- 19 May 2020
- Research & Ideas
Why Privacy Protection Notices Turn Off Shoppers
It seems counterintuitive, but website privacy protection notices appear to discourage shoppers from buying, according to Leslie John. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 27 Sep 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Large-Scale Demand Estimation with Search Data
Online retailers face the challenge of leveraging the rich data they collect on their websites to uncover insights about consumer behavior. This study proposes a practical and tractable model of economic behavior that can reveal helpful patterns of cross-product substitution. The model can be used to simulate optimal prices.
- 18 Sep 2017
- Research & Ideas
'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing
A decade-and-a-half after the dawn of social media marketing, brands are still learning what works and what doesn't with consumers. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 26 Jul 2017
- Cold Call Podcast
The Revolution in Advertising: From Don Draper to Big Data
The Mad Men of advertising are being replaced by data scientists and analysts. In this podcast, marketing professor John Deighton and advertising legend Sir Martin Sorrell discuss the positives and negatives of digital marketing. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 06 Mar 2017
- Research & Ideas
Why Comparing Apples to Apples Online Leads To More Fruitful Sales
The items displayed next to a product in online marketing displays may determine whether customers buy that product, according to a new study by Uma R. Karmarkar. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 13 Feb 2017
- Research & Ideas
Paid Search Ads Pay Off for Lesser-Known Restaurants
Researchers Michael Luca and Weijia Dai wanted to know if paid search ads pay off for small businesses such as restaurants. The answer: Yes, but not for long. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 08 Dec 2016
- Cold Call Podcast
How Wayfair Built a Furniture Brand from Scratch
What was once a collection of 240 home furnishing sites is now a single, successful brand, Wayfair.com. How that brand developed over time and the challenges and opportunities presented by search engine marketing are discussed by Thales Teixeira. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 17 Jun 2013
- Research & Ideas
Advertising Symbiosis: The Key to Viral Videos
Creating an online ad that goes viral requires more than mere entertainment. Thales S. Teixeira discusses the key to creating megahit marketing through "advertising symbiosis." Closed for comment; 17 Comment(s) posted.
- 15 Apr 2013
- Research & Ideas
Solving the Search vs. Display Advertising Quandary
Internet advertising was supposed to make it easier for marketers to measure the impact of their ad buys. But a basic question remains: Do search ads or do display ads create more customers on the web? Research by Professor Sunil Gupta. Closed for comment; 8 Comment(s) posted.
- 28 Feb 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
Do Display Ads Influence Search? Attribution and Dynamics in Online Advertising
The introduction of online metrics such as click through rate (CTR) and cost per acquisition (CPA) by Google and other online advertisers has made it easy for marketing managers to justify their online ad spending in comparison to the budgets used for television and other media. However, these metrics suffer from two fundamental problems: (a) they do not account for attribution, since they give credit to the last click and ignore the impact of other ad formats that may have helped a consumer move down the conversion funnel, and (b) they ignore the dynamics, since they only account for the immediate impact of ads. As firms spend more of their ad dollars on online search and display, managers and researchers alike recognize a need for more careful attribution adjustment that takes into account the journey consumers follow before conversion as well as account for the impact of ads over time. In this paper, the authors use time series models to infer the interaction between search and display ads and also capture their impact over time. Examining data from a bank that used online advertising to acquire new customers for its checking account, the authors found that display ads have a significant impact on search applications, as well as clicks. The majority of this spillover was not instant, but took effect only after two weeks. On the other hand, search advertising did not lead to an increase in display applications. However, search ads showed significant dynamic effects on search applications that made them very cost effective in the long run. Key concepts include: Classic metrics used in practice are highly biased since they do not account for the effects documented in this study. As a result, firms may be making suboptimal budget allocation decisions. Managers should carefully consider the interaction and dynamic effects of search and display advertising. In the study, revised measures of ad effectiveness lead to a very different budget allocation than the one used currently by the firm. Even though the proposed allocation gives credit to display due to its effect on search applications, the search ad budget should be increased by 36% from its current level due to its strong dynamic effects. The display ad budget should be decreased by 31%. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 09 Feb 2012
- Sharpening Your Skills
Sharpening Your Skills: Online Marketing
In this collection from our archives, Harvard Business School faculty discuss the latest research on online marketing techniques, including consumer reviews, video ads, loyalty programs, and coupon offerings. Open for comment; 6 Comment(s) posted.
- 12 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
Creating Online Ads We Want to Watch
The mere fact that an online video advertisement reaches a viewer's computer screen does not guarantee that the ad actually reaches the viewer. New experimental research by Thales S. Teixeira looks at how advertisers can effectively capture and keep viewers' attention by evoking certain emotional responses. Closed for comment; 6 Comment(s) posted.
- 27 Jul 2009
- Research & Ideas
Social Network Marketing: What Works?
Purchase decisions are influenced differently in social networks than in the brick-and-mortar world, says Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta. The key: Marketers should tap into the networking aspect of sites such as Facebook. Key concepts include: Some social network users are influenced by the purchases of their friends. Of these users, 40 percent show a strong "keeping up with the Joneses" behavior, increasing sales by 5 percent. "High-status" users are more likely to not purchase something that others have bought. On social networks, viral campaigns may work better than advertising. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 16 Aug 2006
- Research & Ideas
Is MySpace.com Your Space?
Social networking sites such as MySpace.com have demographics to die for, but PR problems with parents, police, and policymakers. Are they safe for advertisers? A Q&A with Professor John Deighton. Key concepts include: Social networking sites such as MySpace.com are emerging as powerful advertising platforms reaching millions of desirable consumers. They will be advertising rivals to established Internet sites such as Google and Yahoo. Although MySpace has been the subject of some community criticism, MySpace advertisers don't seem frightened off. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 16 May 2000
- Research & Ideas
Getting the Message: How the Internet is Changing Advertising
In the six years since the first banner ad appeared on the World Wide Web, advertising has been transformed. With powerful technologies that can track responses and target customers, the Internet offers marketers a new world of opportunities. HBS Professors Alvin J. Silk and John A. Deighton and others offer perspectives, in this article from the HBS Bulletin, on advertising in the age of the Web. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
Time and the Value of Data
This paper studies the impact of time-dependency and data perishability on a dataset's effectiveness in creating value for a business, and shows the value of data in the search engine and advertisement businesses perishes quickly.