Acquisition and retention · Large controlled 18-week randomized field experiment; treatment received push messages and control stopped after week 3.
How push messaging impacts consumer spending and reward redemption in store-loyalty programs
Suzanne Bies, Bart J.J.A.M. Bronnenberg, Els Gijsbrechts (2021). How push messaging impacts consumer spending and reward redemption in store-loyalty programs. International Journal of Research in Marketing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2021.02.001.
Plain-English take
Push treatment yielded about twice as many stamp redemptions and about 14% higher average spending; effects were especially strong among heavy customers. For your marketing: Use to frame a lifecycle hypothesis and define customer-level outcomes; check whether the study's market and retention horizon resemble yours.
How much weight to give this
4.5/5 Strong design for its specific question
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.
Large controlled 18-week randomized field experiment; treatment received push messages and control stopped after week 3.
Mobile store-loyalty-program panel, Fall 2016; app users, retailer setting.
Judged from the publisher-described design and comparison; inspect the paper for complete analysis.
Publisher page and abstract were retrieved directly; full text was not assumed open.
Double-blind? Blinding was not established from the retrieved publisher record.
Research question
What the authors investigated
What is the causal impact of mobile push messaging on loyalty engagement and spending?
Design
Large controlled 18-week randomized field experiment; treatment received push messages and control stopped after week 3.
Sample and setting
Mobile store-loyalty-program panel, Fall 2016; app users, retailer setting.
Reported result
What the study found
Push treatment yielded about twice as many stamp redemptions and about 14% higher average spending; effects were especially strong among heavy customers.
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
Findings concern customers who installed the app and one loyalty program/retailer; the publisher notes heterogeneity by prior spending.
Possible founder application
Use to frame a lifecycle hypothesis and define customer-level outcomes; check whether the study's market and retention horizon resemble yours.
Evidence access
Publisher abstract/metadata retrieved; full text may require access.
Publisher abstract states the 18-week controlled field experiment, control design, approximate 2x redemption and 14% spending lift. 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.
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.