Direct-to-consumer advertising via the Internet: the role of Web site design

Recent attempts to propose criteria for judging the quality of pharmaceutical and healthcare Web sites do not distinguish between attributes of Web site design related to content and other attributes not related to the content.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model from persuasion literature is used as a framework for investigating the effects of Web site design on consequents like attitude and knowledge acquisition.

A between-subjects, 2 (high or low involvement)x2 (Web site designed with high or low aspects of visual appeal) factorial design was used in this research.

College students were randomly assigned to these treatment groups yielding a balanced design with 29 observations per treatment cell. Analysis of variance results for the effects of involvement and Web site design on attitude and knowledge indicated that the interaction between the independent variables was not significant in both analyses. Examination of main effects revealed that participants who viewed the Web site with higher visual appeal actually had slightly lower knowledge scores (6.32) than those who viewed the Web site with lower visual appeal (7.03, F(1,112)=3.827, P=.053).

Results of this research seem to indicate that aspects of Web site design (namely aspects of visual appeal and quality) may not play a role in attaining desired promotional objectives, which can include development of favorable attitudes toward the product and facilitating knowledge acquisition.