Linking Clicks to Bricks: Understanding the Effects of Email Advertising on Multichannel Sales

32 Pages Posted: 9 May 2018 Last revised: 21 Nov 2023

See all articles by Mi Zhou

Mi Zhou

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business

Vibhanshu Abhishek

Carnegie Mellon University - H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management

Edward Kennedy

Carnegie Mellon University - Department of Statistics

Kannan Srinivasan

Carnegie Mellon University - David A. Tepper School of Business

Ritwik Sinha

Adobe Systems, Inc.

Abstract

Businesses have widely used email ads to directly send promotional information to consumers. While email ads serve as a convenient tool that allows firms to target consumers online, there is little evidence on their multichannel impact on consumer spending in both online and brick-and-mortar stores. In this paper, we utilize a unique high-dimensional dataset from one of the world’s largest office supplies retailers to link each consumer’s online behaviors to item-level purchase records in physical stores. We employ a doubly robust estimator that incorporates nonparametric machine learning methods for causal estimation on observational data. Our results show that email ads significantly increase the retailer’s sales across different channels. We also investigate the effects of email ads on diverse consumer behaviors along the purchase funnel and find that increased sales result from increased purchase probability and a wider variety of products purchased by consumers. Further, we examine several moderating factors such as product types and consumer segments which influence the multichannel effects of email advertising. Overall, our study provides empirical evidence for the economic impact of email ads on consumer behavior across different channels and the underlying mechanisms thereof. Our findings offer direct implications for multichannel retailers seeking to improve their digital marketing strategies, as well as for policymakers interested in evaluating the economic impact of prevalent email advertising.

Keywords: Email advertising, multichannel retail, purchase funnel, doubly robust estimator

Suggested Citation

Zhou, Mi and Abhishek, Vibhanshu and Kennedy, Edward and Srinivasan, Kannan and Sinha, Ritwik, Linking Clicks to Bricks: Understanding the Effects of Email Advertising on Multichannel Sales. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3168028 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3168028

Mi Zhou (Contact Author)

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business ( email )

2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/view/mizhou

Vibhanshu Abhishek

Carnegie Mellon University - H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management ( email )

Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
United States

Edward Kennedy

Carnegie Mellon University - Department of Statistics ( email )

Baker Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.ehkennedy.com/

Kannan Srinivasan

Carnegie Mellon University - David A. Tepper School of Business ( email )

5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
United States

Ritwik Sinha

Adobe Systems, Inc. ( email )

345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110-2704
United States

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