Regulation Website of the Year Awards 2015

Article 1 Description award and MetrixLab

1.1 The Website of the Year award is the online people’s choice award for the best and most popular websites. The award is independent and objective and is organized by MetrixLab. MetrixLab, recently merged with MACROMILL, is the fastest growing provider of consumer insights and marketing analytics solutions. MACROMILL turns data from online surveys, social media and enterprise systems into valuable business information and actionable consumer insights that help leading companies drive product innovation, brand engagement and customer value. Headquartered in Tokyo, Rotterdam and San Francisco with 27 offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia, MACROMILL serves 2200 leading brands in more than 80 countries.

1.2 The Website of the Year award is an international award and is organized in nine different countries: the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, India and China.

Article 2 Participation, selection procedure nominees and definition categories

2.1 For this election it has been decided to place the nominated websites in categories in order to cover a broad range of sites. The Website of the Year election has 19 categories. Given below are the definitions of each of the categories defined by the organisers. The organisation can modify the definitions at all times.

1. Automotive:
Websites of car brands and websites who sell (used) cars.
2. Banking & Investment:
Websites of financial services providers, such as banks or investment banks. Insurance companies are excluded from this category; they belong in the Insurance category.
3. Career & Education:
Websites who are providing information about job offers, websites of employment agencies or websites about education.
4. Charities:
Websites of NGOs/nonprofit organizations.
5. Communities:
Platforms for discussion and sharing knowledge, information and ideas. In order to actively participate, the user has to log in.
6. Comparison:
Comparing products and/or prices of different providers.
7. Consumer Electronics:
Websites of consumer electronics brands.
8. Consumer Goods:
Websites of or about fast moving consumer goods.
9. Dating:
Dating and meeting new people.
10. Health:
Information about health (care) or general well-being, or websites of medical institutions. Health insurance companies are excluded from this category; they belong in the Insurance category.
11. Insurance:
Websites of insurance companies.
12. Leisure & Travel:
Websites about recreational activities or day trips and websites about looking for and booking trips and accommodation.
13. Media:
Websites of media outlets or about media.
14. News & Information:
Websites that focus on news in general, or news and information about a certain topic.
15. Shopping:
Websites offering products or services online, either of their own, or advertised by users of the website.
16. Sports:
Websites of sports clubs, sports associations or sports accommodations.
17. Telecom:
Websites offering telecom services, internet or television.
18. Utility:
Websites of companies providing electrical, gas, solar, wind or other power providers.
19. Weather & Traffic:
Websites focusing on weather forecast, the current traffic situation or route planning.

2.2 A maximum of 12 nominations are made for each category. Websites are nominated via the selection procedure set out below.

1. The winners of the previous edition (depending on the previous year, this will be 1 or 2 websites).

2. A maximum of 5 websites per category from the Top 100 list of Alexa. For each country the website must be available in the country’s language, and the organizers place the websites in the 19 categories. Websites that do not fit within one of the categories are not nominated.

3. The 5 most frequently named websites are nominated by means of a panel survey among 400 respondents per country from the OpinionBar panel. For each country the website must be available in the country’s language, and the organizers place the websites in the 19 categories. Websites that do not fit within one of the categories are not nominated.

4. Websites can register themselves in order be eligible for a wildcard using the following procedure:

  • A maximum of 6 wildcards per category.
  • A minimum of 2000 unique visitors a month is required to be eligible for a wildcard (supply data via the registration procedure).
  • If there are more registrations than available places in a category, the number of unique visitors per month determines which website(s) will receive the wildcard. The website(s) with the highest number of unique visitors per month will receive the wildcard.

2.3 Only the main domain of each website is allowed to receive a nomination. It is not allowed to be nominated with multiple domain names or sub domain names of the same website.

Article 3 Voting procedure

3.1 In each category, the voter may choose one of the websites nominated by the organization.

3.2 Every voter can make a choice for one website in each category on which he/she wants to vote. Subsequently the voter can judge the website on the following criteria:

  • Content (1 to 5 stars)
  • Navigation (1 to 5 stars)
  • Design (1 to 5 stars)
  • Recommendation intention (scale of 0 to 10)

3.3 Then, to confirm his/her vote and participate in the prize draw, he/she must register, leaving a valid email address and his/her full name on the website. The information on the manner of participating will also be given on the website.

3.4 A check will be carried out so that a person may only vote once with the same email address: an email with a confirmation request will be sent out. The vote and the participation in the election will only be effective after the participant has clicked on the confirmation link sent in this email.

3.5 Persons who try to use multiple email addresses to increase their chances of winning will be excluded from the election.

3.6 Nominated websites who attempt to avoid the voting procedure by manipulating the votes with automated bots are no longer considered for the Best and Most Popular Website prizes in their category, or for the prize of overall winner.

Article 4 Recruitment of votes

4.1 The recruitment of votes goes by the website websiteoftheyear.co.uk, partner websites, other sites which pay attention to the award and the websites of the nominees. About 2 million voters from previous editions of the research in the participating countries will receive an invitation to vote again. The call to vote through the nominated websites will proceed as follows:

• The nominated websites will receive a set with personal banners in eight different sizes and a media kit with suggestions about their own invitations for example a newsletter and promoting the nomination on their own website in order to recruit votes.

• Nominated websites will publish the logo of the award on their website during the running time of the award. To ensure that every website has an equal chance at winning, the running time is established at six weeks.

• When a consumer clicks on the banner of the award, he/she will directly land on the voting page.

• After finishing voting in a certain category, the consumer will be able to vote in other categories as well.

Article 5 Selection of the winners

5.1 The voting per category will lead to two prizes: (1) the most popular website and (2) the best website. MetrixLab has developed the following methodology:

5.2 The most popular website: the website with the highest amount of votes in a certain category will be elected as the most popular website.

5.3 The best website: the voters are asked to judge the content, navigation, design of the website and the recommendation intention. In order to count the winners, an average score of the reviews will be calculated. The website with the best average score within its category will be the winner, if the website has received at least 10% of the total number of votes (or at least 500 votes) within its category.

5.4 The website with the best relative review within its category will be elected winner of the Website of the Year award. A minimum of 500 votes is required to win the overall award.

Article 6 Prizes on offer

6.1 The prizes will be announced on the website websiteoftheyear.co.uk.

Article 7 Allocation and sending out of prizes

7.1 A draw by lots will be made out of all participants who have taken part in the vote and left their full name and email address. Only one prize per winner and per household (person residing under the same roof) will be allocated.

7.2 The winners will be identified by the email address they have left on the website websiteoftheyear.co.uk.

7.3 The prizes will be made available as soon as possible after the announcement of the result of the game and after the winners have been determined.

7.4 The winners will be informed and contacted by MetrixLab by email, at the end of the draw by lots. This email will ask the winner to respond, indicating his name and address, hence enabling MetrixLab to send him his prize. If the winners do not respond to the email within 15 days of this message, a second email will be sent to the winner. Should the winner not respond to the email within 15 days of this second message, the prize would be deemed lost and would not be allocated to the winner who cannot make any claim on these grounds.

7.5 The winners will receive their prizes at their home address or at the address they indicated in their email. MetrixLab will send the winners their prizes by mail and will not be held responsible for delays, losses or errors attributable to the post office. The winners will be fully responsible for the validity of the contact details given when participating in the game.

7.6 MetrixLab declines any liability for any incidents which might occur during possession and enjoyment of the prize and/or resulting from its use. In no event may any cash consideration be demanded as a substitution for the prizes on offer which may neither be returned nor exchanged.

7.7 In case of force majeure, MetrixLab reserves the right to replace the prize won with a prize of an equivalent value and nature.

7.8 The liability of MetrixLab is strictly limited to making available the prizes actually and legitimately won.

7.9 No list of winners will be communicated by telephone or in writing. The winners will be individually notified by email.

7.10 If one of the winners is under the age of 18, their prize will be issued to their legal guardian.

Article 8 Reservations

8.1 MetrixLab, particularly in case of force majeure, reserves the right to shorten, extend, suspend, modify or cancel the game.

8.2 These changes will however be notified by all appropriate means, particularly on the website websiteoftheyear.co.uk.

Article 9 Liability

9.1 MetrixLab will not incur any liability whatsoever if, in case of force majeure, or events independent of its will, it has to cancel this game, reduce it or extend it, postpone it or modify its terms and conditions.

9.2 In all cases, it reserves the possibility of extending the participation period and increasing the number of prizes.

9.3 Participation implies knowledge and acceptance of the characteristics and limitations of the internet and particularly the lack of protection of certain data against potential fraudulent use or hacking, or the risks of contamination by potential viruses present on the network.

9.4 MetrixLab declines any liability in case of incorrect use or incident linked to the use of the computer, access to the internet, the telephone line or any other technical connection, or the sending out of forms to an erroneous or incomplete address.

9.5 MetrixLab cannot be held responsible for any malfunctioning of the internet, the internet service providers telecommunications networks, or the incompatibility of the browsers used by the voters to connect to the game’s website.

Article 10 Acceptance of the rules

10.1 Participation in this game entails simple acceptance of all the rules herein.

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