Customer behavior and adoption · Econometric modeling of marketing communication effects on online and offline funnel metrics, followed by a field experiment reallocating marketing budgets.
Marketing's Profit Impact: Quantifying Online and Off-line Funnel Progression
Thorsten Wiesel, Koen Pauwels, Joep Arts (2011). Marketing's Profit Impact: Quantifying Online and Off-line Funnel Progression. Marketing Science. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.1100.0612.
Plain-English take
The study found extensive cross-channel effects, direct effects on early and later funnel stages, and substantially higher profit impact for online customer-initiated contacts than offline firm-initiated contacts. A budget-shifting field experiment produced net profit increases 14 times larger than the status-quo allocation. For your marketing: Use it as a product, platform or behavior mechanism reference rather than a direct forecast for a SaaS funnel.
How much weight to give this
3.5/5 Moderate evidence for a specific setting
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.
Econometric modeling of marketing communication effects on online and offline funnel metrics, followed by a field experiment reallocating marketing budgets.
Inofec, a small-to-medium-sized B2B enterprise; outcomes include website visits, online/offline information activity, quote requests, and purchases, with firm- and customer-initiated contacts compared across channels.
Based on the publisher-described design and comparison; see the article for complete analysis.
Publisher record was fetched 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 are the effects of marketing communications on online/offline purchase-funnel metrics, and what are the magnitude and timing of profit effects from firm- versus customer-initiated contacts?
Design
Econometric modeling of marketing communication effects on online and offline funnel metrics, followed by a field experiment reallocating marketing budgets.
Sample and setting
Inofec, a small-to-medium-sized B2B enterprise; outcomes include website visits, online/offline information activity, quote requests, and purchases, with firm- and customer-initiated contacts compared across channels.
Reported result
What the study found
The study found extensive cross-channel effects, direct effects on early and later funnel stages, and substantially higher profit impact for online customer-initiated contacts than offline firm-initiated contacts. A budget-shifting field experiment produced net profit increases 14 times larger than the status-quo allocation.
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
Not stated on the publisher article page's abstract; the publisher describes one B2B SME context, so generalizability beyond that setting is not established by the page (carefully marked interpretive limitation).
Possible founder application
Use it as a product, platform or behavior mechanism reference rather than a direct forecast for a SaaS funnel.
Evidence access
Publisher abstract/metadata retrieved; consult the linked paper for full methods and tables.
The publisher abstract identifies Inofec as a B2B SME and reports cross-channel effects, direct effects across funnel stages, higher profit impact from online customer-initiated contacts, and a field-experiment profit increase 14 times larger than the status quo. Direct publisher-page retrieval was recorded on 2026-10-09; profile summarizes the accessible record and does not claim independent review of inaccessible 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.