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Website content- and design elements’ influence on brand

image

A website type comparison

Master Thesis

Author: Michaela Kock Student number: 11374837

MSc. Business Administration –Marketing track Amsterdam Business School, UvA

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Statement of originality

This document is written by Michaela Kock who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.

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Abstract

Website utilization by brands for business purposes is increasing, and there is little knowledge of how the design and the content of the website offered can affect the brands image. Brands’ may be affected by their choices of brand presentation on their webpage, and these decisions can change the user attitudes towards the brand, hence the brand image.

This research identifies the website components, design or content, that are contributing to the changing effect, in brand image, before and after website exposure. The content of the website involves the use of media on the website and the breadth and depth of the information presented. The design, on the other hand, includes the functional aspects of the website, usability, and navigability. The components importance does also vary depending on the website type offered, which is why the research also determines if brands change in brand image depends on if they are of a service or commercial website type.

The study shows that brands are mostly affected by the media presented on the website. The findings also present that for service websites overall usability is a substantial factor that leads to change in brand image. These findings, help managers to understand how to construct websites to not affect the brand’s image negatively, by outlining the most essential components of the website that will contribute in a change in brand image.

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Table of Content

1 Introduction ... 1

2 Theoretical framework ... 3

2.1 Website content ... 3

2.2 Website design elements ... 4

2.3 Brand image ... 6

2.3.1 Corporate online brand image ... 6

2.4 Website content’s effect on brand image ... 8

2.5 Website design effect on brand image ... 11

2.6 Website type ... 13

2.6.1 Website content and website type ... 15

2.6.2 Website design and website type ... 15

2.7 Conceptual model ... 16

3 Method and data ... 17

3.1 Research design ... 17

3.2 Pre-test ... 17

3.2.1 Pre-test measurement and reliability ... 18

3.2.2 Pre-test sample ... 18 3.2.3 Pre-test result ... 18 3.3 Websites ... 19 3.4 Measurement ... 20 3.5 Sample ... 21 3.6 Data analysis ... 21 4 Results ... 23 4.1 Data preparation ... 23 4.1.1 Sample distribution ... 23 4.1.2 Reliability analysis ... 23 4.1.3 Factorial analysis ... 24 4.2 Descriptive statistics ... 24 4.2.1 Correlation analysis ... 24

4.3 Mean comparison before and after ... 25

4.4 Hypotheses testing ... 26

5 Discussion ... 29

5.1 Theoretical and practical implications ... 29

5.2 Limitations ... 31 5.3 Future research ... 32 6 Conclusion ... 33 References ... 34 Appendix ... 38 1. Websites ... 38 2. Pre-test ... 39 2.1Pre-test survey ... 39 2.2 Pre-test results ... 41 3. Survey ... 43

4. Online Brand Image ... 46

5. Sample ... 47

6. Factorial analysis ... 48

7. Step-wise Multiple Regression ... 49

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List of Tables

Table 1 Hypotheses ... 16

Table 2 Cronbach’s alpha pre-test ... 18

Table 3Pre-test result ... 19

Table 4Commercial Website type ... 19

Table 5 Service Website type ... 20

Table 6 Skewness and Kurtosis ... 23

Table 7 Cronbach’s Alpha Brand image ... 24

Table 8 Correlation analysis ... 25

Table 9 T-test ... 26

Table 10 Step-wise multiple regression ... 27

Table 11 Hypotheses result ... 28

List of Figures Figure 1 Online Brand Image (De Silva and Alwi 2008) ... 8

Figure 2 Website Type (Cebi 2013) ... 14

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1 Introduction

Websites are a part of everyday life in today’s society. They are used to exchange and transfer information between users (Moustakis et al. 2004). Websites are used as commercial tools for companies and customers to interact. For businesses’ websites are major gateways into the companies’ online presence. However, the primary purpose of most websites is to provide the company with profits (Cebi 2013).

Companies should make use of the web and identify the advantages and opportunities that come with having a website (Wan 2000). Companies that make use of a website for business purposes has increased from 63 percent in 2010 to 75 percent in 2015 and is continuing to increase every year (Eurostat 2017). However, many companies fail to incorporate the features that utilize the unique capabilities the internet has to offer, lacking in essential tools to help visitors make use of the website (Wan 2000).

People receive most of their knowledge by processing, recording and transferring the information they have read online while browsing websites (Masoudi et al. 2015). The information provided on websites is a valuable tool that affects the cognition of the website users (Hsieh et al. 2015). The dimensions of the website affect the impressions users form of the company providing the website (Winter et al. 2003). The website is, therefore, a great and important tool used to create the desired brand image. A website of a company should also be used as a tool to strengthen a company’s brand image (Da Silva and Alwi 2008; Voorveld et al. 2009).

“Brand image is one of the most valuable assets of a firm” (Landers et al. 2015). During the past years, the branding scene has drastically changed due to the technological advances and the internet. Companies do not only have to think about their offline brand image but also about their online brand image (Morgan-Thomas and Veloutsou 2013). Brand websites have also become more

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popular for customers to use and that is why it is important for companies to understand how customers respond to their websites and what the factors are that influence these responses (Voorveld et al. 2009).

Website evaluation can be defined as the analysis of website features, such as content and design (Lopes and Melao 2016). Website content refers, to the text and the graphical features presented on the website, while website design refers to the functional features of how easy the website is to use and navigate (Agarwal and Venkatesh 2002; Ou and Sia 2010; Tung et al. 2009). The content and the design are the essential tools that contribute to a website’s success online (Law and Bai 2007). Content and design factors importance, however, differ based on the website type. Website type can be either for commercial use or service use and depending on the use, the preferences of website components differ. (Cebi 2013).

The academic research on website design is limited, and design elements effect on brand image and brand attitude have not been covered extensively (Muller and Chandon 2003; Cebi 2013). However, Huang and Ku (2016) mention that it has been shown that websites affect brand image but “the relationships between the brand image and the types of information delivered on the website have not been investigated” (Huang and Ku 2016). That is why this research is going to answer the following question: How do website content and website design elements affect a company’s brand image and how does this effect differ in website types?

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2 Theoretical framework

In this part of the thesis, the relevant theoretical background is presented. The main factors in the research: website content, website design elements, and brand image, are being analyzed and discussed. The hypotheses for the research are also presented.

2.1 Website content

Website content is defined as everything that is displayed on the website. It incorporates the “documents, data, applications, e-services, images, audio and video files, personal web pages, archived email messages and more” (Rosenfeld and Morville 1998, 219). Information elements that are either graphical or textual are categorized as content design. These items can be company information, comprehensive product information, service information and privacy policies. (Karimov et.al 2010)

The most important factor of a website is the content it contains (Kohli et al. 2012). It is one of the main contributors towards repeated visits by customers. When designing content, it does not end with all the items presented, graphical and textual. It also involves the decision process of the placement of the chosen elements. However too much information should not be displayed, the main thing is to keep the website as simple as possible. (Rosen and Purinton 2004)

As website content has many aspects both textual and graphical, it is important to understand what are the most relevant parts of website content. Based on previous research (Agarwal and Venkatesh 2002; Tung et al. 2009) there are two main elements to be considered when analyzing website content. These are media use and breadth and depth of the website.

Media use

The use of media signifies the utilization of appropriate multimedia content on the website. Multimedia refers to a combination of different content forms; fonts, audio, images, animation, video,

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and interactive content to mention a few (Agarwal and Venkatesh 2002). Media use also contains the use of graphics, color, and fonts (Tung et al. 2009). The graphics of a website refer to visual images and designs that are presented on the website (Song and Zahedi 2005). The proper use of graphics as well as appropriate use of colors and fonts will provide a better quality perception of the website content (Aladwani and Palvia 2002). When incorporating all these aspects, multimedia, graphics, and font and color, the efficiency and appropriate use of media will be presented on the website (Tung et al. 2009).

Breadth and depth

The breadth and depth refers to the use of appropriate range and detail of topics presented on the website. It means that the utilization of a suitable range of information is presented and that the detail of this information is limited to what is needed (Agarwal and Venkatesh 2002). In addition, breadth and depth also include the completeness of the information presented. If the displayed information is incomplete, it may affect the quality perception of the website. The amount, scope, and variety of information are also a part of the breadth and depth of website content. These factors refer to how much information there is and how extensive the information shown is. (Tung et al. 2009)

2.2 Website design elements

Website design refers to the whole layout of the website. The design of a website for a brand is related to both the information systems and the marketing of the brand. The website is both used as a marketing tool as well as providing information to the users. (Nasroul et al. 2012) Huang and Ku (2016) explained that company websites act as advertisements that distribute promotional marketing messages towards consumers and that is why the design of a website should be user-centered. It means that when assessing the user preference of the website design, it will enhance the system’s performance. A good fit between the user environment and the website design will contribute in user preference of the website (Kwon et al. 2002).

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Based on previous research (Agarwal and Venkatesh 2002; Palmer 2002; Ou and Sia 2010; Tung et al. 2009) many factors should be considered when analyzing website design. From all the elements found, two main elements are used to analyze website design, and these factors are usability and navigability. Usability and navigability are closely related, due to that one of the contributing factors to good usability are for the user to be able to easily navigate through the website (Wojdynski and Kalyanaraman 2015). This research separates these two elements in order to specifically focus on the items on the website that allow the user to locate information.

Usability

Usability stands for how easy and pleasant the website features are to use. The term usability also includes utility, which stands for whether or not the website provides the needed user features. Usability and utility together explain how useful the website is as a whole. (Nielsen 2012)

To have a successful web page and to satisfy the consumer needs, the owners need to consider the website design as well as the usability of the site. Usability typically takes the engineering approach when trying to identify the practices of the system design that will ensure usability as an outcome. (Palmer 2002) Website usability refers to the overall functionality and the overall website design and it contains the language use, layout and information architecture (Chen et al. 2010). Usability is mainly described as how useful the website is and does it serve its purpose for the brand (Huang and Ku 2016). To conclude, the concept of usability is defined by the consumer’s overall subjective assessment of the service provided by the website (Ou and Sia 2010).

Navigability

Navigation relates to the how much cognitive effort is needed when using the website (Agarwal and Venkatesh 2002). It is defined as the consumer’s subjective assessment of the level of cognitive effort required when navigating the website (Ou and Sia 2010). All in all, navigability refers to the ease of locating and accessing the content on a website (Wojdynski and Kalyanaraman 2015).

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The concept navigability includes three dimensions, which are clarity of target, clarity of structure and logic of structure. Clarity of target refers to the effective use of hyperlinks when designing an interface that is navigable. The concept clarity of target includes correspondence between task and link on the website, the simplicity and the informativeness of the links wording. Clarity of structure helps users navigate through the website, and it includes the visual structural representations of the website pages, cues showing the position of the page and navigational tab menus and sitemaps. The logic of the structure itself refers to the breadth of the navigational structure. (Wojdynski and Kalyanaraman 2015)

2.3 Brand image

Brand image is defined as anything in a person’s memory that can be linked to a brand (Aaker 1997). Keller (1993) also defines brand image as the consumer perception of a brand that is reflected from the brand associations held in the consumer’s memory. Brand associations consist of any particular memory of the brand, and these associations can be grouped into three distinctive brand association types; attributes (product or non-product related), benefits (functional, experimental or symbolic) and attitudes. (Keller 1993)

Brand attitude is the most important part of brand image (Keller 1993). This is due to that favorable brand attitude can contribute towards positive brand image (Chang and Liu 2009; Faircloth et al. 2001). Attitude is an individual’s overall favorable or unfavorable evaluation, feeling, and tendency towards a brand (Chang and Liu 2009).

2.3.1 Corporate online brand image

Corporate brand image is an intangible asset of a firm that is based on the viewer’s individual perceptions (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2000). Corporate brand image represents the firm, where the image is constructed from everything that a business is perceived to be doing (Blombäck and

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Axelsson 2007). Corporate brand image especially stresses the importance of brand values, and it establishes ongoing value creation (De Silva and Alwi 2008; Blombäck and Axelsson 2007). That is because it helps people to understand the corporate brand’s position (Blombäck and Axelsson 2007).

A company is expected to be multidimensional, and corporate brand image consists of at least five brand personality dimensions. That is why five main dimensions are used to measure online brand image and not seven factors such as in the study done by Davis et al. (2004) which only focused on offline brand image. These five dimensions are agreeableness, enterprise, informality, chic, and competence (De Silva and Alwi 2008) (Figure 1).

Agreeableness includes trust towards the company (Chun and Davies 2006). Trust has a strong influence on customer satisfaction towards a company, and in an online environment, it affects the consumer’s decision to visit the brand’s website (De Silva and Alwi 2008). Agreeableness is of particular importance because it focuses on the organizational commitment towards the consumer and it is one of the main components that explain variance in consumer’s perception of a company’s brand image (De Silva and Alwi 2008).

Enterprise is a relevant dimension for businesses wanting to achieve market success. It involves company success in differentiating themselves from other competitors, with for instance advertising or layout or design of the brand (Chun and Davies 2006). Informality stands for how informal the company is and if the company seems approachable. In an online environment, a hard to navigate website can make the company seem simple or straightforward and not informal (De Silva and Alwi 2008).

Chic “concerns organizational prestige” (Chun and Davies 2006). Chic is mostly associated with luxury companies and exclusive products, which means that this dimension explains how luxurious a brand is (De Silva and Alwi 2008). Competence is an important dimension when understanding the company effectiveness since it focuses on the accuracy of product delivery in an

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online store and on the privacy concerns on a website (Chun and Davies 2006; De Silva and Alwi 2008).

Figure 1 Online Brand Image (De Silva and Alwi 2008)

2.4 Website content’s effect on brand image

Websites influence current and potential customers view of a brand. Website features such as the text content, graphics, site layout, font, color combination, employed technology, links to other websites and the online shop, have especially a great influence on the impression of a brand (Winter et al. 2003). According to Karimov et al. (2011), content design is of high influence on the primary trustworthiness towards an unfamiliar company’s website. This is due to that when entering a new, unfamiliar website, the first impression will be shown through the content design. Content provides consumers with clues that help them assess the firm and the brand (Karimov et al. 2011).

In the web environment consumers are provided with cues about the brand and these cues are made from the colors, graphics and the layout of the website. These cues help consumers distinguish between what kind of company it is, the quality of the company and who are their target audience. (Karimov et al. 2011) However, when it comes to websites, people who are searching for information tend only to scan the pages rather than read them (Bonnardel et al. 2011). This can lead to that the content presented will not be thoroughly analyzed and essential cues will be missed.

Online brand image

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Muller and Chandon (2003) conclude in their research that positive attitudes towards a website will result in positive brand image. By creating visually and informatively pleasing websites, users will have positive attitudes towards the company website, and this will transfer to positive brand image.

Media use effect on brand image

Website users are first and for most affected by the visual aspects of the site, and the visual aspects of the website are the strongest influencers of all the website components presented (Kurosu and Kashimura 1995). Creatively pleasing design elements, and engaging material relate all towards a positive attitude towards a website and hence a positive brand image. That is why it is important for companies to involve high-resolution graphics, music and humorous characters to the website. These should especially be included to attract low-involvement users (Elliot and Spek 2005).

Colors and innovativeness also improve positive associations toward a website (Muller and Chandon 2004). The most appreciated color design by consumers is blue and orange. Blue is considered as a cooler color and more favorable to users. The orange color is considered as a warm color and due to that desirable to consumers. However, most graphical designers tend to go for the color gray on their website, this is due to that graphical designers see the color gray as innovative and by this see the website as trendy (Bonnardel et al. 2011). Based on the study done by Bonnardel et al. (2011) consumers do however not prefer the color gray on websites, that is due to that they find the website less appealing than if the site was orange or blue.

Websites of companies with bad graphics and poor layout create poor image and that the company is conservative, while good graphics create a good image and that the company is competent (Winter et al. 2003). However, companies should consider keeping the graphics simple and meaningful not to overwhelm the user. That is why it is hypothesized that:

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Breadth and depth effect on brand image

Consumers prefer in-depth and comprehensive information on websites (Yang et al. 2005). By providing users with their preferable information, the attitude towards the website and the brand becomes positive. When providing consumers with better and a wide range of product information on the website, consumers overall satisfaction increases and improves their attitude towards the website and the brand (Elliot and Spek 2005).

The customer satisfaction also increases when companies provide website content that is easily and quickly accessible (Thongpapanl and Ashaf 2011). This can be done by providing search engines on the website, due to that they grant easy access to information and help filter information. Features such as email correspondence and feedback forms help consumers save time and browse an excessive amount of general information (Teo et al. 2003).

For websites to contribute to positive attitudes towards the site, it must contain, useful, clear, current, concise and accurate content (Aladwani and Palvia 2002). Content that includes presentation flaws such as typographical errors and incompleteness, that are not understood by the users, lead to early impressions and for the user to not be willing to continue to use the interface (Gehreke and Turban 1999; Everard and Galetta 2005). If content such as links on a website are inactive or missing, consumers feel that they are lead to believe one thing but provided by another. This leads to consumers criticizing the website and having a negative attitude towards it. Consumers also then often find sites uninformative, poorly organized and difficult to order from (Järvenpää and Todd 1996). If the content presented does not meet the expectations of the user’s information needs such as unclear, an extensive amount, unusable, or inaccurate information, it will contribute to unfavorable reactions towards the website and hence the brand (Aladwani 2006). That is why it is hypothesized that:

H2: An extensive amount of breadth and depth of the information presented has a negative relationship with brand image

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2.5 Website design effect on brand image

Signaling theory can be used to explain the effects of website design on brand image. Signaling theory indicates that people with limited knowledge about an object have a tendency to draw conclusions based on previously obtained information. Internet marketing would then suggest that, based on the signaling theory, when further information about a company is absent, consumers draw conclusions about the company based on the information provided by the website, which will then guide towards an impression about the company and the brand. (Braddy et al. 2008)

New and inexperienced users of the internet tend to first visit websites by brands that they are familiar with (Järvenpää and Todd 1996). That is why the previous offline image of a brand is important when gaining user visits to a site. If a brand’s online image is consistent with the brand’s offline image, people also tend to rely on previously obtained information about the brand to form an opinion about the website (Landers et al. 2015).

Websites that contain poor design cause the users to feel uncomfortable, uncertainty and doubt, due to lack of interaction between the company and the consumer (Kwon et al. 2002). Poorly designed websites tend to frustrate users, and it generates in users to leave the site when they are not able to find what they are looking for. This is due to that the websites are not updated frequently enough and not taken care of (Tan and Wei 2006). When users have previous positive attitudes towards a brand’s website, will the use of the actual site increase with time (Teo et al. 2003). Also if the site is well designed previous experiences will lead to positive attitudes towards the site. When users have previous experience they develop a scheme on how to use websites, they learn organizational structures which allow them to become better at using a website and finding the relevant information (Elliot and Spek 2005).

Muller and Chandon (2004) explain that a brand’s website exposure has no effect on brand image. However, they showed that exposure to websites affected some of the brand’s associations positively. The attitude towards website increased when the degree of fit between the website image

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and the brand image were constant. Most associations that improved were related to the websites design characteristics. The most essential are that effective website design helps organizations achieve their aims, due that consumers prefer well-designed websites over poorly designed websites (Cebi 2013).

Usability effect on brand image

Usability is the extent to that users view a website can be used free of effort (Yeh 2015). Website usability has a significant impact on brand image, and how favorably consumer view a company (Braddy et al. 2008). This is due to that usability positively affects users’ attitudes. It does not only affect the users who are familiar with the website but also the users who have no previous experience (Chen and Dibb 2010).

Website usability is considered one of the most important factors in measuring the quality of the website (Voorveld et al. 2009). Website usability influences the quality perception attitudes towards the website (Landers et al. 2005). High usability is positively related to user’s affective responses (Voorveld et al. 2009). The effective response or user satisfaction depend on if the usability fulfills the user’s expectations of the website (Casalo et al. 2008).

Websites with poor usability cause irritation and complaints by users. That is because poor usability contributes to an excessive amount of time and effort spent on retrieving desired information (Teo et al. 2003). When users perceive a website as useful, they see that using the website will help them achieve what they are aiming to do (Yeh 2015).

H3: Websites with good usability have a positive relationship with brand image

Navigability’s effect on brand image

Navigability is the ease of locating and accessing content on the website (Wojdynski and Kalyanaraman 2015). For users, it is important to be able to locate needed information without any extra effort (Yang et al. 2005). The structure of the website and the navigation support users so that they know where they are, where they have been and where they want to go. If a website is hard to

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navigate, consumers tend to switch to other similar websites by other brands. An experience with an inadequate website will transfer negative attitudes and beliefs about the online brand (Karimov et al. 2011).

Improving the navigability of a website by modifying and adding fundamental elements enhances the user performance and by this enhances the user’s perception towards the website (Wojdynski and Kalyanaraman 2015). Navigation performance especially increases the complete sensation consumers get when interacting in an online environment (Landers et al. 2015). Website users tend to have distinct mental models of how the website content should be organized. If these models are not followed, it can lead to more negative attitudes towards the website. Especially if the users engage with the interface with a purpose and the user is not able to complete the task (Wojdynski and Kalyanaraman 2015).

If the website contains a logical structure and it is easy to navigate, it will shape user’s attitudes towards the website, hence towards the brand. Users of a company website tend to take important cues from the organization’s links even though there is a lacking quality of the information presented. This can contribute to negative attitudes towards the website (Wojdynski and Kalyanaraman 2015).

H4: Websites that are easy to navigate have a positive relationship with brand image

2.6 Website type

There is a wide amount of websites on the internet. These websites differ in the content and the design based on the industry and website type. For instance, the information provided on service businesses websites contain a greater amount of information than other industries websites (Merono-Cerdan and Soto-Acosta 2007).

Websites provide information for different purposes and aim towards different users. That is why websites need to be classified into categories where the objective and the aim is the same.

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Websites can be categorized into three main groups and to seven subgroups. The three main groups are commercial website, service websites and mixed types (Cebi 2013) ( Figure 2).

Commercial websites main purpose “is to make money by selling products and services” (Cebi 2013). There are three subgroups of commercial websites, and these are business to business, business to consumer and consumer to consumer. Business to business websites are websites that present transactions between companies. Business to consumer websites present marketing and transactions between companies and the consumers. Consumer to consumer websites are then websites that present transactions between consumers (Cebi 2013).

The main purpose of service websites is to present users with services without any cost. Service websites have four subgroups and these are self-service, information, entertainment, and communication. Self-service websites aid customers in accessing their information and performing certain tasks. Information websites main purpose is to present information. Entertainment websites purpose is to present fun and amusement. Communication websites aim to provide communication between people. The mixed type website contains two or more objectives, a mix of both service and commercial websites (Cebi 2013).

Figure 2 Website Type (Cebi 2013)

Website type

Comemrcial

B2B

Websites for companies and their

vendors B2C Shopping websites, transportation websites, travel agencies C2C Bid webistes Service Self-service internet banking, e-government webistes Information

news and magazine websites, search

engines

Entertainment

game websites, video websites

Communication

social network and file share websites

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2.6.1 Website content and website type

Websites should contain content, such as text and graphics that have a purpose and are in line with the company’s strategy and image (Wan 2000). Based on the study done by Cebi (2013), content is most important in service communication websites and commercial websites. Especially the text shown is most important on commercial websites. The importance of commercial websites currency is also of a higher degree than for service websites. However, for service communication websites it seems more important than for information and entertainment websites. The graphics and the layout seem to be considered more important for users of service information and communication websites. The accuracy of the content shown are essential for service entertainment and communication websites (Cebi 2013). Based on Cebi’s (2013) research it can be concluded that in commercial websites, website content is of high importance and that is why it is hypothesized:

H5: The negative relationship between website content and brand image is greater in commercial websites than in service websites

2.6.2 Website design and website type

According to Cebi’s (2013) research service and commercial website types have different needs and degree of importance in the design factors presented on the website. The usability is essential for service entertainment websites. Ease of use is however not only important in service entertainment websites but also service communication websites. Especially for commercial websites, it is important how easy it is to learn to use the website. Navigability is crucial for service entertainment website. However, commercial and service information websites consider navigability also as an important component (Cebi 2013). Based on Cebi’s (2013) research it can be concluded that website design factors such as usability and navigation are most important on service websites, especially on service entertainment websites. That is why it is hypothesized that:

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H6: The positive relationship between website design and brand image is greater in service websites than in commercial websites

2.7 Conceptual model

Figure 3 Conceptual model

Table 1

Hypotheses

H1 Bad use of media has a negative relationship with brand image

H2 An extensive amount of breadth and depth in the information presented has a negative relationship with brand image

H3 Websites with good usability have a positive relationship with brand image

H4 Websites that are easy to navigate have a positive relationship with brand image

H5 The negative relationship between website content and brand image is greater in commercial websites than in service websites

H6 The positive relationship between website design and brand image is greater in service websites than in commercial websites

Table 1 Hypotheses Brand Image Service and commercial website type Website Content Use of Media Breadth and Depth Website Design Elements Usability H3; H4 H1; H2 H5 Navigability H6

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3 Method and data

In this part, the research method is presented. First, the research design and the measures used are discussed. Then the sample characteristics and the research pre-test are analyzed.

3.1 Research design

In order to understand how brand image can be effected by website design and website content a quantitative survey is constructed using a cross-sectional research method. The survey is administrated online through social media and through contacting people individually.

In total of 24 websites, from real brands, are used in the study. Each brand is selected based on a pre-test that is also administered online. After the pre-test each brand website is shown to an industry professional to finalize that each website measures its aimed purpose. In the survey the brands selected are randomly assigned for each participant, so that only one is shown per participant. Each brand then is evaluated on brand image before and after brand website exposure.

At first, all participants are asked to fill in their demographic information on age, gender, and education. Then by only viewing the brand logo, each participant is asked if they are familiar with the brand and then asked to evaluate their individual brand perception. After the evaluation, the participants are guided towards the brand’s real website and asked to scroll the pages for a couple of minutes. When returning to the survey, the participants are distracted by first being asked to fill out filler questions and then again asked to evaluate the brand’s image.

3.2 Pre-test

The pre-test is performed to conclude that each brand website fits in the website component (media use, breadth and depth, usability and navigability) it is assigned to. This will ensure that the websites

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perform in the way the study has intended them to. Each category includes six websites, representing both service and commercial websites, which are either of good, average or bad level.

3.2.1 Pre-test measurement and reliability

The pre-test includes four surveys, one for each website component (Appendix 2.1). In each survey, the websites are randomly assigned to only display one for each participant. After the participants are directed to the website, they are asked to answer five questions in each category. Using a 7-point Likert scale, each participant will rate their individual perception of the website shown from strongly agree (7) to strongly disagree (1). The questions for website content were based on the research by Yang et al. (2005) and Ahn et al. (2007). The website design questions were based on the research by Ahn et al. (2007) and Wojodynski and Kalyanaram (2015). The reliability is also calculated for each measure, and the result can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2

Website content/design Cronbach’s alpha

Media use .98

Breadth and depth .98

Usability .99

Navigability .95

Table 2 Cronbach’s alpha pre-test

3.2.2 Pre-test sample

The pre-test sample is gathered as a convenience sample. In the pretest N=51 people participated, and each website is evaluated by 2-3 participants (Appendix 2.2).

3.2.3 Pre-test result

Based on the answers received, each website is analyzed separately. After decoding the negative format questions (strongly disagree=7; strongly agree=1) the mean and standard deviation is calculated for each brand website (Table 3).

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If a website is good, the website receives a mean score of 5.0 or higher, which can be identified for Apple with a M=6.3 (SD=.82). An average website receives a mean score ranging from 3.0 to 5.0 and by this BMW’s website can be identified as an average website (M=4.2; SD=.87). A website that is bad receives a mean score lower than 3.0. This can be seen for the Pepsi website (M=1.73; SD=.73).

3.3 Websites

Together, 24 brands and their websites are utilized in this research. Each brand is selected mainly based on its website usability, navigability, media use or breadth and depth of the information. The websites are also categorized into the website type they belong to, either commercial (Table 4) or service (Table 5).

Table 4

Commercial website type Brand websites

B2B Apple, BMW, Pepsi, Starbucks, Philips, ASOS, Honda, LV and Hermes

B2C Shell, UPS

C2C ETSY

Table 4Commercial Website type

Table 3

Pre-test result

Design/Content Commercial M SD Service M SD

Media use Apple 6.3 .82 HBS 6.0 .41

BMW 4.2 .87 YouTube 4.1 .87

Pepsi 1.73 .73 YALE 1.0 .00

Depth and Breadth Starbucks 6.5 .71 CNN 6.1 .57

Shell 4.0 .81 Yahoo 3.5 .71

UPS 2.3 .67 BuzzFeed 1.6 .70

Usability Philips 6.0 .47 HBR 6.1 .32

ASOS 4.8 .79 EU 3.1 .87

Honda 1.4 .52 Maestro 1.27 .60

Navigability ETSY 6.0 .47 VISA 6.5 .84

Louis Vuitton 4.1 .87 Forbes 3.9 .74

Hermes 2.7 .98 MTV 2.6 .84

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Table 5

Service website type Brand website

Information Harvard Business School, Yale art school, Yahoo, CNN, VISA, Forbes, Maestro and Harvard Business Review

Entertainment BuzzFeed, MTV

Communication YouTube

Self-service EU

Table 5 Service Website type

There are 12 websites included in both the commercial and the service website type and each category in both commercial and service website types are represented in the research.

3.4 Measurement

De Silva and Alwi (2008) constructed a 20 item scale on how to measure online corporate brand image. This scale is based on the Davis et al. (2004) 49 item corporate character scale which was set in an offline environment. The five measurements discussed before include 20 items to be measured. To measure agreeableness or trust in the company four items are asked. These are pleasant, friendly, agreeable, and supportive. Enterprise is measured based on seven items, which are daring, trendy, exciting, cool, imaginative, innovative, and technical. Informality or how informal the company is, is measured based on four items. These items are open, easy-going, simple, and straightforward. Chic or how prestige the company is, is measured with three items, which are refined, prestige, and elegant. Competence of the company is measured with only two items, and those are secure and reliable. When combining all these items that are used in this model, the perceived brand image can be identified (De Silva and Alwi 2008). In the survey, each item is measured with a 7 point Likert scale (7=Strongly agree;1= Strongly disagree) (Appendix 4).

The Filler questions asked of the participants are based on the word completion tasks constructed by Andersson et al. (2003; 2004; 2005). These word completion tasks use words, were a couple of letters are removed and need to be filled in (Appendix 3). Control variables, gender and education, are also included in the study. These variables are used for the research to be able to control their effect on the results received.

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3.5 Sample

The sample is gathered through non-probability sampling and it is a convenience sample. In totatl 420 people participated in the study, however, due to that some were not familiar with the brands shown and some answers were incomplete 44 answers were removed from the data. Based on this a sample size of N=376 is collected. Each brand used in the study is evaluated on brand image before and after 15-17 times.

The sample is almost equally distributed between both genders where females were 56.4% (n=212) and males 43.6% (n=164). The sample gathered consisted 77.7% (n=292) of participants who had obtained their bachelor or master’s degree and 71.3% (n=268) of all the participants were in the age group of 17-35. However, each educational level was represented in the study, and the range of the age of the participants ranged from 17-75 (Appendix 5).

3.6 Data analysis

To compare the difference of how brand image changed between, before brand website exposure and after brand website exposure, a paired sample t-test is performed for each brand separately. Dummy variables are created to separate each brand from each other in the data set.

A step-wise multiple regression analysis is then used to analyze the relationship between the dependent variable brand image change and the independent variables website content and website design, and the interaction effect of website type. For this analysis a multiple regression formula is stated as follows:

BrandImageChange=a+b1MediaUse+b2Breadthanddepth+b3Usability

+b4Navigability+b5Websitetype+b6(Mediause´Websitetype)

+b7(Breadthanddepth´Websitetype)+b8(Usability´Websitetype)

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were Y being the brand image change. In the model, b1 being the full media use effect on brand

image, b2 being the breadth and depth of the information effect on brand image, b3 being the usability

of the website effect on brand image, b4 being the navigability of the website effect on brand image,

and b5 being the website types effect on brand image. To include the interaction effect depending on

if the direct relationship changes in website types the parameters, b6 is the interaction effect of media

use on website type, b7 is the interaction effect of breadth and depth on website type, b8 is the

interaction effect of usability on website type, and b9 is the interaction effect of navigability on

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4 Results

In this part, the results of the research are presented. First, the data is prepared, and the reliability of the study is measured. Furthermore, each hypothesis is tested and analyzed.

4.1 Data preparation

Before any analysis is performed, the data is scanned through for missing values, and the scale means are calculated and recoded into new variables. Then the data is checked for sample distribution, its reliability and a factorial analysis is conducted.

4.1.1 Sample distribution

To look at the distribution of scores on continuous variables a Skewness and Kurtosis analysis is done. If the sample distribution is perfectly normal, the value obtained of the Skewness and Kurtosis would be 0. Because each variable is close to 0, it can be concluded that the sample is of normal distribution (Table 6).

Table 6

Skewness and Kurtosis

N Mean Skewness Kurtosis

Statistic Statistic Statistic Std. error Statistic Std. error

Brand Image total before 376 4.5416 -.15 .13 .62 .25

Brand Image total after 376 4.4650 -.20 .13 -.21 .25

Valid N (list wise) 376

Table 6 Skewness and Kurtosis

4.1.2 Reliability analysis

The reliability of the online brand image measure is calculated at a= .90 before and after at a= .95. Each dimension of the measure is also separately calculated (Table 7). The items corrected scale indicate that each item has a good correlation with the total score of the scale, which means that each item is above .30. Also if any item were deleted, it would not substantially affect the reliability (Appendix 8).

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Table 7

Online brand image Cronbach’s alpha

Before After Agreeableness .87 .93 Enterprise .89 .92 Informality .76 .83 Chic .82 .87 Competence .89 .90

Table 7 Cronbach’s Alpha Brand image

4.1.3 Factorial analysis

For the brand image scale, a factorial analysis is conducted. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure verified a sampling adequacy of KMO=.864. The Bartlett’s test of sphericity measured x2(190) = 5093.059, p<.01. The correlation level of the data was not high, which meant that it is more meaningful to interpret the orthogonal one because it does not allow correlations between factors. Five factors were above the Kaisers criterion of 1 and in combination explained 73.52% of the variance. Which can be identified from the scree plot too, where it is revealed a leveling off after the fifth factor (Appendix 6). That is why the five factors are used in the rotated component matrix.

4.2 Descriptive statistics

Next the descriptive statistics are presented. A correlation analysis is done for each variable and the hypotheses are tested.

4.2.1 Correlation analysis

A correlation analysis is conducted to do a preliminary overview of the relationships between the variables of the study (Table 8). The mean, standard deviation, correlation coefficients and the reliabilities for each variable is reported in the correlation matrix. The correlation table shows a relatively small correlation between brand image before and after and any of the website content or website design components.

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Table 8 Correlation analysis

Table 8

Mean, Standard deviation, Correlation and Reliability analysis

Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 Gender 1.56 0.50 x

2 Education 3.18 0.81 -.06 x

3 Media Use 4.69 0.84 .10 .01 x (.98) 4 Breadth and Depth 4.00 1.91 .37 .41 -.42 x (.97) 5 Usability 3.65 2.13 -.05 .33 -.23 .58* x (.99)

6 Navigability 4.21 1.60 .15 .48 -.10 .87** .58* x (.95)

7 Brand Image before 4.54 0.83 .13* -.09 -.05 -.50 -.22 -.10 x (.90)

8 Brand Image after 4.46 1.06 .06 -.03 -.11 -.16 -.12 -.05 .55* x (.95)

N=376 for gender (1=male, 2=female), education (1=less than high school, 5=doctoral degree), and brand image N=51 for website content and website design

* Correlation is significant at the .05 level (two-tailed) ** Correlation is significant at the .01 level (two-tailed)

4.3 Mean comparison before and after

To analyze the change in brand image, a paired sample t-test is performed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS). In Table 9 it can be seen that for 14 brands the brand image significantly increased or decreased after the participants were exposed to the brand’s website. For Harvard Business School it can be seen that there is a significant increase in brand image from before (M=4.42; SD=.42) to after (M=5.47; SD=.20) website exposure with conditions t(14)=16.926, p<.05. Starbucks can also be seen to have a significant increase from before (M=4,35; SD=0,71) to after (M=5.04; SD=.81) website exposure with conditions t(16)=4.534, p<.05. A large decrease can be seen in brands such as UPS, were before (M=4.39; SD=.62) to after (M=3.23; SD=.61) website exposure with conditions t(14)=-5.997; p<.05. BuzzFeeds brand image also decreased in a large amount from before (M=4.30; SD=.72) to after (M=3.58; SD=.81) website exposure with conditions t(14)=-6.321, p<.05. For some brand websites such as ASOS and CNN, it can be seen that there is no significant effect in brand image change before and after website exposure. It shows that there is a somewhat relationship between websites and how it affects brand image either in a positive or negative way.

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Table 9 T-test

Table 9

T-test (Brand Image Change)

Website type Website content/ design Brand Brand Image before (mean) Brand Image after (mean) Brand Image Difference (mean) T-value Commercial

Media use Apple BMW 5.29 5.23 6.14 4.97 -.26 .85 -1.55 1.93

Pepsi 4.90 4.21 -.69 -3.44** Breadth and depth Starbucks 4.35 5.04 .69 4.53** Shell 3.98 4.25 .27 3.09** UPS 4.39 3.16 -1.23 -5.99** Philips 4.93 5.27 .34 1.94 Usability ASOS 4.84 4.81 -.03 -.33 Honda 4.52 3.97 -.55 -2.59* ETSY 4.88 5.28 .40 2.85*

Navigability Louis Vuitton 4.71 4.69 -.02 -.19

Hermes 4.69 3.95 -.74 -2.66*

HBS 4.42 5.47 1.05 16.93**

Service

Media use YouTube 4.99 5.11 .12 1.24

YALE 4.55 3.81 -.74 -2.40* Breadth and depth CNN 4.10 4.11 .01 .24 Yahoo 4.02 3.32 -.70 -3.69** BuzzFeed 4.30 3.59 -.71 -6.32** HBR 4.89 5.01 .12 2.25* Usability EU 4.07 4.24 .17 2.32* Maestro 4.11 3.68 -.43 -1.11 VISA 4.46 4.85 .39 2.31* Navigability Forbes 4.63 4.55 -.08 -.72 MTV 3.77 3.65 -.12 -.75

Note: Significance level *p<.05 **p<.01

4.4 Hypotheses testing

A step-wise multiple regression is performed to see which components of the website effects change in brand image (Table 10). First, in the step-wise multiple regression, two predictors, gender and education are entered. This model is not of statistical significance F(2,373)=.71; p>.05 and it only explained 0.4% of the variance. After the four website components are entered into the step-wise multiple regression the total variance explained by the model is 2.3% F(6,369)=1,44; p>.05. The additional 1.9% is explained by the addition of the four website components, after controlling for gender and education (R2Change=0.019; F(4,369)=1.80; p>.05). In the final step the website type effect is included.

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Table 10 Step-wise multiple regression

Note: Significance level: *p<.10 **p<.05

Table 10

Step-wise multiple regression

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

R R2 R2 Change B SE t R R 2 R2 Change B SE t R R2 R2 Change B SE t .06 .004 .15 .02 .019 .24 .059 .036 Gender -.08 .10 -.84 -.08 .10 -.78 -.07 .09 -,73 Education .05 .06 .79 .05 .06 .79 .05 .06 ,82 Media Use -.19** .08 -2.27 -.19** .08 -2,33

Breadth and depth .30 .25 1.18 4.39 6.01 ,73

Usability -.02 .16 -.13 -6.73 9.29 -,73

Navigability -.25 .30 -.84 2.66 5.66 ,47

Commercial -.15 .12 -1,26

Service .17** .09 1,92

Media Use ´ Commercial -.37 .91 -,41

Media Use ´ Service .51 .85 ,59

Breadth and Depth ´ Commercial -2.02 2.07 -,98

Breadth and Depth ´ Service 1.55 1.57 ,99

Usability ´ Commercial .01 .71 ,01

Usability ´ Service .91* .53 1,73

Navigability ´ Commercial 2.13 1.49 1,43

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After adding this effect the model explained 5.9% of the variance F(16,359)=1.41; p>.05. The website type explained the additional 3.6% of the variance, after controlling for gender, education and the website components (R2 Change = 0.036; F(10,359)=1.38; p>.05) (Appendix7).

The results indicate a significant negative relationship between media use on the website and brand image change (b1=-.19; p<.05). This negative relationship is also of statistical significance

when the interaction effect of website type is included in step 3 (b1=-.19; p<.05). Based on these

results hypothesis one is accepted. None of the other variables, breadth and depth, usability or navigability, were of statistical significance. This indicates that the hypotheses 2, 3, and 4 are all rejected. After including the interaction effects of website types, a statistical significance can be seen between service websites as whole and brand image change (b5=.17; p<.10). This indicates that

service website types components have a positive relationship with change in brand image. The results also indicate that in service websites usability has a statistically significant positive relationship with brand image change (b8=.91; p<.10). Based on the results hypothesis 5 is not

accepted. Hypothesis 6 is only partially accepted due to that website design consist of two components, and there is a statistical significance for usability in service websites but not for navigability. Table 11 Hypotheses result

Table 11

Hypotheses result

H1 Bad use of media has a negative relationship with brand image Accepted H2 An extensive amount of breadth and depth of the information presented has a

negative relationship with brand image

Rejected

H3 Websites with good usability have a positive relationship with brand image Rejected

H4 Websites that are easy to navigate have a positive relationship with brand image Rejected

H5 The negative relationship between website design and brand image is greater in commercial websites than in service websites

Rejected

H6 The positive relationship between website design and brand image is greater in service websites than in commercial websites

Partially Accepted

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5 Discussion

In this part, the results of the study are being discussed and analyzed. These results are compared with the theoretical background presented. The limitations of the study are also outlined, and the suggestion for further research are given.

5.1 Theoretical and practical implications

In line with past research, websites do affect brand image (Muller and Chandon 2003). As shown in table 9, many of the brand websites used in the study had a change in brand image after website exposure. This research, however, is identifying the components of the website that affects this relationship. The components used in the research are also tested between different website types to see if there is a difference.

The findings of the research support the argument by Winter et al. (2003) and Karimov et al. (2010) that low-quality graphics and poor layout will lead to a poor image of the brand. The analysis shows that only one hypothesis can be accepted. This is hypothesis one, bad use of media has a negative relationship with brand image. The research shows here a negative relationship between media use on a website and brand image change. This indicates that brand websites that include low-quality media use can see a decrease in brand image after users visited the brand website. For the other categories of website content or website design no relationship can be identified, and therefore no other hypothesis is accepted.

From previous literature there can also be seen that every website component used in the research contributes towards an increase or decrease in brand image, depending on if it is of high or low quality. However, this research found no relationship between any other website component than for media use. This fact can be explained based on the research by Kurosu and Kashimura (1995). The research explains that users are “strongly affected by the aesthetic aspects of the interface”

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(Kurosu and Kashimura 1995) even when they are trying to assess the functional aspects of the website. Due to that, the visual aspects are what the user is first exposed to and affected by on the website. This can have an influence in how the other components have not been proven to have a part in brand image change.

The research also utilizes real brand websites, and these websites are evaluated based on their different levels of website design and website content. However, each website is only evaluated on one component. This means that the research isolates the other components that also can affect what a user experiences on the website. When taking into consideration, that visual aspects are stronger influencers than any other component of the website this may explain the result of the study. The participants only visited the website for a couple of minutes. If they are first influenced by the visual aspects of the website, it may interfere with any other evaluation of the websites functional aspects. Breadth and depth of the information presented on the website also showed no relationship with change in brand image. This fact can be explained by that people who are searching for information on the web tend only to scan the pages rather than read them (Bonnardel et al. 2011). Due to this the content presented will not be thoroughly analyzed. When each participant visited a website, they might have only scanned the pages and not read through the material, and this may be one of the main contributing facts to why the information presented on the website does not affect brand image change.

The results of the study are also in line with the findings of Cebi (2013), were in service website types, usability is a website component of high importance. The research by Cebi (2013) identified that users of service websites considered usability an important factor of a website. Cebi (2013) also found that navigability of a webpage is of huge importance on service websites. However, this study did not find navigability to be of high importance when analyzing navigability’s effect on brand image change in service websites.

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In practice, these findings have implications for brands who are about to launch a new website. First, the company should focus on the media that is presented on the website. While high-quality media according to the findings won’t contribute to an increase in brand image, low-high-quality media will decrease the overall brand image. Also based on previous research (Kurosu and Kashimura 1995) visual aspects are the first component that the user of the website will evaluate. Based on this, web designers should first focus on creating high-quality media and then creating quality information and good functional aspects. Second, brands who are aiming to offer a service website should also focus on the overall usability of the website, since it is one of the main components contributing to a brand image change.

5.2 Limitations

As in many academic studies, this study is not without its limitations. Due to that this study is carried out using a survey, the study cannot with certainty have knowledge of that each participant actually took time and visited the provided website. This means that the results may include participants answers who participated in the survey without visiting the brand website.

Another limitation of the research is that the respondents are forced to visit and view the website and at that moment asked to make up their opinions. This will provide insights into their thoughts but not the actual beliefs of how it would be interpreted in the actual everyday environment of using a brands website for their own private purpose.

The study is also using non-probability sampling and a convenience sample. These methods help in gathering a large sample in a short amount of time. The limitation is, however, that it lowers the generalizability of the study.

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5.3 Future research

Further research should conduct the study as an experiment where the participants should be monitored through the survey and seen if they are visiting the website. This study can’t confirm that each participant actually took the time and went thoroughly through the website that was presented to them.

Based on the results of the research, media use has an impact on brand image change. This study does however not study each aspect of media use separately, such as graphics, layout, pictures, video or fonts. Further research could focus on which aspects of media use actually are the main influencers towards a decrease in brand image.

Further research, should also focus on which aspects of the brand image website content or design effects. This research focused on the components that changed brand image as a whole, but which are the actual parts of online brand image that are changed. Brand image consists of five factors that all represent the full brand image. These factors may have different effects on different components of the website.

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6 Conclusion

Websites do influence brand image either in a positive or negative way. The research results showed that the change in brand image is affected mostly by the visual aspects of the website. The results indicated that visuals of low-quality would contribute to a decrease in brand image. This is due to that visuals on a webpage are the strongest influencers of the website components (Kurosu and Kashimura 1995). The findings also indicate that for service website types, usability is a strong influencer towards change in brand image. This is due to that usability is considered as an important factor in service websites (Cebi 2013). The results indicate that brands should focus on the visual part of the site, before concentrating on any other functional aspect and service websites should also focus on the usability of the website. These findings help managers understand how to outline their websites in a way, that they do not hurt the image of the brand.

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