E-mail advertising: A study of consumer attitude toward e-mail advertising among Indian users

Abstract

E-mail marketing offers great opportunities for businesses. Marketing activities supported by e-mails allow companies to directly communicate with their consumers without time or location barriers. The topic of advertising via e-mails is of major interest. It addresses consumers with individualized advertising messages via e-mails. This paper discusses its relevance and investigates antecedents of consumer attitudes toward advertising via e-mails. The analysis is based on a consumer survey. For this purpose, a quota sample of 800 Internet users in India has been interviewed. The results indicate that the content and the frequency of advertising message have the largest impact on attitude toward advertising via e-mails. By understanding consumers, attitude toward advertising, designers and marketers can better strategize their advertising designs. A better understanding of interactivity can also help to improve the effectiveness of interactive media such as the Internet. A methodology for studying the factors that contribute to consumers perceptions of ads is proposed, and implications for Internet-based advertising are discussed. © 2009 Palgrave Macmillan.