Evaluation Factors Influencing Corporate Website Effectiveness

Transcription

1 Evaluation Factors Influencing Corporate Website Effectiveness Dr. Yue Jer Lin, Associate Professor, Department of Accounting Information, Takming University of Science and technology, Taiwan ABSTRACT This paper investigates effective factors that affect corporate website design and influence e- marketing in traditional corporations. This research tested selected websites with different convenience scores for evaluating the sites on the basis of customer satisfaction and time used to finish the purchase. This study also investigated the correlations between scores. The data analysis of this research study focused on an examination of 12 subscales of the ICES in addition to main scales in all analyses, a modified reliability analysis, and an examination of the Satisfaction Scale items. The findings show that (1) the 12 individual ratings and the overall ratings scale were the most valid predictors of website satisfaction, while the checked items scales were the least valid; (2) the reliability coefficients for the 12 checked items categories were extremely low, while those from the overall ratings scale, the total score, and the sum of all 68 checked items scales were adequate. Finally, definite scales from the ICES were strongly related to satisfaction with the websites. Specifically, the respondents ratings of the 12 categories and the sum of these 12 ratings were strongly correlated with the satisfaction items and total satisfaction score. Keywords: Factors, Effectiveness, E-marketing INTRODUCTION As e-commerce has grown in size and significance, website design becomes an imperative success element for businesses. Websites need to be designed for functional user interfacing and easy usability. Businesses are increasingly using websites not only to capture but also to build relationships with their potential markets. An obvious understanding of how best to design successful websites for internet marketing and service is therefore important. Website functionality has been judged a crucial competitive advantage for energy corporations today (Tan, Tung, & Xu, 2009). The greatest challenge most corporations experienced was not how to replicate or standardize the best e-commerce business model in the industry, but how to essentially transform the approach to operating traditional businesses. E-commerce is more than just another way to maintain or improve current business practices (Lee, 2001). The World Wide Web is the largest available distributed forceful source of information, and has undergone enormous and fast growth since its beginning. Based on these facts, the Internet has assumed a vital role in many aspects of our lives and thus creates a greater need for corporates to design well websites in order to maintain competitive and increase income. Interactivity is crucial to occupy visitors and lead them to the desired action and shoppers are more likely to return to that site (Mary, Markus, & Malcolm, 2008). Websites have gradually become a business s first point of contact with customers. A website must reveal and be aligned with the overall corporate image and values of the company brand. 42 The Journal of Global Business Management Volume 9 * Number 3 * October 2013 issue

2 Businesses should ensure whether the design of the site was furthering strategic objectives. To keep customers coming back for more, effective website design has proven indispensable (Birchfield, 2003). The website design is significant in catching the user's attention and curiosity and should represent the business in a significant and positive light. Thus, there are many websites design concerns for corporations when planning the site. A successful website must however, do more than just look attractive it must be usable and present valuable, serviceable information. Usability basically means that the website is natural and allows users to find what they are looking for rapidly and without effort. As a result, it is significant for successful e-business to develop high quality website (Mary, Markus, & Malcolm, 2008). Additionally, providing marketing and company background information, dynamic websites are vehicles that improve customer satisfaction and increase company profitability. Companies should learn how to devise an effective web site to ensnare and satisfy the expectations of customers (Scheffelmaier & Vinsonhaler, 2002). THE REVIEW OF LITERATURE The website, the basic component of conducting e-commerce, is a collection of pages residing on servers that is linked with World Wide Web. It is an information system presented in a special language allowing different functionalities permitting the access of anyone with an Internet connection. It is a result of a business's effort to communicate with consumers (Ahmad, George, & Kenneth, 2010). From a practical viewpoint, a website evaluation is based on users' assessments of the site's instrumental benefits. If a website helps users complete their jobs, they are more likely to visit that site (Kim, 2011). Many businesses the commercial website has emerged as the main tool for commerce information exchange, along with for sales and promotion activities. Websites have numerous vital characteristics. They include content and business of information, the ease with which the web page can be used and technical features. Identification of elements that impact website presentation is therefore required, for properly focusing website growth efforts toward specific design limitations and with significant performance influencing features within the website (Monideepa & Jie, 2008). For internet commerce, an elaborate artistic design of a web site may have been aesthetically pleasing, but, in fact, caused dissatisfaction, because customers were discouraged in finding the merchandises and services that were sought. A well-designed site provided an option to users as to whether or not the consumer wanted to download software that caused the site to be more interactive and animated (Cox & Dale, 2002). Websites and order performance efforts concentrated on promoting consumer satisfaction. Online shoppers continued to be more inventive in using internet than the majority of customers (Goldsmith, 2002). Performance of web providers has become a vital concern. Businesses were faced with the challenge of bringing better-quality customer service to the online world. Convenience, content, and navigation alone would not gratify the discriminating customer. New concerns had to be considered that had not applied to traditional customer services. Factors that must be addressed include privacy, online support without boundaries, return policies, and technical support (Brown, 2001). The internet has transformed the way businesses appeal to consumers and retain existing customers. Businesses could give customers the option of how and when to purchase products in real-time. This online shopping tool has authorized customers to take on the role of being a retail buyer. Consumers have become able to order directly from the manufacturer, and remove the need for a middleman in the The Journal of Global Business Management Volume 9 * Number 3 * October 2013 issue 43

3 delivery process, which has led to customers receiving better-quality service and superior product prices (Erdem & Utecht, 2002). Internet interactivity is a valuable method of improving the quality of corporate websites and web designers should understand how design affects the quality of the websites and the image of the corporation. Today's online visitor expects to experience personalized interaction with websites. If the business fails to deliver they run the risk of losing a potential consumer forever. Making purchases Internet is all about confidence; a buyer must feel assured that you are a reliable business, and the best way to create that image is through a well-designed website. Shoppers visit a website that looks a little doubtful will not feel confident enough to provide credit card information (Mary, Markus & Malcolm, 2008). A website should reveal this intention, and examine whether the site has satisfied the customers needs, with the objective of obtaining customer loyalty and retention (Cox & Dale, 2002). There is an important correlation between website content and its accessibility and navigability. This relationship shows that a better designed website is richer in content and is more readily accessible and navigable. It is interesting to note that navigability is related to accessibility; thus, if a site is more freely accessible, it will be so navigable too. The daily growth of the internet has changed the way of marketing and selling merchandises and services. E-commerce deals with both the marketing actions and information systems. Its educational potential is a mutual and interactive function between consumers and businesses. To many potential consumers, the use of web technology for ecommerce activities is a new experience. Therefore, it needs to develop a collaborative tool to help consumers improve their skills through searching behavior (Kamalian, Feiz, Esmaeali & Khani, 2011). To establish a dynamic brand presence online, marketers have drawn on political knowledge on an interactive strategy. Practical tips to assist companies establish a more effective brand online contained: Ensured that users could locate the website by easy-to-use search engines; Created corporation-wide time reply standards for responding to Web mail; Contemplated registering domain names referred to medical services; Built principles for the website; Ensured the website was designed for unproblematic usage by consumers; Examined site traffic data and conducted click stream analysis; Displayed high ethical criteria; Created a clinical advisory board; Advertised offline to invite users online (Olson, 2003). Meanwhile, according to Matt (2000), success websites must meet style with substance by taking the internet on its own terms, including: (1) Understand your site's purpose; (2) Keep it human; (3) Be imperfect; (4) Avoid the language of advertising; (5) Keep it simple; (6) Use straightforward navigation; (7) Satisfy itchy fingers; (8) Don't cheat; (9) Less is more; (10) Update your site. The most valuable for corporate asset is to maintain information for products, services and customers. Hence, it is significant for successful e-business to build high quality websites. Nevertheless, a site must do more than just look attractive it must be usable and present useful, serviceable information. Usability essentially means that the website is natural and allows users to find what they are looking for rapidly and without effort (Mary, Markus & Malcolm, 2008). Customer satisfaction originated from creating value for customers, and by having met or surpassed customer prospects. A superior customer support site must address managing both value and customer satisfaction. The World Wide Web has allowed customer support to place more information and tools in the hands of customers, which has benefits for both the customer and the corporation (Hanson, 2000). A successful website, a successful information system is generally defined as the extent to which that website or system achieves the goals for which it was initially designed. Website is a new kind of information technology. People conduct their online purchases where their orders are put in and their needs are satisfied through the great website services (Kamalian, Feiz, Esmaeali & Khani, 2011). 44 The Journal of Global Business Management Volume 9 * Number 3 * October 2013 issue

4 THE STUDY According to Scheffelmaier & Vinsonhaler (2002), the most often mentioned property groups consisted of: ease of understanding and usage, enhanced values of the traditional store, customer services beyond expectations, efficiency and access speed, a user-friendly home page, a common design that was applied to all pages, and the ability to buy products easily and quickly. Scheffelmaier & Vinsonhaler (2002) organized the standard phrases into 12 major property groups, which characterized effective Internet commerce sites and were ordered as follows: (1) visitor greeting page---attractive and effective home page; (2) catalog page--products are described with attractive; (3) shopping cart page--easy to use market basket; (4) cash out page-- buying fast and easy; (5) security---assure customer secure purchase; (6)coherence and organization--easy to understand and use;(7) consistency and standardization common design applied to all pages; (8) efficiency--efficient and fast to use; (9) navigation--products to be quickly and easily found; (10) style--pages are easy to read; (11) value added customers service beyond expectation; (12) brick and mortar--good value of traditional store. A successful site must have all of these qualities website need to be designed for functional user interfacing and easy usability. The primary aim of this paper was to apply the ICES (Internet Commerce Evaluation Scale) instrument to assess the factors of effective corporate website on e-marketing. This paper looked for correlations between all of the ICES scores and (a) the three individual items composing the Satisfaction Scale and (b) the sum of items composing the Satisfaction Score. This study contains eighteen variables, including fourteen independent variables, which were the scores from the ICES, and four dependent variables. Research Design This study was a non-experimental, observational study, which included descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and explanatory approach. Meanwhile, correlational analysis helped to measure the linear relationship between variables. The value of the correlation coefficient ranged from 1.0 to The primary inferential technique attempted to examine the validity of the ICES, and determined whether or not the correlation coefficients measured user satisfaction. User satisfaction was calculated by the total satisfaction on the post search evaluation questionnaire, as the simultaneous validity standard for ICES. This paper applied descriptive statistics to interpret the validity of data status. The psychometric analyses were designed to assess the reliability of the various ICES scores. This quantitative study utilized KR-20 to examine the reliability of the Checked Items Scales, and used Cronbach s α method to measure the Ratings Score, and the Total Score for full test reliability. Meanwhile, the sample size of this research was based on 518 college students, because college students have been a major part of the web user population. The age of participants was under 23. Participants were asked to find and purchase a specific product on a certain site. Data Collection A questionnaire is used to collect data from participants who have a greater chance to access internet purchase. Two different sites were selected. One was selected due to having a High Convenience for buyers (products on this site seemed easier to find and buy and therefore customer were more satisfied). The other site was selected due to having a Low Convenience for shoppers (products on this site seemed more difficult to find and buy). The assigned product that participants were required to search and attempt to buy was a well-known book. The sites allowed the shoppers to locate a book by keyword, title, author, publication, ISBN, or type of book desired. The Journal of Global Business Management Volume 9 * Number 3 * October 2013 issue 45

5 The ICES instrument was used to assist the participants in judging and measuring the two sites. The tool is based on 68 phrases most frequently mentioned in the literature as vital features of effective Internet Commerce websites. The phrases were grouped into 12 properties and each property group consisted of a checklist and a rating scale. The checklist allowed the participants to place a check, if the factor was found on that site, and the rating scale permitted the participants to rate a particular page or a complete website for that property using a Likert scale. DISCUSSION The data analysis of this research focused on an examination of 12 subscales of the ICES in addition to main scales in all analyses, a modified reliability analysis, and an examination of the Satisfaction Scale items. Reliability coefficients were computed for 15 scales from the ICES: (a) the 12 checked item scales, (b) the overall checked items scale, (c) the ratings score, and the total score. These were computed separately for the High Convenience and Low Convenience websites, and for the data from both websites combined. Table 1 contained these reliability coefficients. The reliability coefficients for the 12 checked items scales were low when data from the High Convenience and Low Convenience website were combined, and ranged from -.41 to.54. When the High and Low Convenience websites were considered separately, the situation did not improve: For the High Convenience websites the reliability coefficients ranged from -.53 to.50, while the Low Convenience websites ranged from -.46 to.60. For 10 of the 12 checked items scales, the reliability for the Low Convenience website was higher than that for the High Convenience website. Nevertheless, the reliability coefficients were too low to justify using the 12 checked items scale scores. For the overall checked items scale, the reliability coefficients were all.80 or above. The reliability of the ratings scores were all.79 or above. For the total scores, the reliability was.83 or above. In the case of these three scores, the reliability was always higher for the Low Convenience website than for the High Convenience website. Table 1: Reliability Coefficients for the ICES Scales High Low Checked Items Scales Visitor Greeting (9 items) Catalog (6 items) Shopping Cart (4 items) Cash Out (7 items) Security (3 items) Coherence & Organization (5 items) Consistency & Standardization (7 items) Efficiency (5 items) Navigation (5 items) Style (7 items) Value Added (3 items) Brick & Mortar (7 items) Total Checked Items Scale (68 items) Ratings Scale (12 items) Total Score (80 items) The Journal of Global Business Management Volume 9 * Number 3 * October 2013 issue

6 Tables 2, 3, and 4 contained these correlations for the High Convenience website, Low Convenience website, and both websites combined, respectively. For the High Convenience site (Tables 2), only 6 of the 48 correlations between the checked items scales and the satisfaction scores were statistically significant, which indicated that the checked items scores were not particularly valid for predicting satisfaction. Conversely, 17 of the 48 correlations between the ratings scores and the satisfaction scores were statistically significant, which indicated a higher degree of validity. In particular, the Visitor Greeting, Catalog, Shopping Cart, Consistency & Standardization, Efficiency, and Brick & Mortar ratings were all positively correlated with the total satisfaction score. Unexpectedly, the total checked items score was negatively correlated with the general satisfaction item, which indicated that the more items were checked, the less satisfied the respondents were with the site. The overall ratings score was positively correlated with all three satisfaction items and the total satisfaction score, while the total score was correlated with only two of the items and the total score. Table 2: Correlations between ICES and Satisfaction Scores for the High Convenience Website Use Again Frustration General Total Checked Items Scales Visitor Greeting *.17 Catalog Shopping Cart.34* Cash Out Security.29* Coherence & Organization Consistency & Standardization.04.31* Efficiency.12.38* Navigation Style * -.04 Value Added Brick & Mortar Rating Scores Visitor Greeting Checked Items.35*.36*.16.38* Catalog Checked Items.38*.35*.06.41* Shopping Cart.37*.26.31*.41* Cash Out *.19 Security Coherence & Organization Consistency & Standardization *.31* Efficiency.28*.40*.15.41* Navigation Style Value Added *.22 Brick & Mortar * Total Checked Item Scale *.18 Ratings Scale.42*.32*.40*.50* Total Score.31*.36* * Note. N=100, *p<.05. For the Low Convenience site (Table 3), only 9 of the 48 correlations between the checked items scores and the satisfaction scores were statistically significant, compared to 44 of the 48 correlations between the ratings scores and the satisfaction scores. The correlations between the Visitor Greeting, Catalog, and Coherence & Organization ratings scores and the total satisfaction score were all greater The Journal of Global Business Management Volume 9 * Number 3 * October 2013 issue 47

7 than.55, which indicated a high degree of validity for these ratings with respect to satisfaction. The overall rating score was more strongly correlated with the total satisfaction score (.70) than any other ICES score. The research provided evidence that the ratings scores, and in particular the overall ratings score, were the most valid predictors of website satisfaction. Table 3: Correlations between ICES and Satisfaction Scores for the Low Convenience Website Use Again Frustration General Total Checked Items Scales Visitor Greeting Checked Items Catalog Checked Items.29* Shopping Cart Cash Out Security Coherence & Organization.38*.30*.16.36* Consistency & Standardization Efficiency.39* * Navigation.28* Style Value Added.33* Brick & Mortar.34* Rating Scores Visitor Greeting Checked Items.47*.48*.64*.63* Catalog Checked Items.47*.37*.48*.58* Shopping Cart.30*.42*.45*.44* Cash Out.49*.33*.37*.48* Security.34*.36*.37*.42* Coherence & Organization.47*.36*.41*.55* Consistency & Standardization.39*.08.31*.30* Efficiency.43*.32*.38*.45* Navigation.37*.24.37*.38* Style.46*.11.41*.37* Value Added.57*.22.38*.47* Brick & Mortar.47*.28*.39*.46* Total Checked Items Scale.35* Ratings Scale.67*.46*.64*.70* Total Score.53*.26.35*.46* Note. N=100, *p<.05. When the data from the High and Low Convenience websites were combined (Table 4), a similar result emerged. Fifteen of the 48 correlations between the checked items scales and the satisfaction scores were statistically significant, compared to 45 out of 48 for the ratings scores. Meanwhile, the most valid predictor of total satisfaction was the overall ratings score, with a value of.69. Table 4: Correlations between ICES and Satisfaction Scores for Both Websites Use Again Frustration General Total Checked Items Scales Visitor Greeting Checked Items Catalog Checked Items.24* Shopping Cart.27* * Cash Out Security.20* The Journal of Global Business Management Volume 9 * Number 3 * October 2013 issue

8 Coherence & Organization.30*.22*.02.27* Consistency & Standardization Efficiency.26*.32*.09.32* Navigation.21* Style Value Added.22*.11.21*.20* Brick & Mortar.25* Rating Scores Visitor Greeting Checked Items.41*.39*.48*.52* Catalog Checked Items.41*.35*.28*.45* Shopping Cart.32*.34*.38*.43* Cash Out.33*.20*.32*.34* Security.30*.26*.31*.31* Coherence & Organization.28*.25*.27*.29* Consistency & Standardization.29*.14.36*.30* Efficiency.36*.35*.28*.43* Navigation.28*.21*.27*.31* Style.28*.14.29*.28* Value Added.38*.15.37*.36* Brick & Mortar.38*.25*.33*.40* Total Checked Items Scale * Ratings Scale.56.40*.55*.69* Total Score.43.29*.21*.42* Note. N=100, *p<.05. CONCLUSIONS This paper was based on the ICES instrument (Internet Commerce Evaluation Scale), which was developed by the Scheffelmaier and Vinsonhaler (2002), to evaluate corporate websites effectiveness. The assessment tool provided a list of factors and asked web users to rate the importance of each, regarding satisfaction, re-visiting or purchasing. This research study addressed the factors of effective e- commerce websites in affecting shoppers purchase intention for e-marketing. The main findings revealed that (1) the 12 individual ratings and the overall ratings scale were the most valid predictors of websites satisfaction, while the checked items scales were the least valid; (2) the reliability coefficients for the 12 checked items categories were extremely low, while those from the overall ratings scale, the total score, and the sum of all 68 checked items scales were adequate. This was true for both the High and Low Convenience websites, although the coefficients for the Low Convenience websites were generally higher than those for the High Convenience websites. That is, the relationships between which specific components a website contains (i.e. the checked items) and satisfaction were not as strong as those between respondents overall ratings and satisfaction. This was particularly true for the Low Convenience website, where almost all of the ratings scores were significantly correlated with the satisfaction items and the overall satisfaction score. Definite scales from the ICES were strongly related to satisfaction with the websites. Specifically, the respondents ratings of the 12 categories and the sum of these 12 ratings were strongly correlated with the satisfaction items and total satisfaction score. For the High Convenience site, the Visitor Greeting, Catalog, Shopping Cart, Consistency & Standardization, Efficiency, and Brick & Mortar ratings were all positively correlated with the total satisfaction score. For the Low Convenience site, the correlations between the Visitor Greeting, Catalog, and Coherence & Organization ratings scores and the total satisfaction score were also a high degree (over.55) of validity for these ratings with respect to The Journal of Global Business Management Volume 9 * Number 3 * October 2013 issue 49

9 satisfaction. As with the High Convenience site, the research provided evidence that the ratings scores, and in particular the overall ratings score, were the most valid predictors of website satisfaction. When the data from the High and Low Convenience websites were combined, a similar result appeared. Consequently, when designing a website, these factors should be examined by the designer in order to determine if the website is adequate in these areas. However, the fact that the checked items scales were not strongly correlated with website satisfaction means that when designing a website, the designer does not need to emphasize the 68 individual website components outlined by Scheffelmaier and Vinsonhaler (2002). This study provided evidence that website satisfaction was not strongly related to whether or not these components were present in the website. These results may be due to the fact that individuals viewing a given website were more concerned with ease of use and functionality than with whether or not particular co3mponents were present. That is, how well the website works overall was more important than if the site had a given characteristic. FURTHER RESEARCH There are several recommendations for further research that would extend the results of this study. First, the research results should be extended to other respondent groups. Therefore, examining the responses of other types of web users would be helpful. Second, one of the key findings of this research study was that the checked items scales were not strongly related to website satisfaction. This finding may be due to the fact that website users do not look for specific components when evaluating a website, or that the 68 items compiled by Scheffelmaier and Vinsonhaler (2002) do not tap into the key components that users are seeking. Therefore, a reexamination of the components of Web sites may offer additional components that would be more strongly related to website satisfaction. Meanwhile, qualitative approach might possibly be conducted when the variables of this study were different. Finally, testing more websites and using different products could be valuable. Therefore, the ICES instrument should be re-examined in light of changes in the e-commerce environment. REFERENCES Ahmad, G., George, B. & Kenneth, D. (2010). Measuringe Commerce Website Success. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research In Business, 1(12), pp Birchfield, D. (2003). On the web: Smarten up your site. New Zealand Management, pp Brown, R. D. (2001). E-commerce: Customer service success factors. Futurics, 25(3/4), pp Cox, J., & Dale, B. G. (2002). Key quality factors in web site design and use: An examination. The International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 19(6/7), pp Erdem, S. A., & Utecht, R. L. (2002). Marketing on the net: A critical review. Journal of American Academy of Business, 2(1), pp Goldsmith, R. E. (2002). Explaining and predicting consumer intention to purchase over the Internet: An exploratory study. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 10(2), pp Hanson, W. (2000). Principles of Internet marketing. Cincinnati, OH: South Western College Publishing. Huizingh, E. K. R. E. (2000). The content and design of web sites: An empirical study. Information & Management, 37(3), pp The Journal of Global Business Management Volume 9 * Number 3 * October 2013 issue

10 Kamalian, A. R., Feiz, D., Esmaeali,. M. J, & Khani, R. Y. (2011). Analysis of Evaluation Structures of Website Success A Comparative-Analytic Approach. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(6), pp Kim, Y. M. (2011). Factors Affecting University Library Website Design. Information Technology and Libraries, 30(3), pp Lee, C. S. (2001). An analytical framework for evaluating e-commerce business models and strategies. Internet Research, 11(4), pp Mary, L., Markus, H. & Malcolm, B. (2008). Website Design Quality and Form Input Validation: An Empirical Study on Irish Corporate Websites. Journal of Service Science and Management, 1(1), pp Matt, H. (2000). Online: The 10 commandments of website design: Matt Haig offers 10 golden rules to help you avoid common website pitfalls. The Guardian London(UK). Guardian News & Media Limited. Monideepa, T & Jie, Z. (2008). Determinants of research and loyalty - A study of websitee performance and implications for website design, The Journal of Computer Information Systems, 48(2), pp Olson, S. D. (2003). Success is in the details. Marketing Health Services, 23( (2), pp Scheffelmaier, G. W., & Vinsonhaler, J. F. (2002). A synthesis of research on the properties of effective Internet commerce Web sites. Journal of Computer Information Systems, winter , pp Tan, F. B., Tung, L. L. & Xu, Y. (2009). A Study of WEeb-Designers' Criteria for Effective Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Websites Using the Repertory Grid Technique. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 10(3), pp Zeithaml, V. A., Parasuraman, A., & Malhotra, A. (2002). Service quality delivery through web sites: A critical review of extant knowledge. Academy of Marketing Science Journal, 30(4), pp The Journal of Global Business Management Volume 9 * Number 3 * October 2013 issue 51