Can you rely on your online presence to do the job?

Most of us are now comfortable with communicating online at both work and home. What may surprise you though is just how reluctant investors are to search for information about their investments online. So while you may think you’ve done everything necessary by posting results and commentary on your IR website, that’s no guarantee at all that your investors have engaged.

The new reporting rules mean not all information is the same. Posting an annual report to all your shareholders is what is known as a ‘push’ communication. It ensures you retain control of putting messages in front of your investors. Unfortunately, with opt-in, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be given the permission to do so. Online, by contrast, is a ‘pull’ communication. It’s not subject to the opt-in restrictions but it also changes your role – because as well as providing the information, you need to motivate your investors to visit your website.

In future issues:

What makes a great shareholder review?
Pitched just right: checking the tone
One-way communication – or a dialogue?
Is your IR website good enough?
The rise & rise of social media. You can run, but you cannot hide
Starting the dialogue: Investor blogs and their cousins
Yes, but is it an Investor Brand?
The megatrend of CSR

Previous issues:

Will investors flock to your website for information?

There’s not a huge amount of research data available at this point on the effectiveness of online channels, but what we have seen suggests you shouldn’t be banking on it – not yet, anyway.

In North America, for example, there’s been a dramatic drop in the number of retail shareholders participating in annual meetings. A 75% drop in shareholder proxy voting at last count. And if they’ve stopped voting, it’s probably fair to assume if they’re not going online to access their proxy forms, then they probably aren’t making the effort to find annual reports either. It has concerned the SEC so much in fact, that in February they announced significant changes to the N&A model in an attempt to mitigate this lack of shareholder engagement.

Investors’ behaviour raises questions on a number of fronts: quite apart from the implications about access to the protections of the securities system, there are also real concerns for IROs in terms of the effectiveness of shareholder engagement, control of your Investor Brand image and of course the influence you can have over informed decision-making under these conditions.

The good news is there are actions you can take while the evidence is clarified. Let’s look at those in the next issue …

Time’s up.

Mike Tisdall
Investor Communications specialist and Managing Director – Insight Communications

Next Issue: Embracing the untouchables – communicating with those who don’t opt in

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