Acquisition · Hierarchical empirical model plus randomized four-cell field experiment (control, email, direct mail, both).
Direct mail to prospects and email to current customers? Modeling and field-testing multichannel marketing
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · 2024
Summary
Field experiment provided causal support for reallocating direct mail toward prospects/high-value segments and email toward current customers (as described by the paper).
For your marketing
Possible founder application
Use to shape a locally controlled channel or message test; account for audience, timing and attribution limits before reallocating budget.
Reported result
What the study found
Field experiment provided causal support for reallocating direct mail toward prospects/high-value segments and email toward current customers (as described by the paper).
Research question
What the authors investigated
How do email and direct mail differ by customer value and prospect/current-customer status?
Design
Hierarchical empirical model plus randomized four-cell field experiment (control, email, direct mail, both).
Sample and setting
Beauty retailer and apparel retailer; two years of purchase history; beauty experiment stratified across six value segments and capped at 33,000 mail pieces.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
The experiment was restricted to customers contactable by both channels and constrained direct-mail volume; thus self-selected non-contactable customers are outside the test.
Research sources
Publisher full text explicitly describes four cells, two-year history, six segments, contactability restriction and causal goal. Direct publisher-page retrieval was recorded on 2026-10-09; this profile uses the publisher abstract/metadata and does not claim independent review of unavailable full text.