JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

People are encouraged to respond swiftly to digital health invitations like vaccination prompts, but they are also encouraged to question the legitimacy of digital communications. This research focuses on an overlooked aspect of digital communication that can be leveraged to foster trust and user engagement: embedded weblinks.

Objective:

Drawing from digital communication theory and psychological science, we posited that fluent weblinks that are easy to read and transparently identify the healthcare provider will improve trust and user engagement.

Methods:

In three experiments (total N = 3,183), participants read a hypothetical email from the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) inviting them to book their COVID-19 vaccination by clicking a weblink. The control invitation included the weblink initially used by the UK's national COVID vaccination services. The control weblink is compared to a clear weblink (easy to read and easy to identify host) (Experiment 1 and 3) or to concealed weblinks: a text-embedded weblink and a shortened weblink (Experiment 2 and 3). Participants reported their trust in the invitation, their perceived readability of the weblink, who they thought the website host was, and their intention to book an appointment by clicking on the weblink.

Results:

Clear weblinks and text-embedded weblinks increased the identification of the host organization and were perceived as easier to read, which was associated with increased trust perception and booking intention. Shortened weblinks aided host identification but had a detrimental impact on perceived readability and did not increase trust perception or booking intention.

Conclusions:

Health-related digital communications should include readable weblinks with an identifiable host to foster trust and engagement. Where changing the weblink is impractical, concealing it via a text-embedded weblink is an effective alternative.