Investor Relations (IR) on Corporate Websites

Investors want more than just financial data. They want the company's story and business vision. A well­designed IR section can help investors feel connected with an organization. We present techniques for simplifying complex content and making it appealing to different audiences, from entry­level investors to professional investors and business journalists.

This 206-page report offers 103 design recommendations for improving the design of IR areas of corporate websites.  Discussions and 157 screenshot illustrations supplement the findings.

Topics

• Information design
• Changes in IR usability since the first edition
• Potential for IR on the web
• Get inside the heads of investors. Know what they want and how they behave
  • Individual investors
  • Financial analysts
  • Professional investors
  • Financial journalists
• Checklist of 130 guidelines for engaging investors and financial professionals on your site
• Prioritizing financial information: High, medium, and low
• Information architecture (IA) recommendations to serve as a framework for your design
• Navigating to corporate information
• Company information
• Stock quotes
• Stock charts
• Company financials: HTML and PDF formats
• Calendar and events, and email alerts
• Webcasts
• Slide presentations
• Contacting IR
• International considerations
• Research method

What’s new in the third edition?

This 3rd edition contains new and updated screenshot illustrations and changes in IR usability over time.

Research Method

This report is based on user research with investors, financial analysts and advisors, and business journalists. We used 5 different research methods:

• One-­on-­one usability testing, in which we observed what helped or hindered seniors as they attempted to complete a set of tasks on a variety of websites
• Eyetracking, in which we followed people’s eye movements as they conducted a one-­on-­one usability study
• Card Sorting, for which participants categorized topics on index cards into meaningful piles and then named the piles
• Expert review of websites based on common usability heuristics
• Interviews

In total, 63 people tested 94 websites. The studies took place in 3 countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, and China (Hong Kong).