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Design dimensions consist of different design features as mentioned in Chapter 3. In Questions 11 and 12, participants were asked to rank the top three features from seven

123, Laptop/Desktop, 93% 46,Mobile Phone,35% 27,Tablet,21%

that were provided (Clarity of Information,Image Size,Professional Looking,Color Scheme,Ease of Navigation,Reviews of Website, and Familiarity with Store/Logo)for expensive and inexpensive items. If the participant felt a feature that was not included in the list would be a top feature, they could add it to the seven. Since we were only

interested in the three most important design features to the participants, and did not need to know the ranking of what comes after. For each participant, first, second and third were coded as 1, 2, and 3. Any feature not ranked as first, second, or third, was coded as a 4 (fourth or higher) which makes them fall into the same category.

Seven participants only ranked their second and third feature without ranking an item to be first. In these cases, we did not include a “first” rank. In addition, participants were provided with three additional open-ended options (Other) in case the specified options were not suitable.

Table 4.1 shows the number of times each website feature was ranked by participants as the most important (first), second most important, and third most

important feature for both prices levels (expensive and inexpensive). For example, when buying an expensive item, Clarity of Information was ranked first by 24 of 127

participants (18.2%). Table 4.1 also includes the number of times each particular feature was ranked within the top three (this is the sum of times ranked first, second or third). For example, Image Size was ranked within the top three on 25 occasions. Note that the total number of participants for each ranking varies slightly due to missing data. The total number of participants was 132. Missing data ranged from 2 to 15 for rankings. In addition, the open-ended Other categories were used on 16 occasions (for expensive items) and on 11 occasions (for inexpensive items).

Table 4.1 Most Important Web Design Features when buying Expensive and Inexpensive Items.

Design Features

When Buying: Expensive Item When Buying: Inexpensive Item

Times Ranked Times Ranked

First Second Third In Top

3 First Second Third

In Top 3 Clarity of Information 24_{18.2 %} 30_23.1% 27_20.5% 81 24_18.2% 22_16.7% 28_21% 74 Image Size ₃ 2.3% 7 5.3% 15 11.4% 25 3 2.3% 12 9.1% 8 6% 23 Professional Looking 14_10.6% 16_12.1% 20_15.2% 50 13_9.8% 24_18.2% 20_15% 57 Color Scheme 2_1.5% 7_5.3% 2_1.5% 11 1 _0.8% 5_3.8% 0_0.0% 6 Ease of Navigation 2_1.5% 13_9.8% 18_13.6% 33 10_7.8% 16_{12.1 %} 21_16% 47 Reviews of Website 31_23.5% 34_25.8% 21_15.9% 86 24 _{18.2 %} 21_15.9% 24_18% 69 Familiar with Store/Logo 42 31.8% 19 14.4% 21 15.9% 82 35 26.5% 15 11.4% 14 11% 64

When buying an expensive item, the most highly ranked feature was Familiarity With The Store / Logo. Forty-two participants, (32%) considered this to be the most important feature. The second most highly feature was Reviews of Website, with 31 (23.5%) of participants. Clarity of Information was also ranked highly by 24 (18.2%) of participants. In contrast, Color Scheme and Ease of Navigation was only selected as first by 2 participants (2%).

Interpretation of this number of “firsts” is complicated because a particular feature may be important but not consistently ranked first. Note, for example, that Reviews of Website seems to be the second most important feature. However, Reviews of Website was ranked second on 34 (25.8%) occasions and third on 21 (15.9%) occasions. Both of these exceed the ranking for Familiarity with the Store/Logo at 19 and 21

occasions. Hence, to address this issue, the number of times each was ranked in the top 3 was assessed. By this scale, the most important feature is Reviews of Website, followed byFamiliarity with Store/Logo, and then Clarity of Information. Using number of times in top 3, the least important features is Color Scheme, then Image Size. Note that Reviews

of Website, followed by Familiarity with Store/Logo reflect “external” checks on the integrity of the online store. That is, in some sense, they are not aspects of web design. However, reminders for both can, and often are, placed on the website (e.g.,

testimonials), and as such are considered an aspect of Social Cues/Presence. Clarity of Information, which is the third most important, is an aspect of content design. Note that Color Scheme and Image Size are aspects of Graphic Design. In the middle, there are Professional Looking, an aspect of graphic design, and Ease of Navigation, an aspect of Structural Design.

Note that, generally, when buying an expensive item, participants thought it important to know the store, to learn about the website, and to be clear about the products. Also note that Professional Looking and Ease of Navigation are also of some importance because they imply competence. A disorganized store, or online store, could lose an order or credit card information. Finally, Color Scheme and Image Size are not important to trust.

When buying an inexpensive item, the rankings were similar, but not the same. Familiarity with Store / Logo was ranked first by 26.5% of participants. Reviews of Website and Clarity of Information were tied at 18.2% of participants. When considering the number of times in the top 3, the ranking of features was Clarity of Information, Reviews of Website and then Familiarity with Store/Logo. This order is slightly different from that of expensive items. Color Scheme and Image Size still received the lowest rankings.

For these questions, an open-ended response was permitted (actually 3 open- ended responses were permitted). The most important observation is that these categories were not used very often (19 and 17 times for the expensive and inexpensive items – out of a possible 396 ratings). These other comments referred to security on nine occasions (e.g., “clarity of security/privacy policies”, “Secure Site”, “security”, “https”) to

reputation on nine occasions (e.g., “the online repetition of the website”, “good

reputation”, “personal referrals”, “user reviews”, “YouTube reviews”), to design features of the site on one occasion (i.e., “no pop-ups or advertisement”), or to aspects of the transaction on eleven occasions (“return policy”, “fast shipping”, “the shipping safety” ,

“contact info”, “the shipping price” “Third party is PayPal”, “item price”). Some were not easily classified (i.e., “Item's Original Website” “rate of the seller”).

To compare the ratings of features for expensive and inexpensive items, a series of analyses were conducted. These analyses build from the simpler to the more complex as follows: