Mobile app development: evidences from oculometric measures

Between the plethora of different features which typifies the advertising (Ad) stimuli in the contemporary digital era and panders to creative departments’ wishes, animation and interactivity occupy a focal place in the development of advertising on mobile application (app). The project aimed at understanding the effect of animation and interactivity on attentional visual behaviour by using oculometric measures (number-of-fixation, time-to-first-fixation), by collecting eye-tracking data while subjects (n=18) were using a designed app, where ad stimuli, with different features, were randomly inserted. Animation and interactivity were considered at a dichotomous level, in terms of presence/absence, for a total of 4 different ad stimuli (static/not interactive, animated/not interactive, static/interactive and animated/interactive) We hypothesise a significant effect both for animation and interactivity, with higher number-of-fixation and shorter time-to-first-fixation. Also, we hypothesise a not significant additive effect for these two features, in line with cognitive workload theory. Results showed higher number-of-fixation for animated stimuli, confirming previous studies, where the feature was proven to be effective in dragging attention. Furthermore, no significant interaction was found between animation and interactivity, showing the lack of an additive effect. A possible explanation involves the concept of cognitive workload red line, which, once past, users might have implemented avoidance behaviours towards a too complex stimulus. According to collected data, some useful insights can be derived. Firstly, the use of animated expressions should be encouraged in order to better visually engage app users. Secondly, a too complex Ad stimulus might have negative outcomes on users’ visual exploration behaviour.