Websites evaluation
Conducted for
London Business School

Contents
Contents...............................................................................................................................2
Executive summary .............................................................................................................3
Site one:................................................................................................................................3
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
Competitive analysis.............................................................................................................5
Detailed findings:.................................................................................................................6 Company/product information....................................................................................6 Registration option.......................................................................................................7 Performance/navigation..............................................................................................8 Community...................................................................................................................8 Aesthetic/Consistency..................................................................................................9
Site two:................................................................................................................................9
Introduction..........................................................................................................................9
Competitive analysis...........................................................................................................10
Detailed findings:................................................................................................................10 Company/product information....................................................................................10 Registration option.......................................................................................................11 Performance/navigation..............................................................................................12 Community...................................................................................................................13 Aesthetic.......................................................................................................................13 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................14 References..........................................................................................................................15

Executive summary This paper will analyse and evaluate two web sites of students’ choice in order to highlight the importance of digital marketing in business and to outline elements needed for successful eCommerce.
The sites are located at: http://www.open.ac.uk/ http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/
Choice is motivated by conducted earlier analyses of online presence of presented here websites.
Individual analyses of each site will focus on identification of adopted business model, company target audience and its competitive environment.
The above will be followed by a thorough examination of provided content, aesthetic appearance, ease of use, interactivity and other criteria that make online businesses successful. Evaluation will be supported by academic theories and definitions.
Conclusion will determine any errors and issues that need to be addressed and will include further recommendations. http://www.open.ac.uk/ Introduction First conducted evaluation on Open University web site (Figure 1):

Figure 1
Ecommerce is an abbreviation for electronic commerce, and according to J.S. Green, means buying and selling through electronic system. Increasingly, it relates to the use of the internet, which provides potential consumers with information on goods and services and also the technology for online enquires, payment and transaction handling.
This very broad and interactive OU web site is intended to use by general public as the only channel to generate revenue. To cut costs and to make business more efficient, company adopted Disintermediation strategy, which is excluding the middleman in the process of selling (J. S. Green, 2000). This can suggest that company business plan is based on enhancement, efficiency and effectiveness, what can be seen in the context of the mission statement on the screen shoot below (Figure2)

Figure 2
Site offers educational services, therefore it is aiming to individuals, what means that company adopted B2C business model. It is stated very clearly that target audience for this business is generally anyone who wishes to improve own qualifications and get a degree. School targets potential students in the UK as well as in many other countries. To confirm this, web contains Facts & Figures button, which shows its presence and number of students all over the world. This gives company creditability and makes it more trustworthy on the start. (Figure 3)

Figure 3
Research shows that company used a business strategy called Blue Ocean Strategy( W. Chan Kim, R. Mauborn), what means Instead of going to existing educational market, they decided to create new demand on the market, which has not been recognised before, that is distance learning. Some universities recognised the opportunity in online, distance learning and became double method Universities i.e. Oxford university, University of Derby, however the number of distant method universities has not increased as much as would be predicted in a competitor-less environment.
Competitive analysis

Figure 4 (Greville Rumble report)
Table in Figure 4, shows the Distance Learning providers. The main competitors for OU are i.e. newly established Stonebridge Associated Colleges in the UK, Open Study College in the USA or TAFE Open Learning. Those are the key competitors but, not a particular threat to OU as the market is and will be growing as long as current economical climate creates the demand for this kind of service.
In respect of new market entrants there is also a low threat to OU, as the entry barriers are relatively high. Although anyone can set up a website, not everyone has appropriate qualifications to teach others. Technology changes rapidly and to provide cost effective distance learning, provider has to constantly invest in training tutors and any other staff so the online tools can be efficiently used to generate income. Additionally, any new company will not be recognisable as in this industry brand recognition is highly important.
Open University is under low threat of substitutes and also the power of suppliers in relatively low.
Customers could easily switch to other suppliers; however it is the nature of services that makes switching process quite long and not always possible (change school in the middle of semester can be problematic).
As OU provides educational services, price here is very important, but quality of the services, well qualified tutors and good organisation of distance learning is the core in customer decision making process. OU on its website very clearly states its resources and capabilities, giving its potential students clear overview of schools culture and expectations. This is supported by opinions of former and current students’ (Figure 5, 6)

Figure 5

Figure 6
Detailed Findings
Company/Product Information
On the website company provides clear and coherent information about its organisational profile, governance body, services, methods and advantages. (Figure 5)
Necessary information about companies contact details, enquiry services addresses and tel. numbers are provided, what reflects company confidence and transparency. (Figure 7)
In Harvard Business Review, M. E. Porter highlights difficulty of building online strong brand, as a result of lack of physical contact with the company. Porter stresses that e- commerce brands are often less powered brands than traditional businesses. To meet this need for transparency, OU in its updated Annual report reveals its impact in the industry (Figure 8)
Following the ‘’OU explained’’ bookmark we accessing history, annual report , mission statement and partnerships, what again helps company to build own confidence and gain customers trust and loyalty.

Figure 7

Figure 8

Registration option

No need for registration to enter website content, open to potential viewers and students. Current students and staff can access those private profiles content by login. Company provides tel. Nr, addresses and email for any enquiry, prospectus can be order online, nonetheless admissions can’t be conducted online and appropriate tel. nr is provided. Equally, any kind of payments can’t be made online on pre registration stage as no payment option is available (Figure 9).

Figure 9
Performance/navigation

Navigation refers to the ability to find one’s way within the web site. It is particularly important on the internet, since people easily become lost. It is also crucial to support navigation because of the ease with which customers can switch to a competitor site.
From this perspective, website is very user-friendly, broad and information is easy to understand. Bookmarks are coherent with the content; current location is always clear, easy to navigate. Viewer can always come back to home page by clicking on left up corner logo, which is always visible. Clear content bar helps to go straight to needed topic (Figure 8) no errors or pop-ups noticed. No broken links were found, and this indicates that an effective maintenance strategy is in place.

Community

Figure 10

Company do recognise need for keeping good relationship with its publics and stakeholders and involves variety of social media channels to maintain interactive communication. By clicking ‘’ OU community on the front page, viewer is transferred to the page where all the possible media channels are explained clearly and efficiently (Figure 10)
Aesthetic/consistency
‘’...If you can build simple tools that work and you can make people feel smart by using them , prospects will flock for you and stay with you.’’ S. Godin (2002)
It is important to use language and visual cues in a manner that is both internally consistent and consistent with general practice, so that customers do not have to learn any new techniques in order to use the site successfully.
From aesthetic point of view, web site looks very proffesional and minimalistic. Predominate colours white and mellow blue some more colours added but in very well thought way. Well chosen, consistent fonts, web site content interactive with use of many online communication channels. Neat and appealing overall.

http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/
Introduction
Second to evaluate is London metropolitan University website.
Website is indented to use by stakeholders and potential students, as an adjunct to London Met educational activities. Again, referring to mentioned earlier definition of ecommerce, London Met website aims to provide information to its current and prospective students about its courses and activities in order to make business more efficient. On this ground can be assumed that company adopted B2C business model.
Due to Vice –Chancellor Malcolm Gillies, purpose of the website is to give viewers opportunity to learn about courses and services that university have to offer and to help potential students decide if this is the right university for them ( Figure 11)

Figure 11

Company targeted home and international viewers willing to receive a degree in the UK.
Competitive analysis
Universities are nowadays very saturated market. Although more and more people willing to undertake higher education, it became a big challenge for the Universities to appeal to those young, demanding people.
London Met competition including: University of London, University of East London , Royal Holloway University of London, West London University and many, many more. In this highly competitive market University needs to control growth of the industry, monitor changes in demands and competitions reactions in order to constantly develop competitive advantage and adjust marketing strategies, this including online strategy.
However in current difficult economical climate threat of new entrants for London Met is relatively low, customers are very price sensitive therefore are carefully and in depth analysing market before decides what will be the best choice. Online consumers are not an exception of this behaviour.
Currently London Met is poorly positioned on the market. According to The Independent University Guide Table, it’s positioned on 110th position in the field of Business Studies, with only 40% of graduate prospects and very low entry standards.
S. Godin in his book says: ‘’ take a look (...) and you will see the work of large, well paid committee of executives who had little idea of what they doing’’. Clearly London Metropolitan University website is struggling to get company out of the crowd of competition.
Detailed findings
Company/Product Information
In the main the web site seems a bit busy and chaotic. The main catching eye appears to be the big, dark, purple and not very sophisticated message ‘’Affordable Quality Education’’. This might sound discouraging for students who are looking for good quality and word ’’affordable’’ is usually associated with lower rather than higher quality. Easy access to contact details thanks to ‘’ contact us’’ facility. Following mentioned before purpose of the website, viewer is directed to ‘’ Why London Met’’, probably in order to get help in making the decision. (Figure 12).
Further down we see more detailed content, like a site map, which directs viewers to all kinds of different services provided by university (Figure 13).
On the home page it is not clear where to find information about annual reports and legal situation of the university. Similar problem has been noticed with Mission Statement.

Figure 12

Figure 13
Registration option
No need to register for viewers, content can be explored by anyone. As in case of OU, here also, all kind of enquires need to be made using contact details provided. Not clear at first what is ‘’metranet’’. Viewer has to click on it to get even more confused with its difficult content. Not known purpose of the information provided and language, which by foreign person might be seen as very difficult, makes viewer feel very unskilled and frustrated as one can’t easily access all the needed information without being constantly lost.
After some time can be guest that ‘’metranet’’ is for current students and staff and access to this requires login. Additionally there is payment facility operated by epay, this service is provided to current student and staff wishing to pay online fees for courses or other activities. (Figure 14)

Figure 14
Performance/ Navigation
Bearing in mind from OU evaluation, just how important is easy and smooth navigation without blocking pages and errors, again London Met Website falls far behind high standards of competition.
Seems very difficult to find the way within the website and current location is not always clear. On most of the sites scattered, different sized uncontrolled buttons linking to social media what causes additional chaos. Unstructured content and confusing facilities seem to be all over the website, followed by many pop-ups windows (Figure 15, 16).

Figure 15

Figure 16
Although viewer can always come back to home page by clicking on the logo, there is high possibility that many potential students would resign from further exploration after facing all this difficulties.
Community
London Met website is connected with main social media sites, those can be access from most of the pages (Figure 17)

Figure 17

Aesthetic/ Consistency
Lack of consistency because of too much, too detailed information, causing confusion. I.e. on Alumni site comment ‘’Please note on the 20th May we will move to the North Campus’’ does not make any sense for casual viewer, who doesn’t know exactly who is moving and why. (Figure 16)
Website design involves too many, too bright colours what makes it frustrating. Also big differentiation of fonts is very unprofessional and gives impression of even more chaos on the website. Furthermore, differentiation in font sizes, especially on the links with lots of information is very tiring for eyes. Layout is not clear and full of unnecessary information. On the screen shots below can be seen difference between font’s sizes and variety of colours. (Figure 18, 19, 20).

Figure 18

Figure 19

Figure 20
Conclusion
Concluding, OU has shown well planned and implemented online marketing strategy that is evaluated and adjusted on the regular basis. Thanks to this evaluation and monitoring of the industry, company can quickly enough react to any changes and develop solutions. Would be advised however to try to bring to the table any innovative ideas on the website, such as i.e. online live advisor. This could speed up even more process of forwarding information to viewers and would bring new, fresh experience for publics.
London Metropolitan University website however has many errors that significantly affect its performance and therefore website is not as efficient and effective as it should be.
Many issues, such as reducing and organising content or unification of fonts can be resolved or at least improved without major re-design. However it’s recommended: * Re-design of website in context of colour, by reducing intensity and differentiation in favour of subdued, quiet colours that will match logo and won’t disturb viewers. * Development, implementation of new, amended online marketing strategy that will be regularly evaluated and changes will be conducted. * Conducting a competitive analysis in order to improve its positioning within competition. * Advised would be consideration of the message sent to publics, as term ‘’affordable’’ not necessary goes together with ‘’quality’’ in its real meaning.

Bibliography and references: * Open University. 2012. The Open University. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.open.ac.uk/. [Accessed 06 May 12].

* London Metropolitan University. 2012. London Metropolitan University. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/. [Accessed 06 May 12].

* Rumble, G., 2006. The competitive vulnerability of distance teaching universities. Open Learning, [Online]. 7/2, 31-35. Available at: http://www.c3l.uni-oldenburg.de/cde/econ/readings/rumble92.pdf [Accessed 01 May 2012].

* unknown. 2012. The Complete University Guide. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?o=Prospects&s=Business+Studies. [Accessed 03 May 12].

* (Bartels 2000) Bartels A.: "The Difference Between E-Business and e-Commerce," Computer World 2000

* Godin, S., 2002. Permission Marketing. 2nd ed. London: The Bath Press.

* Swinfen Green, J., 2000. E-Media. 1st ed. Guilford: Biddles LTD.

* Neumeier, M, 2007. Zag-The Number One Strategy Of High-Performance Brands. 1st ed. USA: Pearson.