The article proposes a conceptual framework that reconciles the practitioner view of engagement as central to online best practice with the scholarly view that uses other constructs to assess consumer experience. It characterizes the consumer's experiential response to website and environmental stimuli as a dynamic, tiered perceptual spectrum that includes interactivity, telepresence, and engagement. Engagement is defined as a cognitive and affective commitment to an active relationship with the brand as personified by the website. The constructs of flow and involvement are related but distinct from engagement. The article suggests future research into developing a scale for engagement and assessing its importance and utility. The Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model is used to synthesize existing research on website experience. The model views consumer experience online as consisting of three components: the website and its environment, the consumer's internal state, and the resulting brand attitudes and behaviors. The consumer's experiential response is characterized as a dynamic, tiered perceptual spectrum ranging from perceived interactivity to telepresence and finally to engagement. Perceived interactivity is defined as a psychological state experienced by a site user during interaction with the website. It is the degree to which the user perceives that the interaction or communication is two-way, controllable, and responsive to their actions. Telepresence is defined as the psychological state of 'being there' in a computer-mediated environment, augmented by focused attention. It is characterized by cognitive and sensory arousal, control, and immersion. Engagement is defined as a cognitive and affective commitment to an active relationship with the brand as personified by the website or other computer-mediated entities. It is characterized by dynamic and sustained cognitive processing and the satisficing of instrumental value (utility and relevance) and experiential value (emotional congruence with the narrative schema encountered in computer-mediated entities). Engagement is an intermediate variable between telepresence and consumer attitudes and behaviors. The article proposes that engagement is a discrete construct that can be reconciled with extant academic work. It also suggests that engagement is a sustainable intermediate variable between the website drivers of consumer experience and commercial desirable consumer attitudes and behaviors. The article concludes that engagement is not a proxy for flow, telepresence, or interactivity, but rather a distinct construct. It also suggests that future research should focus on developing an engagement scale to test the conceptual framework and associated propositions.The article proposes a conceptual framework that reconciles the practitioner view of engagement as central to online best practice with the scholarly view that uses other constructs to assess consumer experience. It characterizes the consumer's experiential response to website and environmental stimuli as a dynamic, tiered perceptual spectrum that includes interactivity, telepresence, and engagement. Engagement is defined as a cognitive and affective commitment to an active relationship with the brand as personified by the website. The constructs of flow and involvement are related but distinct from engagement. The article suggests future research into developing a scale for engagement and assessing its importance and utility. The Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model is used to synthesize existing research on website experience. The model views consumer experience online as consisting of three components: the website and its environment, the consumer's internal state, and the resulting brand attitudes and behaviors. The consumer's experiential response is characterized as a dynamic, tiered perceptual spectrum ranging from perceived interactivity to telepresence and finally to engagement. Perceived interactivity is defined as a psychological state experienced by a site user during interaction with the website. It is the degree to which the user perceives that the interaction or communication is two-way, controllable, and responsive to their actions. Telepresence is defined as the psychological state of 'being there' in a computer-mediated environment, augmented by focused attention. It is characterized by cognitive and sensory arousal, control, and immersion. Engagement is defined as a cognitive and affective commitment to an active relationship with the brand as personified by the website or other computer-mediated entities. It is characterized by dynamic and sustained cognitive processing and the satisficing of instrumental value (utility and relevance) and experiential value (emotional congruence with the narrative schema encountered in computer-mediated entities). Engagement is an intermediate variable between telepresence and consumer attitudes and behaviors. The article proposes that engagement is a discrete construct that can be reconciled with extant academic work. It also suggests that engagement is a sustainable intermediate variable between the website drivers of consumer experience and commercial desirable consumer attitudes and behaviors. The article concludes that engagement is not a proxy for flow, telepresence, or interactivity, but rather a distinct construct. It also suggests that future research should focus on developing an engagement scale to test the conceptual framework and associated propositions.