This is the sixth in an occasionaly series on home page design for pharma companies. Today, we take a look at Sanofi-Aventis. On my marketing blog, I have previously remarked on S-A’s logo/tagline (“Because Health Matters”) – now for the implementation of their web presence.
In a word…blecchh.
Everything is whacked out, proportionally speaking, on this home page. There is a vast sea of unproductive, and – this is the first time I’ve ever said this – almost repulsive white space along the top. That amount of blankness simply does not belong. There is a menu bar which only extends halfway across the page, which is hard on the eyes, because everything is 2-color. Then, on the right side, there is a sub-menu bar in smaller type – the entire menu system is simply non-intuitive.
Once you get past the overly expansive header with its sea of white space, there is barely room for any content below the menu bar. But what content there is, is highly corporate. Nothing to draw in the user, nothing of immediate interest – just corporate press releases, links to financial statements, Sustainable Development links, and…well, not much else.
This site does not tell a story. It is visually unappealing. It doesn’t even let me know, at a glance, what Sanofi-Aventis is or does.
And someone should tell these folks not to refer to themselves as “The Group.” Sounds like a cult, or the French mafia, or something…
Going in to the menus, I was hoping that maybe there would be some good and interesting content beyond the home page. Nope. Just lists of brief statements and links. It almost seems like whoever designed this site was specifically charged not to make it engaging. This is one of the Top 5 pharma companies in the world – I expect, if not to be dazzled, at least to be interested!
To cap it all off, you click on the Careers menu item and you get this user-friendly screen:
Leaving the “institutional” site, and entering one of the “Group” sites…was this text all written by lawyers?
All in all, not a pleasant on-line experience. I see nothing in the information or interface design that can be salvaged. This one needs to re-built from scratch. Because a good website matters.
Prior website reviews:
Impactiviti blog 