Paid media and measurement · Randomized field experiment manipulating name matching in email communications.
Name Similarity Encourages Generosity: A Field Experiment in Email Personalization
Minah H. Jung, Adam L. Alter (2020). Name Similarity Encourages Generosity: A Field Experiment in Email Personalization. Marketing Science. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2019.1220.
Plain-English take
Full surname matching increased opens, clicks, donations and total money; shared initial also increased generosity. For your marketing: Use to shape a locally controlled channel or message test; account for audience, timing and attribution limits before reallocating budget.
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.
Randomized field experiment manipulating name matching in email communications.
DonorsChoose.org; N=30,297 potential donors; surname, initial, gender, ethnicity and country-of-origin matching.
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
Does individualized name matching improve email response and giving?
Design
Randomized field experiment manipulating name matching in email communications.
Sample and setting
DonorsChoose.org; N=30,297 potential donors; surname, initial, gender, ethnicity and country-of-origin matching.
Reported result
What the study found
Full surname matching increased opens, clicks, donations and total money; shared initial also increased generosity.
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
Charitable giving and teacher/donor name matching may not transfer to commercial SaaS conversion; abstract gives no broader external-validity claim.
Possible founder application
Use to shape a locally controlled channel or message test; account for audience, timing and attribution limits before reallocating budget.
Evidence access
Publisher record and abstract retrieved; consult the linked paper for full methods and tables.
Publisher abstract reports N, randomized field experiment, manipulations and behavioral outcomes. 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.