Evaluating the Impact of Email Marketing on Customer Engagement and Customer Retention in E-commerce Businesses

The study aimed to assess the impact of email marketing on customer engagement and customer retention in e-commerce businesses, grounded in the Relationship Marketing Theory, which emphasizes the critical role of engagement in establishing and maintaining long-term customer relationships. This theory suggests that trust and commitment are essential elements in fostering loyalty, and engagement serves as a key mechanism through which these elements are developed. To achieve the objectives of the study, a quantitative descriptive-correlational research design was utilized. Data were collected from respondents in Toledo City, Cebu, specifically individuals who have experienced receiving marketing emails from e-commerce businesses. The gathered data were analyzed using Spearman’s rho to examine the relationships among the key variables. This study revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between email marketing and customer engagement, indicating that well-executed email marketing strategies can effectively enhance customer interaction, attention, and involvement with the brand. The results demonstrated that customer engagement has a strong positive relationship with customer retention. The study found that the frequency of email marketing plays a vital role in influencing customer engagement. A balanced level of email frequency contributes positively to engagement, while too many or too few emails can reduce its effectiveness and potentially lead to disengagement. The timing of email delivery was also identified as a significant factor, with emails sent during evening and night hours resulting in higher levels of customer engagement. Despite these observations, the results further indicated that frequency does not significantly predict customer engagement and does not influence the relationship between email marketing and customer engagement. This suggests that while frequency is an important practical consideration in email marketing strategies, it does not directly determine the strength of the relationship between the variables in the conceptual framework.