A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Eye-Tracking Studies for Consumers' Visual Attention in Online Shopping

As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, consumer is important for corporate profitability in online shopping. Extensive research has shown that neuromarketing is essential in consumer decision-making. However, a comprehensive meta-analysis of online shopping visual presentation has not been conducted. This paper applies various eye-tracking dependent variables to investigate consumer visual attention related to four common interface design factors: brand, endorser, product, and text. From the research, it is generally demonstrated that a variety of stimuli items including goods, wines, advertisements, and brand items within every commercial domain has a positive influence. On the other hand, textual components like ingredient lists may have a potentially adverse impact. It is worthy mention that we identified the subgroup analysis involving total time of fixation (SMD=-0.020, 95%CI: [-0.079,0.039], p=0.507), fixation count (SMD=-0.032, 95%CI: [-0.109,0.045], p=0.421) and time to first fixation (SMD=0.464, 95%CI: [0.346,0.582], p=0.000). In this paper, exposure time obviously impacted fixation count (Q-value=11.637, p=0.003) and time to first fixation (Q-value=10.316, p=0.006). Meanwhile consumer satisfaction highly related to fixation count (Q=10.953, p=0.001) and time to first fixation (Q=6.540, p=0.011) were under concern. Studies contained 17 papers with a total of 1071 participants. The publication bias was reasonable and the heterogeneity mainly resulted in subgroup and moderator differences. Our reanalysis study show that, to effectively employ the visual attributes that attract consumers, could prove advantageous to enhance consumer preference during online shopping interaction. More factor and moderators related to visual attention should be concerned for neuromarketing progress. Eye trackers are utilized in various disciplines including medicine and psychology. Not only total time of fixation, fixation count, time to first fixation but also other indicators may be strongly correlated with consumer preference. In the future, eye tracking tests could potentially replace intuitive interface design methods. Other measurements such as ERPs (Event-Related Potentials), FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) could be explored for making better consumer experience.