The Influence of Home Page Complexity on Consumer Attention, Attitudes, and Purchase Intent

The Web is an increasingly important component of promotional strategy for many organizations. To date, most advertising research has focused on banner ads. In the present study, home pages as promotional vehicles are evaluated. Specifically, we examine the influence of perceived home page complexity on communication effectiveness, as measured by attention to the home page, attitude toward the home page, attitude toward the company, and purchase intent. Qualitative research is used to identify important factors that appear to influence perceptions of home page complexity, including home page length, number of graphics, number of links, amount of text, and use of animation. A pretest experiment further aided in the selection of appropriate factors and factor levels to manipulate in a subsequent, main experiment. The findings in the main experiment suggest that consumers respond more favorably toward home pages that fall in a moderate range of perceived complexity.