Buyer behavior · Large-scale randomized field experiment

A Randomized Field Experiment on the Ex Ante Registration Request

Information Systems Research · 2023

Xiaolin Li, et al.

Summary

Requesting registration before shopping raised registration probability 58.08% relatively and increased long-run purchases, orders, and revenue, without changing short-run conversion.

For your marketing

Possible founder application

Test earlier account creation carefully; measure long-run monetization rather than only immediate signup conversion.

Reported result

What the study found

Requesting registration before shopping raised registration probability 58.08% relatively and increased long-run purchases, orders, and revenue, without changing short-run conversion.

Research question

What the authors investigated

How does the study’s stated design explain its reported outcome in this setting?

Design

Large-scale randomized field experiment

Sample and setting

Incoming traffic to a US online retailer

Scope and transfer

Limitations to keep in view

Online retailer and registration funnel; abstract-only sample details.

Research sources

abstract_only

Study strength

3.5/5 Abstract-level evidence is useful for framing questions; verify full methods before transfer.

How this was assessed

The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.

Design transparency · 2/2

Based on the reported study design in the retrieved source.

Sample and setting · 1/1

The sample context is stated; a numerical count is preserved only when reported.

Outcome clarity · 1/1

The finding is summarized from publisher or article metadata.

Access for checking · 0.5/1

Only abstract or bibliographic access was confirmed.

Double-blind? The retrieved publisher record does not establish whether participants or outcome assessors were blinded.

Read the paper