We present a study on the functionality of websites of companies in the transport industry. The first study of companies in this sector was conducted last year, in issue 2/2006 of “Logistyka”. The purpose of the repeated research is to check whether companies have introduced changes to their websites, removing the errors identified last year.
Just like last year, the study was divided into four parts. The first part checked the available options for contacting the company. Three most popular forms of contact were taken into account: landline phone, contact via email, and using a form placed on the website. In this part, practically no changes were noted. A few companies added a contact form to their websites, and a few abandoned this form of contact with the company, which is practical for users.
The main part of the study, concerning the functionality of websites, also practically did not bring any major changes compared to the previous year. The most positive changes occurred on the websites of two companies: Trade Trans and Trans-Bieszczady. Both companies occupied the last and second-to-last place in the study last year, respectively. Thanks to the changes introduced on their websites, they received five points more than last year, which allowed them to significantly improve their position against the competition, which did nothing to correct the errors. In 2006, the Dartom company website received the most points in this part of the study. This year, after a few minor changes to the site, the C. Hartwig company received the same number of points, thanks to which it shares first place with Dartom. On the other hand, the Euro Transport Polska company performed the worst in this part of the study, having changed nothing on its website since last year.
Companies still do not pay attention to enabling users with weaker eyesight to increase the text size on their websites. They also ignore navigation aids, such as marking already visited hyperlinks with a different color than those that have not yet been visited. Out of twenty-one examined websites, only eight have a sitemap, which helps users understand the structure of the site, which is often complicated and illegible. Only one of the examined websites – LKW Walter – has its own useful and valuable error pages, helping users instead of further annoying them. Only less than half of the examined websites work both with the “www” subdomain and without it, which is an additional difficulty for users.
In the third part of the study, concerning difficulties occurring on the website, practically nothing has changed either. This year, only three companies did not receive the maximum of three points in this category. These are the companies: Equus (2 points), Trans-Południe (2 points), and the worst company in this part of the study – Krzysztof Polak (1 point).
In the last part of the study, the number of errors occurring on the websites detected by the W3C validator (validator.w3.org) was checked. In this part of the study, the DSV company made the most progress, which a year ago had 170 errors on its homepage, and now has only 2. Other companies that significantly reduced the number of errors are: No Limit Transport (62 fewer errors), LKW Walter (28 fewer errors), Equus (27 fewer errors), and Agroland (13 fewer errors). Unfortunately, there are also companies that have increased the number of errors. These include, among others: VOS Logistics Polska (39 more errors), Trans-Bieszczady (27 more errors), Trade Trans (23 more errors), and PEKAES Multti-Spedytor (16 more errors).
Summarizing the results of the study, it can be stated that it was bad and it is still not better. Most companies have stood still. In most cases, the websites have a complicated structure and information architecture that is not very transparent for users. Functionality errors negatively affect the image of companies and make customers move closer to the competition, especially when it takes care of their convenience in using the websites.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2/2007.