Paid media and measurement · Observational causal-estimation study using customer-level behavior and transactions
Linking Clicks to Bricks: Understanding the Effects of Email Advertising on Multichannel Sales
Zhou, M., Abhishek, V., Kennedy, E. H., Srinivasan, K., & Sinha, R. (2025). Information Systems Research, 36(1), 225–238.
Plain-English take
Email advertising was associated with increased sales across channels through higher purchase probability and a wider variety of products bought; effects varied across product types and customer segments. For your marketing: This encourages measuring email's full downstream value rather than clicks alone.
How much weight to give this
2.5/5 Limited or context-dependent evidence
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.
This is observational evidence; selection or unmeasured differences may affect the result.
A usable sample size is not stated in the profile's accessible source.
Statistical adjustment is not the same as random assignment; review the controls and assumptions.
This profile could be checked against an abstract or metadata, not the full paper.
Double-blind? Not applicable in the same way as a participant-treatment experiment.
Research question
What the authors investigated
Do email ads affect sales beyond online clicks, including purchases in physical stores?
Design
Customer-level observational analysis using a doubly robust estimator with nonparametric machine-learning methods.
Sample and setting
High-dimensional data from a large office-supplies retailer linking online behavior to item-level physical-store purchases.
Reported result
What the study found
Email advertising was associated with increased sales across channels through higher purchase probability and a wider variety of products bought; effects varied across product types and customer segments.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
This is an observational causal-estimation design in one retailer, not a randomized test. It may not transfer to SaaS products without physical sales channels.
Possible founder application
Encourages measuring email's full downstream value rather than clicks alone. For SaaS, connect email exposure to later product activation, opportunities, and revenue with a credible design.
Evidence access
Publisher abstract; full text may require access
INFORMS publisher abstract retrieved with Firecrawl; method and results are represented at abstract level.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.