test.de
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| Consumer information, consumer protection, goods and product tests | |
| languages | German |
| operator | Stiftung Warentest |
| editorial staff | Stiftung Warentest |
| user | 104363 |
| Registration | My test.de |
| Annual income | € 4,315 million |
| On-line | 1997 |
| https://www.test.de | |
The portal test.de is the website of the German Stiftung Warentest . All tests and articles published in the journals test and Finanztest since 2000 can be accessed at test.de. All content is prepared interactively: users can show, hide and sort data. There is also daily news, extensive test databases (“product finder”), key topics, quick tests of discount goods as well as audio and video files.
Like all publications by Stiftung Warentest, test.de is ad-free. The portal is considered a pioneer of paid content in the German-speaking web . Paid content generated sales of around 4.3 million euros in 2017. The portal recorded a total of 71.7 million visitors in 2017.
history
Since 1997: Distribution channel for print products
The Stiftung Warentest has had an internet presence since November 1st, 1997. Initially, the site was accessible via www.warentest.de and was called Stiftung Warentest Online . Initially, the website was primarily used as an online shop for the foundation's printed magazines and books.
Since 2000: paid content
In July 2000 Stiftung Warentest Online introduced the two micropayment systems net-900 and infin, and in November 2000 Firstgate . The portal thus became a pioneer of paid content on the Internet. Initially, users were able to download information documents as PDF files, which Stiftung Warentest had previously only offered by fax on 0190 numbers. In June 2001, all of the content from the magazines test and Finanztest went online 1: 1 - retrospectively until January 2000. Since this complete relaunch, users have been able to interactively use the test tables of Stiftung Warentest online. For example, you can choose how strongly the individual test points should be included in the quality assessment and thus receive individual rankings. The domain also changed in 2001: www.warentest.de became www.stiftung-warentest.de.
In September 2002 the first so-called quick tests appeared on Stiftung Warentest Online. For this purpose, discounter goods from Aldi, Lidl, Plus and Co are bought in the morning, tested in the testing institute and the test results are often published on test.de the same evening. It was the first time that tests appeared on the website before they could be read in the print publications test or Finanztest. In November 2004 the content management system, the databases and the web server architecture were changed. Savings tickets were also introduced, a kind of discounted prepaid credit and annual tickets, the forerunners of the later flat rates.
2007/2008: redesign and own brand
On September 12, 2007 a completely redesigned page started. The name was henceforth test.de. The website now looked tidier, the typeface more balanced and overall more reader-friendly. The layout was then changed again on April 24, 2008 in line with the newly introduced corporate design of Stiftung Warentest: Since that day test.de has had its own orange logo and has thus become a product brand with equal rights alongside test and financial test.
With the new layout, new offers were also introduced: the so-called product finders. These are databases of products that are not based on articles in the journals test and Finanztest. In these product finder databases, users can find test results for hundreds of equity funds, digital cameras or televisions, for example. He can sort and filter the tested devices according to his wishes and thus find the right product for him.
Present and Future
In April 2012 test.de carried out another relaunch. A catalog with direct links to the most important topics is now dominant on the homepage. Over 300 topic pages bundle all content into one topic, navigation has been simplified and search optimized.
The test.de platform should also play an increasingly important role in the future. The board of directors of Stiftung Warentest, Hubertus Primus , said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk: “We are in the digital age, we have to make our results available to men much more strongly via the Internet, we have to adapt to consumer habits, both in terms of the distribution of ours As far as information is concerned, as well as, of course, in what we test. "
Social media
Since 2009, Stiftung Warentest has had its own YouTube channel, a Twitter page, a Facebook page since 2010, a Google+ page since 2011 , a Pinterest page since 2012 and a channel on Instagram since 2017 .
Since October 2010, users have been able to mark articles on test.de as "helpful" and comment on each article.
Premium content and sales development
All tests are available in an interactive form in the paid area, where users can determine an “individual test winner”. Accessing these detailed results usually costs between 50 cents and 2.50 euros, extensive product databases, the so-called product finders, cost a maximum of 5 euros.
Sales development:
| 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales per year in thousands | 4,315 | 3,944 | 3,620 | 3,643 | 3,363 | 2,676 | 2.191 | 2,031 | 1,753 | 1,545 | 1,600 | 1,687 | 1,477 | 1,172 | 965 | 547 | 175 | 24 |
Payment method
Stiftung Warentest was one of the pilot customers for most of the micropayment systems it used. In the early years at Firstgate , since February 2010 also when paying by mobile phone . No registration is necessary, only the mobile phone number has to be entered when ordering on test.de. The user then receives an SMS with a transaction number (TAN) which he then has to enter online. The mobile phone bill is used for billing. In addition, online content can currently be paid for by PayPal and credit card , print publications also by invoice and direct debit .
Flat rate
The alternative to paying for individual items is the flat rate, which was introduced in June 2009. There is an annual and a monthly flat rate for full access to all content. The annual flat rate costs EUR 54.90, subscribers to test or Finanztest pay EUR 25. The monthly flat rate costs 7 euros per month, subscribers to test or Finanztest pay 3.50 euros. This also gives the user access to all tests, information documents and product finders. Those who have subscribed to both magazines receive both the annual and monthly flat rates free of charge. Users can pay the flat rate by direct debit, credit card or PayPal. At the end of 2017, a total of 104,363 users (previous year: 96,393) had ordered a flat rate, of which 48,847 (42,872) were chargeable.
organization
The editor-in-chief of test.de is Andreas Gebauer, Lutz Wilde head of the service. The actual editorial work at Stiftung Warentest has been done by six themed teams made up of scientists and journalists since mid-2011. The teams deliver content for the magazines test and Finanztest as well as for the website test.de.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ onlinejournalismus.de from February 15, 2010 ( Memento of the original from December 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and case study Stiftung Warentest: Pioneer of the Paywall , in: Internet World Business , No. 23/2012, page 32
- ↑ Interview with test.de editor-in-chief Andreas Gebauer from May 22, 2000 ( memo from November 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Paid content: The online men ask you to pay onlinejournalismus.de, July 15, 2002
- ↑ a b Stiftung Warentest's online strategy (PDF file; 128 kB) Presentation by test.de editor-in-chief Andreas Gebauer, April 26, 2005
- ↑ Relaunch of Stiftung Warentest designtagebuch.de, September 16, 2007
- ↑ Stiftung Warentest Annual Report 2008, p. 73
- ^ Stiftung Warentest Annual Report 2008, pp. 75–77
- ↑ test.de: Navigate more easily, find faster test.de, April 3, 2012.
- ↑ Interview with the Foundation Board member Hubertus Primus Deutschlandfunk, January 2, 2012
- ↑ Information from Stiftung Warentest on test.de
- ↑ Pay test.de article by mobile phone ( Memento of the original dated December 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. onlinejournalismus.de, February 15, 2010
