The halo effect of website experience: examining the impact of aesthetics and usability beyond the page

Abstract

In recent years, recruitment efforts among universities have become a priority as competition for enrolling graduate and undergraduate students increases. With the pervasiveness of electronic devices in every-day life, digital channels have become necessary tools in post-secondary recruitment and enrollment efforts. Today, a prospective student's and their parent's experience with a university is largely facilitated by digital means, thus impressions of the institution are largely formed through the organization's digital channels. In many cases these exchanges do not just inform the prospect's experience, they provide tactical information and play a key role in forming the overall impressions of the university. The website's aesthetics and usability are primary factors in forming these impressions. An understanding of the extent to which they impact outcomes is critical to the formulation of any digital communication strategy. This study seeks to further our understanding of the role that visual and usability design plays in forming website experiences and how those experiences influence factors related to university selection. The current study conducted a two-condition, between-subjects experiment to examine the influence that aesthetics and impressions of usability have on users' impressions of factors that have been identified as important to university recruitment efforts: faculty quality, program quality, perceived value of education, and quality of student life/campus experience. A convenience sample of 201 adults who were likely to have children who are nearing, at, or past the age where they begin considering their child's college education were recruited to complete an online survey. Participants were shown one of two home page designs and asked to answer a short set of questions. Analysis of their responses showed clear support of all study hypothesis: users who were exposed to a high-quality university website would rate each key recruitment factor more highly than those who were exposed to a low-quality university website. This study contributes to the research in human computer interaction, marketing, cognitive psychology, and university recruitment. It deepens the understanding of the impact that aesthetic and usability design decisions have on aspects that are critical to an organization, even if those aspects are not directly represented. The results have clear implications for university marketers, recruiters, and leadership as well as anybody who is involved the planning and execution of website projects: the aesthetic and usability design of an organization website is important – it has the ability to influence perceptions of the entire organization and impact target audience decision making.