Etourism advertising effectiveness: banner type and engagement as moderators

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to analyze advertising effectiveness in terms of self-reported memory (recall) by measuring customers’ visual attention, including consumer engagement with e-tourism 2.0 tools and the banner type used as moderating variables. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a within-subject, between-groups experimental design based on eye-tracking methodology, followed by a self-administered questionnaire. Participants were instructed to visit three e-tourism tools, namely, a hotel’s blog, a social network (i.e. Facebook) page and a virtual community (i.e. TripAdvisor) page. Findings This research uncovers the main determinants of consumers’ self-reported recall of banner ads. The study offers empirical insight regarding the positive impact of fixation counts and visit duration on consumer recall. The findings also reveal that the impact of these measurements on consumer recall is moderated by the level of animation of the advertisement, while the number of fixations is moderated by the level of consumer engagement. Overall, the results suggest the usefulness of eye-tracking methodology in assessing the advertising effectiveness of e-tourism tools. Research limitations/implications The practical implications identified in this research, along with its limitations and future research opportunities, are of interest both for further theoretical development and practical applications. Scholars are therefore encouraged to further test the research propositions, including in longitudinal or mobile/smartphone-based research. Originality/value The authors offer a pioneering attempt in the application of eye-tracking methodology to online, e-tourism-based service innovations and examine the possible impact of visual marketing stimuli and their effects on user social network-related behavior.

The influence of banner position and user experience on recall. The mediating role of visual attention

“…To achieve this goal, the interaction between the banner's features and user's characteristics will be objectively examined in an experimental environment, using the eyetracking methodology to capture selective visual attention (Geise, 2012) and complemental SJME self-reported measures of memory (Hern andez-Méndez and Muñoz-Leiva, 2015). Recent studies have analysed the advertising effectiveness, measuring the visual attention to the ads with a similar methodological approach (Flavi an et al, 2011;Muñoz-Leiva et al, 2018;Simmonds et al, 2020aSimmonds et al, , 2020b.…”

Consumer engagement in e-Tourism: Micro-panel data models for the case of Spain

“…Some other studies investigate the impact of demographic and travel characteristics of hotel guests on online and offline reservations (Crnojevac et al, 2010; Golmohammadi et al, 2017; Pitoska, 2013; Ruiz-Gómez et al, 2018). Recently, the works analyzing the importance of online reviews and advertising in the choice of accommodation have acquired great relevance (Bronner and de Hoog, 2011; Filieri and McLeay, 2014; Muñoz-Leiva et al, 2018).…”

Influence of Regulatory Fit Theory on Persuasion from Google Ads: An Eye Tracking Study

“…The academic literature shows an increasing number of studies using eye-tracking as well as its strong ability to assess the effectiveness of visual marketing [39][40][41][42]. While eye tracking offers information that cannot be obtained with traditional techniques, it also complements traditional techniques by providing more detail [39].…”

“…Attitude was measured on a five-point Likert scale adapted from Tang et al [50], recall was measured with an open question and suggested recall with a screening question [41]. The screening question was: "what did the message(s) you remember consist of?"…”

“…Despite recent research on the effectiveness of advertising on websites [40][41][42] and on search engines in general [4], business reality shows us that this issue is a fundamental question for companies because of the high amounts that are invested to appear in the top positions on search platforms (e.g., Google, Bing, Yandex, Yahoo! Search).…”