Viral Marketing Communication: The Internet Word-of-Mouth

Viral Marketing Communication – A study on consumer perception and response MBA Thesis ’2009
Summary of interview results for H 3
Question 3b demonstrates that respondents generally define spam e-mails as those who are
sent from unknown parties and not from their friends or family. Nearly all of them do not
open up messages from people they do not know whereas more than half of them will read e-
mails which are sent from people they know. 13 respondents also indicated their general
belief in blogs provided that it is written by people they know. Similar to our questionnaire
findings, since VMC is defined as using peer-to-peer communications, our interview results
help to support the questionnaire findings that VMC is not significantly viewed as spam and
thus H 3 is rejected.
H 4 : Consumers are more receptive to VMC which market services compared to others
which sell products
Question Main quotes from respondents Summary of findings
2d) Have you
purchased a
product that your
friend/family
recommended
“Yes, skincare”
“No, there is no real need”
“Yes, I have, quite a few times”
“No, I think product quality is very
subjective”
“No, unless I myself think that that brand
is good and worth buying or I need it”
“No, I think you should use your own
judgment for your decisions”
Five respondents said that they
have bought a product which
was recommended by others.
Others who did not said that
there was no real need or they
still depended on self judgment
for their purchasing decisions.
One respondent stressed his
view that product quality
perception is a subjective matter
and thus preferred to judge for
himself.
2e) Have you
used a service
that your
friend/family
recommended
7g) Is it more
important to
“No, I think you have to experience it
yourself”
“Yes, like hair and facials”
“Yes, only for one. It was recommendation
for a Chinese physician”
“Yes, but I base the experience on my own
judgment thereafter”
“Yes, I think service is more general and if
a friend says it‟s good, I most probably
will try it when I get the chance”
“No, I just go for services that I need”
“Trying out a service is more important to
me”
Seven respondents answered yes
to this question and some gave
examples of what services they
had used. This was more than
the number of respondents who
had purchased a recommended
product in the previous question.
For respondents who said no,
again they are of the opinion
that they prefer to experience for
themselves and decide whether
they like a service or not.
Respondents gave two general
responses to this question. Nine
Low Jiun Wee Xavier and Goh Yun Shuang Summer Page 50 of 93