How Audiences Are Engaging with Companies During COVID-19

How are people engaging with companies during the COVID-19 pandemic? As the world starts to slowly emerge from a mass lockdown, we wanted to find out. Understanding how audiences have interacted with businesses during the first five months of 2020 just might provide insight into how people will behave as the pandemic remains an everyday reality. So we’ve taken a broad snapshot of audience behavior across a selection of websites from different industries and locations.  

Summary of Overall Trends 

Unsurprisingly, there have been some noticeable changes in visitor behavior through the first five months of 2020. 

• Users and sessions have decreased by around 10%. 
• Page views are down by around 20% 
• There are some significant changes in users’ areas of focus:  
• Investor traffic has increased by around 50%, accounting for nearly 20% of all website traffic by the end of May.  
• Careers traffic has also fallen by around a third. It is still the largest driver of traffic to many sites, but proportionally accounts for around 10% less traffic than it did earlier in the year. 
• General company information (e.g. “About Us”) has dropped by around a third, accounting for 4% less overall traffic than at the start of the year. 
• Sustainability content has remained consistent (around 6% of website traffic), but with some increased interest in content oriented toward suppliers. 

How Have Things Progressed in 2020 So Far? 

Key findings 

• January and most of February followed a fairly typical pattern for the time of year. But as the extent the Covid-19 pandemic became clear in late February, visitors started to shift their attention towards information on how companies were responding to COVID-19.  
• Through March and April, interest in a company’s COVID-19 response increased. Generally, content geared toward investors received more attention.  
• In May, content geared toward investors continued to be a focus. But we also saw an increased interest on sustainability, particularly around supply chain content regarding supply chain management. 

What Should Companies Be Focusing on Now? 

Providing clear information and evidence of positive activities and performance is key: 

• Demonstrate business resilience. Update your strategy, investment propositions, and any supporting content, highlighting: 
• Any activities or tangible facts and figures that demonstrate positive business performance during the first half of 2020. 
• Changes to your business planning and outlook that demonstrate your business’s ability to adapt in challenging times. 
• Focus on innovation that fuels your future. 
• The introduction of new practices and ways of working that are helping your operations get back to work and keeping staff safe as you transition to a new operating environment. 
• Highlight how the emphasis may have changed for your products and services 
• What process innovations are you introducing to support customers and suppliers? 
• Clear and timely guidance for all key audiences 
• Investors: provide clear, succinct and timely updates for investors, through your existing channels or via secure virtual events and webcasts while face-to-face meetings are not possible. 
• Customers: continue to update customers on how and when operations will reopen and what effects there may be on service levels. 
• Suppliers: provide information on new working practices that affect suppliers, with easy to find contact details 
• Careers: how has the pandemic affected your recruitment activities? For new starters, how will the onboarding process be impacted by social distancing or premises remaining closed? 

Who Is Doing It Well? 

Here are some examples of businesses that have responded especially well during the pandemic. 

Businesses Capitalizing on the Power of Webcasts 

• A major UK retailer (and an IDX client) is holding bi-weekly audio webcasts through our secure platform to keep a constant stream of communication with their working from home workforce during this disruptive period. 

• A large insurance company (also a client) is also scheduling weekly conference calls to host their internal townhall meetings. 

Coca-Cola Responding to Investors 

• Coca-Cola has published Investors FAQs specifically addressing COVID-19 and their business continuity planning, as shown here and here.  

Walmart and General Electric Demonstrate Innovation 

• Walmart is consolidating a number digital services into a single app to make customers online experience better, as discussed on its newsroom.   

• General Electric is repurposing existing data services to help airlines run their businesses more efficiently and accounting for flights that are subject to capacity restrictions and volatile demand patterns, as discussed on its website.  

Vodafone Addresses Job Seekers 

• Vodafone UK has launched a new “Virtual Hiring” area on its Careers site. It covers the application, interview and onboarding processes while their offices are closed. Check out examples here and here. 

Sainsbury’s, AngloAmerican, and Walmart Keep Audiences Informed 

• Sainsbury’s continues to post updates on store openings, as shown here.  

• Anglo American, an IDX client, provides a clear update on its response to COVID-19, including a video message from people around its global operations that utilizes user-generated content where using a professional team is not currently possible. 

• Walmart collates all its Covid-19 updates into a single area on its website. 

What’s Next? 

There are some indications in June that website traffic is starting to pick up as we emerge from the lock down. We’ll keep an eye on this and highlight any trends as things progress.  Meanwhile, contact IDX for help communicating your response to COVID-19. We are working with businesses right now to do just that.