Paid media and measurement · Randomized controlled field experiment
How Do Likes Influence Revenue? A Randomized Controlled Field Experiment
Grahl, J., Hinz, O., Rothlauf, F., Abdel-Karim, B. M., & Mihale-Wilson, C. (2023). Journal of Business Research, 166, 114133.
Plain-English take
Likes increased revenue mainly during non-work hours, when they raised likelihood of buying; the effect was strongest for already popular products. For your marketing: Treat visible popularity as context-dependent social proof.
How much weight to give this
4.0/5 Useful evidence with meaningful caveats
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.
Random assignment provides a strong comparison for effects in the tested setting.
A usable sample size is not stated in the profile's accessible source.
Randomized comparison; confirm the control condition and analysis in the paper.
This profile could be checked against an abstract or metadata, not the full paper.
Double-blind? Blinding is not reported in the source reviewed; that does not establish whether blinding was or was not used.
Research question
What the authors investigated
Does displaying product likes affect purchases and revenue, and does shopping time moderate the effect?
Design
Three-week randomized field experiment displaying or withholding product like counts in an online shop.
Sample and setting
112,087 product-detail-page views across 9,559 hedonic products in an online store.
Reported result
What the study found
Likes increased revenue mainly during non-work hours, when they raised purchase propensity; the effect was strongest for already popular products. The study found no significant increase in spending conditional on a purchase.
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
One online shop and hedonic goods over a short experiment. Likes may work differently for considered software purchases, and the abstract does not state long-term effects.
Possible founder application
Treat visible popularity as context-dependent social proof. Test its impact on trial starts or qualified conversions by visit timing and product interest rather than assuming likes universally build trust.
Evidence access
Publisher abstract; full text may require access
ScienceDirect publisher abstract retrieved with Firecrawl; experimental duration, viewed pages and reported results were checked.
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.