What you see or what you do. What engages you

Abstract

"What engages web users when comparing destinations on a travel site ? How they look and compare destinations, how fitting is the information presented, or is it the aesthetic quality of the pictures displayed ? This exploratory research investigates which factors engage web users comparing 12 hotel resorts organised in a choice set. Action-based comparisons is assessed with behavioural metrics from both marketing and technology research and practice. Our methodology uses a custom-built ‘data acquisition’ technology that remotely traces behaviour within achoice set linked to 12 hotel web pages. A 7-point Likert scale survey is used for the assessment of cognitive variables. Results reveal that neither action-based comparisons nor the choice set’s information organisation engages users. However, picture aesthetics shows a significant influence on engagement, which in turn leads to five important managerial consequences. Contrary to widely used industry-based clickstream metrics, focus should be placed on picture aesthetics when wanting to obtain engagement."