2 0 1 6 Di gital M arketing Research Rep or t :

What ma kes a good websi t e?

 Table of Contents
Welcome 3

Key Findings 4

Search Engine Optimization 5

Website Content 6

Website Elements 7

Mobile-friendliness 8

Web Accessibility 9

Online Lead Generation 11

Email Marketing 12

Conclusions 13

Respondent Demographics 14

Research Methodology 15

Survey Engagement Findings 17

References 19
 WELCOME TO THE 2016 DIGITAL MARKETING RESEARCH REPORT:
WHAT MAKES A GOOD WEBSITE?
A special thank-you to our survey respondents. Your insights were
invaluable and have made this research report possible!
About
This joint research venture was initiated by Marketing CoPilot Inc. in conjunction with the Georgian
College Centre for Applied Research and Innovation and the National Research Council of Canada.

Not all websites are created equal.

Some websites make it simple and straightforward for visitors. Other websites make the buying process
confusing, complex and/or difficult causing visitors to search for another site where they can inquire
about or buy a product or service more easily.

The purpose of this research was twofold:

• To help business owners build more effective websites that simplify the buying process
and generate more business.
• To understand the most important components of a website to help business owners build sites
that cater to the needs of buyers.

Approach
• Ask buyers what they think makes a good website
• Ask sellers what they think makes a good website

Desired Outcomes
• Identify the gaps between what sellers vs. buyers think makes a good website
• Provide recommendations on how to bridge those gaps
KEY FINDINGS
Buyers have too much choice but too little time.

• If your site isn’t on the first page of search results, most buyers won’t
find your site via search engines.

• It’s not just your product or service offering that buyers are looking for on
your site. About Us, Value Proposition (why buy from you?) and Testimonials
are crucial in the buying process.

• Website elements you should have on your website: product images/videos,

simple navigation like dropdown or side menus, and pricing.

• A great mobile device user experience is just as important as the desktop

experience. A website needs to be truly mobile-friendly.

• Web accessibility enables all users - especially people with auditory, cognitive,
neurological, physical, speech, and visual impairments - to access information
and utilize the functionality on your website. The last thing you want is for
someone to abandon your site because they can’t access the content.

• The buyer journey often starts in social media, so social media messaging needs
to do a good job of pushing traffic to your site.

• Email marketing is not dead and is a great tool for nurturing leads. You need good
email marketing in conjunction with a good website to continue to enhance the
buyer journey.
 SEARCH ENGINE
OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
Buyers have too much choice but too little time.

SEARCH RESULTS GREATLY AFFECT THE BUYER JOURNEY

7.66% 27.08% 10.42%27.66% 27.08% 27.66% 27.08%10.42%

only look at the first 5 will look at the next will finish looking
search results 5 to 10 search results at search results on
the 1st page

Conclusion: You need a well-optimized website - one that can be found.

How many buyers don’t How do you get on the 1st page?
explore past the 1st page Develop a focused keyword and
of search results? content strategy that:

64.58%
1. Targets your ideal prospect.
2. Utilizes keywords that have
a high number of searches.
3. Uses keywords that have a
low amount of competition.
WEBSITE CONTENT
Is a clear and well articulated
What are the top website value proposition a must-have?

79.37%
content must-haves?

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100%
of sellers say YES
VALUE PROPOSITION BUYERS
SELLERS

BUYERS
ABOUT US SELLERS
Buyers and sellers agree that
BUYERS the three must-have website
TESTIMONIALS
SELLERS sections are:
BUYERS • Value Proposition i.e. why buy
FAQs SELLERS from this business
BUYERS • About Us
MISSION AND VISION STATEMENTS SELLERS • Testimonials
BUYERS
BLOG SELLERS CONCLUSION
BUYERS It's essential that all of your website
NEWS SELLERS content resonates with your target
BUYERS
audience, but pay very close attention
TOP MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SELLERS to these three sections. Ask your best
BUYERS
customers whether or not the content
EVENTS SELLERS is meaningful, adjust accordingly and
BUYERS
then test.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
SELLERS
Understand your most visited pages.
WEBSITE ELEMENTS
Which website elements are
important to buyers?

84.06%
WHICH WEBSITE ELEMENTS ARE
IMPORTANT TO BUYERS?
say product images/videos

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100%
BUYERS
PRODUCT IMAGES/VIDEOS
SELLERS Buyers and sellers agree on the three
most important website elements:
BUYERS
DROPDOWN MENU SELLERS
1. Product images/videos
BUYERS 2. Dropdown menu
PRICING
SELLERS
3. Pricing
BUYERS
VIDEO ON HOMEPAGE
SELLERS TIPS
BUYERS • Have your product images/videos
SINGLE PAGE WEBSITE SELLERS produced by professionals.
• Make sure that your site is easy to
BUYERS
STICKY HEADERS SELLERS navigate and if you do choose to use a
dropdown menu, do make the drop down
OPEN UP LINKS IN NEW TABS
BUYERS menu label hyperlink to a landing page
SELLERS
and don't feature more than three items.
• If you don't want to display exact pricing
because it truly warrants a one-on-one
discussion, identify a price range instead
and encourage visitors to contact you
for more details.
MOBILE-FRIENDLINESS
Mobile-friendly sites are not created equal
63% of buyers think
that most sites are not 63
63%
%
How often do customers use mobile mobile-friendly
devices to access websites?

42.70% 71% of sellers think

that their sites 71
71%
%
are mobile-friendly
26.97%

20.22% 8.99%
1.12%
OBVIOUS GAP

Buyers consider a site to be mobile-friendly if it:

• Loads quickly

Never • Resizes content to display properly on mobile

Rarely devices (mobile phones and tablets)
Often • Is easy to read
Very Often • Is easy to navigate
Always
WEB ACCESSIBILITY
Why is web accessibility misunderstood? Only

28.92%
of sellers say their
websites are accessible
Does your site use/comply
with web accessibility
guidelines?
WHAT IS WEB ACCESSIBILITY
NO ALL ABOUT?
13.25% It enables all users - especially people
YES
NOT SURE
28.92% with auditory, cognitive, neurological,
57.83% physical, speech, and visual impairments
- to access information and utilize the
functionality on websites.
WEB ACCESSIBILITY
IS OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD How many buyers use
web accessibility features?
How is web accessibility utilized?

OF THE RESPONDENTS WHO USE WEB

ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES:
28.2%
say they do

77.27% USE TEXT RESIZING 72.73% HOW TO START MAKING

YOUR WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE:
40.9
• Give visitors the option to resize text
• Use unique, descriptive titles on
each page
• Display closed captioned videos
• Ensure that text has ample space
between letters, words and lines

72.73% PAGE TITLES 40.91%

USE DESCRIPTIVE • Use descriptive captions for images

40.91% USE CLOSED

CAPTION VIDEOS
ONLINE LEAD GENERATION Where does the
What are the top three ways buyers initially buyer journey begin?

59.42%
find out about products/services?
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100%
BUYERS
SOCIAL MEDIA
SELLERS of buyers say Social Media
BUYERS
SEARCH ENGINES SELLERS
BUYERS BEGIN THE BUYER
BUYERS
ONLINE REVIEW FORUMS SELLERS JOURNEY BY SOURCING INFO VIA:
BUYERS
WORD OF MOUTH SELLERS 1. Social Media
2. Search Engines
BUYERS
ONLINE MEDIA SELLERS 3. Online Review Forums
4. Word of Mouth
BUYERS
TV/RADIO ADS SELLERS 5. Online Media (blogs, ezines)
BUYERS
PRINT MEDIA SELLERS SELLERS SAY BUYERS BEGIN
THEIR JOURNEY BY SOURCING
BUYERS
ONLINE ADS SELLERS INFO VIA:
BUYERS
FLYERS SELLERS 1. Word of Mouth
2. Trade Shows/Conferences
BUYERS
NETWORKING SELLERS 3. Search Engines
4. Social Media
BUYERS
PRODUCT LABELS
SELLERS 5. Networking
BUYERS
TELEPHONE SELLERS OBVIOUS GAP
Sellers misunderstand where the buyer
BUYERS
NEWSPAPER ADS SELLERS journey actually begins.
BUYERS
WIKIPEDIA
SELLERS

BUYERS
OTHER SELLERS

BUYERS
TRADE SHOWS/CONFERENCES SELLERS
EMAIL MARKETING

70.89%
Email marketing is NOT dead

HOW DO BUYERS PREFER TO RECEIVE of buyers prefer to receive

IMPORTANT PRODUCT UPDATES? important product updates
by email.

70.89% EMAIL
CONCLUSION
Effective email marketing is a key component
of any website strategy.

5.06% MAIL TIPS

• Segment your email lists and customize email
11.39% SOCIAL MEDIA content according to buying stage i.e. current
clients, previous clients, qualified prospects,
unqualified prospects, influencers etc.
1.27% TELEPHONE • Provide subscribers with different content
options i.e. product/service updates, newsletter,
blog posts etc.
• Enable subscribers to choose the frequency
5.06% OTHER of email updates.
• Test subject lines and content format.
• Analyze email stats (especially subscriber
activity).
6.33% NONE • Adjust subject lines and content based on your
testing and email stat analysis.
• Consider implementing drip campaigns/marketing
automation.
CONCLUSION
THE TEAM AT MARKETING COPILOT WAS NOT SURPRISED BY ANY OF THE FINDINGS
OR CONCLUSIONS THAT PERCOLATED UP FROM THE RESEARCH STUDY.

BUYERS WANT:
1. A clearly articulated value proposition from a seller.
2. A site that is easily found.
3. A site that is mobile user-friendly.
4. A site that is accessible and easy-to-use.
5. A site that is supported by other digital activities like video, reviews, social media and email marketing.

What we are surprised about is why companies are taking so long to comply. There is an obvious gap between what
buyers want and what sellers want to provide.
When your website is not supporting the buyer journey, you are turning away business.
Canadian companies have a long way to go to improve engagement, sales and competitiveness through digital assets.
Why are they not jumping on board?
Through the focus group respondents, survey participants and 100+ companies we have worked with to solve the website
dilemma, we believe the uptake is slow for three reasons:
1. Business owners rarely see the world through the eyes of their customers. They don’t take the time to go through their
digital strategy to determine what a customer is seeing and what it means to the customer from a buying perspective,
not a product perspective.
2. Sellers of digital services are not tying process and tactics closely enough to sales and business goals. There is still
considerable scepticism and mistrust in the digital services world.
3. Canadian businesses are underspending on developing digital properties because they are unsure of how to do it
or what to spend. Therefore, they default to word of mouth and direct selling. This has to change.
Your buyer has too much choice but too little time. These survey results should help guide you in taking your next digital
marketing steps.

MARIE WIESE
President and Founder
Marketing CoPilot Inc.
marie@marketingcopilot.com
RESPONDENT DEMOGRAPHICS

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION

The 2016 Digital Marketing Research Report: CANADA REST OF WORLD

What makes a good website? was produced 83.09% 16.91% 41
by Marketing CoPilot and Georgian College (incl. Australia,
Afghanistan,
Centre for Applied Research and Innovation.
Greece, UK)

The results in this report were generated

from the first annual Digital Marketing
Survey, which was administered online
in late 2015.
RESPONDENT TYPE

Of the 246
survey respondents,
SELLERS BUYERS
83.09% 64 % completed
16.91% 41.46% 58.54%
the entire survey.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

• What is the purpose of each component in the integrated digital dialogue that enhances the
buying process and builds trust for a seller?
• What website features and content are considered necessary in a good website by the buyers
when they research online to purchase a product or service?

STEP 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

Our first step in this research study was to examine existing digital marketing data and insights pertain-
ing to the research questions. Almost all of the documents we examined identified websites as being the
hub of an organization's digital presence.

Websites are properties that are owned by the business or individual, whereas social media pages are
rented properties that are typically more interactive in nature. There is consensus that digital content
is critical. However, there are differences of opinion on what type of digital content is deemed critical
and how placement of content affects the user experience.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

STEP 2: FOCUS GROUPS

In order to gain deeper insights into the subject matter, two focus groups were conducted.

One focus group had local business owners and entrepreneurs sharing their insights. The second focus
group had millennials expressing their views about their online experiences with local and international
businesses.

The learnings from the perceptions of the focus group participants were used to identify what they
thought to be the essential ingredients of a good website. Based on the focus group findings, further
research was needed to conclude whether or not these perceptions held true for a wider population.

STEP 3: ONLINE SURVEY

From the insights gained from the focus groups, an online survey was designed to answer the research
questions, serve as the foundation for our research and was tailored to address the two key stakeholder
groups, buyers and sellers.

A dedicated website was generated for the survey (digital-copilot.com). Survey participants were asked
questions based on which category of stakeholder they identified themselves as: business owner who
sells, customer who buys products or services for business use or customer who buys products or
services for personal use.
SURVEY ENGAGEMENT FINDINGS

• Respondents who identified themselves as sellers of products or services took

significantly more time, approximately 10 minutes more, on average in completing
the survey compared to buyers.

• Approximately 18% of respondents with the intent to take the survey abandoned
the survey because they were not in agreement with the Terms and Conditions.

Did a clear description of what to expect from the survey discourage them from proceeding further?
Or was there another reason? Further exploratory research into Terms and Conditions and its effect
on survey engagement is required.

• We received feedback from several respondents regarding poor usability i.e. having to click,
drag and/or rank responses in order was not intuitive.

When we developed the survey we thought that all of the question formats were intuitive, but this
feedback indicates that this was not the case and likely was one of the causes for survey abandonment.
What we have learned is that it makes more sense to provide questions and response choices in a
simple, straightforward format.

To see a complete list of the survey questions, please click here .

SURVEY ENGAGEMENT FINDINGS

• Those who continued to take the survey beyond the initial 25% of questions, tended to complete
the survey.

• Sellers of products or services who were born in the 1960’s or before were the largest group of
respondents who dropped out before or soon after agreeing to the Terms and Conditions.

The attempts were primarily initiated at three time periods of the day – between 08:00 to 09:00 hours,
12:30 to 13:30 hours and 15:30 to 16:30 hours.

Their interest in the subject did attract them to initiate, but was it the time of day, their generation,
the amount of time they took that resulted in early drop-out? Possibly, the waiver discouraged
the respondents.

In studies of response rates for business surveys, it has been observed that: “an authoritative sponsor
and a legal mandate clearly produce higher response rates among businesses” and “university survey
researchers appear to suffer from substantially higher nonresponse rates in business surveys than do
government agencies” (Willimack et al., 2002).

This highlights an important issue on online user engagement strategies. Once you attract a prospect
to visit your website, are you able to sustain their interest and prompt an appropriate action in that
short window of opportunity?
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