Perceived Intrusiveness of E-Mail Advertising and Its Impact on Brand Trust

Academic Paper from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,0 (dt.), 17,75/20 (fr.), University of Upper Alsace, course: Méthodologie de la recherche appliquée au consommateur, language: English, abstract: E-mail advertising has become increasingly important as marketing tool for companies as it reaches a large number of customers at relatively low costs. However, there also exist certain drawbacks of this marketing tool, notably the perceived intrusiveness by the customers linked to the e-mail advertising behavior of firms. A high degree of perceived intrusiveness risks causing negative customer responses that, in the long term, may have a negative impact on brand trust. As there is barely any research on the topic of intrusive brands, this qualitative study examines the concept of intrusiveness in case of e-mail advertising for the German market more in detail. The findings explain what kind of behavior customers perceive as intrusive; hence it helps firms to understand the problem and to adapt their e-mail advertising strategies.