This week I presented a paper to the 13th Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors Congress in Kuala Lumpur where I revealed the results of on-going research investigating the brand/marketing management of QS practices in Malaysia, in particular the use of company websites. The paper and presentation will be available in full on the PAQS website shortly. (http://www.paqs.net/)
Why are we interested in QS practice websites?
The quantity surveying sector in Malaysia has become very competitive and fast moving. Quantity surveying businesses are faced with the challenge of professional regulation of their marketing approaches together with a need to communicate clear corporate brands with a range of potential stakeholders from existing and potential clients, to investors and potential recruits.
Website branding strategies are now a part of the marketing and corporate communication of any business. Recent research with QS practices in Malaysia has identified that websites are perceived as being an increasingly important part of the marketing mix (Preece, C N, Roziha, C H, Handzalah, A and Saiful, N M S 2008).
In the design of a website, the business needs to identify how customers/users would like to interact, what will be an effective customer relationship online, how two-way communication can be developed and maintained and what on-line experience will improve perceptions of the brand. Solutions to these issues will enable a company to understand usage of the website and the reputation of the brand and how this can be refined in the long term.
Lehrer (2003) presents a 7 point plan for assessing the effectiveness of websites as follows;
1. Initial impressions of home page
2. Navigation
3. Content
4. Design
5. Useability
6. Technology
7. Results
Preece, Moodley & Cox (2001) assessed the effectiveness of the top 50 UK construction firms. They found that one of the principal differences of the Internet compared with other forms of marketing is that it has increased the opportunity for interaction with the customer. Consequently if a web site is used effectively as a means of marketing it is capable of bringing the relationship between a business and a consumer closer than any other marketing medium has ever been capable. This form of interaction needs to be adequately designed to not only encourage the user to pull information from a web site, but also be seen as an opportunity to encourage a user to directly interact with a contractor via their web site.
What are some of the key issues for QS practice websites?
Some key questions for the QS practice website if it is to be more than just an online brochure include does the visitor want to explore the site further? Is key information easy to find? Is the content fresh and not outdated? Is technology used to aid the visitor rather than confuse them? Do all the links work? Are there reasons why a visitor would want to keep on revisiting the website?
What were the aims/objectives of this preliminary study?
The aims and objectives of this research were to:
To develop a method by which to assess the effectiveness of web sites as an interactive brand/marketing communications tool.
Validate this system with a sample of practicing QS professionals
Conduct the survey of the web sites of QS practices in Malaysia using the established system and factors identified
Rank order the QS practices according to the factors
To date no research has previously taken place within the QS sector in Malaysia to evaluating web sites as a means of brand/marketing communication.
The first stage of the research was to locate the website addresses of QS practices. Lists of the names of firms based in the Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley area of Malaysia were obtained from the Board of Quantity Surveyors. However, to locate the website addresses required the use of the Google search engine. The first key result of this study is that only a relatively small number of quantity surveying practices would seem to have established corporate websites. Of a total population of 97 practices only 13 had identifiable websites (approximately 13%). Of these one of the websites was under construction at the time of the review and therefore only 12 websites were included in this preliminary investigation (see table above for the list of sites reviewed).
The researchers considered what key stakeholders may be looking from a QS practice’s web site and the kind of information they are most interested in obtaining. Initially this involved carrying out a detailed literature review of current texts on web site design and content, key areas of corporate communications as well as identifying specific content relevant to the users of QS practice websites ie. construction clients, consultants, potential recruits etc. To help in this process a convenience sample of 8 mid-career quantity surveyors in practice in Malaysia were engaged in a pilot of the criterior, especially in deciding what would be expected in terms of the content of practice websites.
It was then decided to weight each of the criteria. This reflects the importance of being able to locate the website in the first instance. Also websites should be attractive and creative in design to attract the attention of the user. As QS practice websites will be judged largely on the quality and relevance of their content to the key stakeholders, the largest weighting is afforded this aspect. The following provides details on each of the criteria and the aspects considered.
Section 1 – HOW ACCESSIBLE ARE THE QS WEBSITES? (20%)
Section 2 – HOW CREATIVE FROM A DESIGN POINT OF VIEW ARE THE WEBSITES? (25%)
Section 3 – ARE THE QS WEBSITES PRESENTING APPROPRIATE CONTENT AND INFORMATION TO KEY STAKEHOLDERS? (15%)
Subsection 3 – WHAT SPECIFIC ONLINE INFORMATION ARE THE PRACTICES PRESENTING ON THEIR SITES? (25%)
Section 4 – WHAT FACITLITIES FOR INTERACTION & CONTACT WITH THE PRACTCE ARE PROVIDED? (15%)
Reviewing the contents and design of the websites
Having established this criterion method for reviewing web sites, the next stage of the research was to commence reviewing the websites. Four researchers were engaged in independently reviewing the sites. In order to ensure that the review was carried out on an equitable basis a maximum of 25 minutes was allocated to review each web site. It was felt that within this 25 minutes it should be possible for a user to extract all the required information. Key notes were made on each web site including good and bad points, all of which would eventually be analysed to help make recommendations for improvement.
Overview of preliminary results
The table above shows the performance of the QS practice websites. The following preliminary observations may be made.
Accessibility – 6 of the 12 websites could be found easily using Google. All sites were accessible 24 hours. However, about half of the sites proved to be quite difficult to navigate around without site maps or prompts.
Design – Generally the websites were very basic in terms of design features. They demonstrated very little creativity and without establishing identifiable corporate branding for the QS practices. The top three websites from this sample appeared to be better in terms of visibility of functions, layout and quality of design. The impression given is that the firms have thought about the user’s requirements and interests. Two of the three top websites were designed by outside consultants.
Content/Online information – With the exception of the top two websites, most were lacking across many of the areas identified under online information. In particular a lack of detail on quality assurance or any awards won by the practices. In addition, organizational charts downloadable reports, brochures and accounts were also missing. Generally recruitment or careers sections were not provided.
Facilities for interaction and contact-ability – Most of the websites had clear points of contact including postal, email, fax, phone details. However there were no examples of interaction with clients, live projects etc. Only a few websites included FAQ sections. There was little on the websites to encourage users to return ie. current news sections or research and development/innovative approaches to services/projects.
Some Concluding Remarks
In general the websites of quantity surveying practices in Malaysia are very simple and it is not clear what their purpose is, or who they are trying to communicate with. Currently websites are little more than basic company brochures online. It would seem that QS practices have not realized the potential of this medium to communicate with their key stakeholders.
The majority of websites have nothing in terms of content which would make users want to return to the site or maintain interest. In many cases, what may be considered as important information for key stakeholders is not currently included on the websites. In particular, little attention is provided potential recruits.
The website technology being used is very basic, with most practices not employing any methods to encourage interaction with users.
In short, QS practices in Malaysia generally have not realized the potential of company websites as a corporate branding tool.
A number of areas for further research have been identified. It is seen to be essential to follow up this study by surveying QS practices concerning the use of websites. Why have a large number of firms not yet invested in a company website? For those that have a website, do they have a strategy? In addition, this research has not yet tested the interactivity of the websites. How efficient are the firms in answering queries via email through their sites etc.
REFERENCES AND RELATED DOCUMENTS
Cox, I and Preece, C N (2001) “Construction website survey 2001 – Survey into the effectiveness of the websites and back office systems of the Top 50 UK contractors”. Published by University of Leeds. ISBN 0 85316 227 1.
Cox, I and Preece, C N (2000) “Using a website as a marketing communications tool in construction; Survey into the effectiveness of the websites and back office systems of the Top 50 UK contractors”. Published by University of Leeds. ISBN 0 85316 210 7.
Lehrer (2003) “Assessing your website”. Presented to Media Community Workshop on 6/4/2003. Retrieved from http://www.lehrercommunications.com/7points.html.
Preece, C N and Moodley, K (2007) Branding the quantity surveying profession – A need to form strong relationship with key stakeholders. In: “Quantity Surveying International Convention”, 21-22 October 2008, location.
Preece, C N (2008) The challenges and opportunities in marketing the QS practices in Malaysia. In: “Quantity Surveying International Convention 2008”, 21-22 October 2008, Kuala Lumpur.
Preece, C N, Moodley, K and Cox, I (2001) Assessing the effectiveness of websites as an interactive business communications tool. In:“17th Annual ARCOM Conference”, 5-7 September 2001, University of Salford. Association of Researcher in Construction Management.
Preece, C N, Roziha, C H, Handzalah, A and Saiful, N M S (2008) Are quantity surveying practices prepared to meet the business development challenges and opportunities in the increasingly competitive market environment in Malaysia?. In:“The Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors 12th Congress”, 16-18 June 2008, Edmonton Canada.
Preece, C N, Roziha, C H, Handzalah, A and Saiful, N M S (2008) The challenges and opportunities in marketing the QS practice in Malaysia. In: “Quantity Surveying International Convention 2008” 21-22 October 2008.
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