Online Shopping Interface Components: Relative Importance as Peripheral and Central Cues

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) uses central (more thoughtful) and peripheral (less thoughtful) routes of persuasion to maximize communication effectiveness. This research implements ELM to investigate the relative importance of different aspects of the user experience in online shopping. Of all the issues surrounding online shopping, convenience, access to information, and trust were found to be the most important. These were implemented in an online conjoint shopping task. Respondents were found to use the central route of the ELM on marketing messages that involved issues of minimizing travel, information access, and assurances of system security. Users employed the peripheral ELM route when considering usability, price comparison, and personal information protection. A descriptive model of Web-based marketing components, their roles in the central and peripheral routes, and their relative importance to online consumer segments was developed.