how viral marketing affects purchase decision of generation z customers in hanoi

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS GROUP REPORT – FINAL TEST Module: Research Methodology for Economics and Business TOPIC: HOW VIRAL MARKETING AFFECTS PURCHASE DECISION OF GENERATION Z CUSTOMERS IN HANOI Instructor: Prof Pham Thi Cam Anh Credit class: KTEE206.CLC.1 Hanoi, 10 – 2022 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 2 INTRODUCTION 2.1 Research Questions 2.2 Research Objectives .5 LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1 Viral Marketing 3.2 Purchase Decision 3.3 Generation Z (Gen Z) 10 METHODOLOGY 11 4.1 Data Collection 12 4.1.1 Instruments 12 4.1.2 Participants 12 4.2 Data Analysis 13 4.2.1 Quantitative data 13 4.2.2 Qualitative data 14 4.3 Reliability & Validity 15 4.3.1 Reliability .15 4.3.2 Validity 16 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS 17 CONCLUSION 18 REFERENCES 20 1 ABSTRACT The boom of the Internet, especially social media, entails various opportunities along with obstacles for businesses in developing brand image As time goes by, more and more creative marketing methods to connect to clients have been established, and viral marketing is a typical example Viral marketing has risen in popularity for quite a while, especially among the Generation Z (Gen Z) customers With the recent widespread use of new social media platforms such as: TikTok, Reels… it has even become an indispensable tool for businesses to attract customers towards their products This research seeks to explore how viral marketing affects the purchase decision of Gen Z customers in Hanoi The study employs the mixed – method research design, including both quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously, to study the factors of viral marketing influencing Gen Z customers’ purchase decision, as well as other factors beyond personal interest For further contributions, this research aims to provide additional knowledge to the literature of viral marketing and to the still new topic relating to the Gen Z customers Also, this paper can be a basis for marketers to further study characteristics of their potential target customers, and develop suitable strategies to boost brand image through effective marketing campaigns Keywords: Viral marketing, Purchase decision, Gen Z customers, Hanoi Reason To Choose The Topic Marketing is an indispensable activity for any business and brand today It is the way to shorten the gap between businesses and potential customers While traditional marketing methods are always costly, and their effectiveness is limited, viral marketing has become one of the best methods for marketing activities of businesses today The number of businesses using viral marketing tools is rapidly increasing, the budget for it is also increasing adequately to prove the convenience and benefits that viral marketing brings to businesses as well as customers is not small Viral marketing entails various amazing benefits, which explains its fast growth in popularity in the field of marketing Additionally, viral marketing allows firms to better launch their new goods through attracting potential customers that ordinarily would not be planned by its traditional marketing methods This broadens the access to the customer base and in turn allows the company to enter new markets Furthermore, viral marketing is really cost-effective, accounting for only an amount in comparison to the traditional advertising methods Also, digital advertising is totally free when customers share their positive reviews of a company's products, creating a viral effect on the big community The internet enables messages to be widespread rapidly, thus, this absolutely triggers exponential growth In Hanoi, Generation Z is the first generation to be a complete stranger to life without the internet This socially-conscious generation is an ideal customer group for businesses, especially in terms of using viral marketing to launch new products and develop the brand image Realizing the importance of viral marketing activities affecting business performance, our group has chosen the topic "HOW VIRAL MARKETING AFFECTS PURCHASE DECISION OF GENERATION Z CUSTOMERS IN HANOI” as the topic of our thesis INTRODUCTION With the rapid development of the 4.0 industrial revolution, digital marketing has become an indispensable tool for every Vietnamese corporation in generating greater sales Specifically, the inseparable link between Vietnamese firms and viral marketing has pushed competition among different brands more than ever The appropriate utilization of viral marketing is undoubtedly beneficial for enterprises to promote personal image and brand equity, which in turn boosting their profit-making targets The previous research of Christodoulides and Chernatony (2010) suggested that online advertising is one of the most important ways to increase brand image The number of internet users in Vietnam is rather high and increasing as time goes by According to Brands Vietnam, in February 2022, approximately 73.2% of the Vietnamese population accessed the Internet Without a doubt, online advertising is a great opportunity for enterprises to better understand their customers’ needs and be able to launch effective marketing campaigns, especially through viral marketing Moreover, in a study of Sharma (2015), it is also acknowledged that viral marketing does affect brand image, and it has positive impacts on the willingness to purchase by customers In this study, we particularly focus on evaluating major impacts of viral marketing on the Gen Z customers’ purchase decision in Hanoi Nowadays, Gen Z spend much more time on online channels than previous generations, and they have the intention to change their preference quickly in accordance with the latest trends In addition, their attention spreads across different electronic devices which enables them to have broad access to all kinds of information Therefore, methods of advertising for the youngsters much differ from their predecessors Specifically, this customer group can be considered brand - switcher, and they prefer brands which reflect the existing feature of products that are linked to the recent content they encountered Also, the powerful effect of viral messages - which is the rapid transmission from one to another - can directly modify the purchase decision of Gen Z customers In Vietnam, along with the expansion of technology and the globalization process, viral marketing has been applied quite effectively over the last few years There are various typical examples of enterprises taking advantage of effective usage of viral contents to attract Gen Z target customers such as: Dien may Xanh, Nestlé or most importantly, Vinamilk It is evident that appropriate usage of viral contents is useful for a wide variety of products However, besides the successful cases, many firms are still skeptical of the effects of viral marketing, or worse, tend to misuse the online advertising tools in order to generate sales revenue As a result, this may lead to the inefficient use of viral marketing without obtaining any proper results for their profit-making process Motivated by this issue, our research initially aims to analyze the particular impacts of viral marketing on the purchase decision of Gen Z in Hanoi Firstly, we analyze Gen Z customers' responses to the viral marketing and find out the types of viral marketing that Gen Z most prefer Previous research generally focused on different features of social media has on customers Goh et al (2013), Tucker (2014) did examine the influence of specific contents, however, their findings are inconsistent In this essay, we want to clarify more clearly about the response toward the viral contents and find the types of content most favored in the context of the Gen Z customer in Hanoi After we study the preference of Gen Z customers toward viral marketing, we will be able to discuss how this affects the purchase decision of them Lastly, we explore the other factors beyond personal interest in viral content that may encourage buying decision This study is conducted from solving general to more specific and additional problems, with each step being closely linked together to meet the objectives of this paper 2.1 Research Questions The research aims to explore various questions that would form a foundation to provide a further view of how viral marketing influences Gen Z customers’ in terms of purchase decision The focused research problem is raised to analyze the factors of viral marketing, both internal and external, which affect Gen Z customers’ purchase decision Therefore, these following research questions would be solved within the analysis of this research: - How Gen Z customers in Hanoi respond to viral marketing? - What type of viral marketing that Gen Z customers prefer most? - How Gen Z customers’ preference toward viral marketing affect their purchase decision? On what level? - What are the other factors that affect Gen Z customers’ purchase decision, beside personal preference toward viral marketing? 2.2 Research Objectives This research aims to establish a causal relationship between a viral marketing campaign and the demand of Gen Z customers for the products, leading to the purchase decision This is an explanatory and exploratory study, and to address the research questions above, the detailed objectives of this study are: - To define and analyze how informative and emotional factors of viral marketing affect Gen Z customers’ purchase decision - To indicate other factors (beyond personal interest toward viral marketing) that affect purchase decision, so this can be the basis for marketers to improve the effectiveness of viral marketing campaigns LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1 Viral Marketing In the past few years, the definition of viral marketing has been constantly changing to suit the dynamic evolution of the economy Wilson (2000) stated viral marketing is all the plans stimulating people to spread contents, and generate a rapid growth like a virus According to a study of Helm (2000), viral marketing was defined as a tool for communicating and allocating online goods through digital messages sent to potential clients in their social sphere Palka et al (2009) suggests that the term ‘Viral’ is generated as a resemblance to a characteristic of virus - which is rapidly widespread in volume Until recently, marketing researchers have started to generate the new definition to suit the current situation of rapid technology development as a form of marketing uses digital platforms on the Internet to create exponential growth in content spread and access (Trivedi, 2017) Viral marketing is regarded as a powerful and modern method to advertise companies with the number of interactions on digital platforms The boom of 4.0 technology has generated a great diversity of viral marketing tools, some of the most typical ones are: social media, video websites, blogs, e-mails and so on Marketers recently concentrate on developing social media platforms due to their great dynamism to attract potential clients Without a doubt, viral marketing greatly reaches customers in great numbers and appeals them to buy the products of a brand With the definition analyzed above, various important features of viral marketing can be found Firstly, the medium serving as a bridge between sellers and their clients is through viral messages Viral content is a combination of digital messages disseminated from one to the others as the first viewer liked it and passed it later on In a research by Wang and Street (2018), an overall context through which viral messages are created can be described as follows: an enterprise wants a new product to be launched, with a view to attracting people in targeted social networks Subsequently, a group of important individuals is chosen as the beginning adopters by sending them product samples and persuading them to advertise to the others Consequently, this may generate widespread usage at the end of the dissemination process The layout and content of these messages tend to consist of text, visual media and hyperlink attached to firms’ websites These messages are obtained by the audience’s personal networking area, which means messages are not directly delivered by enterprises but instead from customers to one another Just like word-of-mouth marketing, the main characteristic of viral marketing is the widespread of viral messages through customer networks However, this does not mean that every viral message is from companies, indeed, viral messages can also be generated just from ordinary creators Secondly, viral marketing is cost - effective with flexible advertising methods which enable businesses to reach a great number of target customers Dawar (2015) states that personal messages with a rapid widespread of them through digital channels makes the viral marketing process greatly effective Also, it is noted that viral marketing is relatively cheap to advertise among customers, as well as more rapid in comparison to traditional forms Thirdly, viral marketing may build trust among customers through existing contacts As the messages are transmitted within a main group of customers with similar interests, this further creates a sense of reliability through reviews and discussion The process of developing viral marketing mainly involves the willingness of individuals to pass the messages over to others, thus, these messages are boosted through widespread online connections Viral marketing really accelerates the access of customers to new products as viral content can lead to a community sharing similar interests A typical case of a successful brand in Vietnam using viral marketing is Vinamilk In the firm’s 3H (Hero, Hub, Help) marketing strategy, under the sector ‘Hero’, Vinamilk used trendy video contents to better attract Vietnamese women online, and the company also tried to attach media publications to ensure better access from the audience However, viral marketing still entails a risk of losing control According to Helm (2000), once the content is published, firms cannot control any changes to it, therefore, it may be difficult to control their image It is stated that in some cases, the audience may not want to spread the content without obtaining any benefits from it Furthermore, viral marketing of companies may only be attractive in terms of advertising, not the brand image Therefore, it is crucial to know that the utilization of viral marketing should be appropriate and attract sufficient awareness from the public to be successful 3.2 Purchase Decision The purchase decision is the process by which consumers make decisions about transactions involving goods or services in the market The market is full of brands that offer nearly the same products with different values in order to attract consumers According to Prihanti (2019), consumers will cease exploring and assessing a product or service at the point where they are ready to make a purchase (Kotler & Keller, 2012) states that purchasing decisions are a problem-solving process consisting of analyzing needs and wants, information retrieval, resource assessment, selection of alternative purchases, purchase decisions, and post purchase behavior Suharno (2010) defines a buying decision as the point at which a customer has decided on, purchased, and consumed a product Consumers first consider their wants and preferences before making a purchasing decision Kotler & Armstrong (2015) define a purchase decision as the point in the buying process where customers actually make a purchase The process picture is predicated on the idea that customers would follow all five processes when making purchases in a certain circumstance The indicators used (Akbar & Sugiono, 2011) are as follows: - Planning a Purchase - Looking for more information on a product - According to his wishes - Confidence in buying - Adds a sense of trust - Awareness of needs Brand equity and brand image were taken into account by Dehghani and Tumer (2015) in their study on the efficacy of Facebook in determining consumers' purchase decision Consumer buying habits have evolved along with time and fashion; now, people frequently research brand quality before making a purchase As a result, they frequently watch vlogger reviews to ensure they are getting the best possible product for their needs (D Kim, 2017) Virtual brand communities on social media are encouraging customer engagement and brand trust This trust is built by the brand's users' sharing of knowledge and personal experience, which enables potential customers to put aside their reservations about the product and piques their interest in making a purchase Marketing is crucial for companies that sell goods and services that are primarily intangible and rely on reputation or experience (Taghizadeh, Taghipourian & Khazaei, 2013) Consumers significantly rely on the recommendations and advice of those who have used the service or product Antony Joe Raja V (2012) asserts that viral marketing spreads quickly using a free social networking tool and the need of including e-commerce strategy A combination of techniques (M-marketing, social networks, viral marketing, etc.), according to Patrizia Grifoni (2012), may raise awareness for a company's brand, goods, and services It is undeniable that in the fields of marketing, advertising, and sales, a buy intention typically happens at the point in the decision-making process when the customer has acquired a clear readiness to move toward a product or brand (Valacich, & Hess, 2011) This purchase intention is a crucial metric for assessing consumer behavior since it helps estimate a customer's propensity to make a purchase A buyer is more prepared to buy a goods the greater their purchasing intention Mirabi, Akbariyeh, and Tahmasebifard (2015) contends that advertisements may be the most crucial elements influencing consumers' purchasing decisions These incentives serve as the primary motivation for businesses to increase spending on marketing initiatives carried out using cutting-edge techniques in addition to more conventional methods, since both conventional marketing and viral marketing may help businesses increase their market shares The popularity of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube has given users amazing opportunities to share and spread knowledge about a certain company or product As a result, customers are now more knowledgeable and concerned with learning about the features of products before making any purchases (Ahmed & Zahid, 2014) A customer's choice to purchase a product from a brand is determined by their interactions and experiences with that brand (Stankevich, 2017) The research thoroughly examines the purchasing behavior of Generation Z consumers since consumer choices and purchases have a direct impact on brand equity and market share 3.3 Generation Z (Gen Z) There are different viewpoints of the age range that belong to Generation Z (Gen Z) świerkosz-Hołysz (2016, p 441); Wiktorowicz and Warsaw (2016, p 22); all reckoned that Gen Z were born in 1990 till later Half (2015) believed that Gen Z were born in the 1990s, while White (2017) indicated from 1993 to 2012 was the age range of birth of Gen Z However, for a better understanding of Gen Z and with the rapid development of technology, it should be noted that the group of young customers of Gen Z, people born anytime between 1995 and 2012 is considered a separated group that is rapidly gaining economic influence (Kitchen et al., 2015) Gen Z is the first generation to live in an advanced information technology time, and it is one of the most active users of social networking sites, exchanging information and conversing with their peers online on a daily basis (Kitchen et al., 2015) Generation Z also called Gen Z is defined as the ‘digital natives’, born between 1997 and 2012, who have always been highly dependent on internet, mobile systems and online networks (Fitri Ayunu, 2019, p 166; Francis & Hoefel, 2018, p 2) In general, it is obvious that this 10 generation was born in the technological era, using, depending significantly on technology in every aspect of life As mentioned above, in this day Gen Z has been broadly approached to technology As a result, they can easily get access to a large amount of information and it seems that they prefer to absorb online information rather than traditional information McCrindle (2014) stated that visual and graphic consumption rather than reading are now Gen Z’s preference Additionally, as an alternative to verbosity, messages based on symbols and images are used, as well as they prefer using Internet searches instead of books Besides, since they were born, the flow of information has been increasing continuously, with significantly more multiple sources, messages bombarding from everywhere and a high volume of products and services at disposal (Williams & Page, 2011, p 10) In fact, an average “Gen-Z consumer perceives more than 10,000 marketing messages per day and has thousands of brands to opt for in any category” (Fromm, 2018) That it is easier for Gen Z to get access to information makes Gen Z well educated about brands, and what they are concealing behind regarding marketing strategies or quality of the production for example (Francis & Hoefel, 2018, p 9) Due to the full access to a huge amount of information, they are updated and will spend time researching for the specific brand or product before making a purchase, as a result, they will rarely buy on impulse (GWI, 2022, p 50) Thus, Gen Z has been nurtured differently from the predecessors(Dimock, 2019; Dolot, 2018, p 44), which indeed influenced by the Internet with increasing sources of information, which have formed unique behaviors that require need of studying in order to understand them (Fromm, 2018) Specific characteristics of the Gen Z can be drawn and be translated as distinctive expectations as Consumers (Francis & Hoefel, 2018, p 2) As a true digital native, it is inevitable for Gen Z to spend a lot of time online absorbing enormous amounts of content: images, videos, messages (Marketing Management 4E, 2017) This overexposure has influenced their ability to focus due to the large amount of information that comes to them: Doing more than one thing at a 11 time and as result creating a low attention span (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022; Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, 2020) That is why, for this generation, brands should adopt appropriate formats of content that fit their specific attention and choose wise tactics when making content in order to gain their attention (Marketing Management 4E, 2017) METHODOLOGY The research follows both explanatory and exploratory studies Firstly, it explains the relationship between the interest in a viral marketing campaign and the consumers’ demand for the product which in turn leads to the purchase decision Besides, it explores the way viral marketing gain preference or interest from Gen Z customers The concurrent mixed – method is used in this study, which includes both quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously to gain a complete insight of how and to what extent viral marketing affects the purchase decision of Gen Z customers in Hanoi The quantitative data is the main source of information, which is the broad scope and the qualitative data will help to strengthen the findings 4.1 Data Collection 4.1.1 Instruments The survey strategy is used, through self – completed questionnaires which involve these types of questions: - Open – ended questions - Likert – type scale After creating the questionnaires using Likert – type scale and open – ended questions, the data will be collected through a Google form survey The form then will be spread electronically through both online and offline to specific groups (which will be discussed in section 4.1.2) to participants who belong to the Gen Z group in Hanoi In order to measure the quantitative data variables, a five-point Likert-type scale will be applied through big factors: Informative factor and emotional factor (1-Not at all, 2- Poorly, 3-Normally, 4-Strongly, 5-Significantly) 12 There would be open-ended questions to explore the other factors that intervene the buying process and what Gen Z expects from a viral marketing campaign 4.1.2 Participants Population: - The population of this research is youngsters in Hanoi who were born from 1995 to 2012, all genders - Reason: Gen Z is the generation who have the best digital fluency and Social empowerment with the use of various social media platforms, which are the environment of viral marketing to develop Therefore, they are the most suitable participants for this research - Population size: ~1200 Sample: - Researchers will use the quota sampling technique, to ensure the most objectivism and time optimization - The total sample is divided into groups: o Secondary school students (from 10 to 15 years old) o High school students (from 16-18 years old) o University students (19-22 years old) o After graduation students (22-27 years old) - This classification is gained from the assumption that each age group would have different attitudes, behavior and ability to purchase So that Viral marketing will have a different impact on them - Researchers calculate the quota for each group and decide the sample size We expect to have 300 responses for each group Ways to collect data: - After finish defining, the survey will be spread through ways: 13 ○ Secondary students and high school students: Researchers based on personal relationships with secondary schools in the area and giving them benefits to participate Spread by delivery and collection methods ○ University students and after graduates: Online google form through groups and personal relationships Close the form when there are enough samples 4.2 Data Analysis 4.2.1 Quantitative data - To evaluate the Likert-type scale, the collected sample will be analyzed by Social Sciences software (SPSS) by descriptive and inferential statistics Descriptive statistics - Mean score assessments: o 1.00-1.79: Very Low o 1.80 - 2.59: Low o 2.60 - 3.39: Normal o 3.40 - 4.19: High o 4.20 - 5.00: Very high - Variability assessments: o Distribution of score in different factors o Distribution of participants at each score in different factors Inferential statistics: Make estimates about the population based on the sample data - Cross tabulation and Chi-square test: o Whether the results of a crosstab are statistically significant o Example: Do Gen Z of different age groups differ in the impacts of a heart-touching content on purchase? - Paired Sample T-Test: o Compares the means of two measurements taken from the same individuals, object, or related units 14 o Example: Whether the mean of positive impacts of informative contents on 100 participants before and after exposure to that viral marketing content - Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) o Separates observed variance data into different components to use for additional tests o Example: Do the means of impacts of humorousness in viral marketing content on Gen Z's purchase decision differ among each age group (students and undergraduates for instance)? 4.2.2 Qualitative data Thematic analysis would be the method for qualitative data Thematic analysis emphasizes identifying, analyzing and interpreting patterns of meaning (or "themes") within qualitative data These data would be collected from the content of the responders’ answers 4.3 Reliability & Validity 4.3.1 Reliability Research reliability is the degree to which research methods produce stable and consistent results A measurement is considered reliable if the same result is achieved consistently by the use of similar research methods under identical conditions When considering reliability, a distinction between internal reliability and external reliability should be taken into consideration Internal reliability refers to maintaining consistency in the process of researching To achieve this, more than one researcher is involved in a research project to conduct interviews or observations and to analyze data with a view to evaluating the extent to which they agree about the data and its analysis You may utilize writing memos to promote coherence in the way you code, analyze, and interpret data, hence, ensure consistency through the stages of your research External reliability refers to whether the same results can be obtained while research is conducted by you on a different occasion or replicated by another researcher using the same data collecting methods and analytic procedures 15 The reliability of empirical research can be sabotaged by a number of factors For this reason, researchers should acknowledge these factors and take appropriate measures to reduce bias in their research, which ensures the research’s beneficial results Two main types of bias are: - Participant bias: Any factor induces an ungenuine response To be more specific, participant bias occurs when the research subjects respond in a manner suggesting they are trying to match the desirable results of the researcher This means their responses contradict how they would normally or react in similar situations - Researcher bias: Any factor which induces bias in the researcher’s recording of responses To be more specific, researcher bias is a situation in which a researcher’s viewpoint influences the result of a study claiming to be objective These threats can be avoided by implementing the following measures: - Keeping the participants’ information anonymous and confidential to avoid social desirability bias - Increasing the sample size in order to gain a variety of viewpoints and conclude unbiased data from the subjects Moreover, only necessary information is revealed to the participants - We will include only neutral questions instead of leading questions which are prominent for our surveys and questionnaires - Researcher’s retention of the hypothesis is constantly promoted by careful evaluation and team collaboration - Discussing any conflict in research interpretations together and reassess our assumptions - The research subjects will receive our data results and determine whether their perspectives are presented accurately so that we can decrease the risk of bias prior to publication efforts 4.3.2 Validity According to (M Saunders, 2018), validity is the appropriateness of the use of measurements, the precision of results analyzed and its generalizability Specifically, 16 internal validity is attributed to interference factors arisen from your research rather than errors from chosen research design Meanwhile, external validity concerns the generalization of the finding to other contexts In this paper, we concentrate on the multi-group study which is the Gen Z customers in Hanoi through questionnaires divided into four categories including: secondary students, high school students, university students, and graduates From the definitions along with our division mentioned above, the plans to minimize validity threats will be illustrated below Internal validity: - Past or recent events: A recent event may influence the respondents' perceptions about a particular problem raised in the questionnaires, which may result in incorrect answers For example, a recent scandal or a new trend of a clothing brand may affect the consumers’ opinions about the brand image and further effect on the study - Mortality: The probability of a loss of subjects Initially, our online questionnaires may be able to start with an adequate number of respondents, however some participants may withdraw from the survey In addition, some of the answers may be unusable - Selection bias: The initial groups can be uncomparable due to some possible disproportionate division External validity: - The Hawthorne effect: Some participants know that their answers are being analyzed, they may modify their actual thoughts about the questions Solutions: - Add a large sample size in case of subject loss - The use of our questionnaires can conceal the research purposes - Make a random assignment of respondents to avoid selection bias and enable comparable groups 17 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS During the course our research, we encountered various major limitations that are listed in the below lists: - Timing of study: The data may be collected in a period that was not exactly suitable for respondents for some specific reason This leads to the uncomfortableness when participants answer the questionnaire As a result, the data is unlikely to be clean - Financial Resources: During the research we need to purchase the necessary equipment for a study, to hire people for data collection, to purchase a specific statistical software or to simply reward participants with products or giveaways for having participated in the study which cost a lot of money Consequently, such limitations might be reflected in the results of the study - Data collection process: The data collected through Google Form may be dirty due to the lack of interaction compared to other methods like interview Besides that, people tend to answer Google Form in a rush because they rarely pay attention to the link given by strangers - Impact limitations: The result of the study is only used for researching the consumer’s behavior in making purchase decisions This is an inherent limit on impact in that it is so specific This limits the extendibility of the findings CONCLUSION Viral marketing has proven to be positively influential on the purchase decision of the Gen Z customers Viral marketing was reckoned to affect brand image in different ways When it comes to message content, helpful, intriguing, and informative content would generate a good impact on brand image and value, meanwhile, offensive content showed major effects on consumer purchase decisions Adequate interaction with viral contents also boosts purchase decisions among the Gen Z customers and their loyalty to the brand With the regular access viral content, loyalty can gradually be improved as customers more fancy buying advertised products Thus, it is important for Vietnamese firms to appropriately make use of viral marketing to launch effective products and boost their brand image The amazing 18 features of viral marketing stems from the circulation of transmitting information among a vast amount of audience, as well as the interaction of different customers Viral messages have amazing effects on developing brand image in the context of marketing, so marketers should concentrate on creating messages to attract buyers Each content made, of any form, should contain a specific meaning to make up the consumers’ mind and build the image of the product launched Contents received most care from the public are the ones related to emotional elements The content should not only be useful but also intriguing to attract potential clients Credibility is the key element that each message targets to obtain Two methods to build trust among consumers through viral content involve the connection and authenticity of the text In summary, viral messages should have typical features of: usefulness, humor, and creation To promote innovative advertising content, firms should accommodate it in a combination of various contexts but still ensure conciseness and clarity Furthermore, launching videos directly through visual and sound effects with meaningful content will directly affect the emotion and psychology of the audience.This is true especially to our target group - the Gen Z customers in Hanoi - most customers will be hesitant to spend time reading unpleasant ads with too many words A successful marketing campaign will undoubtedly lead to a great amount of potential customers, and this is true in the case of viral marketing The more customers become curious and want to try out the products, the more they talk about the brand, which in turn boost the brand image In order to maintain brand image, companies should always concentrate on making adequate and useful information about their goods, show the customers new, innovative, useful features to generate public interest and satisfy the desire to experience the consumers Therefore, to compete in this harsh market economy, viral messages of companies have to be constantly changed and creative, to both meet the demand of higher - quality products as well as the high competition between companies that also use viral marketing as a tool for successful marketing campaigns 19 In conclusion, before launching any products, enterprises have to thoroughly evaluate the appropriate aims and potential market This research shows the efficiency of viral marketing as a digital advertising tool The viral content is a 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- What type of viral marketing that Gen Z customers. .. MARKETING AFFECTS PURCHASE DECISION OF GENERATION Z CUSTOMERS IN HANOI? ?? as the topic of our thesis INTRODUCTION With the rapid development of the 4.0 industrial revolution, digital marketing has