Cognitive predictors of consumers' intention to comply with social marketing email appeals

Email is used increasingly by social marketers to appeal to consumers, however, relatively little is known regarding the cognitive processes which lead consumers to comply with actions that marketers request in email messages. This exploratory study tests the direct effects of five cognitive factors that characterize the message receiver on intention to comply with an email appeal. These cognitive factors are benefit goals and cost goals related to the message, trusting beliefs in the message sender, involvement with the message, and perceived effort of complying with the appeal. We find four of the five factors are significant predictors of intention to comply, jointly explaining 70% of variance in this measure.