Wither static corporate web site

It was almost exactly a year ago that I wrote about how marketers needed to rethink corporate web sites.  In particular, I commented on the proposal put forth by one blogger on how the prevailing approach by vendors of publishing static, one-way information on their sites is "irrelevant."

Because most corporate sites only contain static content filled with hyperbole, customers and prospective customers don't use it to make purchasing decisions.  Rather, they trust the information they get from peers in blogs and discussion forums, in addition to off-line conversations.  It is not until after they make their decisions from this interaction that they go to the corporate web site to obtain factual information about the company and its products.

I stated then that the technology that drives the sites where this peer interaction takes place is available for vendors to use to make their sites more participatory and build more trust.  So, how ironic it is that a year later a colleague sent me a link to an article in Ars Technica about a study that measures the impact of interactive corporate web sites on company perception. 

Specifically, researchers recruited undergraduate students to view the career sections of corporate web sites in the energy industry.  The conclusion of the study presented at the Interational Communication Association was that companies that offered the most user interactions on their web sites were rated more positively.

Existing sites were ranked by the researchers according to their interactivity. Sites rated low had either a single email address for applicants or a static list of available jobs. At the other end of the scale, some companies offered searchable lists of jobs and information on the applications process, company benefits, and other facets of employment. Chevron even included links to videos from its (presumably satisfied) employees. Test subjects agreed with the researchers' ratings of these sites. 

When the responses were analyzed, the act of searching for a job did not appear to influence them. The degree of interactivity of the website showed a strong correlation with the subjects' perception of the organization behind it, as higher interactivity correlated with favorable views, with a user's sense of involvement being a significant mediator of this link.

Since my original post was written, there have been so many more technology options emerge for companies to consider using, including in particular "white label" social networks platforms like Ning and KickApps that make it very easy to create highly interactive and community-oriented experiences.  We have been talking to clients more and more about how to consider leveraging these services, so it's evident to me that a change in thinking has occurred during the past year.