The results show that these companies, although devoting less time and money to their digital presence than other sectors, know how to take advantage of it effectively. They diversify their online presence channels, optimize their natural referencing to strengthen their visibility and rigorously apply good practices in cybersecurity, demonstrating a strategic and structured approach.
Afnic, the association responsible for .fr and several other overseas and generic extensions, today released the results of its sectoral study, this year focusing on the online presence of VSEs and SMEs in the Construction and Public Works (BTP) sector. What are their challenges and motivations for being present on the internet? Which channels do they favor? How do they invest in it and for what results?
The data from this sector survey could also be compared with those from Afnic's Réussir avec le web 2024 study, carried out via its Réussir-en.fr program with a panel of French micro-enterprises, VSEs and SMEs, all sectors of activity combined, and hereinafter referred to as the global study; as well as those from its previous sector studies, carried out with catering professionals in 2022 and tourism in 2023.
Construction professionals exploit all online presence channels
100% of construction professionals consider being on the internet as essential or useful. This proportion is similar to the overall study (99%) and slightly higher than for tourism professionals (95%) and catering professionals (95%). However, the essential nature is less marked in construction (19% vs. 76% in the overall study, 55% for tourism professionals and 39% for restaurateurs), in favor of a perception of simpler utility (81%).
As for their motivations for being online, the two main ones are the presentation of their activity (97% vs. 62% for the global panel) and the fact of being easily found (66% vs. 50% for the global panel). Construction professionals are less likely to answer that they want above all to communicate with their customers and prospects (21% vs. 32% for the global panel) or to sell online (6% vs. 29% for the global panel), this last point certainly reflecting the business model of this sector of activity.
To do this, construction professionals have developed particularly sophisticated online presence strategies. To the question “How are you present online?”, they have in fact answered:
- 79% of the companies surveyed have a website. This is 9 points more than in the overall study.
- 81% are present on at least one social network, compared to 75% in the overall study. In this regard, Facebook is the most popular among construction professionals (used by 92% of them vs. 71% of the overall panel, but 98% of tourism professionals). LinkedIn and Instagram are only mentioned by half of the respondents (compared to 2/3 for the overall panel), with the other networks not exceeding 20%.
- 76% have a company page in online directories, significantly more than the overall panel (47%).
- On the other hand, only 13% are present on the marketplaces (vs. 15% for the overall panel), while restaurateurs and tourism professionals are in the vast majority (60% and 69% respectively).
In terms of business, 71% of VSEs and SMEs in the construction industry (vs. 24% for the overall panel) indicate that their online activities generate between 10% and 50% of their turnover (53% between 10% and 30%; 18% between 31% and 50%). This figure falls to 3% for those who estimate that they generate more than 50% of their turnover through their online presence (i.e. 13 points less than the overall panel), which can be explained by the nature of their activity, which is relatively little driven by the online sale of goods. The low percentage of “Don’t know” responses (9% vs. 27% in the overall study) shows that construction industry professionals are well aware of the sources of their business flows.
A digital identity strongly anchored in .fr
96% of VSEs and SMEs in the construction industry who declared that they have a website have their own domain name (and not an internet address dependent on their service provider). This is even better than the overall panel (92%), as well as their counterparts in the tourism (92%) and catering (88%) sectors.
The percentage of construction companies that have chosen .fr for their website is 78% (vs. 56% for the overall panel, 46% for tourism professionals, 58% for restaurateurs) and only 20% for .com. This particularly high proportion of VSEs and SMEs in the construction industry that have chosen .fr reflects the good fit of this extension with the needs of a sector where the activity is often very locally anchored, relying on French know-how and aimed at a local clientele. It also illustrates the SEO bonus in search engines that comes with the use of .fr when Internet users' requests come mainly from France.
The construction industry VSEs and SMEs have also developed more comprehensive naming strategies than those of the overall panel. Only 36% of them have registered only one domain name (vs. 63% for the overall panel), which means that only one in three construction industry VSEs/SMEs has not sought to enter into protection strategies by registering its domain name under several extensions or with spelling variations (hyphen, accent, etc.). Conversely, 47% of construction industry VSEs and SMEs have registered their domain name in both .fr and .com (vs. 27% of the overall panel) and 16% indicate having registered other TLDs in addition to .fr and .com (vs. 8% for the overall panel). However, very few of them (3%) have been concerned with spelling variations.
A lower investment in time and money, but more profitable
Construction professionals spend less money on average on their online presence than other sectors of activity: almost half (49%) of VSEs and SMEs in the construction sector spend less than €1.000 per year on it, compared to less than one in four companies (23%) in the overall panel.
Construction SMEs and VSEs use this money in particular to promote their activity. 54% of them say they advertise online; this is much more than the overall panel (35%), but less than professionals in tourism (65%) and catering (68%). They buy advertising on social networks (45% of them), on search engines (19%) or by purchasing banners on high-traffic sites (22%).
In terms of SEO, while paid referencing is not a priority for construction professionals (only 9% devote efforts to it, vs. 11% in the global study), 76% say they are taking action to improve the natural referencing of their website (i.e. 13 points more than the global panel). These efforts are bearing fruit: 79% of construction professionals say that their site appears among the first results on search engines when searching for their field of activity and location, compared to only 36% of respondents to the global study.
Construction VSEs and SMEs also invest less time in their online presence on average: they are in fact more numerous than the overall panel in devoting only one hour per month maximum to their online presence (37% vs. 24% for the overall panel), and fewer in devoting at least one hour per day to it (33% vs. 44% for the overall panel).
This does not, however, reflect a lack of interest or efficiency, since 75% of them perceive this time invested as profitable or completely profitable for their activity, compared to only 31% of VSEs and SMEs in the global panel - which demonstrates a strategic and efficient use of their digital resources. This score does not, however, reach that of the tourism sector (95%) or catering (93%).
Construction professionals know and apply good cybersecurity practices
Construction professionals are significantly more aware than the overall panel of good backup practices, with 91% (vs. 45%) performing regular backups of their data; and 43% (vs. 29%) of their configurations.
Construction professionals also apply password management rules well, since 85% of them use unique and complex passwords to access the administration of their website (vs. 74% of the global panel). Similarly, 90% of them declare that access to their social network accounts is well protected (vs. 63% of the global panel), and only 9% do not know whether or not this is the case (vs. 27% of the global panel).
Construction professionals also display more advanced cybersecurity best practices than the average for French VSEs and SMEs in all sectors of activity. In fact, 94% of them state that their website is protected against cyber threats by security solutions (firewall, antivirus, etc.), compared to 45% in the overall study; and only 3% do not know whether security measures have been implemented, compared to 41% in the overall study.
Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.