Measuring the Customer Experience in Online Environments: A Structural Modeling Approach

• Published in: Marketing science (Providence, R.I.) R.I.), 2000, Vol.19 (1), p.22-42
• Main Authors: Novak, Thomas P, Hoffman, Donna L, Yung, Yiu-Fai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Calibration; Cognitive models; Competitive advantage; Consciousness; Consumer attitudes; Consumer behavior; Consumer research; Consumers; Customer experience; Electronic Commerce; Internet; Internet Marketing; Market strategy; Marketing; Mathematical models; Modeling; Navigation; Online Consumer Behavior; Online services; Online shopping; Shopping; Skills; Statistical analysis; Structural equation modeling; Studies; Websites; World Wide Web
• ISSN: 0732-2399; 1526-548X
• DOI: 10.1287/mksc.19.1.22.15184

Intuition and previous research suggest that creating a compelling online environment for Web consumers will have numerous positive consequences for commercial Web providers. Online executives note that creating a compelling online experience for cyber customers is critical to creating competitive advantage on the Internet. Yet, very little is known about the factors that make using the Web a compelling experience for its users, and of the key consumer behavior outcomes of this compelling experience. Recently, the flow construct has been proposed as important for understanding consumer behavior on the World Wide Web, and as a way of defining the nature of compelling online experience. Although widely studied over the past 20 years, quantitative modeling efforts of the flow construct have been neither systematic nor comprehensive. In large parts, these efforts have been hampered by considerable confusion regarding the exact conceptual definition of flow. Lacking precise definition, it has been difficult to measure flow empirically, let alone apply the concept in practice. Following the conceptual model of flow proposed by Hoffman and Novak (1996), we conceptualize flow on the Web as a cognitive state experienced during navigation that is determined by (1) high levels of skill and control; (2) high levels of challenge and arousal; and (3) focused attention; and (4) is enhanced by interactivity and telepresence. Consumers who achieve flow on the Web are so acutely involved in the act of online navigation that thoughts and perceptions not relevant to navigation are screened out, and the consumer focuses entirely on the interaction. Concentration on the navigation experience is so intense that there is little attention left to consider anything else, and consequently, other events occurring in the consumer's surrounding physical environment lose significance. Self-consciousness disappears, the consumer's sense of time becomes distorted, and the state of mind arising as a result of achieving flow on the Web is extremely gratifying. In a quantitative modeling framework, we develop a structural model based on our previous conceptual model of flow that embodies the components of what makes for a compelling online experience. We use data collected from a largesample, Web-based consumer survey to measure these constructs, and we fit a series of structural equation models that test related prior theory. The conceptual model is largely supported, and the improved fit o