Evaluating the Communication Impact of Branded Websites - A Value-Based Framework

The quality of web communication depends on several factors. One of these, besides usability, is the effectiveness by which the intended brand values are actually conveyed to the users. Leveraging existing research in web branding communication, design and requirements engineering, we propose a systematic framework for evaluating the short-term communication impact of large, information-intensive branded websites. The communication impact is empirically investigated by eliciting and modeling the brand values that the website tries to convey and assessing whether and how much they are perceived by the intended target users. Results from two case studies show that simple and readable indicators can be constructed to identify flaws in the communication of the brand values and support designers and stakeholders to devise precise strategies to improve the design accordingly.