Is Background Music Effective On Retail Websites?

Web designers often advise online retailers against incorporating background music on websites. However, the effect of music in brick-and-mortar retail settings has generally been found to be favorable. The research on the effects of music has been mixed. Our study aims to examine whether congruent music on the website homepage influences online consumers. Using the responses of 290 visitors to two different commercial websites, we test the influence of background music on consumers’ arousal and pleasure perceptions. The results indicate congruent background music on a website's homepage will generate positive affective responses of arousal and pleasure within users, and will enhance users’ perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment as well. The findings reveal the effects of respondent’ affective responses to the music differed by gender. Website music produces significant affective and cognitive responses in high web skill/low web challenge users and explains more of website enjoyment.     

An Experimental Study of the Relationship between Online Engagement and Advertising Effectiveness

We discuss consumer engagement with a website, provide a systematic approach to examining the types of engagement produced by specific experiences, and show that engagement with the media context increases advertising effectiveness. Based on experiments using measurement scales involving eight different online experiences, we advance two types of engagement with online media — Personal and Social-Interactive Engagement. Our results show that both types are positively associated with advertising effectiveness. Moreover, Social-Interactive Engagement, which is more uniquely characteristic of the web as a medium, is shown to affect advertising after controlling for Personal Engagement. Our results offer online companies and advertisers new metrics and advertising strategies.     

Creating Online Brand Personality: The Role of Personal Difference

This study explores the concept of online brand personality, creation of online brand personality, and the role of personal difference in terms of advertising effectiveness – memory and attitude. The primary research question is whether individual's matching personality to online brand creates different responses toward online brand in terms of advertising effectiveness, such as memory, attitude and behavior. The results found that: first, website structure is an important factor on subjects' attitude toward the website; second, individual's personality is an important moderator on the effects of website structure; and third, individual's personality and brand personality have a significant interaction effect on attitude and behavioral intention.     

A proposed model of online consumer behavior: Assessing the role of gender

This research examined the influence of Internet experience and web atmospherics on consumer online behavior. It developed a model of web navigation behavior where these antecedent variables drove website exploratory behavior and website involvement, which in turn, drove site attitudes and pre-purchase evaluations. These relationships were tested and confirmed in the context of a pharmaceutical website. Further, men and women differed in web navigation behavior, with men engaging in less exploratory behavior and developing less website involvement than women. However, across the two sexes, entertainment, challenge, and effectiveness of information content were the key drivers of website attitudes. The findings provide several guidelines for online communication strategy.     

Small clicks,great effects: the immediate and delayed influence of websites containing serious games on behavior and attitude

The number of websites containing persuasive serious games and advergames has increased over the past several years, but their immediate and delayed effects on behavior are still not well understood. The present field experiment (n = 388, varied socio-professional groups) demonstrates that interactivity linked to this type of website provokes positive effects on immediate behavior (purchases of energy-saving light bulbs, ESLBs) in a ‘real setting.’ It further affected the behavior (installation of ESLBs at home), the memorization of the website's arguments, gains in knowledge, attitude, and other judgments regarding ESLBs, when measured two weeks later. The digital signature of a commitment to perform an expected behavior via a web page also provokes positive behavioral effects. This can accumulate through the effects of interactivity. We close with a discussion of the possible psychological processes involved, theoretical and practical implications and limitations as well as new perspectives for advertising and advergames research.     

Online consumer behaviour and its relationship to website atmospheric induced flow: Insights into online travel agencies in China

Although the study of flow has recently received a lot attention, little is published about what factors controllable by firms influence its formation. Furthermore, there is a lack of knowledge between the relationship of website atmospheric cues and flow experience. Using a stimulus–organism–response framework (S–O–R framework) as the theoretical basis, this study examines the impact of consumer perceptions of website atmospheric cues (informativeness, effectiveness and entertainment) on the development of flow and its subsequent impact on purchase intention and satisfaction. A self-administered online survey was used for data collection through an internet market research firm which randomly selected individuals from its online panel. Our results support the validity of the S–O–R framework in the context of online tourism and indicate that flow fully mediates the three site atmospheric cues with regards to purchase intention and satisfaction with the travel website. This study enhances our understanding on the determinants of online purchase intention and satisfaction as well as on how a proper web atmospheric design alters consumer shopping experience which entices favourable purchase intention and generates satisfaction.     

Gender differences in the interpretation of web atmospherics: A selectivity hypothesis approach

This paper sets out to explore the role of gender as a moderator of the relationship between web atmospheric cues and virtual visitor's attitudes. In a laboratory experiment, the web atmospherics of a museum website – conceived as high and low task relevant cues – are manipulated so as to assess their impact on attitude toward the website and attitude toward the brand. The findings indicate that low task relevant cues are associated not only with higher attitude toward the website but with more positive evaluations of the brand as well. Gender has a moderating effect on both relationships of interest: In the absence of low task relevant cues, males develop less favorable attitudes toward the site and the brand, while females' attitude remains consistent across both experimental conditions. The findings are interpreted from a Selectivity Hypothesis viewpoint, which attributes gender differences in cognitive evaluations, to differences in information processing style. The study underscores the value of web atmospherics for service branding, elucidating the benefits for webpage design. It also supports the relevance of the Selectivity Model in the Internet context and highlights its significance in the sphere of online attitude development.     

Apparel retailers: website quality dimensions and satisfaction

Online retailers would benefit from studies that examine which website attributes can be manipulated to favorably affect consumer satisfaction. The purposes of the study were (1) to examine the dimensionality of website quality for apparel retailers and (2) to determine which dimensions of website quality were significant predictors of shopper satisfaction. Data were collected from 273 female online apparel shoppers. Loiacono's WebQual™ instrument was used to measure shopper perceptions of websites. Factor analysis identified six dimensions of website quality: (1) web appearance, (2) entertainment, (3) informational fit-to-task, (4) transaction capability, (5) response time, and (6) trust. Only three dimensions, informational fit-to-task, transaction capability, and response time, were significant predictors of shopper satisfaction.     

Internet Engagement Process

Abstract

It is well established that attracting users to a commercial website is an essential prerequisite to e-commerce. However, research has also suggested that engaging them on the site, once they are there, is an important element of converting web surfers to buyers. This study investigates Internet experience and its effect on certain web features that could aid in making a website “sticky.” Features studied include searching, online shopping, online learning, chat rooms, and e-mailing. All of the features, with the exception of e-mail and chatting, demonstrated significant differences based on user experience. This implies that certain website features can be used to differentiate users in a predictive fashion.     

The complexity of surveying web participation

Marketing managers increasingly need to understand how consumers use and interact with digital media, such as the web, social networks, mobile phones, digital readers, search engines and so forth. The focus of this paper is web participation and the complexities involved in measuring usage and interaction with the web, particularly when relying on data from self-report surveys. Few studies have specifically examined how web participation can be surveyed—this paper addresses the gap. First, web participation is defined by drawing on studies of web usage in information systems, consumer and communication research, and audience use metrics in media research. Second, web participation is discussed as a complex multi-dimensional construct, something that is not fully acknowledged in existing web use research. Third, major influences on self-reported web participation are considered, in particular the impact of a consumer's web design experience and the person's perceptions of web usability on how they self-report web participation. These themes are investigated using a large web-based survey. Findings show that a consumer's perception of web usability has a significant impact on the self-reporting of web participation, but this depends on how web participation is measured and whether the individual has website design experience. The complexity of surveying web participation is apparent, as is the importance of understanding the web's usage-context.     

The Impact of a Third-Party Assurance Seal in Customer Purchasing Intention

ABSTRACT

Although e-commerce is evolving at an incredible speed, asymmetric information and opportunism have increased online purchasing risks and market inefficiencies. The lack of face-to-face contact and the inability of the customer to touch and feel tangible products necessitate that online business must provide customers with reliable information and convince customers of their trustworthiness. While the research on Third-Party Assurance Seals (TPAS) is not new, the effectiveness of TPAS has not been persuasively addressed by empirical studies. Our study is different from previous efforts in that it is comprehensive because it combines consumer trust, perceived risk, and influences of TPAS in the B2C e-commerce context. The results of the study show that (1) the effects of TPAS on perceived risk are channeled through perceived trustworthiness, thus demonstrating the mediating role of perceived trustworthiness in B2C e-commerce, (2) perceived risk, perceived usefulness of website, and subjective norm appear to be significant predictors of intention to purchase from the website, (3) a third-party assurance seal strongly affects online shoppers' perceived trustworthiness toward online retailers, while the seal appears to have little effect on perceived risk directly; perceived risk is strongly associated with intention to purchase from the website.     

Keyword Selection Strategies in Search Engine Optimization: How Relevant is Relevance?

We build an empirical framework using search queries and organic click data which provides model-based guidance to SEO practitioners for keyword selection and web content creation. Specifically, we study how search characteristics (search query popularity, search query competition, search query specificity, and search intent) and website characteristics (content relevance and online authority) interact to affect the expected organic clicks as well as the organic rank a website receives from the search engine result page (SERP). It is often thought that content relevance is a key factor to improve the effectiveness of SEO. We find, however, that content relevance is an important factor in driving organic clicks only when the consumer is farther along in the customer journey and searching for ways to purchase a product. Whereas, when the customer is at the awareness stage and looking for product information, online authority is the key driver of organic clicks.     

Examining the effect of flow experience on online purchase: A novel approach to the flow theory based on hedonic and utilitarian value

The literature indicate that when flow is approached as unidimensional, its effects on online purchase intention are always positively significant, however the results of the studies where the flow is approached as a multidimensional level, is far from indicating a general tendency. The inconsistent results appeared in the literature are regarded as a result of overlooking both the utilitarian and hedonic significance of research context and the hedonic and utilitarian characteristics of the flow's sub-dimensions. In this direction, the effects of flow on online purchase intention are examined upon consideration of those two factors. Research's data were gathered via e-mail survey from an online shopping website's database. A total of 490 samples obtained in this study were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The results indicates that the flow's most valuable antecedent is feedback in the context of online purchase. The dimensions of “enjoyment”, “perceived control” and “merging of action and awareness” has positive and time distortion has negative significant effects on online purchase intention. However, no significant effects of the concentration and curiosity on online purchase intention were determined.     

Enduring Attitudes and Contextual Interest: When and Why Attitude Surveys Still Matter in the Online Consumer Decision Journey

Consumers leave traces of key interest to managers on their journey to purchase. Next to traditional survey-based attitudes, readily available online metrics now show aggregate consumer actions. But how do survey response metrics and online action metrics relate to each other? To what extent do they explain and predict brand sales across consumer categories? This article shows that surveys and online behavior provide complementary information for brand managers. Times series data for 32 brands in 14 categories reveal low correlations but substantial dual causality between survey metrics and online actions. Combining both types of metrics greatly increases the model's power to explain and predict brand sales in low-involvement categories. By contrast, high-involvement categories do not gain much from adding survey-based attitudes to a model including online behavior metrics. The authors synthesize these generalizations in a new framework relating enduring attitudes to the contextual interest expressed by online actions. This new framework helps managers assess both types of metrics to drive brand performance depending on whether their goal is short-term sales or long-term brand health.     

Is Augmented Reality Technology an Effective Tool for E-commerce? An Interactivity and Vividness Perspective

This study evaluates the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR) as an e-commerce tool using two products — sunglasses and watches. Study 1 explores the effectiveness of AR by comparing it to a conventional website. The results show that AR provides effective communication benefits by generating greater novelty, immersion, enjoyment, and usefulness, resulting in positive attitudes toward medium and purchase intention, compared to the web-based product presentations. Study 2 compares the paths by which consumers evaluate products through AR versus web with a focus on interactivity and vividness. It is revealed that immersion mediates the relationship between interactivity/vividness and two outcome variables — usefulness and enjoyment in the AR condition compared to the web condition where no significant paths between interactivity and immersion and between previous media experience and media novelty are found. Participants' subjective opinions about AR are examined through opinion mining to better understand consumer responses to AR.     

An investigation of factors affecting the visits of online crowdsourcing and labor platforms

Nowadays, the economic activities have become increasingly digital since hundreds of millions of Internet users are using crowdsourcing platforms either to work at an online job as workers, or as a model of problem-solving and production as requesters. This growing workforce makes it necessary from the perspective of the online platforms, to fully understand the business dimensions of this emerging and innovative “online labor” phenomenon, which can rapidly change the future of work and work organization in the online world. This paper aims to investigate and analyze the visits of online labor platforms that offer crowdsourcing and crowdfunding services. Using websites’ metrics data drawn from Alexa for the time period 2012-2016 the paper uses Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Fixed Effects (FE) regression analysis to examine correlations between visits and website characteristics. The research shows that the sessions of an online labor marketplace website from mobile devices have an increasing trend to be positively correlated to the quality mechanisms a website deploys as well as on location-dependent factors. The results are expected to provide insights on how the online labor website characteristics affect their traffic and thus inform about their evolution and improvement.     

Factors Influencing Web Customers’ Willingness to Engage in Online Shopping with an Internet Retailer

This study is an effort to identify and analyze the factors that could potentially influence web customers’ willingness to engage in online shopping with an Internet retailer. Using the primary data collected from a large sample of a web-based consumer survey, researchers developed a structural Equation model that embodied those factors that potentially influenced web customers’ willingness to engage in online shopping with an Internet retailer. Seven constructs were considered to study the effects of those factors on the web customers’ willingness to engage in online shopping with an Internet retailer, including quality of service, inertia to change, economic value, stress reduction, enjoyment in doing business, comfort level with website, and aesthetic appeal. The proposed model is largely supported and validated by several statistical measures and tests.     

Visual attention to the main image of a hotel website based on its position,type of navigation and belonging to Millennial generation: An eye tracking study

This article focuses on the role played by the images that hotels use on their websites. Under this approach, this study analyses the main image used in a hotel website, considered an area of outstanding interest, which can help to improve the first impression when arriving at the website and, with it, increase the number of bookings. The absence of studies on this matter aroused the interest in it.The proposed experiment allows to check how these images influence the pattern or metrics of visual attention of users as well as their cognitive processing. The eye tracking technology was chosen with the intention of knowing several aspects of this fixation behaviour according to: the position of the image on the website, whether or not it belongs to the Millennial generation and the type of navigation it performs (exploratory vs. goal oriented), in addition to proposing some interaction effects between these classification variables studied.The results achieved revealed that an image in the upper area of a website is more effective, but there are some differences in the visual attention among groups of participants. This attention to it will depend, in part, on the type of task to be carried out within the website and the user age. Specifically, goal-oriented users showed a lower recurrent interest in the main image. The fixation was shorter in the group belonging to the Millennial generation, who do not need, given their greater experience in the web, a longer time to process the cognitive load of the image. Although the hypotheses proposed on the basis of the literature are not entirely satisfactory, the present study allows laying the foundations for more complex future works.     

An empirical analysis of factors that influence retail website visit types

Consumers may have a variety of reasons for using a retail brand's website, including browsing, purchasing, or browsing followed by purchasing. In this study we examine visits to three different retail websites to develop a typology of website visit behaviors and reveal factors that are associated with each visit type. We find four visit types that are consistent across all brands, which we label “touching base,” “search/deliberation,” “goal-directed,” and online shopping “cart-only” visits. One of the brands has an additional visit type we term “considered visits.” The type of visit a consumer makes is influenced by a combination of marketing channels, and their visit and purchase history with the brand. For example, shoppers that are directed to a retailer's website by clicking on a search engine link (paid or organic) are more likely to make visits that are associated with a purchase goal, while visits generated by an email are more likely to be just touching base. These findings provide marketers with a more refined understanding of the different ways consumers use their websites, and the factors associated with these visit behaviors.     

Unraveling customer repurchase intention in OFDL context: An investigation using a hybrid technique of SEM and fsQCA

This research proposes a conceptual model based on the stimulus-organism-response (S–O-R) theoretical framework which links perceived website/app quality and image (stimuli) to satisfaction and trust (organism) which in turn influence customer repurchase intention (response). The data was collected from 680 consumers via Amazon MTurk. Following Covariance based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM) analysis to validate the proposed model, fuzzy set/Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) technique was also performed. According to the findings, perceived website/app quality has a direct impact on both satisfaction and trust in online food delivery services. Additionally, customer familiarity moderates the relationship between website/app quality and repurchase intention. Next, customer reviews moderate the association between repurchase intention and trust. Holistically, this study offers significant implications for academicians, managers and policymakers. Academically, this study contributes to online food delivery literature. Practically, the results provide guidelines to marketers, managers and policymakers interested in devising marketing strategies to promote customer's repurchase intention in online food delivery context.