New Study Shows That Corporate Social Responsibility Web Sites Have Little Effect on Brand Perception and Trust

NEW YORK, March 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study released today by Change Sciences shows that corporations need to work on earning the public's trust when it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), even though people have a strong interest in learning about their core values. The study compares twelve top companies' CSR efforts across various verticals by analyzing what people did while exploring the sites and how they felt about the experience.  

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CSR web sites may not be directly tied to a brand's conversion numbers, but can have a long-term effect on brand image and public perception. Ultimately, a positive public perception can then lead to brand loyalty, trust, and eventually, conversion. While 42% of participants in this study had an interest in learning about a company's values, CSR sites were found to be 17% less trusted than the sites within the highest trusted vertical. In the end, CSR sites did little to change people's opinions of the brand that were held prior to viewing the site, good or bad.

Within the group, some CSR web sites struggled more than others to foster trust. For instance, Coca-Cola's site was rated the most misleading site of the group, which was four times greater than the average for the set. Conversely, Proctor & Gamble was the most trusted site of the group, with a 15% higher trust rating than the average site in the set.

"One critical goal of CSR is to show the public that a company has a human aspect to it—that it has a greater stake in society than to make an extra dollar. This data shows that if companies want to be successful in that regard, they still have a lot of work to do to convey that message," summarizes Change Sciences founding partner, Pamela Pavliscak.

To learn more about the study, visit: https://www.changesciences.com/trending/corporate-social-responsibility-web-site-user-experience-2014. The following companies are covered in the research: AT&T, Bank of America, Chevron, The Coca-Cola Company, ExxonMobil, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company (GM), JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble (P&G), and Verizon Communications.

About Change Sciences
Change Sciences is a group of qualitative researchers, data scientists, and software engineers dedicated to helping organizations measure and compare how people experience web sites. It counts 18 Fortune 100 companies as clients and has completed more than 700 projects in the last five years for clients in financial services, healthcare, entertainment, travel, government, e-commerce, and e-learning.

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SOURCE Change Sciences