AdvertisingFree trialsSales
Evidence check: 3.5/5Marketing Science · 2004
For your marketing
Separate new demand from timing shifts and substitution when evaluating free access. Define incremental outcomes and follow customers long enough to see whether a free experience creates durable adoption.
Plain-English take
Unlike coupons, the studied free samples produced measurable long-term sales effects observable up to 12 months later.
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PlatformsReferralsSales
Evidence check: 3.5/5Journal of Marketing Research · 2016
For your marketing
Measure the amount and sentiment of customer discussion separately and connect both to sales outcomes. Treat review volume and valence as distinct signals, not interchangeable scores.
Plain-English take
Looking across the studies, stronger online word of mouth effects for tangible goods that are new to the market; product life cycle did not moderate the effect for services.
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Free trialsSales
Evidence check: 4.0/5Journal of Marketing · 2018
For your marketing
When testing SaaS tiers, consider how a new premium option changes comparison among existing plans. Run a controlled packaging test and monitor plan mix and total contribution, not only premium-tier conversion.
Plain-English take
Paperback titles accompanied by an additional premium version had higher sales than control titles.
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ReviewsSales
Evidence check: 3.5/5Journal of Retailing · 2014
For your marketing
Use as evidence that review volume and valence can matter while designing review and reputation programs. For SaaS, monitor independent review sources and test whether reviews influence qualified pipeline or conversion.
Plain-English take
Review valence and volume were positively related to sales elasticities.
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AdvertisingEmail marketingSales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Information Systems Research · 2025
For your marketing
Encourages measuring email's full downstream value rather than clicks alone. For SaaS, connect email exposure to later product activation, opportunities, and revenue with a credible design.
Plain-English take
Email advertising was associated with increased sales across channels through higher purchase probability and a wider variety of products bought; effects varied across product types and customer segments.
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ReviewsSales
Evidence check: 3.5/5Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · 2020
For your marketing
A second synthesis supporting a context-dependent view of reviews. Check whether your SaaS category and buyer risk resemble the products represented before applying an effect.
Plain-English take
Looking across the studies, product-category moderation.
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ReferralsReviewsSales
Evidence check: 3.0/5Journal of Marketing Research · 2006
For your marketing
A foundational example of why negative feedback may carry asymmetric weight and why review text can matter. SaaS buyers and review platforms differ, so test the effect on your own category and conversion path.
Plain-English take
An improvement in a book's reviews increased its relative sales at that site.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Journal of Marketing Research · 2026
For your marketing
Rare direct evidence on startup budget allocation: consider customer education and founder-led sales early, then build broader media as the company matures. This is longitudinal association, not a randomized budget rule.
Plain-English take
Higher personal-sales spending shares were associated with stronger performance in earlier startup stages but weaker performance later.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2024
For your marketing
One of the few studies directly about B2B startups. It challenges the assumption that early startups should avoid systematic marketing, but does not prescribe a channel or spending amount.
Plain-English take
Systematic marketing investment was associated with higher valuation for early-stage B2B startups, while effects varied by customer type and development stage.
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RetentionSales
Evidence check: 2/5Journal of Marketing · 2003
For your marketing
Use as a bounded example of understanding the effect of customer relationship management efforts on customer retention and customer share development; compare its context and design with your own market before applying its result.
Plain-English take
CRM contacts were not uniformly beneficial: effects on retention and share depended on customer profitability and contact strategy.
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Industrial Marketing Management · 2016
For your marketing
Use this paper as evidence about complexity of sales situation and sales lead performance: an empirical study in business-to-business company in the stated context; compare its population, treatment and outcome with your own decision.
Plain-English take
Close customer collaboration increased the probability that a lead was canceled. The authors conclude that collaboration-focused selling may not increase hit rates in highly collaborative B2B environments.
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AcquisitionSales
Evidence check: 2/5Journal of Business Research · 2022
For your marketing
Use this paper as evidence about hunting for new customers: assessing the drivers of effective salesperson prospecting and conversion in the stated context; compare its population, treatment and outcome with your own decision.
Plain-English take
Prospecting and conversion have an implicit trade-off with a sweet spot maximizing acquisition. More-experienced salespeople acquired fewer new customers; advertising support and extrinsic rewards improved conversion more for experienced reps.
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Industrial Marketing Management · 2022
For your marketing
Use this study as a bounded example related to measuring b2b social selling: key activities, antecedents and performance outcomes; evaluate whether its customers, intervention and outcome match your own context.
Plain-English take
All three social-selling dimensions were supported. Thought leadership and acquisition performance mediated the sales-performance relationship; management support, sales-technology orientation, and social influence were important drivers.
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International Journal of Research in Marketing · 2019
For your marketing
Use this study as a bounded example related to do mobile banner ads increase sales? yes, in the offline channel; evaluate whether its customers, intervention and outcome match your own context.
Plain-English take
Offline sales increased about 2%; online sales did not significantly change, and there was no evidence of cross-channel cannibalization. A positive lagged offline effect was also reported.
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AdvertisingSales
Evidence check: 4/5Quantitative Marketing and Economics · 2014
For your marketing
Use this study as a bounded example related to online ads and offline sales: measuring the effect of retail advertising via a controlled experiment on yahoo!; evaluate whether its customers, intervention and outcome match your own context.
Plain-English take
The experiment finds a positive causal effect of online advertising on retail sales, including offline purchases, and reports that the campaign was profitable. It demonstrates that display advertising can generate measurable sales beyond the online channel.
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Content marketingSales
Evidence check: 2/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2017
For your marketing
Use this study as a bounded example related to social media use in b2b sales and its impact on competitive intelligence collection and adaptive selling: examining the role of learning orientation as an enabler; evaluate whether its customers, intervention and outcome match your own context.
Plain-English take
Social-media use affected performance through competitive-intelligence collection and adaptive selling; perceived usefulness was not significantly related to use; intelligence collection supported adaptive selling.
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Content marketingSales
Evidence check: 2/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2018
For your marketing
Use this study as a bounded example related to social media technology use and salesperson performance: a two study examination of the role of salesperson behaviors, characteristics, and training; evaluate whether its customers, intervention and outcome match your own context.
Plain-English take
Social-media technology affected relationship and objective sales performance through salesperson behaviors/characteristics; technology without training did not produce the best results, making training critical.
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PricingProduct adoptionSales
Evidence check: 2/5Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · 2025
For your marketing
Use this study as a bounded example of unintended consequences of selling b2b digital subscription add-ons for customer onboarding; assess whether its population, intervention and outcome match your own decision.
Plain-English take
More add-on services significantly decreased onboarding-stage retention, and leaner communication channels aggravated attrition. Perceived complexity was identified as the likely mechanism. Add-on bundling had a positive effect on post-onboarding retention, and the negative onboarding effect was not uniform across add-on types.
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Product adoptionSales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2005
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Tests technology-acceptance antecedents for sales-force technology use; the publisher page labels it an empirical investigation.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2009
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Examines conditions under which firms outsource sales processes; results distinguish outsourcing effects from internal sales-force governance.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2005
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Documents differences between sales-force and management perceptions of SFA; the title and publisher record explicitly identify the comparative empirical focus.
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Product adoptionSales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2005
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Tests antecedents and consequences of CRM acceptance in the sales force, linking acceptance with downstream sales-force outcomes.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2011
For your marketing
Use the study to frame a pricing or packaging hypothesis and identify outcomes to measure; estimate effects with your own customer mix and willingness-to-pay evidence.
Plain-English take
Analyzes motivational mechanisms affecting industrial sales-force participation in forecasting.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2004
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Identifies individual, organizational, and environmental factors executives associate with sales-force obsolescence.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 1996
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Examines sales-force performance under behavior-based sales management, providing evidence on management-process/performance association.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2001
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Provides empirical evidence on technology’s role in the sales force and implications for managing technology use.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2003
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Evaluates how revenue-management ideas can be applied to improve B2B sales-force productivity.
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Product adoptionSales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2010
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Tests whether aligned management commitment affects salesperson adoption of SFA.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2010
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Tests whether SFA relates to relationship quality and performance through learning and selling behaviors.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2020
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.
Plain-English take
Links big-data analytical intelligence capabilities to CRM performance and tests the proposed capability relationships.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2019
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Identifies contingencies under which outsourcing the sales force for new products is advantageous.
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Product adoptionReviewsSales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Industrial Marketing Management · 2005
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Tests training and support as moderators of the SFA-adoption/performance relationship rather than assuming a direct effect.
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Sales
Evidence check: 4.5/5Information Systems Research · 2019
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Traditional collaborative filtering reduced aggregate sales diversity; purchase-based CF had larger effects than view-based; niche items gained absolutely but lost share.
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Sales
Evidence check: 3.5/5Journal of Marketing Research · 2023
For your marketing
Use as a mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your own deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Publisher abstract reports development of a predictive churn model and implementation in a field experiment; the study evaluates implementation effectiveness, not merely predictive accuracy.
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Sales
Evidence check: 4.5/5Journal of Marketing Research · 2017
For your marketing
Use to shape a locally controlled channel or message test; account for audience, timing and attribution limits before reallocating budget.
Plain-English take
Targeting customers affected the behavior of their social connections, showing CRM campaign effects beyond directly targeted customers.
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Sales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Journal of Marketing · 1998
For your marketing
Use as a behavioral mechanism or experiment-design reference, not a direct forecast for a SaaS funnel.
Plain-English take
Complaint-handling satisfaction was determined by distributive, procedural and interactional justice; the study provides evidence that recovery evaluations shape relationship outcomes.
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PlatformsSales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Journal of Marketing Research · 2012
For your marketing
Use it as a sales-process or B2B mechanism reference. Validate the relationship in your deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Both traditional and social earned media affect marketplace activity; social earned media’s greater frequency can make its cumulative effect important despite smaller reach per event.
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ReviewsSales
Evidence check: 3/5International Journal of Electronic Commerce · 2012
For your marketing
Use it as a sales-process or B2B mechanism reference. Validate the relationship in your deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Review quantity, rating, and review content are empirically related to new-product sales; the paper analyzes both numerical ratings and textual review effects.
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Content marketingSales
Evidence check: 2.5/5International Business Review · 2021
For your marketing
Use it as a B2B mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Social media and digital tools are used jointly with traditional sales communication, blending the traditional selling steps into three main phases: identifying new opportunities, persuasion and relationship management; follow-up interviews reported increased social-media use.
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PlatformsSales
Evidence check: 3.5/5Management Science · 2024
For your marketing
Use it as a B2B mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Restaurants overall benefit: delivery platforms increase total takeout sales and create positive spillovers to dine-in visits. Effects are heterogeneous: the overall positive effect for fast-food chains is four times that for independent restaurants; platforms substitute for independent restaurants' own takeout but complement chain takeout, while increasing dine-in visits for both. The paper also reports evidence that platform price comparison intensifies competition and reduces independent restaurants' ability to differentiate through premium service/dine-in experience.
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Content marketingSales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Management Science · 2026
For your marketing
Use it as a B2B mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
ISP posts are associated with increases in sales and returns, whereas ICP posts are associated with decreases in both. ISP associations with sales and returns are weaker when persuasive content accompanies them; persuasive content attenuates the ICP relationship with returns but not the ICP relationship with sales.
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Product adoptionSales
Evidence check: 3/5Management Science · 2010
For your marketing
Use it as a B2B mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Information-technology usage significantly affects sales, but effects differ by technology and product. Directed search increases sales of promoted products but decreases sales of nonpromoted products; recommendation-system use increases sales of both; nondirected search has an insignificant effect on online sales.
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Sales
Evidence check: 3.5/5Production and Operations Management · 2022
For your marketing
Use it as a B2B mechanism or sales-process design reference. Validate the relationship in your deal size, buying committee and sales cycle.
Plain-English take
Salespeople generally comply with online sales pushes because online adoption frees time for new selling opportunities; post-push effort reflects customers' prior online proclivity and potential, varies over time and by channel, and produces asymmetric carryover, cross-channel and synergistic effects on sales performance.
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AISales
Evidence check: 3/5Journal of Business Research · 2025
For your marketing
Treat this as evidence for the specific b2b growth and sales question studied. Compare the setting and sample to your company before changing a growth decision; use a local experiment where the paper does not match your context.
Plain-English take
The study links AI exploitation to three managerial capabilities: data-based human capital, social capital for a knowledge-sharing culture, and a transformative AI-positive mindset. These foster AI-integrated knowledge processes at individual, team, and organizational levels. For a founder, use this as a question to test in your own context, not a universal playbook.
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Sales
Evidence check: 3.5/5Technological Forecasting and Social Change · 2025
For your marketing
Treat this as evidence for the specific b2b growth and sales question studied. Compare the setting and sample to your company before changing a growth decision; use a local experiment where the paper does not match your context.
Plain-English take
The paper identifies four pathways: digital skill endowment, marketing ownership of the sales process, strategic implications, and value creation. SEPs improve intra-firm collaboration and customer insight, reduce costs, increase flexibility, and align sales, marketing, and management. For a founder, use this as a question to test in your own context, not a universal playbook.
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AIProduct adoptionSales
Evidence check: 3.5/5Journal of Business Research · 2023
For your marketing
Treat this as evidence for the specific b2b growth and sales question studied. Compare the setting and sample to your company before changing a growth decision; use a local experiment where the paper does not match your context.
Plain-English take
Technology readiness positively relates to ICT and AI-CRM capability; ICT capability positively relates to AI-CRM capability; relationship performance positively relates to social-sustainability performance. ICT capability mediates the technology-readiness/AI-CRM link, and industry dynamism moderates the ICT-capability/AI-CRM link. For a founder, use this as a question to test in your own context, not a universal playbook.
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Journal of Business Research · 2024
For your marketing
Treat this as evidence for the specific b2b growth and sales question studied. Compare the setting and sample to your company before changing a growth decision; use a local experiment where the paper does not match your context.
Plain-English take
Defines Relieving, Enabling and Enriching CX value propositions and four archetypical CXM strategies: Champion, Cherry Picker, Minimalist and Fashionista; supplies a four-step managerial guide. For a founder, use this as a question to test in your own context, not a universal playbook.
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AIBuyer behaviorSales
Evidence check: 2.5/5Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing · 2026
For your marketing
Treat this as evidence for the specific b2b growth and sales question studied. Compare the setting and sample to your company before changing a growth decision; use a local experiment where the paper does not match your context.
Plain-English take
Buyer engagement depends on supplier-selection criteria, buyer role/readiness and project-specific factors; positive prior attitudes, perceived value and willingness predict co-creation intention. For a founder, use this as a question to test in your own context, not a universal playbook.
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Content marketingSales
Evidence check: 2.5/5SAM Advanced Management Journal · 2025
For your marketing
Treat this as evidence for the specific b2b growth and sales question studied. Compare the setting and sample to your company before changing a growth decision; use a local experiment where the paper does not match your context.
Plain-English take
Social media and a strong online presence were reported to improve brand visibility, client engagement and sales; themes included digital presence and relationship building. For a founder, use this as a question to test in your own context, not a universal playbook.
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Content marketingSales
Evidence check: 3/5Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing · 2026
For your marketing
Treat this as evidence for the specific b2b growth and sales question studied. Compare the setting and sample to your company before changing a growth decision; use a local experiment where the paper does not match your context.
Plain-English take
Job-related social-media use improved in-role performance, with online social capital strengthening the effect; its sales-performance effect was indirect through in-role performance. Personal-branding use improved customer-relationship performance. For a founder, use this as a question to test in your own context, not a universal playbook.
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Sales
Evidence check: 4.0/5Management Science · 2023
For your marketing
Treat an API as an ecosystem product: measure active complementors, connected apps, centrality, and partner value—not only API calls—and budget for security controls.
Plain-English take
In this study, Public API adopters grew an additional 38.7% over 16 years relative to similar nonadopters; growth was stronger with more complementors and network centrality. Internal-only API use had no significant effect, while public APIs increased breach risk. Founder use: Treat an API as an ecosystem product: measure active complementors, connected apps, centrality, and partner value—not only API calls—and budget for security controls.
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Sales
Evidence check: 4.5/5Journal of Marketing · 2018
For your marketing
A founder could cautiously pilot employee-selected quota/reward menus in a randomized or phased rollout, tracking revenue quality and retention as well as bookings. Do not assume the observed effects transfer across roles or that self-selection is always superior to a well-designed fixed plan.
Plain-English take
Compared with equivalent quota systems, allowing employees to select a goal–reward combination increased sales performance substantially. Effects were larger for employees with highly variable past performance and lower past performance; effects persisted when the scheme was discontinued and were durable when offered again. For a SaaS founder: A founder could cautiously pilot employee-selected quota/reward menus in a randomized or phased rollout, tracking revenue quality and retention as well as bookings. Do not assume the observed effects transfer across roles or that self-selection is always superior to a well-designed fixed plan.
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