A study of E-mail marketing: Why do people read and forward e-mail?

Nowadays, e-mail is one of the most popular Internet applications and has become a useful marketing tool. However, e-mail marketing should be thought ineffectiveness due to the rampancy of spams. In order to explore the underlying phenomenon of e-mail marketing strategy, this study based on Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and TRA Chain to investigate what factors affect people who read and forward e-mail. Specifically, perception of receivers and e-mail subjects are hypothesized to have positive effect on attitude to read , which in turn have a significant influence on intention to read. Moreover, intention to read, e-mail content, and motivation of sharing all have positive effect on intention to forward. Web-based survey was conducted and 309 questionnaires were collected. The results reveal the good predictors to influence people who read and for-ward e-mail. Finally, gender influences one's attitude and intention toward forwarding e-mail. Further, this study provides e-mail marketing strategies and offers suggestions focused on different gender for marketing managers