|
On the Web: It's What You Say and How You Say It
The language used to describe usage of the World-Wide Web -- terms like "browsing" and "surfing" -- suggests underlying motives associated with casual sampling of information. In a similar vein, surveys of the online audience show people reporting a substantial amount of exploratory behavior. For example, the recent American Internet User survey by Find/SVP found "nearly 60% of web users indicated they visit fewer than 10 sites on a regular basis, at least once a month or more."
This indicates consumers and businesses alike are struggling to find the best ways to use the online world. The growth rate of the Web and related online services leads one to think this is rapidly becoming a significant medium that is at once mass and individual. But, the question is can this medium have the impact of the Wall Street Journal, the reach of the Super Bowl, or will it be the electronic equivalent of junk mail?
To answer this question, we turned to the area of mass communication research known as the "uses and gratifications perspective." This approach was first articulated as the functionalist perspective by the noted sociologists Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton. Researchers have used this approach over the past 50 years seeking to explain how audience members use specific media to satisfy particular needs or motives. For example, television programs have been shown to be related to various human needs, including information acquisition, escape, emotional release, companionship, reality exploration, and value reinforcement.
Applying this approach to the Web, we expected to find audience members reporting a complex assortment of uses and gratifications that would co-mingle such themes as information acquisition, entertainment, relevant news, escape, and interaction with others.
Our pilot study examined visitor perceptions of the experience of using five commercial websites. These websites were chosen to represent a range of approaches: a telecommunications company offering information about its products and services, a television network promoting its programs and schedule, a luxury-oriented manufacturer of packaged candy with information about the history of its product category, a packaged and canned food company with wide distribution presenting information about its national heritage, and a large manufacturer of athletic shoes and sportswear with information about sports and public issues.
The 31 adult participants in this exploratory study individually visited each the five commercial websites, and evaluated each with a bank of 80 six-point rating scales. The items shown in the following table highlight the results. The featured items are those most highly correlated with the leading factors or themes that appeared in the responses to the 80 scales. Comparisons among the average scale values of 1.0 or larger are significant to at least the 95% level of confidence. The results are more fully reported in a paper we presented in November of 1995 at The Conference on Telecommunications and Information Markets in Newport, RI.
Overall, the telecommunications website was seen as informative and credible, the television network website was entertaining and informative, the candy manufacturer was seen as informative, the packaged food manufacturer performed well on all of the dimensions, and the website of the athletic shoe company showed consistently low performance. As predicted by the previous "uses and gratifications" studies of mass media, factors (or themes) associated with entertainment value, personal relevance, and information involvement accounted for the largest proportion of the variation in the responses to the rating scales. The emergent factors in this study appear to be related to personal involvement and continuing relationship. Importantly, the new factor called continuing relationship showed important contrasts among the five websites. Applying these results to a practical perspective, we can articulate three broad lessons learned. They suggest more effective approaches for website planning and design.
When the strategic purpose of a website involves providing product related information, clarity and ease of access are only part of the story involved in website planning. The responses of the research participants in this study suggest that website visitors benefit from finding information in a context that adds value in and of itself. For example, although the study participants rated the telecommunications website as being informative, it was also seen has having the least clear purpose and one of the sites they were least likely to visit again. Apparently it is not enough to provide organized information. Higher levels of visitor involvement appear to come from placing information in a more idea-driven context, one that may be said to introduce elements of entertainment and promote a context for the process of understanding and using the information.
in terms of the strategic purpose of the website. The home page of a website serves much the same function as the table of contents of a magazine, the front page of a newspaper, or the program schedule of a television network. This page essentially helps the website visitor understand the "way in" to the information he or she is seeking. This orienting page can merely take the form of a descriptive list, or it can be something more -- an idea with deeper meaning. For example, the initial page of the packaged food website introduced the visitor to a playful perceptual world based upon the ethnic origins and heritage of the food. A fictional character serves as the website hostess, welcoming visitors and guiding them to various areas of related information and entertainment offered by the website. Accordingly, all the elements of website share a clear organizational structure and the information resources work together to create a perceptual world that gives a sense of ethnic authenticity to the website. As such, this website operates in manner consistent with its promotional purpose, giving meaning to the brand and its related products, and offering devices such as recipes and coupons that promoted product use.
The advent of desktop publishing encouraged experimentation with elements of page design such as the selection of type faces, type sizes, and the placement of "decorative elements." This phenomenon appears to be a serious risk in website design. The extent to which graphic and photographic elements are used on a website page translates directly into the amount of time needed to download the page into a website visitor's computer. If website visitors must expend effort coping with elaborate design elements or waiting for page design features to download, then it appears website planners should be certain to offer an information or entertainment value commensurate with the waiting time.
Not only did the results of this study lead us to the three lessons learned, but the approach itself leads to a diagnostic method for website planners and designers. The scalar items employed in this study can serve as a multi-dimensional device for the evaluation of visitor reactions to the experience of any website. We have named our approach the Website Response Profile. We have just completed another small-scale project to refine it, and will soon be conducting a larger field study. The responses of the study participants suggest computer-mediated communication does not mean there need be an absence of humanity. The study participants showed a preference for the website most clearly organized on human terms. That is, the study participants responded most positively to the website that spoke in a personal voice and placed the product information in a broader and entertaining context. This context was both of interest to the audience and presented the products in an environment that deepened their meaning. So, as our work is showing, the factors that result in effective communication on the Web involve both what you say and how you say it. It is not enough just to present information absent an appreciation of how the audience members experience it. The study established the importance of organizational ideas, personalization, and considerations of efficiency in the use of website design features. In the information age, people want information. But, importantly, this study indicates members of the Web audience are attracted to information that adds value in both form and substance, and that reaches them in a time period commensurate with the perceived value of the information.
See also "Profiling User Responses to Commercial Websites" by John Eighmey in the May-June, 1997 issue of the Journal of Advertising Research. This was the first journal article concerning an empirical test of website user satisfaction. This pioneering study has been cited in 197 subsequent articles and books. Please contact John Eighmey (eighmey@umn.edu) for further information.
John Eighmey @ University of Minnesota
|
