Accepted Manuscript

The Female Gaze: content composition and slot position in personalized banner
ads, and how they influence visual attention in online shoppers

Yi-Ting Huang

PII: S0747-5632(17)30718-5

DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.12.038

Reference: CHB 5313

To appear in: Computers in Human Behavior

Received Date: 22 May 2017

Revised Date: 23 November 2017

Accepted Date: 24 December 2017

Please cite this article as: Yi-Ting Huang, The Female Gaze: content composition and slot position
in personalized banner ads, and how they influence visual attention in online shoppers, Computers
in Human Behavior (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.12.038

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

The Female Gaze: content composition and slot position in personalized

banner ads, and how they influence visual attention in online shoppers

Yi-Ting Huang *

* Corresponding author.
Department of Commercial Design , Chung Yuan Christian University,
200 Chung Pei Road, Chung Li District, Taoyuan City 32023, Taiwan.

E-mail addresses: ythuang@cycu.edu.tw (Y.T. Huang)

Tel: +886-3-2656317
Fax: +886-3-2656399
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

The Female Gaze: content composition and slot position in personalized

banner ads, and how they influence visual attention in online shoppers

Abstract

With the overload of information on the internet today, consumer attention is becoming
increasingly precious. Online retailers often use banner advertising for products that consumers
have previously viewed so as to achieve retargeting. This study examined the attention that female
consumers paid to product-based personalized banner ads for online apparel retailers, and how this
attention was influenced by visual content composition and slot position. Using a screen eye
tracker, we analyzed the interaction effects of ad slot position (content relevance, top-center or right
sidebar slot on portal site) and the content composition (image-text ratio, discount information, use
of models) of personalized banner ads on relevant eye movement data. This data allowed for
increased understanding of the combinations of ad content/layout composition and slot position that
gain the most attention. The results revealed that placing apparel banner ads next to articles
associated with apparel and fashion increases the overall amount of attention that consumers give
the ad. Furthermore, ads in the top-center slot on portal sites receive greater total contact time and
number of fixations than those in the right sidebar. We further found that adding discount
information and using models to display the garment in banner ads can effectively increase the total
contact time and number of fixations.

Keywords: personalized banners, ad slot position, ad content, visual attention, eye tracking, online
apparel retailer

1. Introduction
Consumers have grown accustomed to skipping over or completely ignoring internet ads. This
is known as banner blindness phenomenon (Benway & Lane, 1998；Burke, Hornof, Nilsen, &
Gorman, 2005; Resnick & Albert, 2014). Advertisers are adopting “precision marketing” strategies
for content composition and the slot position of web ads in order to make internet ads more
effective at catching people’s attention, thereby increasing the click through rate. By utilizing large
amounts of data and real-time analysis, advertisers can reach their targeted consumer groups and
consumers can receive ads that cater to their specific interests. Personalized ads are effective
precision marketing tools that allow online retailers to place information related to products
previously viewed by consumers. When placed into the appropriate slot positions, these ads lower
banner blindness.

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Personalized advertising arose out of the development of technologies that made it possible to
track internet viewing behavior. Marketers can use tracking data to design advertisements that are
based on the consumer’s interests, preferences and needs (Pavlou & Stewart, 2000). Personalized
advertising can take the shape of emails, telephone marketing, text messaging and internet banner
advertising (Baek & Morimoto, 2012). Among these forms, banner ads are the most broadly used.
Personalized banner ads have a higher chance of being accepted by the consumer (Sundar &
Marathe, 2010). These ads offer varying levels of personal relevance. For example, there are banner
ads generated based on information that is voluntarily provided by the consumer, like their name,
gender and occupation. Past research on personalized banners predominantly focused on the explicit
collection of consumer information. Results clearly showed that personalized banners are superior
to non-personalized banners in grabbing attention, memory, and increased click through rate (Baek
& Morimoto, 2012；Bang & Wojdynski, 2016; Nyheim et al., 2015；Yu & Cude, 2009). In the
past two years, however, personalized banner ads have been utilizing implicit data collection that
targets the consumer’s past internet activity. By tracking what consumers have viewed or bought,
product-based personalized banner ads can be generated to retarget the consumer (Lambrecht &
Tucker 2013).
A growing number of online retailers, including Amazon, eBay and Facebook, utilize recorded
consumer behavior to generate personalized ads. This method is called retargeting (Helft & Vega
2010; Peterson, 2013; Sengupta, 2013). Retargeting assists online retailers in reaching consumers
who previously left their site without completing a purchase, and directs them to products they had
previously viewed or other products that may be of interest to them. Product-based personalized
banner ads display products the internet user previously viewed on unrelated websites. Lambrecht
and Tucker’s 2013 research showed that consumers favor ads that accentuate a product’s special
features when they had viewed the product before. Product-based personalized banner ads enable
retailers to position their product to interested parties, leading to a higher degree of consumer
involvement and higher degrees of consumer attention. Online retailers are allocating more of their
budget to personalized ads as a result. (Hamman & Plomion, 2013).
The world of the internet is all about the visual experience. People make quick judgements on
websites within a very short period of time (Lindgaard, Fernandes, Dudek, & Brown, 2006;
Tractinsky, Cokhavi, & Kirschenbaum, 2004). Visual presentation influences shopper decisions
about what to purchase (Alter et al., 2007; Park, Lennon, & Stoel, 2005; Townsend & Shu, 2010)
and aesthetically pleasing designs increase consumer interest and trust (Lindgaard, Dudek, Sen,
Sumegi, & Noonan, 2011). Internet users are inundated with information; when an advertisement is
unable to keep someone’s attention, it loses its value as an advertisement (Bucher & Schumacher,
2006). Thus, visual content is especially important for internet ads (CMO Council, 2015). An MDG
survey showed that 67% of consumers surveyed indicated that the visual content of an internet ad is
more important than the textual description or consumer reviews (MDG advertising, 2012).
In 2015, Taiwan’s e-commerce industry had an output of NT$1.69 trillion. The percentage of
purchases made online has continued to grow each year in Taiwan; in 2015, 37.9% of purchases in

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Taiwan were made online (Eastern Integrated Consumer Profile (E-ICP), 2016). Females between
the ages of 20 and 29 represent the dominant demographic of online shoppers. This group is also the
most active group of online shoppers. For every three women in that age bracket, two have made
online purchases within the last three months (Nielson, 2014). Their online purchases mainly
comprise accessories, bags and footwear (Nielson, 2014). Based on these statistics, advertisers of
these products would do well to target young adult women with their internet ads. In Taiwan,
clothing and accessories are the most frequently purchased products among experienced online
shoppers, comprising 56.71% of online purchases (TDMA, 2016). In a report published by Nielsen
(2014), the buy-to-detail rate for clothing, accessories and shoes are the lowest among all products
considered, which means these products have the highest number of purchases per number of
product views. On another note, the affordable fashion trend has made information on clothing and
accessory products readily accessible and plentiful on the internet. However, a glut of product
information has made consumer attention ever more precious to advertisers. It’s vital that product
ads quickly attract and retain the attention of consumers, leave a good impression and create a
desire for the product (Yang, Chen, & Chiu, 2013).
This section presented an analysis of personalized ads and the online shopping market. Past
research on the effectiveness of personalized ads focused mainly on the explicit collection of
personal data; ads that utilized such data were shown to be superior to non-personalized ads.
However, there is a relative lack of research examining the factors that impact consumer attention to
product-based personalized banner ads, particularly the ads which derive their content from the
consumer’s past product view data. This research aims to fill this research gap and focuses on the
interaction between the visual content and the composition of banner ads, as well as their slot
positions. These factors impact the visual effectiveness of the ad and its ability to gain consumer
attention. Participants in this research were young adult women, and the product-based personalized
banner ads used in this research were for clothing and accessories. Experiments were conducted
using eye-tracking technology. Female consumers were presented with banner ads comprising
product images, product introductions, promotional information, and usage environments. The
experiment investigated how the slot positioning of the banner ads affected the eye movements of
these female consumers. The study endeavored to provide e-commerce marketers and website
developers with data applicable to the design of product-based personalized banners, enabling them
to optimize their slot positions, improve ad reception, and ultimately leading to product purchases.

2. Theoretical background and hypotheses

2.1 Influence of verbal and visual factors on attention
The dual-coding theory (Paivio, 1986) holds that human cognition is comprised of verbal and visual
systems. They each receive external stimuli and convert the information into representations. The
output of these coding processes are then respectively stored as visual and verbal memories.
Referential connections also exist between the two systems, enhancing cognition and effectively

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improving memory (Paivio, 1991). Visual cognition is automatic, swift, parallel, and effortless and
relies on the peripheral and pre-attentive processes, whereas verbal cognition is a focal attentive
process that focuses on order and is slower and more laborious (Pieters & Wedel, 2004). When text
and images are presented together, people can obtain more information than from the presentation
of either alone. In the cognitive subsystems that extend on the dual-coding theory, the ways in
which each individual acquires and utilizes information varies with his or her cognitive style;
verbalizers use more verbal clues, whereas visualizers employ more visual clues (Richardson,
1994). These are two different styles of cognitive processing. In a study on the composition of print
ads, Walters, Sparks, and Herington (2007) discovered that interactions between the two factors of
concrete images and text influence how consumers develop mental imagery. When an ad contains
concrete images, the catalysis of the imagery instructions in text can more successfully arouse a
consumer’s association with their mental imagery. Photo-style ads (containing both photos and text)
involve the verbal and the nonverbal systems, thereby conveying more information than pure text
ads and strengthening relevant memories (Mayer, 2001). Eye-tracking experiments with numerous
print ads have also proven that photo/image-type ads are more eye-catching to consumers than pure-
text ads (Pieters & Wedel, 2004; Goodrich, 2011). Kim and Lennon (2008) examined the sizes of
images (visual) and product introduction test (verbal) on online apparel shopping websites and
found interaction effects between the two; for instance, consumers will only be significantly aware
of the size of product images when there is less text introducing the product, and they will only pay
attention to the text when the images are smaller. In their study on the interfaces of online shopping
websites, Yoo and Kim (2014) further manipulated the interactions between concrete photos and
text and investigated their relationship with mental imagery, discovering that backgrounds made up
of photos of consumption scenarios motivated consumption more than simple plain backgrounds.
Furthermore, visualizers and verbalizers have different mental imagery resulting from product
photos comprising mainly photos or text.
The theory of visual rhetoric offers another perspective, suggesting that sight-related elements
such as color, images, and icons can convey more concrete commercial messages, reduce cognitive
differences in marketing, and thereby effectively influence target consumers (Scott, 1994; Dreze &
Zufryden, 1997). The visual stimulus factors that can cause ads to be noticed include contrast, color,
form, position, information content, message, direction, novelty, and image selection (Engel,
Blackwell, & Miniard, 1986). Research has shown that consumers shopping online are only willing
to make purchases when they like the designs of the website’s ads (Goodrich, 2011). In recent
years, a number of researchers have used the theory of visual rhetoric to predict the behavior of e-
commerce consumers (Cyr et al., 2009; Flores et al., 2014; Ha & Janda, 2014). The visual
presentation of e-commerce interfaces influences the purchase intentions of consumers and even
directly influences purchase attitudes (Sundar & Noseworthy, 2014; Wang, et al., 2013). Shaouf,
Lü, and Li (2016) confirmed that the visual design elements in internet ads exert influence on online
shoppers’ purchase attitudes and attitudes toward the brand.
Google Display Network, the world’s largest placer of ads, has provided advertisers with the

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following suggestions regarding slot positioning: wider ad sizes tend to outperform their taller
counterparts, due to their reader-friendly format. Readers absorb information in "thought units,"
several words at a time. Wider sizes let them comfortably read more text at a glance without having
to skip a line and return to the left margin every few words, as they'd have to with a narrower ad.
Thus, if positioned well, wide ad sizes can increase your earnings significantly (AdSense,
2017a). Among the various sizes for banner ads, the 336x280 large rectangle, the 300x250 medium
rectangle, the 728x90 leaderboard, or the 300x600 half page are considered the most effective. The
300*250 medium rectangle tends to have more ad inventory available from advertisers; this size can
increase earnings when both text and image ads are enabled, especially since only this ad size can
concurrently host mobile ads and display ads (AdSense, 2017b), and can be embedded next to or at
the end of text on both PC and cell phone screens. Advertisers favor this ad size for its flexibility
and variability. Medium rectangle banner ads are often placed next to textual content, and “ad
extensions,” which provide additional information like location, additional links, or call buttons, are
often placed underneath the banner ad (Adwords, 2017). Most advertisers utilize the top two-thirds
of the banner for the product image and larger text and use the lower one-third for additional textual
business or product-related information, such as location, reviews, an instant purchase option,
limited promotions and so on. Most of the time, the text font and size of extensions text content are
purposely consistent with that of the text adjacent to the banner (Adwords, 2017) to get more people
to click on the ad.

An investigation of the market reaction to the size, format, text and images used in internet ads
suggests that banner ads with larger images and limited textual information are more visually
appealing. However, banner ads with textual information added at the bottom of the banner using ad
extensions appear to capture more attention. This research therefore utilized 300 px*250px banner
ads to test the following hypothesis:

H1a. Apparel banner ads with a title and product images occupying the top 2/3rds of the ad and
text occupying the bottom third of the ad (See Fig.1-a, -b) capture more visual attention
than the banner ads dominated by images and only a small amount of text (See Fig.1-c, -
d) within the images.

2.2 Scenario cues draw ad attention

The choice to focus on certain objects and ignore others during the cognitive process is
called attention (Martinet, Lablack, Lew, & Djeraba, 2009). Attention is a crucial part of
perceptual processing. According to the mind-eye hypothesis, people need only look at
something to focus their attention on it, particularly when they are focusing on a specific task,
even if they are not involved in or do not understand or what they see (Just & Carpenter, 1976).
The way that humans direct their attention to advertising stimuli is like this: upon the
appearance of advertising stimulus, the orbitofrontal cortex is activated faster than the blink of an
eye. During this time, an individual will first conduct a preliminary assessment of the matter or

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object at hand. Once the stimulus is identified, the individual responds by marking the features,
relevance, or value of the object (Barden, 2013). Such affective responses begin to aid visual
attention instantly after the visual stimulus appears (Barrett & Bar, 2009). Thus, value directs
attention, while relevance is the primary driving force behind attention. Put simply, people look
at things they enjoy looking at. We therefore infer that the attention effects of product-based
personalized banners originate from the fact that the consumers have seen these product photos
before. The familiarity and relevance then result in more intense value-driven visual attention.
Past visual experiences determine which objects people expect to see in a scene and how
they expect them to be spatially configured. When we are accustomed to seeing something in our
surroundings, it helps us to identify that object (Barden, 2013). Neuroscientist Moshe Bar (2004)
discovered two nerve flows in the brain. One is responsible for locking on to the object, while
the other simultaneously processes information from the object’s surroundings. Identification is
reliant on these two nerve flows working together, which means the object and the scenario it is
in influence our identification process. In other words, scenario cues are the foundation of
identification. Thus, in marketing or advertising operations, we can choose scenario contexts that
influence a consumer’s attitude towards a product or brand. In advertising, products are often
presented to consumers using scenario cues because such images will generate a greater impact
on persuasiveness via mental simulation (Elder & Krishna, 2012).
Looking at the content composition of advertisements from the perspective of their visual
description effects, perceptual fluency can help to increase value (Elder & Krishna, 2012). In
terms of banner ad content, placing images of objects that the target individual has seen or is
already familiar with reduces the amount of effort needed for the brain to process. This situation
is called perceptual fluency. From the perspective of marketing, perceptual fluency attracts
attention, induces the consumer to perceive value, and increases fluency, which in turn creates
distinctiveness. Furthermore, the human face is a high-value cue, so many advertisements use
celebrities or attractive models to display the product. This is because placing faces in
advertisements has a subtle but strong effect (Tanner & Maeng, 2012). Nearly every online
apparel retailer uses models to display the features of the garment and induce scenario
association.
Based on the arguments above regarding scenario cues, perceptual fluency, and attention, we
formulated the following hypothesis:
H2a: Displaying a photo of a model wearing the garment in the visual content of a banner ad
has more visual attention than displaying a photo showing only the garment.

2.3 Attention value of discount information in online advertisements for affordable

fashion apparel
The affordable fashion apparel industry adapts to the market swiftly. The process from
design to production to sales takes only two to three weeks, and the products are sold for a
limited time at limited quantities and lower prices. This induces impulsive purchases to gain

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maximum sales (Foroohar & Stabe, 2005). Fernie and Sparks proposed the concept of affordable
fashion in 1998 and listed four major elements: low predictability, high impulse purchase,
shorter life cycle, and high volatility of market demand. The industry shortens the buying cycle
of customers and the lead time of new products to release products that meet consumer needs
more quickly (Sull & Turconi, 2008). Affordable fashion is widely popular with young people
and women because they have access to a wide selection of products at affordable prices and can
keep up with the latest fashion (Bhardwaj & Fairhurst, 2010). Aside from the designs of the
apparel meeting the needs of the consumer market, affordable fashion consumers are very
sensitive to prices (Ferreira, Lee, & Simchi-Levi, 2016). Visually highlighting price discounts in
the content of product-based personalized banner ads from online affordable fashion apparel
retailers can more easily capture the attention of affordable fashion consumers and reinforce their
impression of the product (Crespo-Almendros & Del Barrio-Garcia, 2014).
Past research has indicated that price and promotion information is not very important in
conventional non-personalized banners. This is because experienced internet users can use
search engines to compare prices, and as a result, they are more confident in their own price
assessment capabilities. When banner ads are placed on target websites, the price and promotion
information in the banner content instead decreases the CTR (Click-Through Rate) (Chtourou,
Chandon, & Zollinger, 2001; Robinson, Wysocka, & Hand, 2007). However, the results derived
by Bleier and Eisenbeiss (2015) revealed that when online retailers varied the width and depth of
personalized banner content based on measurements of consumer trust in the brand, while also
using content that reflected the consumer’s interests and preferences, they were able to
significantly increase the CTR and validity of banners. Based on the psychology of affordable
fashion consumers, we therefore infer that online affordable fashion consumers are more
interested in discount information due to their high sensitivity to prices. Thus, when an apparel
product that they have viewed but not purchased appears in a product-based personalized banner,
a banner ad with discount information will be even more eye-catching than one without. We thus
formulated Hypotheses 1b and 2b:
H1b & H2b: Apparel banner ads that contain discount information are more eye-catching than
banner ads that do not have discount information.

2.4 Influence of slot position on banner ad attention

Research regarding the influence of internet banner ad format, such as position and direction,
on attention effects had not been conducted until recently (Kuisma et al., 2010; Li et al. 2016,
Rayner & Castelhano, 2008). These studies focused on either user-driven endogenous attention
control or the types of attention-capturing stimuli that influence the exogenous attention control of
attention distribution. Hannus, Cornelissen, Lindemann, and Bekkering (2005) stated that the
intentions of the action influence the choice of visual attention. Specific intentions prompt the user
to pay attention to information associated with the action (Bekkering & Neggers, 2002). This is
user-driven visual attention (endogenous), which is a top-down process (Bekkering & Neggers,

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2002; Hamborg et al., 2012). Suppose that a consumer already had intended or needed to shop for
apparel. When a garment that she recently viewed on one website appears on a banner ad in a side
slot on another website, endogenous attention control will prompt her to notice this banner ad.
Past studies have also examined the influence of displaying banners in website slots with
contextual characteristics on advertising effects. In terms of banner slot location, a banner ad with
content that is highly relevant to the website the consumer is currently browsing and is consistent
with their motive congruence will more likely gain a response from the consumer (Bleier &
Eisenbeiss, 2015; Goldfarb & Tucker 2011; Moore et al. 2005, Rodgers & Thorson, 2000;
Shamdasani et al., 2001; Yaveroglu &Donthu, 2008).
Bleier and Eisenbeiss (2015) used the slots of personalized banner ads to explain that a
personalized banner ad will have higher a CTR (Click-Through Rate) than a non-personalized
banner ad regardless of whether it is placed on a website with or without content relevance.
However, the view-through rate of personalized banner ads is only significantly higher than that of
a non-personalized banner ad when it is placed on a website with content relevance. Flores et al.
(2014) also demonstrated that personalized banner ads placed on websites with products extremely
similar to those in the banner ad tend to be more eye-catching.
During the consumer decision process, the location of the subject matter on the screen also
affects how noticeable it is to viewers. Each individual has his or her own visual tendencies, but
most have a central tendency, which comes from cognitive habits. It is a sensory preference that
influences our choices. Thus, objects in the center of one’s vision have a greater chance of being
chosen (Benartzi & Lehrer, 2015). Experiments have shown that most people follow this unspoken
rule (Christenfeld, 1995). More importantly, the location of the first fixation enables the prediction
of the subsequent visual focuses; that is, the place that the user looks at the very beginning will be
looked at the most times (Reutskaja, Nagel, Camerer, & Rangel, 2011).
Aside from this, various studies on the screen world have discovered that many different
factors influence our choices. Just by being visually eye-catching, an object has a 50% chance of
making the user choose something against his or her original preferences (Milosavljevica,
Navalpakkama, Kocha, & Rangela, 2012). This involves the visual salience of the product.
According to the visual salience hypothesis, a stimulus need only have enough visual salience
(Theeuwes, 1992) to be noticed by a consumer within the first 100 milliseconds (Theeuwes,
Atchley, & Kramer, 2000), which means that it will be first to attract the consumer’s attention.
When people make choices, they are often led by the sensory habits of their eyes; which point
on the screen, which product is more appealing, which things other people choose, and whether they
are conspicuous are all more important than personal preferences (Benartzi & Lehrer, 2015).
Screens encourage us to make more decisions within shorter periods of time (Milosavljevica et al.,
2012), so our choices are influenced by our first fixations. Also, visual tendencies and the visual
salience of a product are factors that impact attention.
Based on the results of research on endogenous attention control (top-down process of
attention control), contextual characteristics, content relevance, and the advertising effects of slot

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position, we formulated the following hypothesis:
H1c: Personalized apparel banner ads that are placed in slots next to apparel-related content
can capture attention and visual focus more effectively than those placed in slots next to
non-apparel-related articles and content.

In contrast with endogenous visual attention is exogenous visual attention, which mainly
depends on feature distinctiveness and the influence of emergent stimuli on the distribution of
attention. Thus, it is a bottom-up process of attention control. Eye-tracking experiments on internet
ads found that dynamic banner ads (such as GIF banners) are more eye-catching than static display
banner ads (Bekkering & Neggers, 2002; Hamborg et al., 2012). With regard to the dimensions of
static banner ads, Li et al. (2016) discovered that horizontal banners result in longer total contact
time than vertical banners (skyscrapers). In terms of slot position, banner ads at the top of the portal
site are more attention-capturing than those at the bottom of the page (Kuisma et al., 2010).
Previous research on the attention effects of internet ads have demonstrated that the content,
dimensions, and slot location all influence the distribution of attention. However, no integrated
research has been conducted on the influence of the interaction effect between slot location and the
feature factors of static banner ad content on the location of the first fixation (visual capture) and
total contact time. This study therefore focused on this issue and included an eye-tracking
experiment with banners at top-center and right sidebar slots on the homepage for further
investigation. Based on research concerning exogenous attention control and the central tendencies
of sight, we formulated the following hypothesis:

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2.5 Online shopping behavior and advertisement attention behavior in female

consumers
Research on the design aspects of internet ads found that male and female consumers differ in
viewing behavior. Female consumers generally focus more strongly on the text, while male
consumers concentrate more on photos and images (Goodrich, 2011). Male consumers display
significantly more positive attitudes towards image ads than towards text ads, whereas female
consumers are the exact opposite (Putrevu, 2004). With regard to the causes of gender differences
in the visual attention given to ads, Wolin and Korgaonkar (2003) posited that males generally go
online for the purpose of entertainment but that females use the internet for shopping-related
purposes.
When females shop online, whether the visual images generate mental simulations, enabling
them to imagine themselves in an actual scenario using the product is a crucial factor that increases
their purchase intention of said product (Huang & Chou, 2016). Mental simulations can make
events more concrete and increase perception so they feel more real and provide a way of dealing
with future uncertainties (Taylor, Pham, Rivkin, & Armorham, 1998; Taylor & Schneider, 1989).
Before consumers make a purchase decision, they may conduct process-oriented mental simulations
that focus on the usage process of the product or scenarios regarding how to use it. This encourages

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consumers to imagine the steps and process of their participation in certain activities (Escalas &
Luce, 2003). In internet marketing, using product photos that encourage consumers to consider their
demand process makes them more able to recognize the information provided by the product photos
and aims at stimulating their imagination of the process or results of product usage. Thus, images
containing consumption scenarios motivate consumption more than images with plain backgrounds
(Yoo & Kim, 2014). This is why most online apparel retailers use models in various poses and
scenarios to display their products (Huang & Chou, 2016). Furthermore, using models that fit the
current ideal in the fashion industry can also draw more positive responses from consumers
(Aagerup, 2011).
Research on hemisphere processing (e.g., Bradshaw & Nettleton, 1981; Meyers-Levy, 1989)
indicates that females tend to think with their left brain more, whereas males tend to rely more on
their right brain. Extending this to internet ads proves that females are more responsive to ads on the
right side of the screen than males, while males give more visual attention and reaction to the ads on
the left side of the screen (Goodrich, 2014; Tsichla et al., 2014). Thus, the influence of combining
various visual design elements such as images, shape, and position will vary with gender (Moss et
al., 2006; Mahzari & Ahmadzadeh, 2013). This is because males and females use different
selectivity models to process information. The selectivity models used by females are more
comprehensive and involve more selection mechanisms than those employed by males (Goodrich,
2014; Meyers-Levy, 1989; Richard et al., 2010). There is also evidence that females are more
careful than males when reading online (Leong & Hawamdeh, 1999); Park (2015) even discovered
that females show a significantly greater tendency to click internet banner ads than males because
they want to know more details regarding the advertised content. Thus, to increase the internet
purchase intentions of females, websites must provide more cues and information than they might
for males (Shaouf et al., 2016).
At present, the online retailers of affordable fashion mainly sell women’s apparel. Also, the
focus of this study was to determine how the visual attention of female consumers is influenced by
the interaction effects of the layout, content, and slot position of personalized internet banner ads
for apparel products that they have seen before. Based on the above theoretical background review
and discussion, we formulated the two major hypothesis categories below:

H1: The content composition (images/text, discount information) and ad slot position (with or
without content relevance) of personalized banner ads are associated with visual attention.
H1a: Apparel banner ads with a title and product images occupying the top 2/3rds of the ad and
text occupying the bottom third of the ad capture more female visual attention than the
banner ads dominated by images and only a small amount of text within the images.
H1b: Apparel banner ads that contain discount information are more eye-catching to female
than banner ads that do not have discount information.
H1c: Personalized banner ads on apparel that are placed in slots next to apparel-related content
can capture the attention and visual focus of female consumers more effectively than those

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placed in slots next to non-apparel-related articles.
H2: The content composition (with or without models, with or without discount information)
and ad slot position (top-center or right sidebar of portal sites) of personalized banner
ads are associated with visual attention.
H2a: Displaying a photo of a model wearing the garment in the visual content of a banner
ad has more female visual attention than displaying a photo showing only the
garment.
H2b: Apparel banner ads that contain discount information are more eye-catching to female
than banner ads that do not have discount information.
H2c: The slot position of personalized apparel banner ads on portal sites (top-center and
right sidebar) has significant impact on the extent of female consumer attention
capture.

Each hypothesis is derived from a singular factor that influences attention to web ads. On the
surface, these hypotheses may seem similar to those developed in previous studies, but these
hypotheses are innovative in their explorations of the dynamics between these factors (banner
content/ banner layout/ contextual characteristics/ slot position) and how these dynamics influence
the visual attention behavior of female consumers. This study addresses a key research gap.

3. Methods
3.1 Eye Tracking Approach
During the cognitive process, the eyes are the most important source of sensory information;
over 80% of the information processed by humans is obtained via sight (Sanders & McCormick,
1993). The eyes are the receptors of all image and text information, so eye movement is closely
related to everyday life (Findlay & Gilchrist, 2003). During periods of fixation or saccades, the
relationship between eye movement and the attention system is a crucial part of visual attention.
The movements of the eyes reflect internal mental changes (Henderson & Hollingworth, 1998).
The attention is directed to the object of interest before the eyes are (Findlay & Gilchrist, 2003;
Hoffman, 1998).The detection technique used to record eye movement information is called eye
tracking. The amount of attention given to target objects can be determined using different eye
movement indices, and research on advertising effects has also indicated that attention is crucial
to whether an ad is successful (Radach et al., 2003). Eye-tracking technology helps to construct
the distribution of attention that an individual gives to a screen. The results, combined with
synchronous information-processing records, provide objective data for interface assessment
(Poole & Ball, 2005).
Eye-tracking technology already has a century of history (Dodge & Cline, 1901). It be
used to investigate the operating mechanisms of various types of attention (Egeth & Yantis,
1997), and it has already been widely applied in studies on human visual behavior. Researchers

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have employed eye trackers to examine reading processes (Holasanova, Rahm & Holmqvist,
2006), psychology (Duchowshi, 2002; Wieser, Pauli, Alpers & Muhlberger, 2009), art design
(Wallraven, Cunningham, Rigau, Feixas, & Sbert, 2009), and webpage design (McCarthy, Sasse,
& Riegelsberger, 2004).

Progress in digital technology has further improved the precision and usability of eye
trackers. With eye tracking experiments, researchers have analyzed the viewing patterns of
consumers while shopping online to further understand how consumers make purchase decisions
and gauge the visual attractiveness of different objects. Eye tracking has thus been widely
applied in commercial and academic research involving e-commerce (Ho, 2014), mass media
(Wallraven et al., 2009; Li et al., 2011), internet communications (Hua & Fei, 2010; Rodrigues et
al., 2012), and the effectiveness of internet advertising (Flores et al., 2014; Lee et al, 2010; Li et
al., 2016). Thus, employing the eye tracking approach to analyze the actual behavior of
consumers is feasible, particularly in practical applications such as online shopping platforms
and internet advertising.
The two most common indices used in visual attention and eye tracking are the number of
fixations (NOF) and the average duration of fixations (Martinet et al., 2009). Duchowski (2007)
defined fixations as “eye movements that stabilize the retina over a stationary object of interest.”
When looking at a specific image, the human eye moves and fixates on prominent features (Yarbus,
1967). When an individual fixates on something, it means that he or she is processing information.
A longer total contact time (TCT; ms) indicates that the information is more complex and requires
deeper processing, and it may also mean that the individual is more immersed and involved in the
information. The eye entering and leaving a region of interest (ROI) is defined as one fixation and
may involve one or multiple points, which indicates whether the individual is continuing to process
other information within the ROI. Thus, a greater NOF indicates a greater amount of attention
LFF is defined as the latency of first fixation (ms). Fixation has proven to be a reliable
attention index. Thus, if the eye begins with the first stimulus and moves to the ROI quickly, it
suggests that this region is very eye-catching (Ho, 2014). LFF is usually adopted when using eye
movements to observe the eye-catching effects of internet ads (Calvo & Lang, 2004; Hewig,
Trippe, Hecht, Straube, & Miltner, 2008). A smaller LFF indicates that the ROI is noticed
sooner.
We used an EyeNTNU-180 screen eye tracker and a laptop in our experiment. The screen
eye tracker uses an infrared LED to detect the focus of the eyes with 30 Hz-180 Hz sampling
frequency technology to reduce errors and increase precision. The laptop displayed visual stimuli
at resolution 1024768 and recorded eye movement trajectories. The Region of Interest (ROI)
Tool, the Fixation Calculator, and the Hot Zone Tool were used to record the TCT, NOF, and
LFF data of the test participants and determine the influence of the layout, content, and slot
position of personalized online apparel banner ads on the attention of test participants.
3.2 Experimental design
We conducted screen eye tracking experiments to investigate how the position (content

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relevance of news website, slot position on homepage of portal site) of online apparel retailer ads
placed on non-retail websites interacted with the content composition (images/text, discount
information, with or without models) of personalized banner ads, and how these interaction effects
influenced the attention of female consumers.
The two hypotheses are differentiated by how banner slot positions on news sites and portal
sites correspond to different content composition and banner sizes. With so many variables at play,
one experiment would be insufficient to answer the research questions. Thus, this research
incorporated two experiments using eye-tracking technology, which means participants were not
required to complete any specific task. Participant eye movements were tracked as they surfed the
web. The experimental environment was designed to simulate what participants usually experience
when surfing the web and looking at web ads. However, because news sites and portal sites are two
distinct web browsing environments, separate experiments were required. The first experiment was
based on the assumption of endogenous attention control. When participants are viewing news sites,
their focus is generally on the news article. The website used in this experiment was designed in
such a way that the news article took up most of the page. The only place for banner ads was in the
margins. This experiment investigated the effect of contextual characteristics on eye movement.
The second experiment was based on the assumption of exogenous attention control. Images and
banner ads usually populate the homepage of portal sites. When browsing these sites, participants
have no particular place to focus their attention. Thus, the second experiment aimed to investigate
how the interaction between banner ad content composition and slot position affected eye-catching
effects and how long the banner ad retained attention. Due to these differences in the types of
websites and the content this experiment set out to analyze, the experimental design was divided
into two parts:

3.2.1 Experiment 1: Influence of the content composition (images/text, discount information)

and slot position (with or without content relevance) of personalized banner ads on visual
attention
A 2 (layout)  2 (content)  2 (content relevance) within-group design was adopted for this
experiment. To prevent individual differences from affecting the experiment results, each
participant was required to experience all of the experiment scenarios. The first manipulated
variable was the layout of the internet banner ad, which included two types: banner ads with only
images (with a small amount of text within the images) and banner ads with the bottom third
containing text (and product images above). We placed these two types of personalized banner ads
on a webpage with news content to determine whether the text description makes consumers look at
the ad for a longer period of time and induces them to pay attention. The second manipulated
variable was the content of the internet banner ad. Assuming that female consumers are more
interested in looking at images with discount information, we experimented with two types of
images in the banner ads: one with discount information and the other without discount information.
To determine whether consumer attention is influenced by the association between the content of

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the product-based personalized banner and the ad slot position – content relevance, the third
variable that we manipulated was ad slot position – content relevance. The two conditions for
content relevance were apparel-related article (relevant) and a non-apparel-related article
(irrelevant).
We used the Yahoo! Taiwan News Channel as a template for the foundation of webpages in
our experiment and paired 8 different articles (4 related to apparel and fashion and 4 unrelated to
fashion and apparel) with the stimuli (4 ad combinations), which were placed in the right sidebar
(300 px250 px). The 8 articles were all chosen from Yahoo! Taiwan News Channel, and the length
of the articles was limited to the extent that each article could be fully read on the screen without
scrolling down.
The banners were fixed at 300 px250 px (medium rectangular banner ads) in accordance with
the actual banners on the webpages of Yahoo! Taiwan News Channel and the simulated apparel ads
mainly advertised tops. As shown in Fig. 1, we developed four banner ad combinations; a and b
have text descriptions in the bottom third of the banners but still have images of the product
overhead, and c and d have images with only a little text information in them.
Experiment 1 mainly tested H1a: whether the text at the bottom of the banner ad increased ad
attention, H1b: whether the presence of discount information influences the attention given to ads,
and H1c: whether placing banner ads in the ride sidebar of apparel-related articles causes consumers
to notice them earlier. We extracted concrete data in the form of three eye movement indices: total
contact time (TCT) (ms), the number of fixations (NOF) (times), and the latency of first fixation
(starting time) (LFF) (ms)

Fig. 1 Comparison of banner ad combinations used in Experiment 1

a. discount/image & text b. no discount/image & text c. discount/no text d. no discount/ no text

3.2.2 Experiment 2: Influence of content composition (with or without model, with or

without discount information) and slot position (top-center or right sidebar of portal site)

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of personalized banner ads on visual attention (H2a, H2b, H2c)
The sizes (374px210px, 635px100px) and top-center and right sidebar locations of
the banners were based on the layout of Yahoo! Taiwan (April of 2016 version). When designing
the experiment stimuli, we adopted a banner format that is common on portal sites. The four
combinations of composition elements were a. no model/no discount information, b. no
model/discount information, c. model/no discount information, and d. model/discount
information (Fig. 2). As the dimensions of the top-center and right sidebar banners differ, we
adjusted the dimensions of the ads to 317px 100px so as to prevent banner dimensions from
becoming a confounding factor in the experiment. Both blocks were filled with images.
To prevent the participants from becoming visually fatigued from viewing too many similar images,
we performed conditional screening that resulted in a 3 (ad combinations)  2 (top-center, right
sidebar) within-group experimental design, in which 3 of the compared ads are placed in the two
slot positions and then switched once (Table 1). This means that the participants viewed six portal
site homepages paired with two banner ad simulation images. To prevent individual differences
from affecting the experiment results, each participant was required to experience all of the
experiment scenarios. During the experiment, we recorded the variations in the TCT and LFF of the
participants as they looked at the ads in different slots on the portal site.

Fig. 2 Comparison of banner ad combinations used in Experiment 2

a. no model/no discount b. no model/ discount
c. model/no discount d. model/ discount

Table 1 Combinations of banner ads and slots in Experiment 2

Top-center slot Right sidebar slot
Combination 1 a (no model/no discount) b (no model/ discount)
Combination 2 a (no model/no discount) c(model/no discount)
Combination 3 c (model/no discount) d (model/ discount)
3.3. Participants and procedure
3.3.1 Participants

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We screened the participants beforehand, recruiting women between the ages of 20 and
35 who had shopped for apparel online within the last three months through online forums,
Facebook groups, and bulletin board systems. The participants had to reside in northern
Taiwan and were university students, graduate students, or office workers. After confirming
that they met the conditions, we invited them to participate in our study survey and eye-
tracking experiment. After the participants completed the entire survey and experiment, they
were given a participation fee of USD 10 (NTD300). On average, the complete process of
browsing the simulation webpages, filling out the questionnaire, and participating in the eye-
tracking experiment took 37 minutes. We conducted experiments from March 18 to April 30
of 2016 and obtained 60 valid questionnaires. After excluding 10 participants with
incomplete eye-tracking data, we analyzed 50 sets of valid experiment samples.

3.3.2 Procedure
Once the participants arrived at the experiment location, we first explained the procedure and
precautions of the experiment. The procedure of the experiment contained three parts. In the first
part, the participants were asked to sit in front of a computer screen and browse apparel shopping
webpages for 3 to 5 minutes. These webpages included a full overview of the tops category and the
webpages for each individual garment. The tops that they chose to view in detail would then appear
in the banner ads in the eye-tracking experiment in the third part. In the second part, the participants
filled out a questionnaire regarding their personal information and their online shopping habits. The
third part consisted of the screen eye tracker experiment with the personalized banner ads.
Before the eye tracking experiment officially began, we had the participants adjust their
seats to a comfortable position for pupil detection and a nine-point calibration of the eye tracker.
Upon entering this process, the participants had to remain still and refrain from talking so as to
maintain the accuracy of the detection results. Once the calibration results reached standards, the
experiment commenced. To make the experiment conditions as true to actual webpage browsing
conditions as possible, we mixed the stimuli of Experiments 1 and 2 together so that different
types of ads appeared in the simulation webpages together. The eye tracking experiment
included 14 webpages in total. To prevent the participants from becoming visually fatigued or
unable to concentrate due to overly long viewing periods, we divided the webpages into two
portions so that 7 stimuli were viewed in each portion. No limit was placed on the amount of
browsing time for each page, but each page had to be viewed for at least 10 seconds. Once the
participant finished viewing all of the images, the eye tracking experiment was completed.

3.4 Analysis
We employed internet banner ads with different layouts and contents to conduct Experiment
1: whether placing banner ads in the right sidebar of apparel-related articles influences the visual
attention of consumers, which is a 2 (ad layout: image only or top image bottom text)  2 (ad
content: with or without discount information)  2 (slot position: next to article with content

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relevance, next to article without content relevance) within-group experimental design. We then
analyzed the relationships among the three independent variables and dependent variables using
a repeated measures ANOVA.

Experiment 2 involved a within-group experimental design regarding two slots (top center,
right sidebar) on the portal site Yahoo! Taiwan  3 ad comparisons (no model/with or without
discount information, with or without model/no discount information, model/ with or without
discount information). Each participant was required to experience all of the experiment
scenarios. We then conducted a repeated measures ANOVA to determine the relationships
among the two independent variables and dependent variables in the ad combinations.

4. Results
4.1 Shopping and surfing habits of participants
The questionnaire results revealed that 21.7% of the participants browse online apparel shops
every day, 43.3% did so at least once a week, and 23.3% did so at least once a month. The number
of garments bought during each session are as follows: 33.3% bought three or more garments, 60%
bought one or two garments, and 6.7% only bought one garment at a time. On average, the
participants spent USD 39.53 (NTD 1,186) on each purchase order, with USD 33.33~66.67 (NTD
1000~2000) accounting for 47% of the participants, which was the largest group, followed by 32%
spending USD 16.67~33.33 (NTD 500~1000) and 13% spending over USD 66.67 (NTD 2000) on
each purchase order.
The results showed that 56.7% of the participants log into the portal site for Yahoo! two or
more times per day on average. However, 25.6% of participants were found to not have logged into
Yahoo!’s home page at all for the past three months. In addition, 73.2% of participants expressed
interest in popular articles on the news sites.

4.2 Influence of banner ad content composition (images/text, discount information)

and slot position (with or without content relevance) in news sites on attention
This experiment placed banner ads with different layouts and contents in the right sidebars
of pages featuring articles related and unrelated to apparel to determine the influence of content
relevance on the visual attention of consumers, which involved a 2 (ad layout: image only, top
image bottom text)  2 (ad content: with or without discount information)  2 (slot position:
next to article with content relevance, next to article without content relevance) within-group
experimental design. Each participant was required to experience all of the experiment scenarios.
We then analyzed the relationships among the three independent variables and dependent
variables using a repeated measures ANOVA.

4.2.1 Attention distribution analysis: total contact time (TCT) and total number of
fixations (NOF)

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The TCT analysis results indicated that content relevance (F(1, 49)= 3.074, p=.086), ad
layout (F(1, 49) = .354, p=.555), and ad content (F(1, 49)= 1.418, p=.242) had no significant
influence on the visual attention of viewers. Nevertheless, the participants displayed greater TCT
(173.83 ms) and NOFs (8.81 times) when the ad was placed next to an article related to apparel
than when the ad was placed next to an article unrelated to apparel (131.91ms, 7.29 times).
Furthermore, although the influence of ad layout was not significant, the four ads with images
and text received greater TCT (176.97 ms) and NOFs (8.57 times) than the four ads with only
images (143.89 ms, 7.53 times). After analyzing the ads placed next to articles with and without
content relevance, we discovered that when the ad was placed in the right sidebar of an irrelevant
article, the presence of discount information resulted in a significant difference in the TCT
displayed by the participants (F(1, 49)= 4.571, p=.038*). This means that when the participants
were browsing articles unassociated with apparel, they would fixate on banner ads containing
discount information for longer periods of time (average fixation time=155.74 ms) (Figure 3).

Fig. 3 Distribution of TCT by ad layout (images, images + text)/ad content (with or without
discount information) in the two content relevance groups

The ANOVA results for NOF indicated that content relevance (F(1, 49)= 2.277, p=.138),
ad layout (F(1, 49) = 2.348, p=.132), and discount information (F(1,49)= 1.749, p=.192) exerted no
significant influence. However, analyzing the ads placed next to articles with and without content
relevance separately revealed that when retargeting banner ads are placed in the right sidebar of an
irrelevant article, then ad content (discount information) resulted in a significant difference in the
NOFs presented by the participants (F(1, 49)= 5.538, p=.023*). The NOFs on banner ads with
discount information (M=8.68, SD=2.02) were far greater than those on banner ads without
discount information (M=5.9, SD=1.5).
From Fig. 4, we can see that when banner ads without discount information are placed
in the right sidebars of articles associated with apparel, the NOFs showed no significant
differences. However, when the ads were placed in the right sidebars of articles not associated
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with apparel, the NOFs presented by the participants varied significantly depending on whether
the ad contained discount information. Although the influence of ad layout was not significant, a
comparison shows that the ads with images and text also received greater NOFs in the two
content relevance categories.

Fig. 4 Distribution of NOF depending on ad layout (images, images + text)/ad

content (with or without discount information) in the two content relevance groups

4.2.2 Analysis of eye-catching effects of banner content/layout in the two content

relevance groups

Ad content (with or without discount information) exerted significant influence on LFF

(F(1, 49)= 7.409, p=.009*), the time between when the page loads and when the participant’s
eyes first settle on the ads; those ads without discount information resulted in shorter LFFs,
which means that they are noticed first and are therefore more eye-catching. Analyzing the ads
placed next to articles with and without content relevance separately revealed ad content (with or
without discount information) did not have a significant impact on the LFF of ads placed next to
apparel-related articles (F(1, 49)= .470, p=.496) but had a significant impact on the LFF of ads
placed next to non-apparel-related articles (F(1, 49)= 8.982, p=.004*).

The LFF results indicate that ads placed next to non-apparel-related articles are noticed
earlier, whereas the TCT and NOF results show that ads placed next to apparel-related articles
are fixated on more frequently and for longer periods of time. Ads with no discount information
were noticed earlier than those with discount information (Table 2). Furthermore, the LFF
analysis results show that ads with images and text are noticed earlier when they are placed next
to apparel-related articles (M=8193.79, SD=583.59), but only slightly earlier than ads with only
images (M=8393.15, SD=552.66). In the ads placed next to non-apparel-related articles, the ads

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with only images (M=7248.84, SD=499.8) were noticed significantly earlier than the ads with
images and text (M=7985.89, SD=449.29).

Table 2 Analysis of eye movement indices under various variables

Variable TCT (ms) NOF LFF (ms)

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Content Apparel-related 163.95 43.54 8.81 2.17 8294.97 505.47

relevance Non-apparel-related 131.9 33.22 7.29 1.68 7617.37 428.58
Ad layout Images only 143.89 35.5 7.53 1.76 7822.49 430.63
Images + text 151.97 40.8 8.57 2.04 8089.84 401.88
Ad content Without discount 139.58 35.7 7.54 1.76 7497.57* 387.32
information
With discount 156.28* 40.7 8.56* 2.05 8414.77* 440.27
information

*p<.05

4.2.3 Testing hypothesis 1

The results of Experiment 1 as they correspond to our study hypotheses are shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Hypothesis testing results of Experiment 1
Hypothesis Test result Research finding

H1a Apparel banner ads with a title and product
images occupying the top 2/3rds of the ad
and text occupying the bottom third of the
ad capture more female visual attention
than the banner ads dominated by images
and only a small amount of text within the
images. (Ad layout)
Not Banner ads with the bottom
supported third containing text received
greater TCT and NOFs than
those with only images, but
the differences were not
significant.

H1b Apparel banner ads that contain
discount information are more eye-
catching to female consumers than
banner ads that do not have discount
information. (Ad content)
H1c Personalized apparel banner ads that are
placed in slots next to apparel-related
content can capture attention and visual
focus more effectively than those placed in
slots next to non-apparel-related articles
and content. (Ad Slot Position)
Partially Among banner ads placed next to
supported non-apparel-related articles, ads
containing discount information
result in significantly greater TCT
and NOFs. However, in terms of
LFF, ads without discount
information are noticed first.
Partially Although the difference is not
supported significant, it is clear from the
eye movement data that ads
placed next to apparel-related
articles are fixated on more
frequently and for longer

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periods of time.

4.3 Experiment 2: Influence of banner ad content composition (with or without

models, with or without discount information) and slot position (top-center or right
sidebar) in portal sites on attention

Experiment 2 was a within-group experimental design regarding two slots (top center, right
sidebar) on the portal site Yahoo! Taiwan  3 ad comparisons (no model/with or without
discount information, with or without model/no discount information, model/ with or without
discount information).. Table 4 shows the eye movement data resulting from the three
combinations of six ad stimuli.

Table 4 TCT and LFF data (mean) of six ad stimuli

Combination Stimuli Slot position With or without TCT(ms) LFF(ms)

Discount / model

Top-center without / without 185.12 4925.89

p1
Right sidebar with / without 89.60 9003.68
Combination 1
Top-center with / without 181.94 4111.73
p2
Right sidebar without / without 70.16 7623.86

Top-center without / without 220.38 3998.67

p3
Combination 2 Right sidebar without / with 94.80 7425.08

Top-center without / with 285.32 5081.59

p4
Right sidebar without / without 94.78 9778.38

Top-center without / with 231.56 4963.53

p5
Combination 3 Right sidebar with / with 157.18 8068.46

Top-center with / with 198.16 3394.93

p6
Right sidebar without / with 95.58 7505.08

4.3.1 Distribution of attention (TCT)

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The TCT results show that slot position exerted significant influence on the TCT of
Combination 1 (p1 and p2) (F(1, 49)= 29.893, p<.001), but discount information did not (F(1,
49)= .194, p=.662); slot position also exerted significant influence on the TCT of Combination 2
(p3 and p4) (F(1, 49)= 30.954, p<.001), but the presence of a model did not (F(1, 49)= 1.436,
p=.236), and slot position exerted significant influence on the TCT of Combination 3 (p5 and p6)
(F(1, 49)= 14.338, p<.001), but discount information did not (F(1, 49)= .212, p=.648). In the
TCT analysis, slot position wielded significant influence in all three combinations, showing that
the TCT of the top-center slot (M=217.08, SD=33.85) is significantly better than that of the right
sidebar slot (M=100.35, SD=23.97). However, a comparison of only ads in the right sidebar
revealed that having discount information as well as models gained the most attention.

4.3.2 Eye-catching effect analysis (LFF):

The ANOVA results for LFF were similar to those for TCT; slot position wielded
significant influence in all three combinations, but LFF did not vary significantly with the
presence of discount information or models. However, significant interaction effects appeared
between slot position and the presence of models (F(1, 49)= 9.273, p=.004) in the LFF results of
Combination 2 (p3 and p4) (Fig. 5). Multiple comparisons revealed that ads with no models were
noticed first when they were placed in the top-center slot. In contrast, ads with models were
noticed earlier than those without models when the ads were placed in the right sidebar (F(3,
196)= 16.592, p=.045).

Fig. 5 Distribution of LFF in ads with and without models in top-center and right sidebar slots

4.3.3 Testing hypothesis 2

The results of Experiment 2 corresponded to our study hypotheses as shown in Table 5.

Table 5 Hypothesis testing results of Experiment 2

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Hypothesis Test result Research finding

H2a Displaying a photo of a model Partially Different ad layouts only resulted in

wearing the garment in the visual
content of a banner ad has more
female visual attention than
displaying a photo showing only
the garment. (Ad content)
H2b Apparel banner ads that contain
discount information are more
eye-catching to female consumers
than banner ads that do not have
discount information. (Ad
content)
supported significantly different LFF when they
were placed in the right sidebar but did
not result in significantly different
TCT.
Not The data of the two indices showed
supported some differences, but the differences
were not significant. This means that
the presence of discount information
does not affect visual attention under
these conditions.

H2c The slot position of personalized
apparel banner ads on portal sites
(top-center and right sidebar) has
significant impact on the extent of
female consumer attention capture.
Supported The TCT and LFF indices showed
significant differences; ads placed
in the top-center slot of portal sites
are more eye-catching than those in
the right sidebar.

5. Discussion and Conclusions

5.1 Discussion
The results of experiment 1 demonstrate that placing product-based personalized banners
next to articles with high content relevance has a positive impact on attention effects. This result
supports the argument that the contextual characteristics of website slots have a positive
influence on banner ad effects (Bleier & Eisenbeiss, 2015; Goldfarb & Tucker 2011; Moore et al.
2005; Yaveroglu &Donthu, 2008); when users see that the banner content is highly associated
with the website he or she is browsing and motive congruence exists, then they will display a
greater response to the banner ad. This result is also identical to the findings derived by Bleier
and Eisenbeiss (2015) and Flores et al. (2014) in that placing personalized banners on related
websites will result in higher view through and visual appeal.
The dual-coding theory (Paivio, 1986) and the theory of visual rhetoric (Scott, 1994) both
hold that visual combinations of image elements and text can convey more concrete commercial
information, reduce cognitive gaps in marketing, and effectively influence target consumers.
Furthermore, female consumers utilize more selection mechanisms when they process digital
information (Goodrich, 2014; Richard et al., 2010). To increase internet ad CTRs and purchase
intentions among female consumers, it’s necessary to provide more rich image and text
information cues (Shaouf et al., 2016).

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The results of the first experiment showed that the total contact time (TCT) and number of
fixations (NOF) for banner ads with bottom text were predominantly on the banner ad’s image.
Even though the difference was not significant enough to support H1a, it is clear that image-text
banner layouts are able to attract the attention of female consumers. Moreover, the focus of the
discussion should be placed on the eye-catching effects as measured by LFF. The banner placed
next to apparel-related articles in an image-text layout was predicted to be able to attract
attention faster; but banners placed next to non-apparel-related articles with an image-only
layout actually attracted the attention of participants faster. This conclusion is based on the
observation that when participants were engrossed in an article about clothing and accessories,
the image-text banner layout containing plentiful content (e.g. clothing and accessory images,
product selling points, purchasing buttons) corresponded with intentions toward action and to
endogenous attention control (Bekkering & Neggers, 2002;Hannus et al., 2005). Thus, banner
ads with image-text layouts containing comprehensive product-related information correspond
with how participants view the ads in thought units (AdSense, 2017a). This means that
participants read over chunks of information on clothing and accessories in a glance, which is
what first draws the attention of the participants. When the participant is reading an article
unrelated to clothing and accessories, their mindset is divorced from thoughts of clothing and
accessories. When banner ads appear next to the article under these circumstances, capturing the
attention of the participant under exogenous attention control conditions requires sufficient
visual salience and stimulating content to grab their attention (Milosavljevica et al., 2012;
Theeuwes et al., 2000); image-only banner layouts contain less information than image-text
layouts and thus have higher visual salience than image-text layouts, making it easier for
participants to take notice of the ads as opposed to when articles are unrelated to clothing and
accessories.
Regardless of whether an ad contains only images or both images and text, ads with
discount information resulted in significantly higher TCT and NOFs than those without discount
information. This supports the view that affordable fashion consumers are very sensitive to
prices (Ferreira et al., 2016) and also demonstrates that visually enhancing the price discount
factor in the product-based personalized banner ads of online affordable fashion apparel retailers
can command greater attention from users and deepen their impression of the product (Crespo &
Garcia, 2014). However, the results of the experiment comparing banner ad content (with or
without discounts) and the experiment comparing banner layout (image-only or image-text) were
the same in that the measurements for the LFF and TCT/NOF were opposite to each other in
both experiments.; banners with no discount information, when placed next to non-apparel-
related articles, were noticed more quickly, meaning that they have greater visual salience. We
infer that when the participants were concentrating on a non-apparel-related article, the
participant lacked scenario cues corresponding to clothing and accessories, which detracted from
the saliency of sales and promotional information presented in clothing and accessory banner ads
(Barden, 2013; Elder & Krishna, 2012). This inference is based on exogenous attention control

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theory. Even though participants had already seen the style of clothing in the banner ad, the lack
of relevance to the article makes promotional information in the ad less salient. Thus, banner ads
that feature the product’s selling points via image without discount information present
information in a simpler format and are more salient than image-text layout banners that contain
promotion information. Because of this, when placed next to the non-apparel-related articles, it
was the simpler image banner format that became the location of the first fixation, because these
types of ads have better eye-catching effects. However, image-text banner layouts containing
discount information still caused higher visual attention, or a greater number of fixations (NOF).
These results differed from eye movement research by Reutskaja et al. (2011), in which the
user’s initial point of focus on the screen is also the point with the highest number of fixations.
The results of Experiment 2 showed that ads placed in central slots on the homepages of
portal sites have significantly greater visual attention effects and eye-catching effects than those in
the right sidebar regardless of the banner content combination, such as the presence of discount
information or models. This further confirms that the central tendency (Christenfeld, 1995;
Reutskaja et al., 2011) is likewise applicable to the top-center and right sidebar slots on the
homepages of portal sites.
Eye-tracking data for ads placed in the right sidebar slot on portal site webpages show that the
best visual attention effects went to banner ads that included both models and discount information.
In terms of eye-catching effects, banner ads containing models wearing the garment being
advertised were always the first to be noticed. This demonstrates that using models to display the
product is the best way to capture attention and promote visual fixation because the faces of the
models in ads have a subtle but strong effect (Tanner & Maeng, 2012). When ads feature models
wearing the advertised garments, they give scenario cues to the consumers. Such images generate
persuasiveness via mental simulation (Elder & Krishna, 2012).
The first experiment showed that participants tended to first look at the text at the center of the
screen for news sites before moving their eyes towards the banner ads on the sides. Articles with
scenario cues had a bigger impact on eye movement. For both image-text ratio and discount
information, differences in variable data were insignificant yet discernible, with possible
implications. (see table 2). In the second experiment, banner blindness among participants was
higher for banners placed on the top-center and right sidebar slots on portal site home pages,
perhaps because portal site homepages have more banner ads and images than text and thus do not
prompt participants to look anywhere in particular. Banner blindness was especially evident when
banners were placed in right sidebar slots, regardless of the content composition of the ad. The
visual attention seen in the second experiment was far lower than that of the first experiment
involving banners on news sites. The largest difference in TCT was 2.34 times, between 70.16(ms)
and 163.95(ms)
5.2 Limitations and recommendations
The two major factors that influence advertisement attention are the stimuli and the consumers
(Engel et al., 1986). The former includes the intensity, size, contrast, color, form, position,

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information content, communicated message, direction, and novelty of the ad. Due to the
complexity of the eye tracking experiment in this study, we only experimented with the position,
form, and some of the information content of the ad. The slot position of the ad exerts a significant
impact on consumer attention, whereas the form and content composition of the ad do not result in
many significant differences. We speculate that this is because too many factors influence the visual
attention effects of an ad. The attention effects of apparel ads, in particular, also involve the style of
photography, composition, tone, and the facial features and fashion style of the model. Although we
tried to minimize the differences in these factors as much as possible, we could not completely
eliminate their influence on the results. Future studies can continue to examine the influence of
other stimuli on the visual attention effects of personalized banners. The other major factor
influencing advertisement attention is the consumers. Webpage browsing and shopping habits vary
by consumer. We suggest that future studies include other research variables such as the needs,
values, and degree of involvement of the consumers to determine whether the factors related to
browsing and advertisement attention effects vary with the consumer group.
This study offers preliminary results regarding which content compositions and ad slots that
are more appealing to female consumers. However, these results are limited to visual attention. We
know that eye movement is a crucial indicator of attention and that is can reflect how individuals
process visual information. However, the indices that gauge the ultimate effects of personalized
banner are the CTR and actual conversion rates of the consumers. We currently only know how the
ads were noticed, but do not know whether the resulting attention will actually be converted into
click-throughs or purchases. If these study results could be incorporated into practice in the future,
then tested on an actual online apparel website, the browsing, clicking, and purchase data obtained
would provide more accurate results regarding the conversion of personalized banners. This would
make a greater contribution to the analysis and discussion of eye movement experiments in the e-
commerce industry and academic research.

5.3 Conclusions
This study encompasses e-commerce, personalized advertising, the processes involved in
consumer attention, and user experience. The results have practical application in industry and
communications research. Previous research regarding attention to personalized ads focused
primarily on personalized ads created via explicit data collection; this previous research suggests
that personalized ads are superior to non-personalized ads. Rather than focusing on personalized vs.
non-personalized ads, this research analyzed the correlation between eye movement and the
banner’s visual content composition (image-text ratio, discount information, use of models) and ad
slot position (content relevance, top-center or right sidebar slot on portal site), in order to find a
more effective combination of the two for capturing attention. The product-based banner ads used
in this research were designed based on the general online shopping and website browsing habits of
young female consumers. The results of this study demonstrate that personalized ads on news sites
received greater attention than those on portal sites, and ads with images and text next to articles

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about apparel were the most eye-catching. Female consumers fixated first on right sidebar ads with
a model wearing the garment, and they spent the most time looking at ads containing discount
information.
This study contributes a set of concrete procedures for designing eye-tracking experiments for
personalized banners. The data analysis in this study also offers suggestions for the type of content
and the format that will attract the most attention from female consumers. The implications of this
research and suggestions for practice are expanded below.
In past experiments on the slot position and attention of banner ads, Kuisma et al. (2010)
adopted a task-mode endogenous banner ad attention experiment, guiding participants to complete
certain reading tasks and then observing the relationship between user attention and different banner
slot positions during the tasks. In contrast, Li et al. (2016) adopted a surfer mode where participants
were required to complete certain tasks or search for certain information; the eye-tracking
experiments involved simple browsing behavior, and thus, the eye movement data presents the
capture of exogenous attention. The personalized banner ads in this study essentially require top-
down process attention. However, to simulate the user’s actual browsing behavior while they shop
online and their subsequent browsing behavior when personalized ads appear, our experiment
involved the surfer mode and bottom-up process attention control. During the first phase of the eye-
tracking experiment, the participants browsed apparel products so that they could immerse
themselves in the online shopping scenario and form an impression of the garments that would later
appear in the eye-tracking experiment. They were not given task assignments before the simple
browsing behavior experiment. Thus, this attention and eye movement experimental design is an
innovative contribution. Furthermore, the number of valid samples in this study was N=50. While
not a large sample, the participants chosen for our experiments all had experience in shopping for
apparel online, so the quality of the eye movement data are fairly credible.
Due to intense competition, online apparel retailers are placing large quantities of product-
based personalized banners to retarget customers that have seen their website but not made any
purchases. The results of this study provide valid suggestions and contributions regarding the
elements in banner ads and the positions of ad slots. The results of this study indicate that
personalized banner ads for apparel gain more attention when they are placed next to articles related
to apparel or fashion. Thus, to ensure that an ad has a chance of being noticed, it should be placed
next to apparel-related articles. For instance, many websites today are specifically designed for
female readers regarding topics that they may be interested in, such as outfit ideas, beauty, and
horoscopes. The online shopping habit survey in this study found that 65% of the participants who
browsed affordable fashion shopping websites at least once a week tended to purchase two or more
garments each time, and spent an average of USD 39.53 on each purchase. This suggests that
consumers of affordable fashion care a lot about price. As a result, ads containing discount
information tend to be more visually appealing, particularly when they are placed next to an article
that is not associated with apparel. Ads with discount information receive significantly longer
durations of fixation, which means that the viewers are more immersed and involved in the

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information. It is therefore suggested that discount information be provided regardless of where the
apparel personalized banner ad is placed so as to increase the attention given to it.
In regard to the location of ads on the homepages of portal sites, central slots have significantly
greater visual attention effects than those in the right sidebar regardless of the ad content. This is
also why central slots are generally more expensive. However, if advertisers have a limited budget
and can only consider the less expensive slots in the right sidebar, designs including models and
discount information are suggested for greater visual appeal and maximized ad investment effects.

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Acknowledgements
This research project was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology in
Taiwan; Grant No. MOST 106-2410-H-033-034-.
The author thanks Ting-Wei Tung for help in scoring the eye-tracking data.
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Highlights
 Female consumers spent the most time looking at ads containing discount
information.
 Ads with images and text next to articles about apparel were the most eye-
catching.
 Female consumers fixated first on right sidebar ads with a model wearing the
garment.
 Personalized ads on news sites received greater attention than those on portal
sites.
 Top-center ads on portal sites received more notice than those in the right
sidebar.