Influence of Social Media and Email Marketing Strategies on Consumers Purchasing Decisions – A Study into the Chinese Electronics Industry (2015)

Email Marketing Strategies on Consumers Purchasing Decisions Dissertation – In the information age, organizations are opting for more innovative marketing strategies that are mostly internet based. Social media and email marketing strategies are among the most predominant forms of online marketing strategies at the disposal of organizations and the Chinese electronic industry is no exception. Specifically, firms in the Chinese electronic industry aim at impacting the purchasing decisions of consumers using online marketing strategies.

Through these strategies, the electronic manufacturers are able to foster and maintain high loyalty levels from their consumers by influencing their purchasing behaviour. On this basis, this research aims at identifying the impact that both social media and email marketing has on the consumer purchasing decisions. In collecting data, the researcher adopts the survey technique as the preferred research strategy; with questionnaires as the research instruments. Precisely, the researcher distributed questionnaires to users of popular social media sites and emailing services in China.

These included Qzone, Tencent Weibo, Sina Weibo, TencentQQ, Netease and Sina. Using SPSS 20, the researcher analysed the collected data using mainly mean analysis. The results indicated that social media as a more effective online marketing strategy compared with email marketing. The Chinese social media space is the largest in the world and this gives its precedence over email services in the country. Secondly, Chinese consumers in the electronic industry use social media sites to actively engage companies. Furthermore, Chinese consumers read product reviews prior to making their purchasing decisions.

This research study further establishes that email marketing does not impact on the purchasing decisions of Chinese consumers as companies do not undertake extensive email marketing campaigns. The primary aim of this dissertation is to determine the influence that both social media and email marketing have on consumer purchasing decisions. To achieve this, this research is guided by the following objectives.

• To examine influence of social media marketing strategies on consumers purchasing decisions in Chinese electronics industry
• To evaluate the influence emailing marketing strategies on consumers purchasing decisions in Chinese electronics industry
• To suggests ways through which Chinese electronics companies can harness social media and email marketing strategies to positively influence consumers purchasing decisions

• 18,000 words – 54 pages in length
• Excellent use of literature
• Excellent analysis of subject area
• Well written throughout
• Includes questionnaire
• Ideal for international marketing students

1 – Introduction
Research Background
Research Rationale
Research Aims and Objectives
Structure of the Research

2 – Literature Review
Social Media and Emailing Marketing Strategies
Consumer Purchasing Decisions
Theories on Consumer Purchasing Decisions
Behavioural Decision Theory
Customer Value Proposition
Attribution Theory
Empirical Research and Findings
Influence of Social Media Marketing on Consumer Purchasing Decisions
Influence of Emailing Marketing on Consumer Purchasing Decisions

3 – Research Methodology
Research Philosophy
Research Approach
Research Strategy
Data Collection
Sampling
Data Analysis
Reliability and Validity
Ethical Considerations

4 – Findings and Analysis
Demographics
Social Media Marketing and Consumer Purchasing Decisions
Consumers and Social Media Platforms
Impact of Social Media Marketing and Consumer Purchasing Decision
Email Marketing and Consumer Purchasing Decisions
Consumers and Email Marketing

5 – Conclusions and Recommendations
Conclusions
Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumer Purchasing Decisions
Impact of Email Marketing on Consumer Purchasing Decisions
Recommendations
Research Limitations

References

Appendix
Questionnaire