How to improve customer online engagement ?
- Laure PORTIER
- Mar 13, 2015
- 2 min read
Many authors tried to define customer (online) engagement.
Some of them can be found in the table below (The more widely used definition of customer engagement, Vivek et al, 2014: 402)

Nevertheless all agreed that CE (customer engagement) “involves experiences, interactions, and/or connections between the customer and the brand, websites, activities and other customer” (Vivek et al, 2014: 402).
Furthermore, engagement seems to be primarily motivational and seems to involve behavioural manifestations toward the brand/website beyond purchase.
The question is to know how website design influence positively customer online engagement.
Based on Yeh and Li (2014) findings this explanatory model has been developed. It shows the influence aesthetic, ease of navigation and interactivity have on customer online engagement such as loyalty, trust, satisfaction and buying behaviour.

Explanatory model of website design influence on customer online engagement based on Yeh and Li (2014)
In the same way, Gao and Bai (2014), agree that interactivity and aesthetic (color, music, action, pictures, graphs, and videos) increase exploratory behavior and then the time spend on a website.
Rose et al (2012) for their part argue that highest level of challenge, perceived control and empowerment by influencing positively the experience of users lead to higher cognitive benefits and then to satisfaction and word-of-mouth.
Furthermore the “information convenience, accuracy, timeliness, completeness and relevance” of a website (Mazaheri et al., 2013 in Gao and Bai, 2014: 657) and the amount and richness of the information, while helping matching the users’ goals, reduces user’s time and effort for searching information and would enhance customers’ attention, trust, purchasing behavior and repeat visits.
Finally, many authors explain that “colour has the potential to elicit emotions and behaviours” (Cyr, Head and Larios, 2010:1). Indeed colour of a website favour users’ interaction, influence judgement positively or negatively and the way they navigate.
Colour favour also the remembering of information (Bonnardel et al. 2011), lead to higher purchase intent, trust, satisfaction and loyalty, and enable higher brand recognition (Labrecque and Milne, 2011).
References:
Bonnardel, N., Piolat, A. and Le Bigot, L. (2011) 'The Impact Of Colour On Website Appeal And Users Cognitive Processes'. Displays 32 (2), 69-80
Cyr, D., Head, M. and Larios, H. (2010) 'Colour Appeal In Website Design Within And Across Cultures: A Multi-Method Evaluation'. International Journal of HumanComputer Studies 68 (1-2), 1-21
Gao, L. and Bai, X. (2014). Online consumer behaviour and its relationship to website atmospheric induced flow: Insights into online travel agencies in China. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(4), pp.653-665.
Labrecque, L. and Milne, G. (2011) 'Exciting Red And Competent Blue: The Importance Of Color In Marketing'. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 40 (5), 711-727
Rose, S., Clark, M., Samouel, P. and Hair, N. (2012). Online Customer Experience in e-Retailing: An empirical model of Antecedents and Outcomes. Journal of Retailing, 88(2), pp.308-322.
Vivek, S., Beatty, S., Dalela, V. and Morgan, R. (2014). A Generalized Multidimensional Scale for Measuring Customer Engagement. The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 22(4), pp.401-420.
Yeh, Y. and Li, Y. (2014). Design-to-lure in the e-shopping environment: A landscape preference approach. Information & Management, 51(8), pp.995-1004.
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