IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aes/amfeco/v27y2025is19p1256.html

AI vs. Human-Written Email Marketing: Consumer Insights for Sustainable Communication

Author

Listed:
  • Carmen Acatrinei

    (Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania)

  • Claudia Maria Miu

    (Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania)

Abstract

In the context of the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence in digital marketing, practitioners face uncertainties regarding the actual effectiveness of content generated with the help of AI compared to that written by humans. This study offers a systematic comparison between email marketing campaigns created using AI (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) and those written by humans, employing an experimental design involving 364 Romanian members of Generation Z (ages 19-25). Each participant evaluated four types of content across twelve efficiency dimensions in a two-phase protocol that enabled the measurement of attitudes both before and after the disclosure of the message source. The results demonstrate the statistical superiority of messages generated with the help of AI across all evaluated dimensions, with distinct specialisations among the models: Claude excels in relationship-building dimensions (naturalness, professionalism), Gemini outperforms in conversion indicators (persuasiveness, completeness), while ChatGPT optimises communication clarity (message clarity, conciseness). The strategic disclosure of the AI source significantly increased consumer acceptance, empirically validating the theory of quality surprise: participants who perceived the quality of AI as exceeding their initial expectations showed significant improvements in attitudes toward automated communication. Theoretically, the study contributes by validating the theory of quality surprise in the context of AI-assisted communication, and practically, by developing an empirical framework for selecting AI tools based on functional specialisations, thus facilitating sustainable and transparent adoption decisions for marketing professionals

Suggested Citation

  • Carmen Acatrinei & Claudia Maria Miu, 2025. "AI vs. Human-Written Email Marketing: Consumer Insights for Sustainable Communication," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 27(S19), pages 1256-1256, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:aes:amfeco:v:27:y:2025:i:s19:p:1256
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/temp/Article_3479.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carmen Acatrinei & Ingrid Georgeta Apostol & Lucia Nicoleta Barbu & Raluca-Giorgiana Chivu (Popa) & Mihai-Cristian Orzan, 2025. "Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing: Enhancing Consumer Engagement and Supporting Sustainable Behavior Through Social and Mobile Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-16, July.
    2. Chen, Yaqi & Wang, Haizhong & Rao Hill, Sally & Li, Binglian, 2024. "Consumer attitudes toward AI-generated ads: Appeal types, self-efficacy and AI’s social role," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    3. Fred D. Davis & Richard P. Bagozzi & Paul R. Warshaw, 1989. "User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(8), pages 982-1003, August.
    4. Park, Jeongeun & Oh, Changhoon & Kim, Ha Young, 2024. "AI vs. human-generated content and accounts on Instagram: User preferences, evaluations, and ethical considerations," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Kirk, Colleen P. & Givi, Julian, 2025. "The AI-authorship effect: Understanding authenticity, moral disgust, and consumer responses to AI-generated marketing communications," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    6. Giani Ionel Gradinaru & Vasile Dinu & Catalin-Laurentiu Rotaru & Andreea Toma, 2024. "The Development of Educational Competences for Romanian Students in the Context of the Evolution of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 26(65), pages 1-14, February.
    7. Bianca-Eugenia Leoveanu-Soare & Ina Nimerenco, 2025. "Mapping Environmentally Sustainable Business: A Bibliometric Analysis," Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, in: Alina Mihaela Dima & Cristian Badarinza (ed.), Innovative Approaches in Economics, Leadership, and Technology, pages 111-124, Springer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hou, Chenxuan & Li, Tingting & Gu, Yanzhang, 2026. "Artificial intelligence versus human providers for personalized solutions? The influence of expected group size and perceived uniqueness on adoption intentions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    2. Kumar, Aman & Shankar, Amit & Hollebeek, Linda D. & Behl, Abhishek & Lim, Weng Marc, 2025. "Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) revolution: A deep dive into GenAI adoption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    3. Jung, Timothy & Koghut, Maksym & Lee, Eunseo & Kwon, Ohbyung, 2025. "Artificial creativity in luxury advertising: How trust and perceived humanness drive consumer response to AI-generated content," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Benjamin T. Hazen & Robert E. Overstreet & Yacan Wang, 2015. "Predicting Public Bicycle Adoption Using the Technology Acceptance Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Christian Arnold & Kai-Ingo Voigt, 2019. "Determinants of Industrial Internet of Things Adoption in German Manufacturing Companies," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(06), pages 1-21, October.
    6. O'Connor, Genevieve E. & Myrden, Susan & Alkire (née Nasr), Linda & Lee, Kyungwon & Köcher, Sören & Kandampully, Jay & Williams, Jerome D., 2021. "Digital Health Experience: A Regulatory Focus Perspective," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 121-136.
    7. Humphrey M. Sabi & Faith-Michael E. Uzoka & Kehbuma Langmia & Felix N. Njeh & Clive K. Tsuma, 0. "A cross-country model of contextual factors impacting cloud computing adoption at universities in sub-Saharan Africa," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-24.
    8. Pankaj Tiwari, 2021. "Electronic banking adoption in Ethiopia: an empirical investigation," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(9), pages 1-28, September.
    9. Aurélie Corne & Véronique Massot & Saida Merasli, 2023. "The determinants of the adoption of blockchain technology in the tourism sector and metaverse perspectives," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 605-633, December.
    10. Markus Blut & Cheng Wang, 2020. "Technology readiness: a meta-analysis of conceptualizations of the construct and its impact on technology usage," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 649-669, July.
    11. Marjan Shamsi & Tatiana Iakovleva & Espen Olsen & Richard P. Bagozzi, 2021. "Employees’ Work-Related Well-Being during COVID-19 Pandemic: An Integrated Perspective of Technology Acceptance Model and JD-R Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-22, November.
    12. Joel Steckel & Russell Winer & Randolph Bucklin & Benedict Dellaert & Xavier Drèze & Gerald Häubl & Sandy Jap & John Little & Tom Meyvis & Alan Montgomery & Arvind Rangaswamy, 2005. "Choice in Interactive Environments," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 309-320, December.
    13. Syed Sardar Muhammad & Bidit Lal Dey & Vishanth Weerakkody, 2018. "Analysis of Factors that Influence Customers’ Willingness to Leave Big Data Digital Footprints on Social Media: A Systematic Review of Literature," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 559-576, June.
    14. Hua (Jonathan) Ye, 2018. "Encouraging Innovations of Quality from User Innovators: An Empirical Study of Mobile Data Services," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(4), pages 423-441, December.
    15. Salvador Angosto & Jerónimo García-Fernández & Moisés Grimaldi-Puyana, 2023. "A systematic review of intention to use fitness apps (2020–2023)," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    16. Ukrit Suksanguan & Somsak Siwadamrongpong & Thanapong Champahom & Sajjakaj Jomnonkwao & Tassana Boonyoo & Vatanavongs Ratanavaraha, 2022. "Structural Equation Model of Factors Influencing the Selection of Industrial Waste Disposal Service in Cement Kilns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-19, March.
    17. Ritu Agarwal & Jayesh Prasad, 1998. "A Conceptual and Operational Definition of Personal Innovativeness in the Domain of Information Technology," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 9(2), pages 204-215, June.
    18. Xiulan Chen & Xiaofei Xu & Yenchun Jim Wu & Wei Fong Pok, 2022. "Learners’ Continuous Use Intention of Blended Learning: TAM-SET Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-14, December.
    19. Sun, Yuan & Cao, Haiyang & Tan, Barney & Shang, Rong-An, 2016. "Developing Frugal IS Innovations: Applied insights from Weqia.com," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1260-1264.
    20. Kristin Jürkenbeck & Andreas Heumann & Achim Spiller, 2019. "Sustainability Matters: Consumer Acceptance of Different Vertical Farming Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-21, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing
    • M37 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Advertising
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aes:amfeco:v:27:y:2025:i:s19:p:1256. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Valentin Dumitru (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aseeero.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.