Q4 Web: Top 5 Problems with IR websites webinar ebook

February 2014Summary Presentation: Click here for Webinar Link

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The Top 5 Problems with IR Websites and the Best Practices to Solve
Them Webinar: Summary Slides
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1. Compliance Thinking
• IR is a regulated industry that causes some vendors and
practitioners to believe that compliance is the most important driver
of online communications, namely SEC filing and Corporate
Governance information.
• Along with the above, basic content such as press releases, quotes,
charts, events & presentations and reports all make up the standard
IR website we commonly see today.
Great websites are not driven by compliance, they are
driven by communication.

Compliance Thinking – Some Key Stats
• Through Q4’s own research, we know that many investors view the
company website as the primary channel of communication they
have with that company.
– 89% of investors turn to IR websites and Newsrooms when
evaluating a company. (FTI Consulting, 2013)
– 65% of buy-side investors visit the IR site at least once a month
(Rivel Research, 2013)
– 73% say the quality of a website influences their investment
decisions (Rivel Research/Investis, 2014)
An IR website has the opportunity to provide unique content and
insight into your company and it’s market.

The Power of Communication
• Just like in person-to-person interaction, a great IR Website gives
you the chance to provide your company’s side of the story and
provide a personalized view of your investment proposition.
• For example, Symantec (shown on the next slide) provides their
investors not only with the standard ‘required’ information, but also
an in-depth, comprehensive Why Invest section. Including a Why
Invest section allows Symantec the chance to move beyond their
reports and filings and give a personalized pitch for investing in the
company.

Symantec – Personalized Pitch
http://investor.symantec.com/investor-relations/why-invest/strategy/default.aspx

2. Boring Templates
• When Reg FD became law in 2002, the earnings webcasting market
was created which meant every public company needed to
broadcast their earnings call in a format suitable for all investors.
• CCBN, a website and webcasting provider, capitalized and quickly
became the market leader for IR specific websites.
• In order to scale quickly, they standardized and established a
template that every client would follow. Many of these [boring]
templates are still around today.

Unique Layout
• Today, the web has evolved and there are so many more options for
companies to provide a compelling online experience for their
investors.
• For example, Intuit’s IR site (shown on the next slide) features a
unique layout. Not only do they highlight the standard information
that is commonly featured on investor websites like press releases
and earnings reports but also information regarding the corporate
strategy and key messages from the CEO.

Intuit – Unique Layout
http://investors.intuit.com/

3. Visual Experience
• Over the last 10 years, the web has become increasingly visual.
Today, our general expectation is that stories are told with photos,
snippets, summaries and interactivity to deliver the message.
Communicating effectively in today’s market requires meaningful
visuals like graphs, photos, videos and animation.

Text Based Experience=No Experience
• Due to the continued use of outdated template models, many
companies are not taking advantage of the possibilities offered by a
visual experience.
• Discovering an IR Website that has a block of text that describes the
business is a waste of space.

Be Visual
• Investors want content that is presented in an engaging manner.
• For example, Live Nation’s investor website (as shown on the next
slide) makes use of visuals from their various live productions using
a parallax style scrolling design. Using this type of design, investors
get a chance to literally read between the lines of information and
see first hand the kind of positive experience they provide to their
customers.

Live Nation – Be Visual
http://investors.livenationentertainment.com/investor-relations/default.aspx - events

4. Mobile is Everywhere
• Almost everyone we know has a smartphone or a tablet.
• There are many convincing stats that point to a primarily mobile
future:
– Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo reported that they are predicting they will
see more than 50% of their traffic coming from mobile in 2014.
– Across our network of sites, we are seeing around 25% of traffic coming
from mobile, but this spikes to 40-50% during heavy news days for
companies.

Preparing for the Future
• Many IR websites either don’t have a mobile version or if they do, it
was designed for blackberries 5 years ago.
• In order to take full advantage, a mobile solution needs to scale the
content to fit the screen. It also needs to take advantage for the
swiping, pinching and dragging features for a fluid experience.
• For example, when the investor relations section of Goldcorp’s
website (as shown on the next slide) is accessed on a mobile
device, they are redirected to the web app (Q4’s 3 Screens™
solution) which features all of their best practice content with
optimized mobile functionality.

Goldcorp Web App
Tablet View
Smart Phone View

Social Media
• A Recent AMO study found 80% of investors in the US are using
Twitter. This has been steadily growing. (AMO, 2013)
• In addition to this, virtually all of the Fortune 500 are using social
media.
• While many companies are using social media as part of their online
communications strategy, they aren’t integrating the social channels
they are using on their website.

Social Media – TD Ameritrade
• Integrating the social channels on the website is an excellent way to
add context around your investment proposition and provide extra
resources to your investors.
• For example, TD Ameritrade (as shown on the next slide) is very
active on their social networks and wanted to provide an aggregate
view of all of the updates from their social channels on their website.

Social Media – TD Ameritrade
http://www.amtd.com/

1. Be Visual – Intuit
• Intuit does a great job of laying out all the content that investors are
looking for in a unique mosaic layout, product details and a Twitter feed.
http://investors.intuit.com/

2. Infographics – TD Ameritrade
• TD Ameritrade uses an infographic in their ‘By the Numbers’ section to
help investors easily see some of their key metrics.
http://www.amtd.com/investor-relations/by-the-numbers/default.aspx

3. Be Interactive - Ryder
• Ryder’s Interactive Analyst Center is an excellent resource for any
investor looking to dig deeper into Ryder’s filings and reports.
http://investors.ryder.com/Investors/investor-tool-kit/default.aspx

4. Integrate Social – Safeguard Scientifics
http://ir.safeguard.com/media-center/follow-us/default.aspx
• Safeguard has a widget that shows all of their social activity (which can
be filtered by channel) for their investors to easily review.

5. Use Video
• The New York Times hosts their latest investor videos on their IR
homepage. Using an embedded link, they are able to have the video
render seamlessly for quick access.
http://investors.nytco.com/investors/default.aspx

• How your peers are using their Investor Relations website to engage with
their investors.
• Key statistics regarding investor engagement, social media use and mobile
traffic that underscore the importance of a robust online communications
strategy.
• An in-depth overview of the Top 5 Problems of Investor Relations websites
and some effective solutions that will help you to create a best practice IR
website.
Listen to the Webinar Archive and you will learn:

About Q4 Web Systems
Q4 is the the leader in corporate websites and social media solutions
for public companies. Hundreds of IR professionals rely on Q4 for their
IR website, social media and mobile applications. Using Q4, public
companies of all sizes increase awareness, reduce risk and build better
relationships with their investors.
Through active best practice research, Q4 has earned a position at the
forefront of the investor relations market, sharing knowledge through
webinars, whitepapers and articles on http://www.q4blog.com/. For
more information, please email sales@q4websystems.com or contact
us toll free at 1-877-426-7829.

Visit Us Online
• Web: http://www.q4websystems.com
• Blog: http://www.q4blog.com
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Q4 Web: Top 5 Problems with IR websites webinar ebook

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Q4 Web: Top 5 Problems with IR websites webinar ebook