• by Aaron Baar , September 27, 2010

People head to electronics companies' Web sites for two main reasons: to get information when considering a purchase or to find out how to use a product once it has been bought. With those objectives in mind, Samsung has relaunched its corporate Web site to focus on bringing those elements closer to the consumer.

"There's a lot of change going on with the ways consumers interact with each other and with products," Kris Narayanan, vice president of digital marketing at Samsung Electronics America, tells Marketing Daily. "This Web site is a culmination of a rigorous process of identifying what drives consumer interaction and experience." The relaunch is born out of the insight that the buying process for electronics isn't as linear as previously thought. Rather than beginning a search on the Web, for instance, many people may first go to a retailer for a look at what's available before turning to the Web for further guidance.

"It became evident that they don't come to manufacturers' Web sites until fairly late in the process," he says. "The problem is that consumers looking for more from manufacturers' Web sites are not getting it."

The revamped site, Narayanan says, provides information that helps people to understand Samsung products and features. The site contains articles written in a more vernacular tone that are "less techie and more consumer-friendly," he says.

Content is largely consumer-generated, such as including contributed images and videos, consumer-posted Q&A's on products and topics and the ability to comment on third-party reviews and articles. The site also employs social networking, tracking trending topics on Twitter and linking to Facebook posts.

"There's a lot of sharing [among consumers] going on, and facilitating that is the first step," Narayanan says. "Now, we have a process for consumers to post questions and answers, and occasionally one of our experts will come in and post an answer or provide some context."

The new site, which launched in mid-September, will also serve as the digital hub for all of Samsung's products and product launches. Rather than create a series of separate microsites for each product, new products and lines will be more easily accessible and identified from the main site, he says.