The study of verbal and visual characteristics in the platforms of online stores based on customers’ lived experience

Introduction: Creating effective online customer experiences through well-designed product web pages is critical to success in online retailing. How such web pages should look specifically, however, remains unclear (Bleier et al., 2018). Unlike traditional retail, customers evaluate products online not through physical interaction but through verbal and visual stimuli (design elements) on product web pages (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). Kovikaite et al. (2009) stated that the detailed evaluation of verbal and visual package elements and their impacts on consumer’s purchase decision, taking into consideration involvement level, time pressure or individual characteristics of consumers, is necessary in order to implement efficient packaging decisions. Also, Blair et al. (2018) focused on product web pages, but a design perspective could also improve the understanding of other domains in which verbal and visual stimuli build customer experiences, such as mobile apps. Previous research has examined only a few design factors individually, with a quantitative method and only in the web environment. It has hardly examined the various dimensions of customer experience based on the verbal and visual characteristics of online store platforms. Elaborating on the importance of online store platforms such as website, Instagram and mobile application, in online selling products, this research will investigate the verbal and visual characteristics that play a pivotal role in the design of online store platforms and product introduction based on the lived experience of customers who buy online from stores.
Methodology: Phenomenology is a form of qualitative research that focuses on the study of an individual’s lived experiences in his daily life and his social interaction with other people. In this research, the phenomenology method has been chosen to answer the research questions that are about the conventional experiences and behaviors in people's daily life. The participants were selected from the customers of online store platforms (Websites, Instagram, and Mobile applications) who have made their online purchases during the time of this research. It was important that they have the required knowledge in this field; therefore, valid results could be extracted. The sampling method was non-probable purposive. In terms of gender, 60% of the participants were female, and 40% were male. The theoretical saturation was achieved after 15 semi-structured interviews. Collazzi method was used for the data analysis by the aid of the Max QDA software.
Results and discussion: In this research, the online experience of the customers and the verbal and visual characteristics of the online platforms (Websites, Instagram and Mobile applications) were identified. The findings show that online shopping experience includes a number of themes. They are product experience, privacy and security, return and exchange, delivery experience and being user friendly for the customer. The verbal characteristics of the platform include the themes of information, the ease of searching for information, responsiveness and guarantee, the platform announcing, the ease of ordering and purchasing and social communication. The themes of the visual characteristics of the platform include related extra information about product and visual product introducing in platform.
Conclusion: Previous research has generally dealt with the topic of verbal and visual characteristics but no study has investigated verbal and visual characteristics with a phenomenological method. The careful and accurate investigation of the verbal and visual characteristics of the online platform, based on customers’ lived experiences, adds novelty to this research and enriches the literature in the field.  In this research, the main and secondary themes of the verbal and visual characteristics of online store platforms (Website, Instagram, and Mobile applications) in product introduction were determined through the lived experience of customers, which can be used for the marketers and designers of online store platforms to increase both the purchase intentions and uncertainty of customers. With the practical suggestions provided in this research, platform designers have better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the visual and verbal factors of their platforms and can increase the desirability of the platforms. These suggestions are divided into three categories of features. Verbal and visual characteristics and suggestions were presented to increase the desired customer experience.
There are some limitations in this research. The results of the research cannot be generalized to physical stores, and one must be careful in generalizing them to all type of online store. This research was only conducted on the verbal and visual characteristics of online store platforms and did not investigate which platform creates a better experience. The variables of customer purchase history and age are not controlled, nor is the number of visits by customers from different platforms (Websites, Instagram and Mobile applications).
For further research, this study can be replicated among Y & Z Generations separately. There can also be a study of which platforms are most influential in creating a favorable customer experience. In addition, the history of purchasing can be controlled for each participant.