ovider; their account holders must bring their own ISP. The only other necessary resource is the computers already owned and used by the account holders. All Hotmail.com had to do was supply the mail servers and initiate the viral process by means of a small push to several thousand Internet users. After that it was simply a matter of waiting for the campaign to do its job.ConclusionViral marketing is a strategy that can be used by almost all e-commerce businesses. They do not necessarily have to be an Internet based service such as Hotmail.com. Any website offering a free product or service, along with the caveat that the user must be willing accept a link or offer a recommendation, is likely to increase its site traffic manifold. This is comparable to what Perreault and McCarthy (1999) describe as pulling, which is using a promotion to get customers to ask for a product. An increase in traffic, and potential customers, would be beneficial to any business....
