Abstract
Personalizing communication means creating persuasive messages that refer to aspects of a person's self. Although the use of personalization is increasing, research on its effectiveness is limited and the results are mixed. This study examined the persuasiveness of personalized e-mail newsletters in terms of increased attention, cognitive activity, evaluation, attitude, intention, and behavior by means of an experiment (n=109). Participants randomly received either a personalized or a generic newsletter advertising a sports center. Personalization triggered a more positive evaluation of the message; however, it did not influence the other effect variables. The effects were moderated by consumers' need for uniqueness, trust, and privacy concerns, suggesting that personalization is a good strategy to increase message evaluation only among individuals who have a high need for uniqueness.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 765-770 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Communication
- Applied Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Computer Science Applications