When addressed by first name, 56% of email and 38% of Facebook recipients clicked. When not addressed by first name, 20% of email and 42.5% of Facebook recipients clicked. Respondents of the survey reported high awareness of the fact that clicking on a link can have bad consequences (78%).
However, statistical analysis showed that this was not connected to their reported clicking behavior. By far the most frequent reason for clicking was curiosity about the content of the pictures (34%), followed by the explanations that the content or context of the message fits the current life situation of the person (27%), such as actually having been at a party with unknown people last week. Moreover, 16% thought that they know the sender. The most frequent reason for not clicking was unknown sender (51%), followed by the explanation that the message does not fit the context of the user (36%).
Therefore, it should be possible to make virtually any person click on a link, as any person will be curious about something, or interested in some topic, or find the message plausible because they know the sender, or because it fits their expectations (context). Expecting from the users error-free decision making under these circumstances seems to be highly unrealistic, even if they are provided with effective awareness training.
In the long run, relying on technical in-depth defense may be a better solution, and more research and evidence is needed to determine the feasible level of defense that the non-expert users are able to achieve through security education and training.