While most companies of size have a World Wide Web site today, it’s fair to say that there are, as yet, rather few making effective use of the medium as part of their marketing mix.
Still, there are some shining examples out there – sites that truly take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Web to interact, transact and build relationships with customers. For this report, we asked some experts in interactive marketing to identify sites that they believe fall into this category. (To ensure a degree of objectivity, we requested that they refrain from citing examples that they themselves had worked on.)
What exactly makes for an outstanding Web site? In an article in our Jan. 5 issue, Michel Neray of Toronto’s Neray MarCom wrote that the best sites excel in a number of key areas: content, graphic design, copywriting, use of technology and navigation or architecture. To which we might add the following: They are, as a rule, a product of the same strategic thinking that a company brings to its communications in traditional media.
Against these criteria, the sites in this report measure up exceptionally well. The lessons they offer marketers are there to be learned, just a mouse click away.
Jode H. Lax
Director, Communications & Marketing
Generation.NET, Montreal
Lax’s pick:
IKEA (www.ikea.com)
If there’s one thing this site does well, it’s target its markets. No question.
That’s something you wish you saw more of on the Web. It’s such a common-sense thing, you just assume most sites would do that. But unfortunately, I can tell you from experience that it’s not the case.
The best example of targeting is their ‘Living in Rooms’ section. If you go there, you’ll see they’ve broken the content down by categories, such as ‘Single Guy,’ ‘House Mates’ and ‘Just Married.’ They’ve really segmented their markets. And if you go to any one of these, you’ll notice a frame on the bottom, where you can click for more information, tips from ikea and so on. They illustrate it all with the stories of real people (or what seem to be real people), which makes it feel very personal.
They’re not selling products, they’re selling lifestyles. Instead of giving you just an electronic catalogue of products to choose from, they’re saying, ‘If you see yourself as being like these people, then you’re going to like what we have to offer you.’
There are other little things they’ve done as well. For example, the text is large and easy to read: It’s meant to be skimmed and immediately understood. And they’ve worked hard to speed up the time it takes the pages to load, by using more text and smaller images.
They’ve also done some very strong branding. You’ll notice that the dominant colors they’ve chosen to use are the ikea colors, blue and yellow. So although the ikea logo itself is very small and discreet, in the top left-hand corner, you’re always seeing those colors. It keeps you in mind that this is an ikea site, without ramming the brand down your throat.
The other thing I like about the site is the use of humor. There’s a section, for example, called ‘A Dog’s Life,’ which is written from a family dog’s point of view. It’s not side-splitting stuff, but it’s used effectively. Here’s a large site that is essentially an ad, yet they’ve taken the time to include a bit of humor. It humanizes the whole site, and reinforces that this is all about people, not furniture.
Also in this report:
– Humungous Bank taps into Web culture: Richmond Savings’ irreverent site for fictitious financial institution pokes fun at big banks p.20
– Virtual Vineyards builds relationships p.21
– MetLife integrates brand identity p.21
– A few good sites p.21
– Good design just the beginning p.24
– Dell site upsells while Cnet adds value p.27
