To animate or not to animate? - The effects of animation on recall, product perceptions & attitude

Abstract

An increasing number of firms are investing in animation as a tool to design more vivid and attractive Web sites. Animated content is usually invisible to search engine spiders, involves lengthier download periods and is inaccessible to the less technology-savvy users who are not equipped with the necessary software. The development costs of animated Web sites are considerably greater, commanding twice as much as static Web sites. Do these elevated prices/negative tradeoffs merit the benefits that animation has to offer? Additionally, some companies offer a choice of two versions (HTML vs. animated Flash®) of Web sites for consumer. Is the investment in creation and maintenance of two separate editions of Web sites necessary? We delve into the above research questions by justifying the potential repercussions of animation. A preliminary laboratory experiment is conducted to examine the effects animation has on recall of product information and if animation induces differences in perceptions and attitudes across product categories.