. And trying to use interactivity and social media to create a competitive edge.
But here’s the question. What are they really getting for their money? Are they gaining or losing ground? And what do you need to do about it?
We set out to find the answers
To find out, we evaluated the 23 sites on the 2011 siteIQ eBusiness Index. We’re talking sites that do real business on the Web. They serve 20 million visitors a day (that’s over a half billion visitors a month) — and drop 100 million pages onto users’ desks every 24 hours. Real business, indeed.
Since opinions are good — but facts are better — we conducted these evaluations using our Best Practices Benchmark which is packed full of the 1,230 types of content, features & capabilities you need on a best-in-class Website.
Of course, great Websites are much more than the sum of their parts. That’s why we rolled up our sleeves and conducted a second usability review based on 119 questions that measure how each site achieves visitor goals & objectives.
Then we crunched the numbers — ranked & rated each support site — created cool graphs to tell the story — added our unvarnished opinions — and rolled it all up into this nifty report.
The Big Picture
In 2011, bigger budgets broke out, 14 launches and refreshes hit the airwaves — and 8 sites rose up the rankings (EMC, Adobe, Brocade, SAP, SAS, Insight, and IBM Software Group).
When the dust cleared, IBM.com and Cisco.com were perched at the top of the heap. And that’s where the story begins.
In 2011, IBM.com transformed itself from a large, aging duckling into a swan to be reckoned with – at least above the water line. A bold top level design. Oodles of white space. Less is more content. A “cult of personality” strategy that turns plain old social media on its ear.
While IBM.com was busy reinventing itself, the Cisco.com team continued its relentless march toward usability nirvana. Today, Cisco.com is the industry’s most usable Website – earns a whopping 6 Best Practice ratings – and shares the overall #1 ranking with IBM.com.
And what about the rest of the pack? Well, a couple of things caught our eye.
Symantec.com was the usability darling last year in the #2 slot – but resting on its laurels handed it a three slot drop and it ended up in fifth place. The good news is that Symantec.com’s great architecture has given it years of top rankings. The bad news is that the free ride has finally pooped out.
For the second year in a row, HP.com tops the list as the largest and most comprehensive site on the Index. Unfortunately, all of that “stuff” comes with a downside. HP.com’s usability ranks 11th, down one slot from last year.
While IBM, HP, and Cisco executed complex kabuki dances, Dell.com’s efforts left it spinning in the same place. The bright spot? Dell.com finally took the top spot in the online support category after watching IBM and HP toss the baton back and forth for years. Just goes to show you that sooner or later claiming victory actually turns out to be true.
The hall monitors tell us this page is too long so we have to send you to another section. Look under the tabs on this page to learn more about what’s in this report – and don’t forget to explore the Excerpts section to see some of the other things we have to say.
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If you don’t care what competitive sites are doing, you’ll probably find some of our other reports more useful (well, not really, but feel free to browse). On the other hand, if want a clear view of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, what matters and why, this report is a great place to start. Here’s who will benefit most from this report.
- Teams that build, compete with (or want to get the real scoop on) the 23 sites we evaluated in this study.
- Digital & Web strategy directors & managers who are responsible for your company’s online strategy.
- User experience (UX) professionals who are burning the midnight oil to make your Website sticky – and a place your visitors love to love.
- Digital & Web marketing managers who want to create demand – harvest prospects – and laser focus your site on the B2B buying process.
- Competitive, usability, & visitor satisfaction analytics managers who need metrics to compare your site to competitors and report on its progress and challenges.
Here’s Why
Our clients tell us that they use our reports to:
- Cut through the competitive clutter and laser focus their teams (and executives) on the sites that deliver good & best practices in design, navigation, marketing (product, services, industry, channel, corporate, events), online communities, support, training, and recruiting – and are creating new standards and visitor expectations. (Here’s the whole list in case we missed something.)
- Get a bird’s eye view of which sites are the most usable — and exactly where they excel.
- Identify which sites deliver the perfect combination of content, features, & capabilities — and where their teams need to go back to the wood shed.
- Educate their executives, stakeholders & agency partners about the company’s support capabilities and challenges & and gain consensus to develop a master improvement plan.
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If you want the inside scoop on sites that create business on the Web — where they excel and how they do it — you’ve come to the right place. Here’s what’s in this 95-page report.
We start by giving you the big picture.
- The sites that are real industry leaders – and must on your competitive radar.
- Are the most usable.
- Deliver the content & features your visitors expect and need.
Then we sum it all up. The most important launches & revamps. Interesting activities, trends, and gambits – and the occasional thump on the head.
Finally, we show you what the winning sites do best. This year, this section is dedicated to IBM.com and Cisco.com.
Think of it as a way to cut through the competitive clutter and laser focus your teams on the best and good practice Websites that really matter.
Then we move on to the details.
- How each site ranks, rates and compares in 18 Website categories.
- The sites that deliver good and best practices – and who is gaining and losing ground.
- Usability trends for 119 issues – perfect for assessing where Web teams are focusing their time and treasure – and the problems visitors still see.
- Quick summaries that bring the rankings to life. Pinpoint what matters. Give you the ammunition you need to coach your stakeholders and make your case.
Think of it as a way to drill down into every nook and cranny of your site and see who does it best.
This report features 180 graphs, charts, and tables — perfect to educate your stakeholders and make a business case with executives.
- Bar charts show how these sites rank, rate & compare.
- Competitive eMAPs pinpoint real leaders at a glance.
Want to know what’s in the report page-by-page? Check out the simple Table of Contents.
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Facts are great – but graphs are better. That’s why all of our reports are packed with graphs you can use to make your case. Here are some interesting facts from this report.
But wait, there’s more!
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Some companies evaluate cars and toasters. We evaluate Websites.
Twice a year, we audit & evaluate the 23 Websites that represent the best-of-the-best on the IT Web. We put them through their usability paces. We score them based on over 1,200 types of content, features, & capabilities for eighteen Website zones & cross site utilities.
Then we rank and rate them based on the results.
Leading Web teams use the siteIQ eBusiness Index rankings to:
- Accurately identify how their Websites compete on the Web.
- Check if their sites are gaining or losing ground to competitors and industry requirements.
- See where time & treasure are paying off.
- Watch the sites that are changing user expectations & behaviors – and are setting new standards on the IT Web.
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