Impact of humor and gender in e-mail marketing : Case DefShop GmbH
Sivén, Johanna (2015)
Sivén, Johanna
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu
2015
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015092514894
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015092514894
Tiivistelmä
This Bachelor’s thesis project was conducted for DefShop GmbH. In accordance to the commissioner’s interests towards customization of their e-mail newsletter service, a test campaign was administered in order to detect possible differences in the clicking behavior of male and female newsletter subscribers when receiving either neutral or humorous e-mails. The two test e-mails used for the campaign differed in their visual content, changing the message in either humorous or neutral direction. The click rates of both versions were examined in reference to the humor condition applied and the gender of the subject.
The hypotheses were that male subscribers would react more strongly to the humorous e-mail version, whereas female subscribers would not be affected by the amount of humor in the newsletter. Data analysis was conducted through exploratory analysis, contingency tables with Chi-Square tests, and binary logistic regression model. Hypotheses about gender variations were evaluated based on the analysis results.
The theoretical framework of the thesis consists of an overview of an analysis of the e-commerce field, online marketing, more specifically e-mail as a marketing channel, and humor in advertising context. Previous research results on the subject of observed gender-based differences in the effect of humorous advertisement, which found males to be more likely to react to humorous advertisement, while females were not affected by the humor condition, were used as a basis for the hypothesis formation.
The results of the research analysis were not entirely conclusive. Although the hypotheses were found to apply to the population at hand, no statistically inconclusive proof emerged that there would be significant interaction effect between humor and the gender. As a result, it could not be concluded that the observed differences between genders’ click-rates were directly linked to the presence of humor. As the different statistical methods yielded partly incoherent results, no statement can be made that gender would be a determining factor of click-tendency in different humor condition groups. Further research points on the subject were suggested to the commissioner based on the analysis.
The hypotheses were that male subscribers would react more strongly to the humorous e-mail version, whereas female subscribers would not be affected by the amount of humor in the newsletter. Data analysis was conducted through exploratory analysis, contingency tables with Chi-Square tests, and binary logistic regression model. Hypotheses about gender variations were evaluated based on the analysis results.
The theoretical framework of the thesis consists of an overview of an analysis of the e-commerce field, online marketing, more specifically e-mail as a marketing channel, and humor in advertising context. Previous research results on the subject of observed gender-based differences in the effect of humorous advertisement, which found males to be more likely to react to humorous advertisement, while females were not affected by the humor condition, were used as a basis for the hypothesis formation.
The results of the research analysis were not entirely conclusive. Although the hypotheses were found to apply to the population at hand, no statistically inconclusive proof emerged that there would be significant interaction effect between humor and the gender. As a result, it could not be concluded that the observed differences between genders’ click-rates were directly linked to the presence of humor. As the different statistical methods yielded partly incoherent results, no statement can be made that gender would be a determining factor of click-tendency in different humor condition groups. Further research points on the subject were suggested to the commissioner based on the analysis.