Improving Email Response in a Permission Marketing Context

Obtaining a reasonable level of response from email surveys and direct marketing via email is usually seen as notoriously difficult. This paper argues that ‘response’ is a complex concept and reports the results of an email survey in Norway into the effects on a range of response characteristics of email use patterns, perceptions about technology, campaign elements and seeking different levels of permission from potential responders. The results challenge many of the assumptions about email response characteristics.