Email represents an important part of the online advertising world because emails are a key factor in the online consumer-to-consumer communication. Anyone can get a free email account from email providers like Yahoo! or Google.

In the online world, turning your customers into your marketing force means having customers that will initiate and pass along positive email messages about your product or service to others. Consumers are influenced by information they receive from other consumers trough interpersonal communication like email. A person can communicate with a larger number of others, more quickly and more easily via email than many of the other channels. Passing along an email message is even easier than writing one's own comments. Furthermore, pass-along email seems particularly well-suited for the spread of images and/or verbal content that is too detailed to be spread in what has traditionally been known as word of mouth. However, email saturation and misuse (spam) have put a serious dent in response rates. Consumers are often quick to hit the delete key when they know the message is from a marketer. They are much more reluctant, however, to delete a message from a person they know.

In Online consumer psychology - Understanding and influencing consumer behavior in the virtual world, the authors separate the email users into Viral Mavens and Infrequent Senders. Viral Mavens received and sent pass-along emails frequently while Infrequent Senders are less avid about sending these emails along.

A 4 week study gathered 1,259 pass along emails from 34 people with some interesting results. Viral Mavens believe that email brings great value to their lives. They feel that they are able to pursue friendships that would not survive without email. For the most part, Infrequent Senders consider that email has changed their lives also. They feel that email has made them more productive, efficient and brought them closer to their friends and families.

A very interesting finding was the way people perceive the senders of these pass along emails. Both Viral Mavens and Infrequent Senders had positive feelings towards the senders and their sending motivations (desire to humor others, superstition, entertainment, altruistic motives and many more).

It is intriguing that the motivations attributed to senders were so positive, even though the experience of receiving pass-along emails can be negative at times. Perhaps the perception is so positive because both Viral Mavens and Infrequent Senders think that pass along emails originate from people with too much time. Some of the senders may be motivated to spread the word for use in social exchanges and to benefit family, friends and acquaintances. If the email is sent by a marketer they automatically think the message has some sort of mix between a commercial proposition and manipulation.

Another reason for perceiving pass along emails from friends and acquaintances so positive is “Someone is thinking about me!”. A message from someone you know has a touch of personal info because that someone knows you. A standard message from a marketer has no personal info because they don't know to much about you and making 100,000 custom messages takes more time and resources that a single standard one. Something like “Hey Ashley, how are the kids? I found a new perfume at the mall yesterday. Its fragrance is similar to the french perfume you bought in Paris last year and I know how much you like that perfume.” will probably generate positive feelings towards the sender. Something like “Dear Ms./Mrs. Flaminlove4mybeaver@whatever.com. Skunk Labs is proud to inform you that a new perfume has been launched yesterday. You can purchase it in all the HappySquirrel malls across the country and if you tell the shopping assistant that you've received this message and give him your email address for verification you get a $5 discount. Sincerely, Lab Skunk!” will probably generate negative feelings.

Moods and mindsets also influence the way people react to pass along emails. If they feel rushed or if they are having a bad day at work, they report frustration or annoyance. However, many people were quick to state that the negative feelings that they do experience do NOT color their perceptions of the senders.

The fact that people receive pass-along email messages does not necessarily mean that they open all of them. Both Viral Mavens and Infrequent Senders find it quite easy to distinguish pass-along emails from other types of messages by virtue of a quick scan of the email queue. If they see Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: in the subject line or if they recognize the particular sender of the email. These immediate cues of sender and subject line can quickly inform consumers that they have received a pass-along email before they even open the message.

Sender name was most commonly cited as the determinant of whether a pass along email was opened or immediately deleted. Respondents commonly open emails only if they are from somebody they know. However, knowing the source can also trigger the automatic delete decision if the sender is perceived as someone who sends too many messages or who sends low quality messages.

Aspects of the message itself also cause respondents to delete pass-along emails without opening them. For example, if the receiver recognizes the subject line and has received the message before (the number one reason for deleting emails was old content) or if the receiver sees Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: in the subject line, he may delete the message. Emails containing attachments drove deletions for two reasons: respondents suspected they carried viruses and respondents anticipated long download times. Nobody likes unrequested emails with attachments. Not even NASA!

“Please allow 10-15 business days for processing. For email inquiries, be sure to include a subject and do not include any attachments. “

They've conquered space and sent a man to the Moon but can't handle our stupid attachments of puppies and rainbows. Nobody wants to deal with attachments. Just like nobody wants to deal with gonorrhea.

Test results and conclusions

• The average pass-along email contained three generations and included the email addresses of 26 individuals throughout the message;
• The first type of pass-along email mentioned was jokes. Jokes seem to be the type that people receive most frequently, and the type that they are most apt to pass along;
• Women were 3 times more likely to receive chain letters than were men;
• Women were significantly more likely to receive games than were their male counterparts;
• Women were significantly more likely than were men to pass these messages along to others;
• Almost 23% of pass-along emails received, contained some type of attachment. Jpg files and .gif files were most common, representing almost 70% of the attachments participants received;
• Viral Mavens sent more than two and a half times as many messages as did Infrequent Senders;
• Viral Mavens were 50% more likely to forward a pass-along email that they received than were Infrequent Senders;
• People reported having been somewhat more cautious when opening emails and attachments in the aftermath of major virus attacks. This timidity, however, did not seem long lived. Email behavior was back to normal relatively soon;
• Both Viral Mavens and Infrequent Senders took action in real life as a result of receiving pass-along emails;
• Messages that spark strong emotion - either humor, fear, sadness, or inspiration - seem to be those messages that are most likely to be forwarded;
• Viral Mavens were more likely to feel a sense of social obligation and responsibility to forward messages along;
• Viral Mavens view forwarding messages as important to remaining "in the loop" and to maintaining relationships with those who send messages to them;
• Infrequent Senders are more likely to forward messages to one person at a time and follow pass-along email etiquette more stringently;
• Infrequent Senders add personalized notes to messages to motivate recipients to read the message;
• Participants did communicate much irritation at the unsolicited emails that they receive from companies. Emails that originate directly from a company and not from a known individual are viewed as spam;
• Individuals said that they did not consider information about a company junk if it came from a person that they know. They would assume that the product is of value, and that the individual passed on the information for a good reason;
• Thus, it is critical that companies carefully identify viral consumers and opinion leaders that are truly interested in the information, sending messages to as few as necessary so that the number of people who receive email direct from the company is minimized.

Some tips for good email marketing strategies

• Place the consumer at the center. Consumers will share with one another;
• Match messages to the consumer motivational bases for participating in pass-along email - appeal to their desire for fun, entertainment, escape, and, importantly, to maintain connections with others;
• Take advantage of the cultural "sweet spots" like the freedom of the open field, the close-knit community of familiar others, seizing executive privileges, and so on;
• Don't neglect the Infrequent Senders who, nonetheless, send a high portion of the pass-along emails that they receive. Seek out this group, as they may wield a bigger impact than Viral Mavens because their sending of messages is more targeted and personalized;
• Consider crafting messages that are consistent with those strains that were identified as particularly viral - jokes about work, computers, games;
• Avoid recycling old content. The number one reason for deleting emails is old content;
• Don't worry about the effects of viruses like the Love Bug virus on pass-along email. Although email volume dropped right after the infection, consumers seem resilient;
• Wondering how much control you'll have over mutations in your message? Your subject line has a good chance of being retained throughout the pass-along email chain. Make sure it's a good one!