The Effects of the Meaningfulness of Salient Brand and Product- Related Text and Graphcis on Web Site Recognition

Building on the associative strength of memory theory and previous studies on the effects of brand name suggestiveness on advertising effectiveness, two salient elements in a business web page, pictures (such as logos or graphics) and words (such as brand or product names), were examined in three experiments. Web sites where salient pictures and words had business meaning suggestive of brand or product benefits were found to have the highest recognition, while web sites with salient pictures and words without either business or dictionary meaning were found to have the lowest recognition. These results suggest the importance of using salient brand and productrelated names, pictures, and media content in general suggestive of the product benefits to increase web site recognition and the likelihood of a repeat visit.