Online reporting:
The comeback kid?

Stephen Butler, Director of Stakeholder Engagement at Luminous, reviews the case for online reporting – an option once much used and, it could be said, abused, but which is finding favour once more as film and other media, such as moving image, have taken a starring role in the comms armoury.

A decade or so ago was a golden time for online reports and, indeed, for those corporate reporting agencies that saw them as cash cows – actively selling full standalone microsites that simply replicated the printed report content and added little, if any, value to the investor experience.

Jump forward 10 years, and once again discussions around the value of online reports are front and centre in the reporting world; but has anything changed?

At Luminous, we would argue yes. Corporate reporting itself has changed dramatically, now needing to speak to a range of audiences and comprehensively address such subjects as purpose, culture, stakeholder engagement, long-term thinking and value creation, in addition to all that came before.

We have also seen, and continue to see, the impacts of MiFID II on investor engagement and we wait to see how the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) will affect the consumption of structured financial data.

All of this means that, more than ever, companies need to be alive to the varied ways in which they can tell their story – and while they need to publish that information on paper if asked, they do not need to think of paper first when it comes to engagement.

I am pleased to say that Luminous, as a communications specialist, has never been one of those agencies that pushed its clients into unwarranted online reports. We were often the ‘turkey voting for Christmas’, telling our clients that online reporting was only useful if it added value and enhanced engagement. While it is still true today that merely pasting the annual report online adds little of worth, there is excellent value to be gained from using a summary report to tell your corporate story.

It is vital that the online report does not just replicate the printed version.

So, if you find yourself in discussion as to the merits of an online report, consider our top seven tips for producing one.

1 Consider your audiences and their needs

There is compelling evidence to suggest that investors do not see the online report as a primary method of understanding a business. However, given that ESEF will make the PDF redundant, this may not be the case for much longer.

There are, of course, other audiences that are well suited to engaging via a summary report, such as your employees and customers.

It is essential to understand the stakeholders you are trying to reach and to plan your content accordingly.

2 Shape it for digital

Many online reports slavishly follow the layout, design and structure of the printed version. This just leads to congested pages within confusing layers of navigation and discontented users frustrated by looking for the content they cannot find.

The best online annual reports build upon the media-specific opportunities of digital as a publishing channel.

3 Exploit the medium

It is vital that the online report does not just replicate the printed version but, instead, adds value, utilising the medium to tell a connected story, linking information, bringing purpose and culture to life and demonstrating strategy in action.

4 Leverage cross-media

Film is now the communications channel of choice for the majority of stakeholders and represents 80% of web traffic today. Digital offers the opportunity to leverage moving image to tell complex stories in a way that is easy to grasp.

5 Consider customisation

A key issue is how to keep stakeholders informed, while at the same time meeting regulatory requirements. Thanks to their flexible navigation methods, online reports can break free of the restrictions of the printed format.

6 Bring data to life

Annual reports contain masses of data, often presented in tabular form. The digital format allows data to be brought to life and become interactive.

7 Measure the results

One of the most important things to measure is your audience reach and impact. You can do this by tracking your visitors, using tools such as Google Analytics.

In addition to tracking the number of visitors and the number of visits they are making to your online report, you can determine how your visitors are getting there. Are they coming through Google? A social media marketing campaign? An email blast?

Google Analytics, for example, automatically groups visitors into categories based on demographics, geography, interest etc., in addition to segmenting visitors by traffic channels, source/medium, referrals and more. Analysing your traffic sources and audience behaviours allows you to get to know your readers better and to improve your engagement based on that knowledge.