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Does irritation induced by charitable direct mailings reduce donations?
Abstract
Charities rely mainly on direct mailings to attract the attention of potential donors. Individuals may feel irritated by these mailings, in particular when they receive many mailings. This might harm the revenues charities receive from their mailing activities. Moreover, target selection by charities likely results in many mailings being sent to the best donors, and hence they might become most irritated. As such, irritation with direct mailings could well be endogenously determined. To ensure exogenous variation in irritation, we performed a unique controlled field experiment in cooperation with five of the largest charities in the Netherlands. Our analysis reveals that direct mailings do result in irritation, but surprisingly, this irritation affects neither stated nor actual donating behavior.
... Several studies (e.g. Andreoni et al., 2017;DellaVigna et al., 2012;G€ artner and Sandberg, 2017;Hibbert et al., 2007;Pentecost et al., 2017;Small and Verrochi, 2009;Van Diepen et al., 2009) have investigated "avoiding the ask" in conventional donation contexts through the lens of self-regulation toward the emotive or social influences of various donation requests. It is noteworthy that "avoiding the ask" also happens when donations are solicited online (Adena and Huck, 2019;Damgaard and Gravert, 2018;Zhang et al., 2020). ...
... Interestingly, certain forms of donation avoidance, which entail lower social cost than saying "no" directly to recipients or fundraisers, are developed as an alternative strategy; these include deliberately avoiding the site of a donation campaign (Andreoni et al., 2017;Pancer et al., 1979) or pretending not to be home when fundraisers knock on the door (DellaVigna et al., 2012). When fundraisers begin to rely on mass media, such as charity advertisements (Hibbert et al., 2007), or on targeted media, such as direct emails or website reminders (Damgaard and Gravert, 2018;Van Diepen et al., 2009), to reach potential donors, people can simply choose to neglect these donation requests and even block the information push service of websites in order to avoid exposure to future requests. However, the association between social media and donation avoidance remains uninvestigated. ...
... For instance, eliciting an appropriate level of empathy will stimulate people to make a donation as a way to ease their feelings of guilt aroused by the donation request (Mayo and Tinsley, 2009;Small et al., 2007;Small and Verrochi, 2009); however, if the level of empathic stimulation makes people feel that they are being emotionally manipulated by the recipient, they will choose to avoid these empathic stimulations (Andreoni et al., 2017). Social norms, which have been taken as one of the most prominent factors stimulating people to donate (Harris and Meyer, 1973), are also an essential resource for psychological pressure; however, when this pressure is excessive, it will make people avoid donating, both physically and psychologically (DellaVigna et al., 2012;G€ artner and Sandberg, 2017;Pancer et al., 1979;Van Diepen et al., 2009). Thus, the dual influences of such mechanisms of donation reactions should be subject to increased academic attention. ...
Purpose
The domain of monetary donation is evolving with the combination of professional donation platforms and social network sites (SNSs) in the agency process, potentially enhancing information communication and facilitating money transfers between donors and recipients. However, SNS donation avoidance hinders the leveraging of significant economic and social values. To address the limited understanding of the phenomenon of SNS donation avoidance, this study aims to investigate the influencing factors of people's avoidance behavior in the agency process of SNS donation.
Design/methodology/approach
A model was devised containing four process-related factors (requests overload, process ambiguity, channel security concerns and perceived distributive injustice) as antecedents of SNS donation avoidance, with probable mediating paths of negative emotions, altruistic outcome expectation and egoistic outcome expectation. Data were collected through a survey of 398 users of WeChat Moment in China. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the proposed model.
Findings
All four process-related factors have positive associations with SNS donation avoidance. Requests overload, channel security concerns and perceived distributive injustice all positively influence people's expectation of negative emotions and lead, in turn, to their SNS donation avoidance. Perceived distributive injustice also leads to SNS donation avoidance via negatively influencing people's expectations of both altruistic and egoistic outcomes.
Originality/value
Theoretically, this empirical study synthetically associates process-related factors to donation avoidance through the paths of emotional responses and rational outcome expectations. Practically, it emphasizes key factors to consider in the process management of SNS donation.
... Academic literature also suggests that, even consumers who do not use the sticker and who may have given permission to receive direct mail can be irritated under certain circumstances. Examples include too much direct mail clutter or excessive use by a firm or competing firms, such as charities (Elliott and Speck, 1998;van Diepen, Donkers, and Franses, 2009). In the digital direct mail channels, evidence suggests irritation is present for both Internet and mobile mailings, leading to avoidance behaviors (Baek and Morimoto, 2012;Morimoto and Chang, 2006). ...
... Moreover, given that consumers' familiar value is likely to increase over time, our research indicates that companies may benefit from the cumulative effects of their past direct mail communication for each additional direct mailing they send, provided they are able to ensure regularity in their communication. However, as prior research suggests, managers need to be careful to determine how much is too much, which might result in irritation or annoyance (Elliott and Speck, 1998;van Diepen et al., 2009). ...
Purpose
Store flyers and other direct mailings continue to play a significant role in many companies’ communication strategies. Research on this topic predominantly investigates driving store traffic and sales. Less is known regarding the consumer side, such as the value that consumers may derive from the consumption of direct mailings and the effects of such a value on brand relationship quality. To address this limitation, this article tests a causal model of the contribution of direct mail value to brand commitment, drawing on a value framework that integrates social theory of engagement regimes and literature on experiential customer value.
Design/methodology/approach
Our empirical work is based on a rigorous four-study mixed methods design, involving qualitative study, confirmatory factor analysis and partial least squares structural modeling.
Findings
We develop two second-order formatively designed scales – familiar value and planned value scales – that illustrate the role of engagement regimes in consumer behavior. Whereas both types of value contribute equally to direct mail attachment, they exert contrasting effects on other mediational consumer responses, such as reading and gratitude. Finally, our proposed theoretical model appears to be robust in predicting customers’ brand commitment.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides new insights into the research on consumer value and brand relational communication.
Originality/value
This study is the first to consider consumer benefits from the social perspective of engagement regimes.
... ). However, too many requests can lead to donor fatigue and reduce the likelihood of donations(Van Diepen et al., 2009). ...
This study examines existing literature on the use of online platforms in influencing social consumer behaviour, engagement, and purchase intentions, particularly in the context of non-profit sectors like second-hand fashion shops. In this regard, academic perspectives on this topic are explored. The aim is none other than to highlight the gaps in current understanding, as well as to denounce the need for more in-depth studies. To this end, the methodology used was the bibliographical technique. The results point to the fact that consumer behaviour in the fashion sector does not yet have a beneficent orientation, which is why further work needs to be done on this approach.
... Consequently, there was no hint of the construct connotation (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Another significant issue that needs to be addressed with studies that employ self-reporting data is related with the possibility of a desirability bias (Van Diepen et al., 2009). In order to address the effect of desirability bias, we employed measures that are well-known and evaluated for their structures in a large number of studies across different countries. ...
This study explores how self-efficacy responds to the challenges of inclusive education. Focusing particularly on the impact of personal and professional characteristics, the study analyzes correlations between gender, professional experience, and qualifications on teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and self-efficacy. In order to do so, the study makes comparisons between Greek and British teachers, identifying both similarities and differences when it comes to supporting disabled students in mainstream classrooms. The study concluded that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs predict their attitudes towards inclusion, and the teachers’ individual characteristics predict their self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion. Specially, teachers from Greece and the UK demonstrated statistically significant differences in their attitudes towards inclusion and in their self-efficacy beliefs. Moreover, in the UK and Greece teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs predict their attitudes towards inclusion while the teachers’ individual characteristics predict their attitudes towards inclusion and self-efficacy.
... .": "pleasant-unpleasant", "annoying-enjoyable", and "unappealing-appealing". A perception of receiving too few or too many solicitations likely affects donors' motivation to comply [49]. To measure the feeling of receiving too few or too many invitations, participants were asked: "Are you satisfied with the number of times per year that you receive an invitation to donate or are able to make an appointment to donate?", ...
Many forms of prosocial behaviour are highly institutionalized. They are facilitated by organizations that broker between donors and recipients. A highly effective tool that organizations use to elicit prosocial behaviour are solicitations for donations (e.g., of blood, time, or money). Using register and survey data on blood donations in the Netherlands, we examine to what extent compliance with these solicitations is predicted by being recruited via word of mouth (WOM) and talking about donations. Our model predicts that donors that are one unit higher on our measure of talking about donations (range = 1–4) have a 2.9 percentage points higher compliance with solicitations for donations. In addition, this association is stronger for novice donors. Our study demonstrates the social embedding of the donors’ decision-making processes about compliance. For practice, our results imply that organizations may increase their contributors’ communication about donations to increase the effectiveness of their solicitations.
... Consequently, there was no hint of the construct connotation (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Another significant issue that needs to be addressed with studies that employ self-reporting data is related with the possibility of a desirability bias (Van Diepen, Donkers, & Franses, 2009). In order to address the effect of desirability bias, we employed measures that are well-known and evaluated for their structures in a large number of studies across different countries. ...
This study explores how self-efficacy responds to the challenges of inclusive education. Focusing particularly on the impact of personal and professional characteristics, the study analyses correlations between gender, professional experience and qualifications on teachers' attitudes towards inclusion and self-efficacy. In order to do so, the study makes comparisons between Greek and British teachers, identifying both similarities and differences when it comes to supporting disabled students in mainstream classrooms. The study concluded that teachers' self-efficacy beliefs predict their attitudes towards inclusion, and the teachers' individual characteristics predict their self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion. Specially, teachers from Greece and the UK demonstrated statistically significant differences in their attitudes towards inclusion and in their self-efficacy beliefs. Moreover, in UK and Greece teachers' self-efficacy beliefs predict their attitudes towards inclusion while the teachers' individual characteristics predict their attitudes towards inclusion and self-efficacy.
... Similarly, liberals' generosity may increase when the level of information about the cause is higher. In line with previous work on solicitation formats (Fajardo et al., 2018;Van Diepen et al., 2009), providing solicited donors with information about distinct aspects appears to be counterproductive. Accordingly, as Valentinov (2011) explains, the social meaning of an NGO mostly stems from its ability to achieve an instrumental value that is unattainable through the pecuniary ceremonial behavior that is embodied in the for-profit sector (p. ...
Soliciting charitable giving is a day-to-day challenge for nonprofit organizations (NPOs); thus, scholars and practitioners are increasingly looking for reliable and practical segmentation variables that NPOs can use to optimize their communication to potential donors. The present research examines how the sociocultural dimension of a political orientation may affect their donations according to the communication framing used by an NPO. Combining secondary field data and experiments, we highlight approach–avoidance motivations as a relevant framework for NPOs in adapting their communication to the political orientation of their audience. This research contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the conditions under which liberals and conservatives may donate more. We show the efficacy of approach-based framing for liberals and avoidance-based framing for conservatives. We also point out the influence of the perceived proximity of the beneficiaries and the degree of social justice associated with the cause according to the political orientation of donors. This article provides strong insight for NPOs to segment, adapt, and improve their communication with their audience.
... respect, awe; Keltner & Haidt, 2003), but also negative (e.g. anger or irritation; van Diepen et al., 2009;Fong, 2007), and thus both motivate and demotivate helping. ...
Charitable giving, volunteering, climate-friendly choices, and most recently changing one’s lifestyle to stop the spread of the coronavirus are all examples of prosocial behavior. Prosociality can be investigated from different perspectives including the “who-question” (which people are more likely to help), and the “when-question” (which situational factors stimulate helping?), but in this article we focus primarily on the “why-question” (which emotions and cognitions motivate helping?)Specifically, this article tries to organize and synthesize literature related to emotions, thoughts, and beliefs (i.e. psychological mechanisms) that motivate or demotivate human helping behavior. To do this, we present a new typology including four overarching interrelated categories, each encompassing multiple subcategories.(1) Emotions: (a) emotional reactions elicited by the need situation such as empathic concern/sympathy, (b) positive or negative attitudes toward the beneficiary or the requester, (c) incidental mood. (2) Moral principles: (a) personal responsibility, (b) fairness-concerns, (c) aversion towards causing harm. (3) Anticipated impact: (a) self-efficacy (e.g. “can I make a difference?”) and (b) response-efficacy (e.g., “is this cause/project efficient and worthwhile?”). (4) Anticipated personal consequences: (a) material, (b) social and (c) emotional costs and benefits that the helper expects will follow if she helps or if she does not help. Increased knowledge about the “who” (e.g. individual differences in demography or personality) and “when” (situational antecedents such as characteristic of those in need, or type of solicitation) can surely help predict and even increase prosociality, but we argue that to understand the psychology of helping we need to also consider the psychological mechanisms underlying prosocial decisions (the “why-question”).We compare our typology against related theoretical frameworks, and present the pros and cons with different methodological approaches of testing psychological mechanisms of helping, with the aim to help researchers and practitioners better organize and understand the many psychological factors that influence prosocial decisions.
... Delmas and Lessem (2014, p. 366), on the other hand, report receiving an "incredible amount of positive comments" from student participants assigned to the decision observability treatment in their field experiment on energy conservation. Even though emotions were not formally measured in these studies, the evidence suggests that social influence interventions do not leave their targets' emotions unaffected (see also van Diepen et al., 2009;DellaVigna et al., 2012). ...
This paper shows that interventions based on social norms and on increasing the visibility of people's decisions to others (“decision observability”) present promising pathways of generating public support for renewable energy development. In a laboratory experiment (n = 300), we show that social norms and decision observability increase support for renewable energy, even at a financial cost to oneself: When exposed to pro-environmental social norms, participants donated 35% more money to an existing renewable energy initiative than participants in the control condition (Cohen's d = 0.35). Participants whose decisions were observable to others donated 23% more compared to control (d = 0.23). And participants exposed to both treatments (their decisions being observed by others and learning about norms) donated 69% more compared to control (d = 0.67). In addition, our treatments had a positive effect on participants' post-decisional emotions of happiness and pride, which partly alleviates existing concerns about possible adverse side-effect of social influence interventions. Suggestions for policy makers and for future research in this area are presented.
... That is, the majority of donors give because someone asked for a donation. Increasingly solicitation request might lead to ''donor fatigue'' and ''cannibalization'' among charities and reduce average giving (Donkers et al. 2017;Van Diepen et al. 2009). In order to reduce donor fatigue, nonprofits push for images of sad-faced children to attract their attention by inducing guilt and subsequently push donations. ...
This article explores the relationship between implicit (unconscious) color bias and giving by answering the research question: How does a donor’s implicit color biases affect giving to beneficiaries living in developing countries? The study draws from a fundraising survey consisting of 750 participants measuring their implicit biases using the Skin-tone Implicit Association Test (IAT) and their willingness to give along with their sociodemographic data. The findings show higher implicit color biases reduce the probability of giving a higher donation (more than $10). The results provide important new evidence about the negative relationship between implicit color bias and giving and highlight ethical concerns regarding the portrayal of beneficiaries in fundraising advertisements.
... This can be explained in the context of contact frequency irritation. Diepen et al. (2009) found higher frequency of direct mailing for charity and donations as an "irritant." Micheaux (2013) explained the concept further and proposed that heavy e-mail pressure leads to unsubscribing the e-mail. ...
Purpose-The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of page-specific factors such as page language, posting frequency and community size on online engagement in the context of social media pages of news channels in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach-For this research, official Facebook pages of news channels in Pakistan were defined as the target population. Secondary data were obtained from the Facebook pages of 28 news channels in Pakistan. For the selected period between August and September 2019, a total of 420 cases were obtained and manually entered in SPSS 21 for analysis. Tweedie estimation was run to check the proposed hypotheses. Findings-Results show that English pages are more engaging than Urdu. Additionally, posting frequency and community size have a negative relationship with online engagement. Practical implications-The findings of the study suggest that administrators of social media pages of news channels should target English news readers more than Urdu news readers. Additionally, they should manage a low posting frequency so that readers may not get irritated. Administrators should not sponsor their pages to expand community size on a single page. Instead, they may opt to build a separate page for each news category with smaller community size. Originality/value-While previous studies have discussed the post-specific factors of engagement, this study has checked the impact of page-specific factors such as page language, posting frequency and community size on online engagement.
... Since individual donors account for around 70% of annual charitable contributions (Giving USA 2019), much of the fund-raising efforts are directed towards winning the favor of individual donors (Diepen et al. 2009). To this end, charitable organizations have widely adopted emotion manipulation in their advertisements to appeal to individual donors (Randle et al. 2016;Seu and Orgad 2014). ...
Past research offers conflicting findings on whether sadness-evoking charity appeals help solicit a donation. To reconcile these findings, we introduce prospective donors’ regulatory focus as a moderator for understanding when and why sadness appeals motivate or demotivate giving. Specifically, we propose that the sense of helplessness or loss of control associated with sadness appeals increases donors’ sensitivity to advertiser’s manipulative persuasion tactics, as those tactics can threaten donors’ control over their donation decision. As a result, sadness appeals are more likely to activate persuasion knowledge among prevention- (vs. promotion-) oriented donors who tend to be vigilant against manipulative persuasion attempts. Across six main studies and two supplementary studies, we find that a prevention (vs. promotion) focus discourages charitable giving when it is solicited using a sadness appeal, whereas regulatory focus does not affect the giving when other emotion appeals (e.g., happiness appeal or guilt appeal) are used. We find that a prevention (vs. promotion) focus demotivates donation solicited by a sadness appeal because it activates persuasion knowledge that evaluates solicitor’s motive behind the sadness appeal, resulting in increased skepticism, dampened feelings of sympathy, and consequently, reduced charitable giving. However, when persuasion knowledge is deactivated (e.g., when donors’ cognitive capacity is constrained or the soliciting charity has a reliable reputation), regulatory focus no longer affects donor skepticism, sympathy, and charitable giving, even when a sadness appeal is used to call for donation.
... Sherlock, M. and Gravelle, J. (2009), "An Overview of the Nonprofit and Charitable Sector". Congressional Research Service, Report for Congress.Van Diepen, M. ,Donkers, B., and Franses, P., (2009), " Does Irritation Induced by Charitable Direct Mailings Reduce Donations ?". International Journal of Research in Marketing, 26, 180-188. ...
تهدف هذه الدراسة الى تقييم دور الجمعيات الخيرية في المملكــــــــــــــــــــة العربيــــــــة الســــــــــعوديــة وذلك من خلال التعرف على اتجاهات كل من المتبرعين للجمعيات الخيرية والمستفيدين من خدماتها وتــتـمحور تلك الاتجاهات نحو طبيعة نشاطها وأسلوب أدارتها وتمويلها ومشاكلها. كما تناولت الدراسة كذلك تأثير خصائص كل من المتبرعين والمستفيدين على اتجاهاتهم. ,ولتحقيق ذلك، تم القيام بدراسة ميدانية شارك فيها 208 من المتبرعين للجمعيات الخيرية و 223 من المستفيدين من خدماتها في داخل المملكة العربية السعودية. وقد وجدت الدراسة أن اتجاهات المتبرعين ايجابية وقوية للغاية نحو مجموعة من المتغيرات ومنها: الاهتمام بالابتكار وتطوير مشاريع خيرية جديدة تلائم مطالب المحتاجين، والبحث عن أساليب مبتكرة للحصول على المزيد من التبرعات. وكذا وجد أن اتجاهات المستفيدين ايجابية وقوية للغاية نحو مجموعة من المتغيرات ومنها: احتياج الجمعيات الخيرية إلى ابتكار وتطوير برامجها ومشاريعها الخيرية وتعزيزها ببرامج هادفة مثل برامج الأسر المنتجة ، وأن تسعى الجمعيات الخيرية إلى تحقيق الاكتفاء والاعتماد على النفس. وقد كشفت الدراسة عن تأثير خصائص كل من المتبرعين والمستفيدين على اتجاهاتهم وفقاً لاختلاف شرائح كل من العمر ، وعدد الجمعيات الخيرية التي يقدم لها الدعم ، والفترة الزمنية لبدء دعم الجمعية ، ونوع المستفيد من الخدمات ، وعدد الجمعيات الداعمة له ، وفترة الحصول على الدعم. و أوصت الدراسة بتبني سياسة "الاحتفاظ بالمتبرع مدى الحياة" وإقامة مشاريع مبتكرة ومساعدة المستفيدين لإقامة مشاريع مجزية لهم.
... Lange and Stocking (2012) look at the complementarities of giving money and giving time in a field experimental setting. Van Diepen et al. (2009b) analyze whether increasing the number of direct mailings of multiple charities effects donations. Donkers et al. (2017) study the impact of increased mailing of multiple charities, finding negative intra-charity spillovers over time but only weak short-term effects on other charities. ...
We study spatially differentiated competition between charities by partnering with two foodbanks in two neighboring cities to conduct a field experiment with roughly 350 donation appeals. We induce spatial differentiation by varying the observability of charities' location such that each donor faces a socially close 'home' and a distant 'away' charity. We find that spatially differentiated competition is characterized by sorting, crowding-in, and an absence of spill-overs: Donors sort themselves by distance; fundraising (through matching) for one charity raises checkbook giving to that charity, irrespective of distance; but checkbook giving to the unmatched charity is not affected. For lead donors, this implies that the social distance between donors and charities is of limited strategic important. For spatially differentiated charities, matching 'home' donations maximizes overall charitable income. Across both charities, however, the additional funds raised fail to cover the cost of the match, despite harnessing social identity for giving.
... While the dictators can purchase signals about the source of poverty, one third of dictators pay to learn about the recipients, and mostly exploit the information to reduce giving. Excessive appeals may reduce charitable giving because it is considered a signal of adverse selection (Van Diepen et al., 2009). In an empirical study, Diamond and Noble (2001) provide evidence that donors can develop defense mechanisms by throwing out mail solicitations as a response to frequent request. ...
... Prior research suggests that excessive direct mailings and constant reminders can irritate donors and lead to negative effects on their donating decisions, especially when competitors are using the same tactic (Diepen, Donkers, & Franses, 2009). Potential donors can be overwhelmed by charity appeals from different charity organizations (Abdy & Barclay, 2001). ...
This research investigates motivations to donate to charity among Muslims living in the UK. The research conducts in-depth interviews and explores charitable causes which Muslims support while examining the extent to which Muslims integrate religion into charitable donation behavior. Participants support a range of charitable causes – both internationally and locally that allows them to develop a sense of attachment and interdependence with others. Findings point to five ways in which religiousness manifests itself in the context of charitable behavior: role modelling, seeking rewards in the hereafter, seeking self-satisfaction, avoiding guilt and seeking congruence. The paper discusses implications for theory and for practice.
... Such concepts do have antecedents in prior mar- keting literature. For example, high levels of advertising lead- ing to diminishing marginal response (i.e., wearout) have been referred to as "saturation" and, by analogy, high- enough levels to actually worsen response (i.e., weariness) as "supersaturation" (Doyle and Saunders 1990;Van Diepen, Donkers, and Franses 2009). 2 Laboratory studies suggest that repeated ad exposures can have negative effects, such as decreased attention, comprehen- sion, and, ultimately, adverse reaction, by inducing tedium (Calder and Sternthal 1980) and negative cognitive responses (Belch 1982). ...
The global importance of online advertising calls for a detailed understanding of consumer-specific responses to online ad repetitions. A key concern for advertisers is not only whether some consumers display degrees of “wearout” but also whether they can surpass a point at which additional exposures have a negative marginal effect: “weariness.” The authors examine a large-scale advertising campaign aimed at driving viewers to a target website, which comprises more than 12,000 users across over 400 websites. These data are analyzed using a flexible discrete mixture specification that accommodates different response shapes over ad stock and timing and parcels ad viewers into response classes based on their internet usage metrics. The resulting classes display varying degrees of wearout, with one subgroup, accounting for about 24% of the sample, evincing weariness. The model also estimates differential publisher effectiveness, with the most effective publisher being nine times more effective than the one 26 places down. The authors demonstrate that the finding of weariness is robust to all the model’s main components, with one key exception: heterogeneity in users’ ad response. Analysis further suggests that an appropriate “profiling and capping” strategy can improve ad deployment by as much as 15% overall for these data.
... Lastly, given that internet crowdfunding is still a relatively new phenomenon, its longer term viability has not yet been established. The impact of donor fatigue, an effect noticed in other fundraising contexts whereby net contributions tend to drop off over time (Van Diepen et al., 2009), has yet to be established in relation to broader CCI crowdfunding, and may turn out to be significant; likewise, the impacts of previous campaigns on subsequent fundraising (Davidson and Poor, 2015). ...
... However, these strategies may be less effective than their online counterparts if they lead to donor confusion. Moreover, if multiple letters/calls are planned, the risk of annoying donors (van Diepen, Donkers, and Franses 2009) and associated increase in fundraising costs need to be considered. ...
The present research decomposes consumer donation behavior into two components – donation choice (i.e., whether to make a donation) and donation amount (i.e., how much to donate) – and then considers how information related to the donor and information related to characteristics of the soliciting organization may differentially influence the two decisions. Results from four field experiments suggest that donor-related appeals have a greater effect on the donation choice decision, while organization-related appeals have a greater effect on the donation amount decision. This might lead one to conclude that presenting both types of appeals in a solicitation is ideal. However, the studies presented herein also suggest that this strategy may backfire. The simultaneous presentation of donor- and organization-related appeals can hamper both donation response rates and average contribution amounts. To address this, the authors identify and test an alternative solicitation strategy for maximizing solicitation effectiveness. This strategy involves a multi-step request process that capitalizes on an understanding of the differential influence of donor- and organization-related information on donation choice and amount decisions.
... Previous results suggested that strategic solicitations that provide adequate charity participation opportunities significantly trigger people's donation behavior (Bryant, Jeon-Slaughter, Kang, & Tax, 2003;Simmons & Emanuele, 2004). Even though increasing solicitations leads to increased giving behavior, it also leads to "donor fatigue" (Bekkers & Wiepking, 2010, p. 9;van Diepen, Donkers, & Franses, 2009). Many scholars see a great potential in gamified solicitations for driving giving behavior in the long term. ...
This study aims to reveal insights into the charitable behavior of Chinese Millennial donors and to explicate the mechanism of donor engagement in mobile social network sites (SNS) that affects their charitable behavior. The analyses of the data collected in a random online survey of 200 Chinese Millennial donors who used WeChat (the dominant mobile SNS in China) revealed that perceived trust in a charitable organization was the most significant predictor of donations; celebrity endorsement, fun, and the gamified donation process were the least important. Mobile donations using WeChat payments were the most often utilized and the most preferred donation mode among the Millennials. WeChat payment donations were positively associated with trust in WeChat payments, diversity, and the frequency of WeChat payment use, WeChat use in general, and in seeking information about philanthropy in particular. WeChat was the most favored platform for communication and interaction with charitable organizations. Lastly, utilitarian values (i.e., useful and customized information and satisfactory account functionality) played a central role in making Millennial users stick (i.e., use continuously for various tasks) with branded or organizational WeChat public accounts. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings for donor engagement are discussed.
... To determine whether an idea can be successfully converted into a product and to predict the market performance of developed products, we incorporate these processes into a single, cohesive system and test our hypotheses with a Tobit II model. The first-stage Probit function estimates the likelihood that an idea converts into a launched product; the second-stage linear regression estimates unit sales conditional on successful idea conversion (Bucklin and Sismeiro, 2003;Van Diepen, Donkers, and Franses, 2009). Our model specifies: ...
... To determine whether an idea can be successfully converted into a product and to predict the market performance of developed products, we incorporate these processes into a single, cohesive system and test our hypotheses with a Tobit II model. The first-stage Probit function estimates the likelihood that an idea converts into a launched product; the second-stage linear regression estimates unit sales conditional on successful idea conversion (Bucklin and Sismeiro, 2003;Van Diepen, Donkers, and Franses, 2009). Our model specifies: ...
Crowdsourcing-based new product development (NPD) involves consumers in contributing ideas as ideators in the ideation phase, and providing inputs as cocreators in self-selected subtasks in the product development phase. The novelty of this NPD approach furnishes little understanding about the effect of crowds' self-select participation into ideation and development subtasks, and this study aims to bridge this gap. This article draws on the attention allocation perspective of online knowledge sharing to identify the domains of ideator expertise based on the types of development subtasks they self-selected to perform as cocreators in prior projects. It separately examines the impact of different domains of ideator expertise (marketing and engineering) and the interaction between ideators' expertise and cocreators' inputs on crowdsourcing-based NPD outcomes. Large-scale, longitudinal data from a crowdsourcing-based NPD platform reveal that ideators' engineering expertise helps convert ideas into final products more than ideators' marketing expertise. In contrast, ideators' marketing expertise helps these products achieve more sales than ideators' engineering expertise. Moreover, final products achieve more sales if ideators' marketing expertise embedded in initial product ideas is later augmented with either marketing or engineering-related development inputs by crowd cocreators. However, ideas generated by ideators with engineering expertise achieve fewer product sales when those ideas are complemented by more marketing-related development inputs by cocreators. These findings extend crowdsourcing-based NPD theory and furnish insight on managing crowdsourcing-based NPD platforms.
... Interactive marketing communication is frequently perceived as a disruption of privacy that can result in serious reactance (Diamond and Noble 2001;Van Diepen, Donkers, and Franses 2009). Similarly, the storage and use of personal information are known to trigger sustained privacy concerns of individuals (Dolnicar and Jordaan 2007). ...
Little is known about the influence of motivators that drive consumers to grant permission to be contacted via personalized communication. In this study, a framework is developed to investigate the effect of select drivers of consumers granting permission to receive personalized messages. The authors distinguish between drivers related to benefit and cost to the consumers. They identify the influence of perceived personal relevance, entertainment, and consumer information control as well as monetary incentives and lottery participation as benefit-related factors. Cost-related factors entail the registration process, privacy concerns, and perceived intrusiveness. The authors find that, except for monetary incentives and lottery participation, the identified drivers significantly influence consumers’ decision to grant permission. The strong negative influence of privacy concerns on the probability of granting permission can be lessened by two benefit-related factors, namely message content with entertainment value or personal relevance for the consumer. The study helps to improve firm measures aimed at getting more permissions – granted by customers for interactive campaigns.
... 36 For completeness, I note that some very recent work has begun to address issues closely related to the present paper. Van Diepen et al. (2009) offer some field experimental evidence on the crowding-out effects of direct mail solicitations. Borgloh investigates the impact of the German church tax on households' other charitable giving. ...
... Beyond their ability to meet these needs, charity gift cards circumvent one of the challenges charities often face, which is the tendency for donors to become irritated when they are the target of a large number of direct mailings from the charity (van Diepen, Donkers, & Franses, 2009). In comparison to the relatively "cold" lead generated from such mass mailings, charity gift cards represent more of a "warm" lead desired by charities and marketers. ...
Charities seeking to increase donations are now offering charity gift cards (CGCs), which allow recipients to select how their gift card is allocated across various charitable projects. Supporting a model derived from self-determination theory, an experiment shows that U.S. consumers are more satisfied and more likely to donate to the card-sponsoring charity after using a CGC than after learning a donation has been made in their name, because CGCs enhance consumers’ felt autonomy, competence, and relationship with the charity and its projects, which predict a more charitable self-concept and satisfaction with the gift. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
... whereas individuals do not like to receive fundraising solicitations (Diamond & Noble, 2001), irritation is plausible. Van Diepen et al. (2009a) empirically investigated this issue and found that charitable direct mails lead to irritation, but that this irritation does not affect donation behavior. As Rotschild (1979) describes, nonprofit direct mails have no clear immediate personal benefit for potential donors and instead, the persuasion results from obligation and moral standards. ...
... Empirical work on this topic tends to rely on publicly available surveys on family expenditures (Jones and Posnett 1991, Kitchen 1992), which offer detailed income and demographic data on relatively small samples of households. One example of this demographics-oriented approach is a recent study by Brown et al. (2012) Diepen et al. (2009) consider the propensity of repeated direct mailings to irritate donors and Downloaded from informs.org by [ Ryzhov, Han, and Bradi´cBradi´c: Cultivating Disaster Donors Using Data Analytics negatively impact retention, whereas experiments by Karlan and List (2007) and Karlan et al. (2011) study how donations are impacted by the promise of matching grants. Donor motivation is another important topic of research (Andreoni 2006, Schokkaert 2006), but is outside the scope of our study (and our data). ...
Nonprofit organizations use direct-mail marketing to cultivate one-time donors and convert them into recurring contributors. Cultivated donors generate much more revenue than new donors, but also lapse with time, making it important to steadily draw in new cultivations. The direct-mail budget is limited, but better-designed mailings can improve success rates without increasing costs. We propose an empirical model to analyze the effectiveness of several design approaches used in practice, based on a massive data set covering 8.6 million direct-mail communications with donors to the American Red Cross during 2009–2011. We find evidence that mailed appeals are more effective when they emphasize disaster preparedness and training efforts over post-disaster cleanup. Including small cards that affirm donors’ identity as Red Cross supporters is an effective strategy, whereas including gift items such as address labels is not. Finally, very recent acquisitions are more likely to respond to appeals that ask them to contribute an amount similar to their most recent donation, but this approach has an adverse effect on donors with a longer history. We show via simulation that a simple design strategy based on these insights has potential to improve success rates from 5.4% to 8.1%.
This paper was accepted by Serguei Netessine, operations management.
... Thus, the findings from this research provide clear evidence of the ability of brand relational communication to create relationship outcomes from the creation of consumer values. Specifically, they substantiate the findings of other studies that have reported a positive impact of printed direct mail communication on loyalty determine how much is too much, which might result in irritation or annoyance (Elliott and Speck, 1998; van Diepen et al., 2009). Additionally, we provide recommendations organized around two core themes for managers to support effective use of direct mail through the reinforcement of brand commitment. ...
Purpose
– This paper aims to investigate how direct mail consumption contributes to brand relationship quality. Store flyers and other direct mailings continue to play a significant role in many companies’ communication strategies. Research on this topic predominantly investigates driving store traffic and sales. Less is known regarding the consumer side, such as the value that consumers may derive from the consumption of direct mailings and the effects of such a value on brand relationship quality. To address this limitation, this paper tests a causal model of the contribution of direct mail value to brand commitment, drawing on a value framework that integrates social theory of engagement regimes and literature on experiential customer value.
Design/methodology/approach
– The empirical work of this paper is based on a rigorous four-study mixed methods design, involving qualitative study, confirmatory factor analysis and partial least squares structural modeling.
Findings
– The authors develop two second-order formatively designed scales – familiar value and planned value scales – that illustrate the role of engagement regimes in consumer behavior. Although both types of value contribute equally to direct mail attachment, they exert contrasting effects on other mediational consumer responses, such as reading and gratitude. Finally, the proposed theoretical model appears to be robust in predicting customers’ brand commitment.
Research limitations/implications
– This study provides new insights into the research on consumer value and brand relational communication.
Originality/value
– This study is the first to consider consumer benefits from the social perspective of engagement regimes.
... It shows that the majority of donations occur as a response to a solicitation, and that the way the potential donors are solicited determines whether the solicitation is effective [38]. Much of this research has explored the impact of the number of solicitations businesses receive [49][50][51], the causes of "donor fatigue" [52], and the effectiveness of direct (a personal request) vs. indirect (a letter) solicitation [38]. Examining the various ways that food redistribution organisations approach and solicit food businesses to donate their surplus food will be interesting to determine whether solicitations for surplus food differ to solicitations for money. ...
As global concern about sustainability, food waste, and poverty increases, there is an urgent need to understand what motivates businesses to adopt pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours. This paper suggests that food redistribution organisations hold both pro-social and pro-environmental aims, due to their concern with reducing food surplus and food insecurity. To achieve this, they must motivate food businesses to donate their surplus food. However, little is known about the values, attitudes, and motives of food industry donors. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical and conceptual overview to set out principles from which empirical data on food redistribution will be analysed or critiqued. Specifically, it explores pro-social and pro-environmental literature, as these fields have examined the motivations behind donations and reducing environmental impact. This review highlights that charitable giving of food is different to other inorganic material, such as money. Thus, future research is needed to capture the unique temporal, emotional, social, and environmental factors that motivate food donations. This information may contribute to the development of strategies that target and motivate people from the food industry to become food donors. Alternatively, it may reveal concerns about food donations, and highlight the need for other approaches to food waste and food insecurity.
This theoretical article summarizes the various psychological and motivational processes that underlie prosocial decision-making. To this aim, we propose a novel way to organize and synthesize research related to emotions, thoughts, and beliefs (i.e., psychological mechanisms) that motivate or demotivate human prosociality. This is done with a new typology including four overarching interrelated categories, each encompassing multiple subcategories: (a) emotions; (b) moral principles; (c) anticipated impact; and (d) anticipated personal consequences. We highlight differences and commonalities to other influential frameworks and showcase how the proposed typology can help researchers and practitioners better differentiate and understand the diverse psychological mechanisms that underlie human prosociality.
Customer misbehavior poses a major risk in the sharing economy. For example, property damage to shared accommodations imposes burdens on both sharing platforms and hosts, especially if misbehaving guests purposefully, not coincidentally conceal, or fail to report damages. Such misbehavior might be facilitated by remote listing management and the lack of face-to-face interactions between hosts and guests. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of host–guest interaction modes (face-to-face, online-only) and frequency on guests’ misbehavior concealment intentions. Social identification and irritation emerged as bright- and dark side mediators, respectively. Guests who interacted face-to-face (vs. online-only) with hosts exhibited weaker intentions to conceal their misbehavior due to increased social identification. Platforms can elicit social identification by engaging guests in virtual communities. However, when face-to-face interactions become excessive, guests experience irritation and are more likely to conceal their misbehavior. These insights offer practical implications for both peer-to-peer sharing platforms and hosts.
Much of the extant scholarship in supply chain management (SCM) has had a developed world focus, although most of the global population resides outside this area. SCM scholars are now recognizing this limitation in the coverage of our communities' research. They have recognized that the logistical challenges of getting products to these underserved markets at the bottom of the economic pyramid (BOP) may be fundamentally different from the “big box” mindset that prevails in the west. There is growing recognition that supply chain entrepreneurship is critical to the logistics and physical distribution systems that can get products to such markets in a cost‐effective manner. Yet, such entrepreneurs, who are often small, and weakly integrated into the global economy, face several challenges in their daily business. Many of them rely on microfinance to fund their business. Yet, the microfinance model itself is changing into a web‐supported crowdfunded model. The current study investigates how an entrepreneur's circumstances with regard to their borrowing status as a first‐time borrower, and their intent with regard to business expansion influence their success in fundraising on a crowdfunding platform. Results reveal that BOP entrepreneurs who are “repeat borrowers” have difficulty in obtaining funding for their business plans.
Finding mechanisms to promote prosocial spending behavior is fundamental to the well-being of our societies and is more urgent than ever in a time of key global challenges, including social and economic inequalities. Tax payment and charitable giving can be seen as two complementary ways to financially provide for the common good and, like many other social dilemmas, they both involve a conflict between what is good for oneself and what is good for others. The aim of the present article is to perform a comparative analysis of the main determinants of tax behavior and charitable giving to identify some common antecedents to gain insight to promote pro-social financial decisions at large. Despite the intrinsic differences, several commonalities were found, thus suggesting a transcending common core. By identifying well-established literature and under-investigated areas, a new research agenda is formulated.
La révolution digitale a redessiné le paysage associatif et a dynamisé la créativité des associations faisant appel à la générosité publique. Aujourd’hui, se diriger vers le digital et organiser des campagnes de collecte de dons en ligne est devenue un ingrédient clé pour financer les actions et les projets des associations par une population d’E.-donateurs souvent sous-estimée, mais dont la contribution est décisive. Cet article a pour objectif de dresser un état des lieux sur les nouvelles modalités d’engagement portées par la transformation digitale et mises en place par les associations en vue de solliciter et stimuler les dons. L’accent sera mis sur la collecte des dons en ligne et sa place dans la création d’une dynamique solidaire au service des projets associatifs. Pour mieux comprendre ce phénomène grâce à la réalité vécue et racontée par ces acteurs, nous avons choisi de mener notre étude terrain auprès d’une association marocaine. Plus concrètement, notre démarche méthodologique, qui s’apparente à une approche qualitative exploratoire à cas unique a pour objectif de cerner l’apport et la contribution de la digitalisation de la collecte des dons dans le fonctionnement de l’association et la réalisation de ses projets et actions solidaires tout en mettant en avant les difficultés rencontrées pour accéder au digital et bénéficier de ses potentialités ainsi que les défis à relever.
Donor behavior and the act of charity have attracted evident attention globally in recent years primarily because of squeezed government funding to charities and Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs) post 2008 financial meltdown. This paper reviewed 148 articles on charity donor behavior and giving behavior, and provides a coherent and contemporary view with a classification scheme having various categories based on different attributes. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it covers a systematic literature review (SLR) of charity donor behavior and its drivers. Second, it identifies the gaps in the current body of knowledge and highlights the future research direction. Using SLR Method, the present research identifies, meticulously evaluates, critically analyzes, and synthesizes findings of the relevant studies published in international journals in the fields of consumer behavior, information technology, services marketing, psychology, economics, and marketing management from 1980 onwards. Subsequently, various emerging themes in the area of Donor Behavior are identified based on gaps to facilitate the researchers and practitioners for their future research efforts.
The competition for donations between charities is tough. Yet, little is known about how giving behavior is affected by competition between charities. Do people have a need to satisfy their demand for giving by contributing to a particular charity? Or can the demand for doing good be satisfied by giving to any organization? In a donation dictator game, I vary competition between charities by (i) altering the set of similar real charities to which subjects can donate and (ii) changing the relative price of giving to a randomly selected charity in the choice set by introducing a matching grant. I find weak substitution between charities when giving to more than one charity is possible, as the donated amounts to individual charities decrease with the size of the choice set. At the same time, aggregate giving to all charities increases when charities are in competition. Intensified competition through an increase in the charitable giving market seems to attract new giving and increases overall public good provision. Price competition, however, does not attract new donations when market size is constant and charities compete for donations. These findings carry important insights for managers of nonprofit organizations and provide information on how to improve existing fundraising strategies.
This paper was accepted by Yan Chen, decision analysis.
In some instances charities insist on donors giving more than a minimum amount. In other instances charities frame appeals for funds in a way that suggests there is a minimum donation. So, what are the effects on charitable giving if a minimum donation is required? We first provide a simple theoretical model that shows the effects are ambiguous. We then report the results of two lab experiments that consider very different settings. In the first experiment the only incentive to give is intrinsic motivation. Here we find that a minimum constraint lowers giving. The second experiment involves group interaction with extrinsic incentives to give. Here we find that a minimum constraint increases giving. Our results suggest that the effects of a minimum constraint may depend critically on the mix of intrinsic and extrinsic incentives.
This study investigates the factors of members' supportive behavioral intentions to donate and recommend membership to others in the context of engineering professional membership associations. Using data collected from 3,464 members across three engineering professional membership associations, this study found that age, past donation experience, personal and professional benefits, gender, income, and longevity in the field were significant factors to determine giving intention, while personal benefits, professional benefits, past behaviors (donation and volunteering), and longevity in the field were predictors of membership recommendation intentions of engineering professionals.
We use “real donation” laboratory experiments to compare independent fundraising, where donation requests from different charities arrive sequentially to potential donors, with coordinated fundraising, where donation requests from different charities arrive simultaneously. We find that coordinated fundraising generates significantly larger total donations compared to independent fundraising. We show that the order of requests affects the level of donations only in independent fundraising; in particular, participants donate larger amounts to charities whose requests arrive earlier. We then test whether these differences might be explained by the informational asymmetry between these two fundraising mechanisms by varying the information received by the subjects.
Charitable donations constitute choices, and donors' values influence both the choice to donate and the selected nonprofit organization (NPO). The current study proposes a new instrument to measure NPO values. The proposed two-stage analytical procedure is novel in this research area. The first stage shows that the personal value of universalism drives the general decision to donate. The second stage reveals that donating to a specific NPO depends on the congruency between the NPO values of the organization and the individual donor's NPO values. Furthermore, distinct NPO values are relevant to donation decisions such that NPO values can attract a particular type of donor to an NPO. These findings have pertinent implications for NPOs' chosen positioning strategies as it allows NPOs to collectively guard the qualities that increase general donations and individually distinguish themselves based on the specific NPO values that ensure alignment with their own donors.
W dobie nastawienia na efektywność ekonomiczną marketerzy powinni zwracać szczególną uwagę na skuteczność i rentowność komunikacji marketingowej. Jednak obserwuje się małą aktywność przedsiębiorstw w tym zakresie. Jedną z przeszkód może być luka w wiedzy, zwłaszcza o charakterze metodycznym, na temat możliwości wykorzystania różnych metod badawczych do pomiaru efektów komunikacji marketingowej. W polskiej literaturze marketingowej dość szczegółowo opracowana jest metodyka badań ankietowych oraz wywiadów. Znacznie mniej jest opracowań na temat prowadzenia i stosowania w tym kontekście eksperymentów. W związku z tym przygotowano artykuł, w którym zawarto analizę treści wybranych artykułów z International Journal of Research in Marketing oraz Journal of Marketing Research właśnie pod kątem wykorzystanie badań eksperymentalnych do oceny efektów komunikacji marketingowej. Przeanalizowano zakres przedmiotowy i rodzaj wykorzystanych testów eksperymentalnych oraz możliwości i ograniczenia z nimi związane.
Can fundraising solicitations have an effect on other types of giving, like volunteering? We report results from a field experiment in which a non-profit firm asked their current volunteers to donate money, in a randomly-staggered roll-out. We observe volunteers’ entire portfolio of giving to the firm – both donations, and volunteer hours before and after the call. Overall, these results suggested there was some decline in volunteer hours among volunteers who were newer to the firm. By contrast, long-time volunteers maintained their volunteering after the call, and were also more likely to donate in the first place. Substitution was rare, as the donors themselves did not decrease their volunteer hours after donating. Our findings provide new evidence for how personal history can shape charitable giving decisions, and provide new practical guidance for fundraisers.
The success of a charitable campaign will depend on many factors, including solicitation technique, population characteristics, and type of charity.We implemented a randomised controlled trial to assess the effect of pledging and social pressure on the charitable donation behaviour of households.We implemented a charitable book collection in two different geographical areas, with one being more affluent, more ethnically diverse, and with higher levels of education.We received a marked variation in response: overall, across both treatment groups and control group, the number of households who donated books was higher in one area than the other.However, we did not find any evidence of a heterogeneous response to the pledge and social pressure interventions, compared to the control group.
Dem Kundenbeziehungsmanagement (auch Customer-Relationship-Management / CRM genannt) kommt neben der Markenführung die größte Bedeutung im Marketing zu. Unternehmen erkennen zunehmend, dass überlegenes Kundenwissen und die individuelle Pflege von Geschäftsbeziehungen zum differenzierenden Merkmal im Wettbewerb werden kann. Es ist Ziel dieses Beitrags, zentrale Grundlagen des Kundenbeziehungsmanagements zu vermitteln. Dabei geht es sowohl um konzeptionelle Aspekte als auch um Kenntnisse über den Beitrag des CRM zum Unternehmenserfolg. Zudem wird für zentrale Stufen des Kundenlebenszyklus verdeutlicht, welche Funktion das Dialogmarketing zur Gestaltung von Kundenbeziehungen ausübt. Dabei werden mit dem Neukunden-, Stammkunden- und Kundenrückgewinnungsmanagement drei Kundenlebenszyklusstufen betrachtet, in denen das Dialogmarketing wesentliche Beiträge leisten kann. Anhand aktueller empirischer Befunde wird gezeigt, dass Dialogmarketing zum Erfolg in der Implementierung von CRM als Strategie und Prozess beiträgt.
How does setting a donation option as the default in a charitable appeal affect people’s
decisions? In eight studies, comprising 11,508 participants making 2,423 donation decisions in
both experimental settings and a large-scale natural field experiment, we investigate the effect of
“choice-option” defaults on the donation rate, average donation amount, and the resulting
revenue. We find (1) a “lower-bar” effect, where defaulting a low amount increases donation
rate, (2) a “scale-back” effect where low defaults reduce average donation amounts and (3) a
“default-distraction” effect, where introducing any defaults reduces the effect of other cues, such
as positive charity information. Contrary to the view that setting defaults will backfire, defaults
increased revenue in our field study. However, our findings suggest that defaults can sometimes
be a “self-cancelling” intervention, with countervailing effects of default option magnitude on
decisions and resulting in no net effect on revenue. We discuss the implications of our findings
for research on fundraising specifically, for choice architecture and behavioral interventions
more generally, as well as for the use of “nudges” in policy decisions.
In the present chapter, we briefly discuss how knowledge generation in marketing can be accomplished. In particular, we argue that generalizations offered by meta-analyses are very useful for managers in their decision making. To support this argument, we perform an empirical study on subjective estimations of price elasticities, advertising elasticities, and price promotion elasticities, showing that actual and future managers (i.e., master and PhD students) usually underestimate the effects of price changes, overestimate the impact of advertising, and heavily underestimate that of price promotions. We also demonstrate that subjective estimations improve after being confronted with the outcomes of meta-analyses. © 2012 Gabler Verlag | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. All rights reserved.
In nonprofit sector, marketing activities and their impact on fundraising success are often not observed in a complex and dynamic context, due to the complexity of the sector itself. Fundraising success contributes significantly to the overall organizational success of a nonprofit organization. However, the fundraising itself should be based on a proper implementation of marketing activities, which justifies the efforts to create a model that will clarify relationship between the two. In this paper, such a model is developed, based on the system dynamics methodology. The preliminary empirical testing has been also conducted. The proposed model also addresses the potential impact of the feedback control and the organizational learning. The study was conducted by using the qualitative methodology (the focus group approach) on a sample of Croatian humanitarian organizations representatives. Empirical qualitative analysis has also provided an insight into additional variables, which have been included into the model. It consists of six smaller interconnected feedback loops, which form a larger causal loop diagram, representing the marketing activities and fundraising success relationship. The primary purpose of this study is to present the initial results of the application of a system dynamics methodology to modeling the marketing activities in the nonprofit sector. It is expected that, in the further research, the initial results can be further quantified, as basis for the application of a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. © 2014, University of Split - Faculty of Economics. All rights reserved.
The aim of this paper is to present the conceptual basis for examining the effects of activities, performed within the 'traditional' nonprofit strategic marketing, on the fundraising success. A review of the existing theoretical and empirical studies in the field of fundraising is provided. Open questions in fundraising are addressed, with the special attention devoted to the identification of marketing activities that could ensure higher fundraising, as well as the overall performance of nonprofit organizations. Based on the existing literature, it is proposed that long-term relationships with donors and implementation of the 'traditional' marketing activities are crucial to fundraising, with the fundraising serving as a feedback for nonprofit strategic marketing. This paper also analyzes the situation and prospects of fundraising in the nonprofit sector in Croatia. Further suggestions for the empirical verification of the proposed theoretical model are made, along with the recommendations for future research.
Self-reports figure prominently in organizational and management research, but there are several problems associated with their use. This article identifies six categories of self-reports and discusses such problems as common method variance, the consistency motif, and social desirability. Statistical and post hoc remedies and some procedural methods for dealing with artifactual bias are presented and evaluated. Recommendations for future research are also offered.
Prior studies have shown that information about health hazards may shift demand downward, because consumers devaluate the affected product attribute, while overlooking the effect of such information on attribute importance weights, implicitly considering them to be stable. This study shows that information about health hazards may affect both the perception of attributes and their importance weights. Using data from a field experiment and econometric analysis, we identify conditions that lead to cross-attribute effects (information on health hazards regarding the affected attribute changes the importance weight of other attributes), and to cross-category effects (information on health hazards regarding the affected product changes the importance weights of substitute products' attributes). These insights might help policy makers in designing public campaigns aimed at changing unhealthy diets. For example, obesity has become a major problem in the developed world. However, the public campaigns targeted to obesity highlight the relationship between fat-laden food and health hazards. Our results hint that such campaigns may at the same time increase the importance weight of the taste attribute and therefore become less effective.
A major concern for service managers is to counteract negative effects of waiting. In this study, the effects of objective waiting time and waiting environment on satisfaction with the service were investigated. Two elements of the waiting environment were distinguished: the attractiveness of the waiting room and the presence of television (TV) as an explicit distracter. The mediating role of three subjective variables (perceived waiting time, acceptable waiting time and the (cognitive and affective) appraisal of the wait) was explored. Waiting appears to influence satisfaction quite strongly. The adverse effects of waiting can be soothed more effectively by improving the attractiveness of the waiting environment than by shortening the objective waiting time. Objective waiting time influences satisfaction mainly via a cognitive route: through perceived waiting time (in minutes) and the long/short judgment of the wait. Perceived attractiveness of the waiting environment operates mainly through affect, and thus serves as a mood inducer. The acceptable waiting time appears to be a critical point of reference, since surpassing it provokes strong affective responses. Although the presence of TV did not result in the expected effect of distraction, the tendency to watch it was found to be dependent on the length of the wait (and thus, boredom).
There has been much interest of late in the relative efficiency of various forms of fundraising activity. It is the purpose of this article to establish the typical returns that might be expected to accrue from a variety of fundraising methods. Based on a postal survey of the United Kingdom's top five hundred fundraising charities, this article presents the average returns for nine different forms of fundraising. The authors also examine whether differences in returns between charities can be explained by size or sector effects.
Two studies examined consumers' defenses against to catalog and charitable direct mail solicitations. First, 157 survey respondents completed questions about their charitable giving behavior. Significant correlations between four resulting principal components and demographic variables showed how people defend themselves against repeated appeals. In a second study, 34 subjects provided scripts of responses to charitable and catalog solicitations. The scripts further illustrated defensive responses. Several conclusions were drawn from these studies. First, recipients of charitable solicitations often use defensive mechanisms to protect themselves from frequent solicitations. Second, frequent recipients of charitable direct mail process their mail differently than infrequent recipients. Frequent recipients are much more likely to use defensive script elements. Multiple solicitations to prospective donors may increase charitable contributions. However, excess solicitation could lead them to develop a greater repertoire of defenses against solicitations and decrease the pool of available contributions over the long term. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Inc.
An important aspect of marketing practice is the targeting of consumer segments for differential promotional activity. The premise of this activity is that there exist distinct segments of homogeneous consumers who can be identified by readily available demographic information. The increased availability of individual consumer panel data open the possibility of direct targeting of individual households. The goal of this paper is to assess the information content of various information sets available for direct marketing purposes. Information on the consumer is obtained from the current and past purchase history as well as demographic characteristics. We consider the situation in which the marketer may have access to a reasonably long purchase history which includes both the products purchased and information on the causal environment. Short of this complete purchase history, we also consider more limited information sets which consist of only the current purchase occasion or only information on past product choice without causal variables.
Proper evaluation of this information requires a flexible model of heterogeneity which can accommodate observable and unobservable heterogeneity as well as produce household level inferences for targeting purposes. We develop new econometric methods to implement a random coefficient choice model in which the heterogeneity distribution is related to observable demographics. We couple this approach to modeling heterogeneity with a target couponing problem in which coupons are customized to specific households on the basis of various information sets. The couponing problem allows us to place a monetary value on the information sets.
Our results indicate there exists a tremendous potential for improving the profitability of direct marketing efforts by more fully utilizing household purchase histories. Even rather short purchase histories can produce a net gain in revenue from target couponing which is 2.5 times the gain from blanket couponing. The most popular current electronic couponing trigger strategy uses only one observation to customize the delivery of coupons. Surprisingly, even the information contained in observing one purchase occasion boasts net couponing revenue by 50% more than that which would be gained by the blanket strategy. This result, coupled with increased competitive pressures, will force targeted marketing strategies to become much more prevalent in the future than they are today.
Prior research has shown that asking people to anonymously predict whether they will perform a socially desirable behavior increases their probability of performing the action (Sherman, 1980). This article extends the empirical base of the phenomenon in a consumer service context demonstrating that an anonymous prediction request can increase likelihood of performing a socially desirable real-world behavior (working out at a health club). The effect was also observed for the first time over an extended time period (six months). The article concludes with tentative theory-relevant generalizations regarding the phenomenon and directions for further research.
HYPOTHESIZES THAT MERE REPEATED EXPOSURE OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO A STIMULUS OBJECT ENHANCES HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD IT. BY "MERE" EXPOSURE IS MEANT A CONDITION MAKING THE STIMULUS ACCESSIBLE TO PERCEPTION. SUPPORT FOR THE HYPOTHESIS CONSISTS OF 4 TYPES OF EVIDENCE, PRESENTED AND REVIEWED: (1) THE CORRELATION BETWEEN AFFECTIVE CONNOTATION OF WORDS AND WORD FREQUENCY, (2) THE EFFECT OF EXPERIMENTALLY MANIPULATED FREQUENCY OF EXPOSURE UPON THE AFFECTIVE CONNOTATION OF NONSENSE WORDS AND SYMBOLS, (3) THE CORRELATION BETWEEN WORD FREQUENCY AND THE ATTITUDE TO THEIR REFERENTS, AND (4) THE EFFECTS OF EXPERIMENTALLY MANIPULATED FREQUENCY OF EXPOSURE ON ATTITUDE. THE RELEVANCE FOR THE EXPOSURE-ATTITUDE HYPOTHESIS OF THE EXPLORATION THEORY AND OF THE SEMANTIC SATIATION FINDINGS WERE EXAMINED. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
The mere measurement of a person's intention to behave has been shown to influence his or her likelihood of engaging in the behavior. The mere measurement effect has been attributed to an increased accessibility of the attitude toward the behavior. Another source of the mere measurement effect may be the redundancy in the cognitive processes used to generate the mere measurement response and the cognitive processes used to decide whether to engage in the behavior. Process redundancy creates a fluency that can be interpreted as supportive of the behavioral tendency. Across eight studies, the authors show that processing fluency also contributes to the mere measurement effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
We conducted a natural field experiment to explore the effect of price changes on charitable contributions. To operationalize our tests, we examine whether an offer to match contributions to a non-profit organization changes the likelihood and amount that an individual donates. Direct mail solicitations were sent to over 50,000 prior donors. We find that the match offer increases both the revenue per solicitation and the probability that an individual donates. While comparisons of the match treatments and the control group consistently reveal this pattern, larger match ratios (i.e., 3:1 and 2:1) relative to smaller match ratios (1:1) had no additional impact. The results have clear implications for practitioners in the design of fundraising campaigns and provide avenues for future empirical and theoretical work on charitable giving. Further, the data provide an interesting test of important methods used in cost-benefit analysis.
This research examines how a focus on time versus money can lead to two distinct mind-sets that affect consumers' willingness to donate to charitable causes. The results of three experiments, conducted both in the lab and in the field, reveal that asking individuals to think about "how much time they would like to donate" (vs. "how much money they would like to donate") to a charity increases the amount that they ultimately donate to the charity. Fueling this effect are differential mind-sets activated by time versus money. Implications for the research on time, money, and emotional well-being are discussed. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..
Using two different samples of salespeople, the authors investigate how a combination of general mental ability (GMA) and specific skills and capabilities (social competence and thinking styles) allows salespeople to reach their sales goals. The study finds evidence for an interaction between GMA and social competence. If combined with high social competence, high GMA leads to highest sales performance; if combined with low social competence, high GMA leads to lowest sales performance. In addition, interaction effects between GMA and a judicial thinking style were found. Salespeople high on GMA have the most potential for attaining high levels of sales performance when combined with specific skills; when lacking these skills they may become the firm’s worst performers.
The standard RFM models used by direct marketers include behavioral variables, but ignore the role of marketing communications. In addition, RFM models allow customer responsiveness to vary across different customers, but not across different time periods. Hence, the authors first extend RFM models by incorporating the effects of marketing communications and temporal heterogeneity. Then, using direct-marketing data from a Dutch charity organization, they calibrate the proposed model, and find that it better explains customer behavior because it includes information on both the past behavior and marketing communications. More specifically, they show that direct mail communication builds goodwill, which, in turn, enhances customer's likelihood to buy. However, cumulative exposure to direct mail creates irritation, and erodes goodwill. The two opposite effects induce a cyclic pattern of goodwill formation, which repeats over four quarters. Next, the authors find that, when they control for these communications effects, the standard result customer's likelihood to buy increases as shopping frequency increases reverses. That is, in contrast to the extant literature, customers who donate frequently are less likely to donate in the near future. These findings are not only stable over time, but also replicate across two large data sets. Finally, the authors discuss the need for implementing pulsing strategy to mitigate irritation, and the possibility of practicing one-to-one marketing by using information on customer responsiveness, which can be estimated for each customer via the proposed model.
Sixteen copy characteristics or advertising approaches that appear to either increase or decrease irritation emerge from a study of 524 television commercials. The results also show how irritation levels vary by product class and by socioeconomic level.
Using an established seven-factor model of advertising evaluation (representing three personal uses of advertising and four social effects of advertising), the authors explore consumers' global beliefs regarding direct marketing advertising (DMA). Findings indicate that consumers hold positive beliefs regarding some aspects of DMA and negative beliefs regarding some others. Analysis suggests three segments of consumers based on their DMA beliefs: (1) a pro-DMA segment (the largest segment); (2) a critics-of-DMA segment, and (3) an ambivalent-toward DMA segment (30 percent of the sample). These segments differ with respect to their direct marketing attitudes, influence of personal and impersonal information sources, and demographic characteristics.
This paper examines perceived ad clutter. A national survey of 946 consumers was conducted. Respondents were asked about six media - television, radio, magazines, newspapers, Yellow Pages, and direct mail. Television and direct mail were rated highest in perceived clutter. Television and magazines exhibited the highest level of ad-related communication problems (hindered search and disruption). Perceived clutter, hindered search, and disruption were related to less favorable ad attitudes and greater ad avoidance. These effects varied by media. Demographic variables had little effect on perceived ad clutter.
How should advertising be scheduled? Should an advertising schedule be concentrated in an intensive "burst," or should it be spread out over a longer period? For the same expenditure a relatively small number of consumers can be exposed to advertising many times, or a larger number can be exposed a smaller number of times. This unique study demonstrates how answers to these kinds of questions can be obtained.
Sixteen copy characteristics or advertising approaches that appear to either increase or decrease irritation emerge from a study of 524 television commercials. The results also show how irritation levels vary by product class and by socioeconomic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Marketing is the property of American Marketing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
The authors propose a dynamic direct mailing response model with competitive effects. Purchase and promotion history are incorporated to map the dynamic competitive interactions among the firms sending the mailings. The authors investigate the impact of direct mailings on the revenues of each firm and its competitors over time. The model accounts for endogeneity of the mailing decision and for unobserved heterogeneity across households. The model is considered in a charitable giving setting, in which households often receive many direct mailings of different charities within a short period and competition is strong. The authors construct a unique database by merging the databases of three large charity organizations in the Netherlands. This results in household-level data on the direct mailings households received from and their donations to each of the three charities. The results show that a charity's own mailings are short-term substitutes; that is, an extra mailing cannibalizes the revenues of subsequent mailings. Furthermore, competitive charitable direct mailings tend to be short-term complements; that is, the direct mailings increase the total pie that is divided among the charities. In the long run, these effects die out. The results are also interpreted from a behavioral perspective.
In this study, participants' memory for charitable acts, including the amounts they donated to charity and the frequency of such donations, and also the processes associated with the recall of charitable acts was explored. Participants were Australian students who earned money for responding correctly to a decision-making task and then were given the opportunity to make a donation to a charity. Five weeks later they attempted to recall how much they had donated. Recall of the amount donated produced significant overestimations. A 2nd study examined estimates of donating frequency, and results suggested that the frequency of donating was overestimated. The discussion focuses on the validity of survey data on donation size and frequency and the processes associated with the recall of charitable acts.
The major decision variables for the development of a direct mail campaign are the characteristics of the mailing and the characteristics of the targets receiving the mailing. Traditional direct mail research treats both aspects separately although they are likely to interact. We present a new target selection strategy that simultaneously takes both characteristics into account by using different mailings offereng the same product to different targets. Using data from an experiment conducted by a Dutch health care organization, we show that our selection strategy increases the net returns of a fund raising campaign.
This article describes several field and laboratory experiments that investigate an identity congruency effect on donations. Experiment 1 is a field experiment showing that consumers give more money to a public radio station if they are told that a previous donor who shares their identity also made a large contribution. This effect is more likely to occur when consumers have high collective-identity esteem (measured in Experiment 2a) and when attention is focused on others (manipulated in Experiment 2b). The authors measure these two moderators simultaneously and observe and replicate a three-way interaction. Again, the identity congruency effect is the strongest when consumers have high collective-identity esteem and when attention is focused on others (Experiment 3a and Experiment 3b). These results provide a novel understanding of the causes of the identity congruency effect on donations. The authors conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and substantive implications of these findings.
Not-for-profit organizations, sometimes called charities or
voluntary organizations, are assumed to be serving their customers well
– but are they? A customer segmentation is proposed of
beneficiaries, supporters, stakeholders and regulators, each group
having intermediaries through which the end customer may be reached.
Lays out structural reasons why not-for-profits may not value or respect
their customers, including excess demand, lack of competition,
professional dominance and distance, lack of consumer research, lack of
appreciation of supporters (both donors and volunteer service workers),
comparatively lower salaries of staff, and argues that the “inter
constituency tension” of the different and competing needs of
beneficiaries, supporters, stakeholders and regulators plus the
production orientation of many not-for-profits means that, in practice,
customers are not sufficiently valued or respected.
The authors examine the predictors of ad avoidance in four media: magazines, newspapers, radio, and television. A national survey of 946 adults found that ad avoidance is most prevalent for television and magazines. The predictor variables were demographic characteristics, media-related variables, attitudes toward advertising in each medium, and communication problems related to advertising. Ad perceptions were the strongest predictors of ad avoidance and were best in differentiating print from broadcast media. The results indicate that age and income were the best demographic predictors across media. Breadth of media use was an important broadcast media predictor. Among the communication problems considered, search hinderance had the greatest effect on ad avoidance.
This paper looks at direct mail in the United Kingdom across all market sectors and in detail at the charity sector. It uses the research information that Royal Mail has been collecting foroveradecadetoshowthegrowthofthe medium. The diary system used by the Consumer Panel gives an insight into the typical donor and their relationship with charities. This paper looks only at direct mail: ‘personally addressed advertising material that is delivered through the post’. This definition means that leaflets put through the letterbox are excluded. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications
The self-prophecy phenomenon served as the basis for a simple, inexpensive technique aimed at increasing donations in a telephone fundraising drive. Self-prophecy is predicated on two psychological effects. First, asking people to make predictions about normatively influenced behaviours results in biased responses—people respond as they think they should. Secondly, when later asked to perform those same behaviours, people tend to be consistent with their predictions. In an experiment, asking people to make a prediction increased the success rate from 30.4 per cent to 49 per cent, relative to a control group. Although it may be limited to occasional use, the self-prophecy technique appears a simple and economical tool for increasing donations. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications.
This paper examines the current status of marketing collaborations in the voluntary sector, within the context of the overall charity marketing environment. It compares the incidence and scope of collaborations in the voluntary sector with those of the commercial sector; while being mindful of some important inherent differences between the two milieus. The findings are illustrated with examples of charity collaborations, both past and present. The paper concludes with some possible ways forward for both practitioners and policy makers. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications
Sales response models are widely used as the basis for optimizing the marketing mix. Response models condition on the observed marketing-mix variables and focus on the specification of the distribution of observed sales given marketing-mix activities. The models usually fail to recognize that the levels of the marketing-mix variables are often chosen with at least partial knowledge of the response parameters in the condi-tional model. This means that contrary to standard assumptions, the marginal distribution of the marketing-mix variables is not independent of response parameters. The authors expand on the standard conditional model to include a model for the determination of the marketing-mix vari-ables. They apply this modeling approach to the problem of gauging the effectiveness of sales calls (details) to induce greater prescribing of drugs by individual physicians. They do not assume a priori that details are set optimally, but instead they infer the extent to which sales force managers have knowledge of responsiveness, and they use this knowl-edge to set the level of sales force contact. The authors find that their modeling approach improves the precision of the physician-specific response parameters significantly. They also find that physicians are not detailed optimally; high-volume physicians are detailed to a greater extent than low-volume physicians without regard to responsiveness to detailing. It appears that unresponsive but high-volume physicians are detailed the most. Finally, the authors illustrate how their approach provides a general framework.
This study examined whether we could use a Solicitation Response Model adapted from the consumer research literature to increase our understanding of nonprofit direct mail solicitations. We sent 389 surveys to people listed in the database of a homeless shelter. In response, 166 people rated an envelope and appeal from the shelter. The model successfully explained potential donors' intention to open the envelope and intention to donate. Emotional responses to the envelope and attitude toward the envelope were more important influences upon acquisition (or new) donors' intention to open the envelope than upon renewal donors' intention. Attitude toward the appeal had a stronger effect upon acquisition donors' intention to donate than it did upon renewal donors' intention. The study suggests differences in the way that appeals should be designed for acquisition and renewal donors. As well, we present a small sample method for diagnosing direct mail charitable solicitations.
The study examines empirically consumers' attitudes toward direct marketing using a sample of 354 consumers. The sample was randomly drawn from a large southern metropolitan area. The study instrument comprised items developed from literature sources. Respondents' evaluations of the items were obtained through in-home personal interviews. Underlying the study is the hypothesis that consumers' attitudes toward direct marketing are a function of their shopping orientation and patronage intention, and that consumers' attitudes toward direct marketing, in turn, influence their patronage intention. The study results indicate that four of the five shopping orientation factors examined significantly underlie consumers' attitudes toward direct marketing, i.e., too much direct mail, like to examine product before purchase, retail people are pushy, and past direct marketing experience. The results also suggest that consumers' attitudes toward direct marketing significantly influence their intention to patronize direct marketing offerings but not vice versa. The industry implications of the findings are discussed.
Depending on the shopping context, consumers may develop different mental representations of complex shopping trip decision problems to help them interpret the decision situation that they face and evaluate alternative courses of action. To investigate these mental representations and how they vary across contexts, the authors propose a causal network structure that allows for a formal representation of how context-specific benefits requirements affect consumers’ evaluation of decision alternative attributes. They empirically test hypotheses derived from the framework, using data on consumers’ mental representations of a complex shopping trip decision problem across four shopping contexts that differ in terms of opening hour restrictions and shopping purpose, and find support for the proposed structure and hypotheses.
"We use a controlled field experiment to investigate the dynamic effects of retail advertising. The experimental design overcomes limitations hindering previous investigations of this issue. Our study uncovers dynamic advertising effects that have not been considered in previous literature. We find that current advertising does affect future sales, but surprisingly, the effect is not always positive; for the firm's best customers, the long-run outcome may be negative. This finding reflects two competing effects: brand switching and intertemporal substitution. We also find evidence of cross-channel substitution, with the firm's best customers switching demand to the ordering channel that corresponds to the advertising. "("JEL "L2, L81, M3) Copyright (c) 2008 Western Economic Association International.
Self-generated validity research has demonstrated that responding to survey questions changes subsequently measured judgments and behavior. We examine the scope and persistence of the effect of measuring satisfaction on customer behavior over time. In a field experiment conducted in a financial services setting, we hypothesize and find that measuring satisfaction (a) changes one-time purchase behavior, (b) changes relational customer behaviors (likelihood of defection, aggregate product use, and profitability), and (c) results in effects that increase for months afterward and persist even a year later. These results raise questions concerning the design, interpretation, and ethics in the conduct of applied marketing research studies. Copyright 2002 by the University of Chicago.
Marketing tools, techniques, and theories developed in the private sector can be applied in the public and nonprofit sectors; however, their limitations must be recognized. Nonbusiness communications campaigns should consider the involvedness (high or low) of the situation and the relevant segments, available positive and negative reinforcers, nonmonetary costs, the level of latent demand, and the wide range of communications alternatives. 5 hypotheses can be proposed regarding communications effectiveness outside of the private sector: 1) the lower the perceived personal value to the individual, relative to the cost, the more difficult the behavior change task and the lower the likelihood of success of marketing communications; 2) the lower the latent or pre-existing demand for the object, the more difficult the behavior change task and the lower the likelihood of marketing communications success; 3) the greater the involvement level of the object, situation, or issue, the more difficult the behavior change task and the lower the likelihood of marketing success; 4) the greater the past involvement level of the individual, the more difficult the behavior change task and the lower the likelihood of success; and 5) the greater the level of participation needed within the society, the more difficult the behavior change and the lower the likelihood of sucess of marketing communications. Many nonbusiness issues exist in either very high or very low involvement environments, calling for an enlarged set of communications strategies. More attention should be given to communications alternatives such as movies, television programs, and in-home and in-school educational communications, especially since it appears that public service spots are not very effective. Finally, more research is needed to generate and test the effectiveness of various marketing strategies aimed at overcoming inherent characteristics that suggest a low likelihood of success.
The selection of the most profitable customers in a customer database for targeted activities is often done based on observed behaviour in the past. Consequently, databases arising from the responses to, for example, direct mailings in the past are not random samples. When not all heterogeneity across customers is observed, target selection will be based on unobserved heterogeneity and hence it is endogenous. We develop a method to adjust the likelihood function of latent class models to correct for this endogenous sampling process. We apply this technique to the selection of mail targets for a Dutch charity. Based on a joint model for the response rate and the amount donated, we create a target selection rule that maximizes expected revenues. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article examines the contribution of direct mail advertising to average weekly unit sales of a national fast food franchisee. Two different types of direct mail advertising are used, both independently and in conjunction with local and national advertising. Results of a field study indicate that one type of direct mail (a shopper) contributes significantly to sales when used independently. When combined with national or local advertising, however, the contribution level of this shopper decreases. Conversely, a direct mail insert combined with many others inserts into one single envelope is much more powerful when utilized in conjunction with national advertising. In fact, results show that this latter combination of direct mail with national advertising contributes more to average weekly unit sales than any other combination. Implications are offered and future research is suggested.
In the current research, we study relationship norms in a word-of-mouth marketing context. The presence of a financial incentive for a recommendation implies that the word-of-mouth behavior may be driven by ulterior motives. This setting triggers both friendship (Equality Matching; EM) and sales (Market Pricing; MP) relationship norms. However, the evaluation of the recommendation depends crucially on the relationship norm activated during the interaction. We show that, compared to MP relationship norms, activating EM norms leads to less sincere agent evaluations, but at the same time to higher intentions to comply with the target offer. We show that these norms can be activated outside awareness and influence our evaluations of interaction partners in a cognitively efficient manner. A second study shows that disclosing the financial motive has a positive effect on agent evaluations, but only when the recommendation target can devote full attention to the interaction.
One of the aims of direct marketing in practice is to target the most profitable customers in the database at hand. This selection is often done based on observed behavior in the past. As a consequence, databases arising from the responses to direct mailings are not a random sample from all potential respondents. When not all heterogeneity is observed, part of the target selection rule will be based on the unobserved heterogeneity, so selection is endogenous. Treating an endogenously selected sample as a random sample results in inconsistent parameter estimates, which in general also harms the predictive performance of the model. We develop an adjustment to the likelihood of the model that corrects for the endogenous sample selection. We apply this technique to the selection of mail targets for a charitable organization. In the application we also show that, based on a model for the response rate and the amount donated simultaneously, we can create a target selection rule that maximizes expected revenues. Such a selection rule outperforms selection rules based on response rates or donated amount only. The traditional approach of maximizing response is therefore not the optimal approach to target selection.
The effect of information about health hazards on demand for frequently purchased commodities Transfer-appropriate processing, response fluency, and the mere measurement effect
- A Heiman
- O Lowengart
Heiman, A., & Lowengart, O. (2008). The effect of information about health hazards on demand for frequently purchased commodities. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 25(4), 310−318. Janiszewski, C., & Chandon, E. (2007). Transfer-appropriate processing, response fluency, and the mere measurement effect. Journal of Marketing Research, 44(2), 309−323.
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- J A List
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Returns on fundraising expenditures in the voluntary sector Identity congruity effects on donations Dynamics of retail advertising: Evidence from a field experiment Increasing health club attendance through self-prophecy
- A Sargeant
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Attitudinal effects of mere exposure The remembering and forgetting of advertising
- R B Zajonc
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