Battle of the superhero sites: Marvel vs. DC
This summer saw the launch of two eagerly anticipated Superhero films; 'Batman: The Dark Knight Rises' and 'The Amazing Spiderman'. Whilst the the comic book hero's battled it out on screen, QuBit conducted a comparative analysis into Marvel and DC's websites. The analysis focused on the 'find' (marketing), 'choose' (usability and navigation) and 'buy' (retail conversion effectiveness) stages of the customer's online journey, and each website was scored on presence weighted against relevance. Scores were then summed and totalled to give a final percentage mark for each.
So who won in the battle of the sites?
Find
Focusing on the latest Batman film, the DC page had a prominent countdown clock and time sensitive messaging, combined with clear Calls to Action and 'free shipping' offers to help drive the purchase. However it has no contact information or FAQ section.
The 'Amazing Spiderman' Marvel site opted for diversity and colour to attract a younger audience. Special offers were displayed prominently and drop down menus made the navigation easy. But there was no sense of urgency or Call to Action.
Round Results: 75% vs. 68%. DC wins this time.
Choose
The search display on the character category pages was attractive and gave a sense of authenticity and prestige. The product pages were quipped with a high quality zoom and relevant cross-sells were displayed. However unclear filters and a lack of product badging to refine results meant DC fell short of a perfect score.
Marvel's site gained points with an intuitive filter system complete with product badging. However general display was unappealing and the site did little to encourage confidence in authenticity or quality of its products with lack of product description and no product review section.
Round Results: 91% vs. 74%. DC's Dark Knight site is no dark horse.
Buy
The Dark Knight of DC scored highly in the final stages of the analysis, with a well labelled and streamlined checkout and there was the option of guest checkout. However it failed to deliver its promise of free delivery as customers outside of the USA were un-eligible.
Marvel's site outmatched DC's site with required fields minimised and a guest checkout option. The site also fulfilled its promise of free delivery worldwide. Improvements could have been made using real time error checks and s 'Find Address" function.
Round Results: 83% vs. 86%. Marvel fights back.
At the end of the analysis QuBit found that the DC site offered customers that little extra than Marvel's. Unsurprisingly the final score is: DC 83% vs. Marvel 76%.