DOI:10.6129/CJP.202106_63(2).0004
Chinese Journal of Psychology 2021, Vol.63, No.2, 159-176

Skeuomorphic vs. Flat Design: The Style of the Call-to-Action Button and the Usage Mode affect Banner Ad Click-Through

Yu-Ming Liu and Man-Ying Wang（Department of Psychology, Soochow University）

Abstract

Recently user interface design style moves from skeuomorphic towards flat design emphasizing minimalism. The flat user interface design style, however, does not provide the affordance cues as readily as the skeuomorphic design and may also reduce visual interactions. It is not clear whether this difference may result in an effect on user clicking behavior on UI elements. Of particular interest is the usage of UI elements in web page banner ads, the estimation of ad performance and cost hinges on users’ click through behavior. Important theoretical and practical implications are expected if the click through behavior and underlying psychological processes are indeed affected by the UI design for the call the action (CTA) information in banner ads. We conducted a simulated webpage reading experiment during which the eye position was tracked. The design of the CTA button in banner ads was manipulated to explore its effect on ad click-through behavior and whether this effect was due to users’ mental simulation lengthening visual attentional deployment. The click-through rate and the total fixation duration (on ad) were both higher for ads comprising the skeuomorphic than the flat CTA buttons. Furthermore, these effects applied to the leisure viewing but not target directed viewing condition. The total fixation duration also significantly mediated the effect of UI design style. Current findings show how deep understandings of user behavior may enhance design optimization for business goal achievement.

Keywords: ad click-through, usage mode, eye movement, user experience, user interface