Study of the Effects of Visual Complexity and Consumer Experience on Visual Attention and Purchase Behavior through the Use of Eye Tracking

The purpose of this study is to clarify the effects of visual complexity and consumer's experience on visual attention and purchase behavior. Data on visual attention collected by using eye tracking has been applied to investigate the effects of advertisement design and consumer's attributes. However, it is difficult to analyze the effects of various factors on visual attention and purchase behavior because they have complicated relations. This study uses visual complexity as a factor of visual stimuli affecting visual attention and purchase behavior. Moreover, consumer experience is applied as an attribute of consumers. Experience is understood to be a factor that strongly impacts purchase behavior. This study applies path analysis for clarifying the relationships among these factors. Eye tracking data collected on catalog mail order shopping was used to clarify the relationship among visual complexity, consumer experience, visual attention, and purchase behavior.