WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -

Sharing the findings of a semi-annual study, J.D. Power and Associates recently examined how car brands stack up against one another in terms of how satisfied new-vehicle shoppers are with their respective websites.

In releasing the results of its 2011 Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study’s second wave on Tuesday, J.D. Power noted that the brand topping to the list for the third straight year was Honda, which scored 821 out of 1,000.

Next on the list were four brands in a four-way tie for second: Ford, Lincoln, Nissan and Porsche, each of which received scores of 809.

J.D. Power determines the leaders based on what new-vehicle shoppers have to say about brands’ websites when it comes to appearance, speed, navigation and information/content.

The areas where Honda particularly excelled were information/content, navigation and speed, according to J.D. Power.

Interestingly enough, the fourth factor — appearance — was often where the most headway was made for brands showing the most improvement in customer satisfaction during the last six months.

More specifically, the biggest gainers—- Buick, Jeep, Volkswagen and smart — have taken steps to improve how satisfied shoppers are with the appearance of their respective sites, the firm stressed.

Likewise, J.D. Power also pointed out that the brands showing the steepest drops in customer satisfaction were often the ones that implemented changes that resulted in shoppers being less satisfied with their respective site’s appearance.

“Aside from attracting shoppers through aesthetic appeal, well-thought-out aspects of website appearance can also enhance website navigation and the speed with which shoppers locate the specific content they want,” said Arianne Walker, the firm’s director of marketing and media research.

“Some of the most effective changes in this wave were relatively minor ones, so enhancing the appearance of a website doesn’t necessarily have to entail an expensive, time-consuming site redesign,” she added.

J.D. Power indicated that some of the appearance changes generating positive responses were “reducing the amount of visual clutter,” employing larger fonts on menus and more space for links and utilizing accent colors. Meanwhile, the appearance changes that had a negative effect were the use of darker colors and taking away “colorful accents” on model pages.

“Website appearance will continue to be an important part of the overall design strategy as manufacturers execute their site designs across multiple platforms, including mobile devices and tablet computers,” Walker noted.

The complete rankings are as follows, provided by J.D. Power in the graph below: