MODELING OF COMMERCIAL WEBSITES: NEW PERSPECTIVE ON USABILITY AND CUSTOMER RELATION Igor Garnik, Beata Basińska, Michał Szymański
Gdańsk University of Technology
Introduction
Methods
The ability to attract and maintain its customers are critically important to the economical success of commercial websites.The process of loyalty building means building and maintaining a positive relation with the users. This relation should be based primarily on the customer-perceived service’s quality and on the customer’s credence in the service provider.
Customer experience with a commercial website was examined across 27 items scale. According to VIPR model, eight previously mentioned criteria were used. An anonymous and voluntary survey was conducted on a group of 208 students of Management or Computer Science. Statistica software was used to calculate the descriptive statistics and Pearson's r correlation coefficients including Bonferroni correction (Table 1). Furthermore, t-test was used to compare average values.
Previous research indicated that a customer’s trust in commercial websites comes from websites’ structural properties, and their users’ characteristic. The structural properties cover the technical quality, ergonomics, and information content. Users’ characteristics encompass the social factors such as trust, propensity to risk taking and the approach to safety and experience.
Table 1. Mean values, standard deviations and correlations among the main factors. Factor M SD F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F1: Visual clarity 3,85 0,59 0,76 F2: Ease of use 3,87 0,56 0,80 0,72 F3: Interactivity 4,11 0,53 0,41 0,43 0,03 F4: Process guidance 4,07 0,63 0,43 0,49 0,24 0,62 F5: Recommendation 4,25 0,64 0,23 0,37 0,18* 0,44 0,80 F6: Customer care 3,79 0,82 0,57 0,56 0,23 0,41 0,29 F7: Informational content 4,14 0,45 0,49 0,41 0,33 0,33 0,30 0,32 0,62 F8: Customization 4,20 0,79 0,34 0,44 0,34 0,42 0,44 0,35 0,31 0,76 Note: * p < .01, the rest p < .001, the diagonal shows Cronbach's alpha internal reliability coefficient
The literature has review revealed various models describing the characteristics, where the focus is put on: • trust building – Jarvenpaa et al. 1999, Egger 2000, Koufaris & W. Hampton-Sosa 2004, Hwang & Kim 2007, Garnik & Basińska 2008, Palvia 2009, • perception of the risks related to the transaction – Kuhlmeier & Knight 2005, Xie et al. 2006, Lopez-Nicolas & Molina-Castillo 2008, • impact of customer experience on the development of the supplier-customer relationship – Hernandes et al. 2010, Zhang et al. 2011, • satisfaction as the source of customer’s loyalty – Lin & Wang 2006, Phan & Vogel 2010.
Finally, cluster analysis using Ward's method was applied to show the nearest neighbours among the factors (Figure 1). Hierarchial tree diagram Single linkage (nearest neighbour) Euclidean distance
The present approach, based on website’s quality, its informational content, and the general characteristics of its users seems insufficient. A dynamic development of online services calls for a search for better and more accurate methodologies. VIPR model (Sikorski, Wachowicz 2009) used in this study, attempts to broaden the perspective of improving the relations between the provider and the client. VIPR model, based on marketing and usability studies, describes a consumer’s behaviour in relation to the technical attributes of an online website. Attributes were grouped into four layers: V - Visual user interface layer, I - Interaction layer, P - Business Process layer, R - Economic Value / Relation layer.
F1: Visual clarity F2: Ease of use F3: Interactivity F7: Informational content F4: Process guidance F5: Recommendation
The latest studies on decomposition of commercial services denoted that online services should be analyzed in eight categories: visual clarity, interactivity, ease of use, process guidance, informational content, customization, recommendation and customer care (framework of the grant research NCN no 4591/B/H03/2011/40, Sikorski et al.). The proposed VIRP model extends this view, by looking also at the process approach and relational approach. The purpose of this study was to apply the model VIPR for commercial websites.
F6: Customer care F8: Customization
40
50
60 70 80 90 100*Distance/Maximal distance
100
110
Fig. 1. Cluster analysis (Ward‘s method): Hierarchical tree diagram.
Importance for credibility
Social area
R - relations
5
I - interactivity
8 7
P - process
3 4
Added value
Basic recquirements
V - visual
Recomendations Customisation Informational content Interactivity
Individual area
Process guidance Visual clarity, Ease of use, Custommer care
1+2+6
Fig. 2 Model of factors’ importance for perceived e-retailer credibility
Results
Conclusions
The least important were the elements related to customers’ perception of positive emotions of usability, which included visual clarity, ease of use, and customer care. More important were elements related to process guidance, interactivity and informational content. Customization and recommendations were the strongest relevance to the perceived trust in the trade service. The cluster analysis revealed that the highlighted items are arranged in four levels. The basis was usability, and at higher level were the elements of interaction and relationships.
The commercial websites’ attributes revealed in this study showed a varying importance to customers’ confidence. The revealed attributes formed layers, from the most basic usability, up to the highest customer relationship. By an analogy to the Maslow's pyramid, it can be further assumed that a commercial website’s usability meets a customer basic need associated with the perception of service quality, while the higher layers are an value-added and respond to satisfying the needs of higher order. Further studies focused on building relationships between clients and service providers are needed. An attempt to apply VIPR model in relation to commercial services proved to be satisfactory and opened up new directions for further research.
The results can be illustrated by the model depicted at Figure 2. The axis on the left side indicates the direction of growth of the importance of various factors needed to build the credibility of an eretailer. • At the lowest (baseline) level of the pyramid there are the elements affecting the perception of service by a potential customer. This level corresponds to the layer "V" in the VIPR model. Items at this level define the basic requirements of the commercial Internet service. Any failure of them would make the customers not even try to use the service because it would seem unreliable. • The next level refers to the "smoothness" of the search process, ordering and payment, as well as a sense of control over the transaction ("P" layer in VIPR model). In this case, a trust in the process implicates confidence in the e-retailer. • The third level is associated with the wealth of information contained on the site and it is closest to the layer "I" of VIPR model. • The strongest influence on perceived e-retailer's credibility have recommendations from other users. This layer corresponds to the relation ("R") layer in VIPR model. The second axis relates to the two areas in which the process of confidence-building seems to lay: on the top – the area of an individual, where the user independently assess the credibility of the e-retailer, and – on the bottom – a social area, where the reliability has been built on the basis of information obtained from other users and institutions.
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