How to
design a better investor relations homepage
By: Dominic Jones
Related: Five
usability taboos for investor relations websites
ONE statistic I often throw
out to people in meetings is that the average
visit to an IR website lasts only about three
minutes.
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A
good IR website directs people to
the information they want with as
little effort as possible.
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I raise this little nugget to make the point
that there's not much that people can absorb in
such a short time. For investor relations professionals
this represents a significant obstacle to getting
your point across to the broadest possible online
audience.
Of course, the three-minute average masks of
a lot valuable detail. The regular corps of repeat
users comes for longer periods, but only infrequently.
Many visits are much shorter than three minutes,
with people just checking in and then bailing
out after a page or two.
But if we work with three minutes as the rule
of thumb, then you have a sense of how important
it is that people quickly find the information
they need. They should spend as little time possible
trying to find the information, and as much time
as possible actually taking it in.
Every visit fits within
one of four motives
A well-designed investor relations homepage can
be one of several effective ways to help ensure
investors succeed on your IR website. A good IR
homepage directs people to the information they
want with as little effort as possible. It engages
casual visitors by addressing issues they're
interested in, getting them to stay longer on
the site than they otherwise might.
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