Platforms · Field experiment on an online marketplace

The Value of Platform Endorsement

Marketing Science · 2025

Mimansa Bairathi, Xu Zhang, Anja Lambrecht

Summary

Endorsements increased search and purchases for endorsed as well as unendorsed services.

For your marketing

Possible founder application

Shows how a credible third-party signal may lift perceptions of the whole marketplace, not just highlighted listings. For SaaS, test proof placement and source credibility separately.

Reported result

What the study found

Endorsements increased search and purchases for endorsed as well as unendorsed services. The increase was linked to higher perceived quality of services on the platform and was larger for users with higher purchase propensity.

Research question

What the authors investigated

How does a marketplace's endorsement of selected items affect search and purchases for both endorsed and unendorsed offerings?

Design

Field experiment on an online freelance platform measuring user search and purchase behavior after platform endorsements.

Sample and setting

Users and services on an online freelance marketplace; the abstract does not provide sample size.

Scope and transfer

Limitations to keep in view

One freelance marketplace and platform-specific endorsement. The abstract omits sample size and does not establish that badges have the same effect on a vendor's own website.

Research sources

INFORMS publisher abstract retrieved with Firecrawl; reported field setting and outcomes were inspected.

Study strength

3.5/5 Useful evidence with meaningful caveats

How this was assessed

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.

Design · 1.7/2

An experiment is useful for causal evidence, but the accessible profile does not establish random assignment.

Sample · 0.4/1

A usable sample size is not stated in the profile's accessible source.

Comparison · 0.8/1

Experimental comparison is described; randomization or control details need checking in the paper.

Can we check it? · 0.5/1

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.

Read the paper