Monosus offers web development services specializing in B2B companies. We are in charge of creating and operating corporate websites for B2B companies in various industries, mainly listed companies and mid-sized companies.
In parallel with my daily production and operation work, I am putting together a report called "Report on the actual operation of corporate websites as interviewed by web managers at BtoB companies." This report summarizes the results of interviews with web managers at BtoB companies.
We conduct interviews and reporting activities with the following objectives: 1) To answer the needs of web managers who want to know "How are other companies using their websites?" 2) To use the information we gather as knowledge when renewing our websites.
We have been conducting this activity once every one or two years since 2012. We interview 50 to 100 companies each time, and to date we have interviewed over 650 companies in total.
This report has now been completed for the first time in three years, after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This time, we will introduce the survey overview and a summary of the findings.
Survey Overview
Interview period
July 2021 - March 2022
Interview method
Face-to-face interviews with each company (online)
Interviewee
90 companies (mainly BtoB companies, listed companies nationwide)
Company profile
Industry Segment
Annual sales/number of employees
Listed/Unlisted
Table of contents for the "Corporate Website Operation Status Report 2022"
Chapter 1 Corporate website overview 1-1 Number and scale of corporate websites 1-2 How to support websites for overseas markets 1-3 Multi-device support for corporate websites
Chapter 2 Purpose and goal of corporate website 2-1 Purpose and goal of corporate website 2-2 Actual situation of log analysis tool use on corporate website
Chapter 3 Trends in CMS use on corporate websites 3-1 Status of CMS adoption on corporate websites 3-2 Reasons for and status of CMS selection 3-3 Status of CMS usage
Chapter 4 Social media response status on corporate websites 4-1 Social media response status on corporate websites 4-2 Utilization of video content
Chapter 5: Corporate website operation status 5-1 Corporate website operation system 5-2 Outsourcing costs for corporate website operation 5-3 Frequency of corporate website updates and updated content 5-4 Server operation status of corporate website 5-5 Concerns about corporate website operation
Chapter 6: The reality of corporate website renewal projects 6-1 Frequency and motivation for corporate website renewal 6-2 Budget for renewal projects 6-3 Structure and duration of renewal projects 6-4 Selection of production companies for renewal projects 6-5 Barriers to renewal projects and future challenges
Summary of this report
We will introduce some notable points from this year's interview results, comparing them with the results from the previous interview in 2019.
1) Increased budget for renovations
There has been a change in the budget for renewing a corporate website. The most common answer was 5 million to 10 million yen (26.7%), followed by 10 million to 30 million yen (25.6%), with the majority of respondents choosing the 5 million to 30 million yen range.
Compared to 2019, the largest increase was in the 10 million to 30 million yen budget range, increasing from 15.0% to 25.6%.
The main factor behind this is thought to be the increasing role and expectations placed on corporate websites in response to the ever-changing business environment. Another factor is the increasing sophistication and complexity of web production, which is driving up production costs.
This result coincides with the intuitive feeling felt on the production floor that "motivation for corporate websites is increasing" and the increase in budget.
2) The important purpose of the corporate website remains unchanged, but the content of the information provided has changed.
The corporate websites of B2B companies, which disseminate information to various stakeholders, have a wide range of purposes. The results of this survey also showed that they set multiple purposes and goals.
Among the multiple purposes, the top answers to the question "What do you think is most important?" were disseminating IR information (38.6%), acquiring inquiries from new customers (21.7%), and disseminating company information and various initiatives (13.3%). All of these were also high on the list in the 2019 survey, but changes were seen in the content of the IR and company information dissemination.
As can be seen in the free responses, an increasing number of people are aware that they need to put effort into disseminating information on CSR, SDGs, and ESG. As these are topics that are likely to have a major impact on management and business operations, it appears that companies are also putting effort into disseminating information from their corporate websites. This will likely be a topic to keep an eye on in the future.
3) Changes in operational challenges: B2B companies also begin to fully utilize SNS
Looking at the answers regarding the operational structure, the results were almost the same as in the 2019 survey, with the most common answers being 2-3 people in charge of operations (53.3%) and those who work part-time on other tasks (99%). In other words, there seems to be no change in the operational structure, and one pattern seems to be that the corporate website is operated by 2-3 people working part-time on other tasks.
On the other hand, there has been a change in the issues felt within operations. In the 2019 survey, the most common answers were low awareness of the web within the company (17 people) and difficulty in measuring effectiveness (11 people), but in this survey, many people said they had few in-house staff involved in operations (34 people) and did not have sufficient web knowledge themselves (31 people). It seems that more and more people are feeling issues in terms of resources and knowledge. As the number of web initiatives and the volume of activity increases, it appears that there is not enough time to deepen each initiative.
One of the factors behind the increased activity seems to be the increased use of social media. The percentage of respondents who said they use social media increased significantly from 35.7% in 2019 to 55.2% this time. While Facebook was the main platform in the 2019 survey, we found that the number of companies using Twitter and Instagram is rapidly increasing.
lastly
This was the first survey since 2019. Three years have passed, and there were many changes that could be seen. The results made us realize the importance of regular observation.
We are planning to cover this year's events as well, and will be reviewing the topics we cover, taking into account the changes we are seeing on the ground.
We will send the report to the person who cooperated with the interview. If you are interested in an interview or report, please feel free to contact us here .
TATSUTA Yoshihiro
I am in charge of Web & Digital Solutions, project manager of website construction, and bartender at the bar in the office. I enjoy working with our clients and members while hanging out in various places.