Short Run Website Evaluation: The Effect of Human Aspects in Images
ERASMUS UNIVERSITEIT ROTTERDAM
Faculteit der Economische Wetenschappen
Coach:B. Dellaert
Author: Wesley van der Hoop
Student number: 296462
E-mail:
Thesis:Master
Department:Marketing Management
Date:
Telephone:06-47903230
"Unless the first impression is favourable, visitors will be out of your site before they even know that you might be offering more than your competitors"
GitteLindgaard, Carleton University
The author declares that the text and work presented in this Master thesis is original
and that no sources other than the ones that are mentioned in the text have been used in creating
this Master thesis.
The copyright of the Master thesis rests with the author. The author is responsible for
its contents. ESE Erasmus University is only responsible for the educational coaching
and beyond that cannot be held responsible for the content.
Preface
I went to the Erasmus University to become a Register Accountant, I will leave as a Marketeer. Along the way I found my passion in marketing. Especially online marketing, branding and advertising caught my attention. In online marketing I found my research subject, and hopefully, my job as well in the near future.
Sometimes, when developing a website, it is hard to find the best ratio between design and conversion. Where design is mostly based on graphics, a high rank on Google for instance, is mostly based on text. A beautiful website is worth nothing, when it does not generate results. Website evaluation models helps us getting these results, by winning trust, and evoke positive emotional responses of the visitors, and will be more and more important when gaining new insights on the subject. With this study, I created a model for the short run website evaluation.
I worked for almost a year on this study, and yet the subject keeps fascinating me, and it was a pleasure to work on the subject. I would like to thank B. Delleart for his support and help, and the inspiration for choosing this subject.
This thesis will be the closure of an important phase in my life, and I’m looking forward to the next one. A phase in which I can bring theory into practice, and hopefully bring back practice to new theories.
I hope you enjoy reading this thesis, and learn something more about the subject.
Wesley van der Hoop
Executive Summary
The goal of this thesis was to create a model for short run website evaluations, and trying to find what aspect is effecting these short run website evaluations. In this case the human aspects in images are tested, known to have a positive effect on trust on the long run. After an extensive literature review, an experiment has been conducted on 91 respondents, showing three manipulated websites for a short amount of time. The only difference between the websites was the main image, containing the product, human/product, or solely human aspects.
After the respondents were exposed to the website, a questionnaire was filled in. Since the website was shown for a very short period of time (3.41s), it was more about the feelings respondents had towards the website, evoked by the first impression, than rational evaluations. Hence, the affective process, known to be faster than the cognitive process, was more important for the short run evaluation.
After the experiments, a Principal Component Analyse was conducted, and the constructs were tested on internal reliability. In the end, the human aspects in the images seem to have no significant effect on the short run. However, a short run website evaluation model could be created, and showed us emotional appeal is even more important than was predicted, based on the theoretical foundations. This model also showed us, there is positive effect of aesthetics on emotional appeal, never been shown before in any website evaluation model. Next to emotional appeal, initial trust seemed to significantly effect the short run website evaluation as well.
Contents
Preface
Executive Summary
Contents
Part I: Research problem & questions
1 Introduction
1.1 Problem definition
1.2 Contribution to existing literature
1.3 Thesis structure
Part II: Theoretical foundations
2 Literature review
2.1 Short run impression of a website
2.2 Short run impression and images
2.3 Images and the human aspect
2.4 Website evaluation
2.5 Short run website evaluation
2.5.1 The dimensions related to Usefulness
2.5.2 The dimensions related to Ease of use
2.5.3 Trust
2.5.4 Response time
2.5.5 The dimensions related to Entertainment
2.5.6 The dimensions determining the new model
2.6 Online Trust
2.7 Online Aesthetics
2.8 Online Emotions
Part III: Hypotheses & Theoretical framework
3 Research method & Hypotheses
3.1 Images & Initial Trust
3.2 Images & Aesthetics
3.3 Images & Emotional appeal
3.4 Aesthetics & Emotional appeal
3.5 Initial Trust & the short run evaluation website
3.6 Aesthetics & the short run evaluation website
3.7 Emotional appeal & the short run evaluation website
3.8 Conceptual map
Part IV: Methodology
4 Data & Methods
4.1 Research population & Data collection
4.2 Research object: the website
4.3 Survey questions
4.3.1 Initial trust
4.3.2 Aesthetics
4.3.3 Emotional appeal
4.3.4 Short run website evaluation
4.4 Measurement
4.5 Pre-test round
Part V Data analysis
5.1 Sample
5.2 Univariate data analysis of the sample
5.3 Principal Components Factor Analysis
5.3.1 Determining the independent components
5.3.2 Determining the dependent component
5.3.3 Reliability constructs
5.3.4 Overview components
5.4 Homogeneity of the sample
5.4.1 Gender
5.4.2 Age
5.5 Testing hypothesis
5.5.1 Overview hypothesis and instruments
5.5.1 H1a-c: The effect of the human aspect in images on Initial trust
5.5.2 H2a-c: The effect of the human aspect in images on Organization
5.5.3 H3a-c: The effect of the human aspect in images on Visual appeal
5.5.4 H4: The net effect of the human aspect in images on Aesthetics
5.5.5 H5a-c: The effect of the human aspect in images on Pleasure
5.5.6 H6a-c: The effect of the human aspect in images on Arousal
5.5.7 The effect of the human aspect in images on the short run
5.5.8 H7a-d: The effect of perceived aesthetics on perceived emotional appeal
5.5.9 H8: The effect of initial trust on the short run website evaluation
5.5.10 H9: The effect of organization on the short run website evaluation
5.5.11 H10: The effect of visual appeal on the short run website evaluation
5.5.12 H11: The effect of pleasure on the short run website evaluation
5.5.13 H12: The effect of arousal on the short run website evaluation
5.5.13 Building a model concerning the short run website evaluation
Part VI Discussion & Findings
6.1 The influence of human aspects in images on the short run
6.1.1 Difference between an online bookstore and an online electronic store
6.1.2 Why human aspects might not have influence on the short run website evaluation
6.2 The effect of initial trust on short run website evaluation
6.4 The effect of pleasure on arousal on the short run
6.5 The effect of visual appeal on emotional appeal on the short run
6.6 The effect of organization on visual appeal on the short run
Part VII Conclusion
7.1 Conclusion
7.2 Implications for practice
Limitations
Recommendations for future research
Bibliography
Appendices
Part I: Research problem & questions
1 Introduction
Imagine you are looking for a book on a certain subject online, something to read during your vacation. You do not have an e-reader yet, so you want to buy a paper version. You are not familiar with any book selling website, so you decide to use Google to start your search. You click the link on top of the search results, have a look at it, and decide to click it away without having read any of the text on the website. What just happened?
There is a possibility their assortment is way larger than their competitors, and they may even be specialized in the kind of books you like, their prize may even be lower, and the delivery might be quicker than that of their competitors. You don’t know, because you did not give the website any chance at all. Unfair? No. The website just looked too chaotic and unreliable to even give it a chance. In a blink of an eye the judgment has been given, no second chances.
This sounds harsh, but we do this every time we visit a website. It is called the short run website evaluation, and it determines everything.
1.1 Problem definition
The first impression of a website determines how you conceive possible imperfections of the website. When this first impression is good, imperfections as longer than usual loading time irritates you, but it will not make you click the website away. Conversely, when the first impression of website is bad, this same imperfection triggers you to close down the window and look for a competitors website. Sometimes a bad first impression is even enough to exit the website immediately. For this reason, it is very important companies have their webdesign up-to-date with the latest findings on website evaluation. Website design is not all about looking pretty, it influences other aspects as well, like important aspects in today’s economy as trust and emotional appeal. Especially in this time, where consumers get more demanding, and digitalization takes over the world, the online channel becomes more and more important for every company. Bricks become clicks, e-commerce is still increasing its market share (figure 1).
FIGURE 1
E-sales as percentage of total retail
Models are created for the long run website evaluation. Creating a positive effect on the long run website evaluation should be the goal of every sustainable website. However, some aspects of these models, are influenced greatly by the first impression of the website: the short run website evaluation. Until now, there are models for the short run website evaluation. Therefore, one of the goals of this thesis is to create a model which does explain the first impression of the website.
How this model can be influenced by the design of a website is examined as well. In this study, different main images and their effect on the short run website evaluation model is tested. The main research question will be:
How will different images effect the short run overall evaluation of a website?
This question is extended to a number or other, more specific, research questions, which will be formed and discussed after the literature review on the subject. These questions will be based on the theoretical foundations.
1.2 Contribution to existing literature
This thesis, will be the first study developing a complete short run website evaluation model. Long run website evaluation models are reviewed (Liu & Arnett, 2000; YooDonthu, 2001; AladwaniPalvia, 2002; Barnes & Vidgen, 2002; McKinney et al., 2002; van Iwaarden & van derWiele, 2003; Yang et al., 2004; Cao et al., 2005; Bresolles, 2006; Laiocono et al.; 2002, 2007), for rebuilding this models into a short run website evaluation model. Some long run factors, as trust, are replaced by short run factors, as initial trust (McKnight et al., 1998). Some long run factors are adapted to give more precise insights, such as the concept of emotional appeal in the study of Laiocono et al. (2007).
A new effect, never been stated in any website evaluation model, namely the effect of aesthetics on emotional appeal, is tested. This effect will give us new, more precise insights in how website evaluation models work.
This thesis will increase our insights on the first impression of a website, and out of what aspects this first impression consists.
1.3 Thesis structure
In the first part of this study, the research problem and question is briefly discussed. The second and next part, will focus on the theoretical foundations of the research, and contains an extensive literature review on the subject. In the third part, hypotheses are formed based on these theoretical foundations. These hypotheses zoom in on the more specific parts of the main research question. The fourth part describes how the data for this study is collected, and how this data will be analyzed. The fifth part provides us with the insights which can be gained from the data analysis. Conclusions from this section will be drawn and discussed in the sixth part together with its practical implications, and finally, in the seventh part, the most important conclusions of this study will be summarized. Limitations, recommendations for future research, a list of the literature used for this study and the appendices, can be found at the last pages of this thesis.
Part II: Theoretical foundations
2 Literature Review
A lot of research has been done about websites in general, and how they are evaluated by visitors of the websites. Research is even been fine-tuned to different kind of businesses and their websites, to the differences in evaluating the websiteacross cultures and differences in demographics. However, most of the researches focus on only one aspect of the website evaluation, for instance trust, emotional response, usefulness or aesthetics. Most of these studies focus on the long run evaluation, and, by my knowledge, not much studies are dedicated to the short run evaluation of a website. In this part a literal review will be given, concerning the short run website evaluation.
2.1 Short run impression of a website
According to a recent study of Robins and Holmes (2008) visitors of websites are judging a website within the first 3.42 seconds, when only looking at the lay out of the website. According to Lindgaard et al. (2006) visitors of a website can even judge a website within the first 50ms, this was confirmed by Tractinsky et al. (2004; 2006). The layout is, together with the downloading speed, in fact what forms the first impression of a visitor, because that is all they have got when they are judging the website on the short run. The short run impression of the website can be very important, because visitors of websites are more likely to stay, and look further on the website, when this first impression is favorable (Jennings, 2000; Xiang and Fesenmaier, 2006). On top of this, this first impression will potentially last over time, and thereby influence the overall evaluation of the website on the long run. This is called the ‘halo-effect’ (Lindgaard et al., 2006; Nickerson , 1998; Bryant, 1997). Visitors of a website with a favorable first impression may, until a certain point of disappointment, disregard negative clues, and tend to be consistent with their initial judgment about the website (Campbell & Pisterman, 1996).
As mentioned before, downloading speed and the layout of a website, are the first two things a visitor of a website experiences, and will therefore be the two most important factors which determine the short run impression of a website. A fast downloading time can easily be achieved nowadays, by just upgrading the website to a faster host address, or by just adding less features on the main page which cost long downloading time. Therefore, this study will solely focus on the layout of the website, and its impact on the short run evaluation of a website.
2.2 Short run impression and images
The layout of a website contains out of a lot of different aspects, and not all of those aspects can be studied in one research paper. Therefore, we will focus on one of the most important aspect of the layout of most websites, when it comes to influencing the short run impression of the website: images.Images on a website can determine the whole look and feel of the website, and thereby play a big role when it comes to evaluating the website. For instance, the purchase intention of a visitor of an online shop is highly influenced by different images, for both rational shoppers, as well as for impulsive shoppers. For impulsive shoppers, images are even the most important factors which influences the purchase intention (Gofman et al.,2009).So, images are in fact important when evaluating a website. According to an eye-tracking study of Russell (2005), images and logos are first looked at in the first seconds of the visit of a website. An eyetracking study of Riegelsberger et al. (2002) confirms this for images of humans, although their study also stated the main image of the website will draw significantly less attention when repeatedly visiting the website. This can be explained by the learning effect of visitors, largely ignoring factors that are not task related. In this study, however, we focus on the first impression of the website, so the main image will, in fact, be important.
2.3 Images and the human aspect
Photos with human aspects in it,are attracting visual attention, the first time people visit a website, according to an eyetracking study by Riegelsberger et al. (2002). In Russell’s study (2005), he noticed, when the image contained human aspects, the focus of the image seemed to be on the face, more than other aspects of the image. This is confirmed by a more recent study on the specific subject by Cerf et al. (2008): even when observers of images with human aspects in it, did not get the task to look for anything in particular, 80% fixated on a face in the imagewithin the first two fixations. On top of this, Dimberg et al. (2000) found evidence viewing facial expressions to subjects, resulted in an unconscious emotional response within 30 ms. Exposure to negative facial expressions, such as anger, leads to negative emotional reactions, such as fear. The same way, positive facial expressions, such as happiness, lead to positive emotional reactions (Dimberg, 1997).
Human aspects in images seem to have an effect on the short run evaluation. For this reason, the effects of different large images on the landingpage of a website, with and without human aspects, on the short run evaluation of the website, will be the main focus of this research.
Some website images mainly focus on the product they sell, or the service they provide. Other websites focus on the product or service being used by a model, or photos of personnel of the company. The last one mentioned, is widely studied on the effect on trust. Some of these studies found a positive effect of photos of personnel on the website on trust (Nielsen et al., 2000; Fogg et al., 2001; Steinbruck et al., 2002), other studies find neutral or even negative results (RiegelsbergerSasse, 2001; Riegelsberger et al., 2003).