Near-infrared spectroscopy approach for web based service marketing

Although the importance of user impressions of websites has been increasing with the growing utilization rate of the Internet, evaluations of this importance have little scientific basis. We used an optical topography device based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology in an experiment conducted with graduate students to analyze changes in oxygen level in the brain during web browsing. In the experiment, eight students browsed ten screen images from two Japanese inn and hot-spring websites while wearing the optical topography device (Hitachi ETG-4000) over the frontal and temporal lobes and then answered some questions about the websites. We conducted the experiment five times and obtained quantitative brain data and data on user impressions. As a result of data analysis, we clarified that human brain activity is relatively quiet when users viewed positive images of the inns, and we found a scientific relationship between elements of the hotel websites and user impression. Our study will contribute to the development of technology based service marketing.