The IBF Corporate Internet Site Benchmark is an assessment based on a set of detailed design heuristics. Design, Findability, Engagement, Accessibility and Coherence and further specifically developed elements are tested to provide a comprehensive benchmark, taking into consideration the purpose and intended audience for corporate internet sites.
The Corporate Internet Site Benchmark provides a clear and objective assessment of your Corporate Internet Site, tells you how your site compares with those of your peers and gives clear recommendations about exactly what to change to achieve maximum gain.
Recommendations come from a worldwide team of experienced and expert usability evaluators.
“We have found the IBF corporate website benchmark very useful with several valuable hints and recommendations. I also found the discussion around search very good. It confirms our performance overall but in a simple, clear and easy to absorb way” Michael Sellen, Team Lead Internet, Deutsche Post/DHL
“This benchmark was a very useful tool for us. It really helped to shape our thinking about possible improvements, helped me to prioritize the areas on which we’ll first focus, and provided measurement and ammunition as we build the case for additional investment into our site.” Senior Vice President, major Global Financial Institution
Watch a recording from our monthly Intranets Live show of Lou Kennedy, IBF benchmarking expert, explaining how the CIS Benchmark works:
Below you will find frequently asked questions about the Corporate Internet Benchmark. Or return to the main Benchmarking page for on intranet benchmarking.
You can find out more about:
- Joining IBF to benchmark your site
- Who belongs to IBF
- What our members say
Corporate Internet Benchmarking FAQs
Q. What is the Corporate Internet Site Benchmark?
A. The Corporate Internet Site Benchmark uses all the same principles as our intranet usability benchmarking. Your corporate website will be assessed against a set of detailed design heuristics. Our expert usability evaluators will score your website against the IBF model and then benchmark it against other corporate Internet sites, just in the same way as we do with your intranet or portal sites now.
Q. Why has IBF developed a Corporate Internet Site Benchmark?
A. In short, in response to members. Many of the teams responsible for intranets in IBF member organisations are, or have recently become, responsible for corporate internet sites too. IBF has over 9 years experience benchmarking intranet usability and we were asked by several members if we could apply this Usability benchmark expertise to external websites.
Q: Why have my Corporate Internet Site benchmarked?
A: IBF’s benchmark will give you a clear and objective assessment of your corporate Internet site, using the same benchmarking methodology you’re used to as an IBF member. You’ll understand how your corporate Internet site performs against IBF’s tried and tested usability criteria, and how your site compares with those of your peers. You’ll receive clear recommendations about exactly what to change to achieve maximum gain, which will help give you evidence to win senior management backing and budget if needed.
Q. How was it developed?
A. IBF’s usability team have developed a Corporate Internet Site Benchmark based on the IBF intranet Usability Benchmark. We’ve used core elements of the usability benchmark such as design, findability, engagement, accessibility and coherence and added new elements specifically developed to provide a comprehensive benchmark for Corporate Internet Sites, considering their purpose and intended audience. We then worked with members to pilot the model and based on feedback made some enhancements to end up with the new Corporate Internet Site Usability benchmark.
Q. Does the Corporate Internet Site benchmark include both expert review and user testing?
A. The Corporate Internet Site benchmark is based on a detailed expert review. Feedback from members indicated that most have their own regular usability labs to assess task completion and this was not as key as the expert review aspect of our model. However, we will review your site with audience needs in mind and a new metric has been added to the expert review that focuses on Audience Scope and will outline scores for each primary audience group such as jobseekers and customers. This will give you an understanding of how well your site caters to the key tasks of each audience type.
Q. Are IBF offering membership activities around this benchmark, such as meetings and research as with intranet benchmarking?
A. No. For the time being the Corporate Internet Site benchmark is an optional service IBF members (and eventually non members). If members wish IBF to develop this service further in the future, this will be considered.
Q. What is involved in the Corporate Internet Site Benchmark?
A. Once you’ve identified the site you wish us to benchmark it’s all up to IBF to do, so there no need for input from you until the report back. Just as with intranet Usability benchmarking, an expert evaluator from IBF’s team will assess your corporate website in detail. As with all IBF benchmarking, two evaluators are involved in each benchmark to ensure consistency and quality of output. We will then arrange a report back meeting, just as we do for all other benchmarking evaluations, where we go through the strengths, areas for improvement and recommendations for your Corporate Internet Site. Our recommendations will come from our worldwide team of experienced and expert usability evaluators. As we build a library of example good practices through this benchmarking we will share these as well.
Q. How long does a benchmarking evaluation take?
A. An evaluation normally takes about 2 months from starting the planning to receiving your report and having a report back session. Planning will start as soon as payment for the service has been confirmed.
Q. Who do I contact for more ?
A. Please contact your usual contact in the IBF team, or info@ibforum.com for more
