Danish corporate websites improved in 9 out of 10 areas

By Louise Heurlin

The 20th edition of Webranking by Comprend shows that Danish corporate websites better meets the demands and needs of digital audience such as business journalists, analysts, investors and jobseekers. By increasing the performance in all areas, except for the share section, Denmark reaches the second best performance among all Nordic countries following Finland. In spite of this, Danish companies achieve mid-range performance in all of the areas surveyed which shows a great potential for improvements.

Webranking 2016-2017 assessed 20 Danish companies – all except for one included in the list of 500 largest European companies – on how well they meet the expectations of important stakeholders on their digital corporate communications. In total, the ranking uncovered the performance of more than 800 companies across Europe and beyond. The research investigated areas ranging from company introductions, financial reporting, investor relations, careers, social corporate responsibility and website functionality.

Denmark receives an overall average score of 49.6 out of 100, which has increased by 5.8 points since last year. The corresponding figures for the Nordic counterparts included in the ranking are for Finland (59.1), Sweden (47.4) and Norway (40.8).

Although companies improved in 9 out of 10 areas and raised their overall average score, Danish corporate websites still have to improve in order to better meet the expectations of important stakeholders. The ranking finds that Danish companies perform best on press material and financial reporting while lagging behind on investor-related information and corporate responsibility content.

See all Danish results

Press: increased average score

The Danish companies surveyed better met the needs of business journalists averaging 58% of the total score in comparison to only 47% last year. This is thanks to the greater offering of press material, such as the extensive press contact information, as well as more useful features incorporated in the media archives. However, nothing is so good that it can't be made better. Only two Danish companies provide the ability to filter press releases by category in contrast to the 92% of stakeholders who find it important.

On press material, Novozymes takes the top position among all Danish companies.

Share: performance remain the same

The share information has not improved since the last ranking edition but Danish companies maintain the same average score as last year – 47%. Despite receiving a higher score than the 500 largest companies in Europe (39%), there is still room for improvements. Only three Danish companies present updated share information including corporate actions which is inconsistent with the 80% of capital market stakeholders who mark it as important. There is also scarce information on major shareholders (34%).

Danske Bank is the Danish company gaining the highest score for share-related information.

Career: best in Europe

Danish corporate websites have majorly improved in providing information targeted to prospective jobseekers since last year. According to our Career Survey, 61% of jobseekers find the corporate website to be the most important source of information followed by friends/contacts and LinkedIn. By averaging close to half of the score (48%), Denmark takes the top position in Europe which indicate that Danish companies have realised the power of attracting talent through their digital channels.

With a good but still not great average fulfilment, Danish companies miss opportunities to attract relevant job applicants by leaving out information that they need and demand. Information on diversity/equality, skills development and corporate culture did relatively well whereas subjects such as employee testimonials and HR contacts fall short. As many as 14 out of 20 companies didn't provide any HR contact information at all.

The company that best meets the needs of jobseekers is Novo Nordisk.

Features and functionalities

Website technology evolves at a furious pace. Webranking has identifies a number of areas that are important for capital market stakeholders as well as jobseekers who increasingly use mobile devices to visit websites. These concerns include enhanced user-friendliness which is measured in terms of responsive design and page-loading speeds.

Since last year, the share of Danish companies with responsive websites has increased from 55% to 80%. The performance in page-loading speeds has slightly decreased which may be explained by the stricter assessment criteria this year. Six of the 20 companies surveyed have a middle-level performance in page-loading speed on mobile devices, while none of the companies achieved a high-level performance.

Webranking by Comprend 2016-2017 – Denmark

On top of the podium we have the new entrant Dong Energy which received a total score of 61.7 points.

"DONG Energy launched its new web universe in May 2015, and since we’ve worked hard to develop our websites. Our ambition is to always provide the best possible service to our many visitors. We’re very pleased with this recognition – which we take as a sign that we’re on the right track,"

says Jane Boas Kirkegaard, Head of Digital Communication & Information Management in DONG Energy.

H Lundbeck came in the second position with 59.0 points followed by CHR Hansen with 58.8. Danske Bank didn't manage to secures its top position this year but decreased in score by 11.0 points from last year and ends up fourth on the list.

Webranking 2016-2017 revealed three big climbers in Denmark which contributed to the raise in overall average score. DSV increased its score by an impressive 14.2 points, CHR Hansen by 13.7 points, and G4S by 13.0 points.

See all Danish results

For further information please contact Viktoria Enmark, Senior Consultant at +46 76 109 05 08 or viktoria.enmark@comprend.com.