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

This 212-page report offers 103 design recommendations for improving the design of IR areas of corporate websites.  Discussions and 164 screenshot illustrations supplement our findings.

Benefits

• Checklist of 130 guidelines for engaging investors and financial professionals on your site
• Get inside the heads of investors. Know what they want and how they behave
• Information architecture (IA) recommendations to serve as a framework for your design

Topics

• Overview
  • Information design
  • Changes in IR usability since the first edition
  • Potential for IR on the web
  • Research method
• Different needs for different audiences
  • Individual investors
  • Financial analysts
  • Professional investors
  • Financial journalists
• Prioritizing financial information: High, medium, and low
• Information architecture for IR
• 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

Download report excerpt (2MB PDF)

What’s new in the 2nd Edition?

This 2nd edition contains additional recommendations, increasing from 65 to 103 guidelines.

Research method

The information in this report is based on evaluations of 94 company websites. The methods include:

• Usability studies of 52 websites
• Usability reviews of an additional 42 websites

In total, 63 people across four categories participated in the study:

• Individual investors
• Institutional investors
• Financial analysts and advisors
• Business journalists

The studies took place in 3 countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, and China (Hong Kong).