the effect of communicating e-service benefits on consumer e-service adoption

152 Pages·2014·1.86 MB·English

by  Pia Hellman

EKONOMI OCH SAMHÄLLE
ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY
THE EFFECT OF
COMMUNICATING
E-SERVICE BENEFITS ON
CONSUMER E-SERVICE
ADOPTION
PIA HELLMAN
Ekonomi och samhälle
Economics and Society
Skrifter utgivna vid Svenska handelshögskolan
Publications of the Hanken School of Economics
Nr 271
Pia Hellman

The Effect of Communicating E-service Benefits on
Consumer E-service Adoption

Helsinki 2014
<
The Effect of Communicating E-service Benefits on Consumer E-service Adoption
Key words: e-service adoption, e-service benefits, e-service communication,
e-mail marketing, click-through rates, login rates
© Hanken School of Economics & Pia Hellman, 2014
Pia Hellman
Hanken School of Economics
Department of Marketing
P.O. Box 479, 00101 Helsinki, Finland
RDICENVIRONMENTALLA
NO BEL
441 002
Printed matter

Hanken School of Economics

ISBN 978-952-232-231-9 (printed)
ISBN 978-952-232-232-6 (PDF)
ISSN-L 0424-7256
ISSN 0424-7256 (printed)
ISSN 2242-699X (PDF)

Edita Prima Ltd, Helsinki 2014
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Throughout the journey of creating my PhD thesis I have received guidance and
support from several persons, whom I would like to thank sincerely.
I would like to thank Professor Chanaka Jayawardhena for accepting to be my
opponent and external examinator. Your interest towards the manuscript encouraged
me during the last stages of the process. I am also grateful for the excellent job of
Professor Tommi Laukkanen who also acted as my external examinator.
My deepest thanks go to my supervisor, Professor Veronica Liljander, who has spent
much time and effort patiently reading my texts and assisted me with her great skills
and experience within the academic research process. I also wish to acknowledge the
support received from Professor Tore Strandvik who never fails in asking the tricky
questions.
During the course of my journey in digital marketing, I have encountered many people
such as Copywriter Virpi Kailento who has shared her vast experience and provided me
with a lot of ideas, which have helped me find the focus in this study. Thank you also
Sigrid Kivekäs for the language editing.
I would also like to acknowledge the financial support provided by Liikesivistysrahasto
as well as the technical support provided by Webfellows, Postiviidakko and Snoobi,
which made the experiment possible.
I also want to express my warmest thanks to my family Mika, Ellen and Kia for
endlessly tolerating the absent-minded person sitting at the kitchen table with
soundproof headphones on.
Finally, I am grateful to my parents who taught me the meaning of lifelong learning.

Espoo, 10th of May 2014

Pia Hellman
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CONTENTS
1(cid:2) INTRODUCTION....................................................................................... 1(cid:2)
1.1.(cid:2) Purpose and research questions..........................................................................4 (cid:2)
1.2.(cid:2) Delimitations .......................................................................................................4 (cid:2)
1.3.(cid:2) Contribution ........................................................................................................ 5(cid:2)
1.4.(cid:2) Research approach and methods ........................................................................6 (cid:2)
1.5.(cid:2) Structure .............................................................................................................. 7(cid:2)
2(cid:2) CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS.............................................................. 8(cid:2)
2.1.(cid:2) Adoption of e-services .........................................................................................9 (cid:2)
2.1.1.(cid:2) Adoption of technology and innovations .............................................. 10(cid:2)
2.1.2.(cid:2) Co-production and participation .......................................................... 11(cid:2)
2.1.3.(cid:2) Value in e-services................................................................................. 12(cid:2)
2.1.4.(cid:2) Consumer readiness .............................................................................. 12(cid:2)
2.2.(cid:2) E-service benefits .............................................................................................. 15(cid:2)
2.2.1.(cid:2) Time saving ........................................................................................... 16(cid:2)
2.2.2.(cid:2) Access to accurate information ............................................................. 18(cid:2)
2.2.3.(cid:2) Convenience ......................................................................................... 20(cid:2)
2.2.4.(cid:2) Monetary savings ..................................................................................2 2(cid:2)
2.2.5.(cid:2) Lack of social contact ............................................................................2 3(cid:2)
2.2.6.(cid:2) Control… ...............................................................................................24(cid:2)
2.2.7.(cid:2) Easy to use ............................................................................................. 25(cid:2)
2.3.(cid:2) Conclusions regarding e-service benefits ......................................................... 28(cid:2)
2.4.(cid:2) E-service communication ..................................................................................29(cid:2)
2.4.1.(cid:2) Online communication of services ........................................................29(cid:2)
2.4.2.(cid:2) Effect of online communication ............................................................ 31(cid:2)
2.4.3.(cid:2) E-mail marketing ..................................................................................3 3(cid:2)
2.4.4.(cid:2) Conclusions regarding e-service communication ................................. 35(cid:2)
2.5.(cid:2) Summary of conceptual framework .................................................................. 35(cid:2)
3(cid:2) METHOD ................................................................................................ 37(cid:2)
3.1.(cid:2) Choice of empirical setting ................................................................................ 37(cid:2)
3.2.(cid:2) Research design ................................................................................................. 39(cid:2)
3.2.1.(cid:2) Pilot study .............................................................................................3 9(cid:2)
3.2.2.(cid:2) Main study ........................................................................................... 40(cid:2)
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3.2.3.(cid:2) Post study ..............................................................................................42(cid:2)
4(cid:2) PILOT STUDY ......................................................................................... 43(cid:2)
4.1.(cid:2) Survey design ....................................................................................................4 3(cid:2)
4.1.1.(cid:2) Data collection and sample characteristics ...........................................4 3(cid:2)
4.1.2.(cid:2) Questionnaire design and measures .................................................... 44(cid:2)
4.2.(cid:2) Findings from the Pilot study ........................................................................... 46(cid:2)
4.2.1.(cid:2) Descriptive statistics ............................................................................. 47(cid:2)
4.2.2.(cid:2) E-service benefit measures ................................................................... 47(cid:2)
4.2.3.(cid:2) Conclusions from the Pilot study ......................................................... 50(cid:2)
5(cid:2) MAIN STUDY .......................................................................................... 51(cid:2)
5.1.(cid:2) Experiment design ............................................................................................ 51(cid:2)
5.1.1.(cid:2) Experiment treatments ......................................................................... 52(cid:2)
5.1.2.(cid:2) Wireframes ............................................................................................ 53(cid:2)
5.1.3.(cid:2) Visual elements ..................................................................................... 54(cid:2)
5.1.4.(cid:2) Copywriting ........................................................................................... 55(cid:2)
5.1.5.(cid:2) Sample…. ......... ……………………………………………………………………………55(cid:2)
5.1.6.(cid:2) Data collection ...................................................................................... 56(cid:2)
5.1.7.(cid:2) Measurement and tracking ................................................................... 57(cid:2)
5.2.(cid:2) Research hypothesis ......................................................................................... 60(cid:2)
5.3.(cid:2) Findings from the Main study ........................................................................... 61(cid:2)
5.3.1.(cid:2) Open rates ............................................................................................. 61(cid:2)
5.3.2.(cid:2) Unique click-through rate of benefits and treatments ......................... 61(cid:2)
5.3.3.(cid:2) Unique click-through rate and the number of benefits ........................ 63(cid:2)
5.3.4.(cid:2) Total click-through rate of treatments ................................................. 64(cid:2)
5.3.5.(cid:2) Unique login rate of benefits and treatments ....................................... 65(cid:2)
5.3.6.(cid:2) Unique login rate and the number of benefits in the treatments ........ 66(cid:2)
5.3.7.(cid:2) Total login rate of treatments .............................................................. 66(cid:2)
5.3.8.(cid:2) Conversion rate ..................................................................................... 67(cid:2)
5.3.9.(cid:2) Analysis of the control group and treatment group logins .................. 68(cid:2)
5.4.(cid:2) Conclusions from the Main study .....................................................................7 0(cid:2)
6(cid:2) POST STUDY .......................................................................................... 72(cid:2)
6.1.(cid:2) Survey design .................................................................................................... 72(cid:2)
6.2.(cid:2) Data collection and sample characteristics ....................................................... 72(cid:2)
6.2.1.(cid:2) Questionnaire design and measures ..................................................... 72(cid:2)
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6.3.(cid:2) Findings from the Post study ............................................................................ 76(cid:2)
6.3.1.(cid:2) Descriptive statistics ............................................................................. 76(cid:2)
6.3.2.(cid:2) Effect of e-mail communication ............................................................ 76(cid:2)
6.3.3.(cid:2) Comparison of login data between the treatments and the control
group……… ............................................................................................7 8(cid:2)
6.3.4.(cid:2) E-service benefit measures ................................................................... 79(cid:2)
6.3.5.(cid:2) Comparison of login data and perceived benefits ................................ 82(cid:2)
6.3.6.(cid:2) The effect of treatments on e-service benefit perceptions ................... 83(cid:2)
6.3.7.(cid:2) Conclusions from the Post study ......................................................... 84(cid:2)
7(cid:2) CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................... 86(cid:2)
7.1.(cid:2) Discussion of contribution ............................................................................... 86(cid:2)
7.2.(cid:2) Managerial implications ................................................................................... 90(cid:2)
7.3.(cid:2) Limitations ........................................................................................................ 91(cid:2)
7.4.(cid:2) Avenues for further research .............................................................................92(cid:2)
7.5.(cid:2) Concluding remarks ..........................................................................................9 3(cid:2)
REFERENCES ............................................................................................ 94(cid:2)
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APPENDICES

Appendix 1(cid:2) PILOT STUDY QUESTIONNAIRE ..................................................... 114(cid:2)
Appendix 2(cid:2) DESCRIPTIVE DATA FROM THE PILOT STUDY ............................ 118(cid:2)
Appendix 3(cid:2) PILOT STUDY DESCRIPTIVE DATA OF BENEFIT ITEMS .............. 121(cid:2)
Appendix 4(cid:2) PILOT STUDY PCA CORRELATIONS MATRIX ................................ 122(cid:2)
Appendix 5(cid:2) PILOT STUDY PCA ROTATED COMPONENT MATRIX .................. 123(cid:2)
Appendix 6(cid:2) PILOT STUDY PCA SCREE PLOT ...................................................... 124(cid:2)
Appendix 7(cid:2) WIREFRAMES FOR TREATMENTS T2-T7 ....................................... 125(cid:2)
Appendix 8(cid:2) MAIN STUDY EXPERIMENT E-MAIL TEXTS .................................. 128(cid:2)
Appendix 9(cid:2) PREVIEW OF E-MAIL ........................................................................ 129(cid:2)
Appendix 10(cid:2) POST STUDY QUESTIONNAIRE ....................................................... 130(cid:2)
Appendix 11(cid:2) DESCRIPTIVE DATA FROM THE POST STUDY .............................. 132(cid:2)
Appendix 12(cid:2) POST STUDY DESCRIPTIVE DATA OF BENEFIT ITEMS ............... 133(cid:2)
Appendix 13(cid:2) POST STUDY PCA CORRELATIONS MATRIX ................................. 134(cid:2)
Appendix 14(cid:2) SCREE PLOT OF THE POST STUDY PCA ......................................... 135(cid:2)
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TABLES

Table 1(cid:2) Time saving related consumer benefit dimensions .......................................... 18(cid:2)
Table 2(cid:2) Access to accurate information related consumer benefit dimensions .......... 20(cid:2)
Table 3(cid:2) Convenience related consumer benefit dimensions ........................................2 2(cid:2)
Table 4(cid:2) Monetary savings related consumer benefit dimensions ................................. 23(cid:2)
Table 5(cid:2) Lack of social contact related consumer benefit dimensions ...........................24(cid:2)
Table 6(cid:2) Control related consumer benefit dimensions ................................................. 25(cid:2)
Table 7(cid:2) Easy to use related consumer benefit dimensions .......................................... 28(cid:2)
Table 8(cid:2) Research design ................................................................................................3 9(cid:2)
Table 9(cid:2) E-service benefits ............................................................................................. 45(cid:2)
Table 10(cid:2) Rotated component matrix for three components ........................................ 49(cid:2)
Table 11(cid:2) Experiment treatments and control group ..................................................... 53(cid:2)
Table 12(cid:2) CTR measures used in the experiment ........................................................... 59(cid:2)
Table 13(cid:2) Login measures used in the experiment ......................................................... 59(cid:2)
Table 14(cid:2) E-mail open rates............................................................................................ 61(cid:2)
Table 15(cid:2) Unique CTR of benefits and treatments .........................................................62(cid:2)
Table 16(cid:2) Pairwise test of independence of unique CTR of benefits and treatments ....62(cid:2)
Table 17(cid:2) Unique CTR mean of treatments and number of benefits ............................. 63(cid:2)
Table 18(cid:2) Unique CTR of treatments and the number of benefits ................................ 64(cid:2)
Table 19(cid:2) Total CTR of treatments ................................................................................ 64(cid:2)
Table 20(cid:2) Unique login rate of benefits and treatments ................................................. 65(cid:2)
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Table 21(cid:2) Unique login rate mean and number of benefits in the treatments .............. 66(cid:2)
Table 22(cid:2) Total login rate of treatments ......................................................................... 67(cid:2)
Table 23(cid:2) Conversion rate of unique login vs. unique CTR ........................................... 68(cid:2)
Table 24(cid:2) Unique and total logins to the e-service ........................................................ 69(cid:2)
Table 25(cid:2) Pairwise tests of independence of unique login rates ................................... 69(cid:2)
Table 26(cid:2) Summary of results of unique CTR ................................................................7 0(cid:2)
Table 27(cid:2) E-service benefit constructs ........................................................................... 75(cid:2)
Table 28(cid:2) Channel preference ......................................................................................... 76(cid:2)
Table 29(cid:2) Logging/not logging into the e-service ........................................................... 77(cid:2)
Table 30(cid:2) Remember/does not remember receiving e-mails ......................................... 77(cid:2)
Table 31(cid:2) Cross-tabulation of remembering the e-mail and logins ............................... 77(cid:2)
Table 32(cid:2) Does remember/does not remember having received e-mail and
probability to use the e-service in the future .................................................. 78(cid:2)
Table 33(cid:2) Customer reported logins per treatment and control group .......................... 79(cid:2)
Table 34(cid:2) Rotated component matrix for two components .......................................... 80(cid:2)
Table 35(cid:2) Rotated component matrix for three components ......................................... 81(cid:2)
Table 36(cid:2) T-test on differences in benefit constructs of e-service login ........................ 83(cid:2)
Table 37(cid:2) One-way Anova on the effect of treatment on the perceived benefits........... 84(cid:2)