Methodology

The KWD Webranking methodology has been refined during the 15 years we have conducted the reasearch. Today it follows a 5 step approach which starts with the research of target group needs and wants.

The KWD Webranking Questionnaire is the first stepping stone of the KWD Webranking process, forming a solid objective foundation for the entire survey.

The broad range of stakeholder responses, including analysts, investors, business journalists and young professionals and job seekers, to the questionnaire paint a detailed picture of online behaviour and demands. Specifically, the questionnaire asks how these stakeholders use corporate websites and what kind of information they require.

500 respondents form the review protocol

Questionnaires are sent out to respondents mainly in the European region though this has recently been expanded to reflect the KWD Webranking’s more global scale including also Americas and Asia. Based on the respondents’ views and opinions we put together the review protocol, which is used in the following ranking process.
This means that the criteria of the rankings directly reflect the actual demands of target groups. This year 296 respondents from the capital market and 205 young professionals have answered the questionnaire which was conducted during May and June 2011.

The capital market survey

The first questionnaire is directed at the capital market. It was distributed to the respondents by e-mail:

• investors (buy-side)
• analysts (sell-side)
• journalists

Two reminders were also sent out to maximise the number of respondents. The questionnaire consisted of 41 questions covering the whole breadth of corporate online presence. The respondents were asked to rate the importance of the questions from 1 to 5 where 1 is not important and 5 is very important.

The employer branding survey

The second questionnaire is directed at young professionals and job seekers. It consisted of 21 different questions regarding employer branding. The respondents were asked to rate the importance of the statements from 1 to 5, following the same scale as above.