A Relação entre a Componente Visual e a Fidelização: A Utilização de Aplicações Móveis em Smartphones

Abstract

The increasing number of smartphone users seen in recent years has also stimulated the demand for mobile applications. Even though it is recent, this market has already become quite competitive, leading to the existence of several applications performing the same functions. Thus, if at the functional level it is possible to find numerous options capable of satisfying the user's needs, brands and mobile application developers require unique attributes for their products, to differentiate them from their competitors. Human perception and tastes are influenced by the aesthetics of objects. This phenomenon is relevant for marketing, as it influences consumer perception. However, this is a very complex area with several variables. Thus, the present dissertation focuses on the visual aesthetics of mobile applications, with the purpose of studying the contribution of the visual element to the creation of a relationship between the user and the brand, leading to its retention. Therefore, in the first place, 10 applications were selected, all of them with the same main functionality - the flight search - so that the participants' evaluation was based on the visual rather than the functional component. Then, two surveys were conducted, with 20 and 50 responses collected. As a complement to the obtained data, 20 interviews were carried out, so that more detailed responses about the preferences of the participants could be gathered and also to observe their interaction with the selected mobile applications.