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Influencers on Potency of Viral Exchange
Source credibility and personal relevance make a difference, but not all the difference, in getting consumers to open emails. So Peter Alexander contends in his dissertation (for his Doctorate of Philosophy in Business Administration degree from the College of Business Administration, Touro University International) "Electronic Word of Mouth Communication: Factors that Influence the Forwarding of Email Messages."
According to Alexander, source credibility increases the chances that a recipient will open a message and click on its contents, but has little impact on whether or not the message is forwarded. Incentives can motivate a "Refer-a-Friend" action, but for the demographic studied -- 18-year-old, college bound Americans -- the impulse to forward is hard-won.