Disclaimer: Many of these summaries are an oversimplified version of the paper. It’s hard to put everything into a few sentences. You can access most of these papers for free on Google Scholar.
A study from the University of Pennsylvania discovered that grocery store shoppers tend to travel along the outer racetrack of the store's layout, while periodically making short excursions part way into the aisles for specific items, and then back out the same way they came.
This is different from the common belief that shoppers travel up and down many isles during their visit. This increases the importance of product placements at aisle end caps and suggests that products in the middle of aisles receive less face time.
Source: Larson, J. S., Bradlow, E. T., & Fader, P. S. (2005). An exploratory look at supermarket shopping paths. International Journal of research in Marketing, 22(4), 395-414.
Foods labeled as "organic" do not always create a higher willingness to buy among consumers. Most people agree that organic food is healthier, but they are not more likely to buy it for that reason. But they will be more likely to buy it if they believe it is a higher quality product, and especially if it is a so-called "vice food" such as cheese, chocolate, cookies or biscuits to name a few.
What this means is consumers will use the fact that chocolate is "organic" as a guilt-reducing mechanism or justification for buying the product - but won't do the same for so called "virtue organic products" such as vegetables, fruit or eggs.
Source: Van Doorn, J., & Verhoef, P. C. (2011). Willingness to pay for organic products: Differences between virtue and vice foods. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 28(3), 167-180.
Ecommerce stores have a distinct advantage that retail stores do not - infinite shelf space. They can offer an extremely large number of products but customers have limited brain power to evaluate all of the options.
So you need 2 important things: 1) A RECOMMENDATION AGENT to narrow products down to ones that are most relevant to that specific customer, and 2) an in-depth COMPARISON MATRIX to easily compare these options against each other so they can make a more informed choice.
Source: Häubl, G., & Trifts, V. (2000). Consumer decision making in online shopping environments: The effects of interactive decision aids. Marketing science, 19(1), 4-21.
Consumer behavior can be influenced based on the way you frame a message. It was found that PROscriptive messages were more effective at getting children to eat fruits instead of candy.
PROscriptive messages are negative statements of things you SHOULD NOT do. The opposite are PREscriptive messages which are positive statements of things you SHOULD do.
Source: Khan, H., Lee, R., & Khan, Z. (2022). The interaction of social influence and message framing on children’s food choice. European Journal of Marketing.
In other words, when a person believes an ad is consistent with the person they want to become, they are more likely to share it with others. As a marketer, you can use this to your advantage by creating ads that feed into the ego of your audience.
Source: Taylor, D. G., Strutton, D., & Thompson, K. (2012). Self-enhancement as a motivation for sharing online advertising. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 12(2), 13-28.
In other words, people are not willing to sacrifice quality for a slightly less expensive product (loss aversion). Also, first movers into a market act as a reference point for comparing quality.
The lesson: Do not simply offer a lower priced version of the incumbent product if your company is entering a new market. Position your product as a premium alternative or introduce a new product attribute that will establish your product as the new market reference point.
Source: Hardie, B. G., Johnson, E. J., & Fader, P. S. (1993). Modeling loss aversion and reference dependence effects on brand choice. Marketing science, 12(4), 378-394.
Customers that have a negative experience with a service provider are less likely to stay with that service provider in the future, which is not surprising. But what's interesting is that customers who had a GREAT experience stay with a service provider for as long as those who had a neutral experience. So it’s more important to focus on minimizing bad experiences over anything else.
Source: Bolton, R. N. (1998). A dynamic model of the duration of the customer's relationship with a continuous service provider: The role of satisfaction. Marketing science, 17(1), 45-65.
A study confirmed that consumers were willing to pay more for products they successfully co-created because it fulfills a psychological desire to signal to themselves and others that they are competent.
However, the risk with this approach is that poor results tend to reflect poorly on the company rather than the person assembling it. Another challenge is that consumers are often reluctant to participate in co-creation in the first place.
Source: Mochon, D., Norton, M. I., & Ariely, D. (2012). Bolstering and restoring feelings of competence via the IKEA effect. International journal of research in marketing, 29(4), 363-369.
For example, consumers understand that social media sites allow any person to publish any information. This causes consumers to be more skeptical of social media ads because the MEDIUM, Facebook for example, has a lower perceived credibility.
The best way for advertisers to overcome this is by using more credible mediums to advertise, or to increase the relevance of their ads with better targeting or messaging.
Source: Kelly, L., Kerr, G., & Drennan, J. (2010). Avoidance of advertising in social networking sites: The teenage perspective. Journal of interactive advertising, 10(2), 16-27.
Follow-up surveys determined that the most likely cause was that when people become crowded, and their personal space is invaded, they tend to turn inwards and become more susceptible to mobile ads. This might create some interesting opportunities for hyper-contextual advertisers in big cities.
Source: Andrews, M., Luo, X., Fang, Z., & Ghose, A. (2016). Mobile ad effectiveness: Hyper-contextual targeting with crowdedness. Marketing Science, 35(2), 218-233.
P.S. I reverse engineer marketing case studies in a weekly newsletter. Link in bio.
1. People travel through grocery stores in unusual ways
A study from the University of Pennsylvania discovered that grocery store shoppers tend to travel along the outer racetrack of the store's layout, while periodically making short excursions part way into the aisles for specific items, and then back out the same way they came.
This is different from the common belief that shoppers travel up and down many isles during their visit. This increases the importance of product placements at aisle end caps and suggests that products in the middle of aisles receive less face time.
Source: Larson, J. S., Bradlow, E. T., & Fader, P. S. (2005). An exploratory look at supermarket shopping paths. International Journal of research in Marketing, 22(4), 395-414.
2. People are more likely to buy “organic” foods when it can be used as a justification for chocolate, cookies and other vice foods
Foods labeled as "organic" do not always create a higher willingness to buy among consumers. Most people agree that organic food is healthier, but they are not more likely to buy it for that reason. But they will be more likely to buy it if they believe it is a higher quality product, and especially if it is a so-called "vice food" such as cheese, chocolate, cookies or biscuits to name a few.
What this means is consumers will use the fact that chocolate is "organic" as a guilt-reducing mechanism or justification for buying the product - but won't do the same for so called "virtue organic products" such as vegetables, fruit or eggs.
Source: Van Doorn, J., & Verhoef, P. C. (2011). Willingness to pay for organic products: Differences between virtue and vice foods. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 28(3), 167-180.
3. Ecommerce stores benefit from unlimited shelf space but require 2 important website features
Ecommerce stores have a distinct advantage that retail stores do not - infinite shelf space. They can offer an extremely large number of products but customers have limited brain power to evaluate all of the options.
So you need 2 important things: 1) A RECOMMENDATION AGENT to narrow products down to ones that are most relevant to that specific customer, and 2) an in-depth COMPARISON MATRIX to easily compare these options against each other so they can make a more informed choice.
Source: Häubl, G., & Trifts, V. (2000). Consumer decision making in online shopping environments: The effects of interactive decision aids. Marketing science, 19(1), 4-21.
4. Proscriptive messaging tends to be more effective than prescriptive messaging
Consumer behavior can be influenced based on the way you frame a message. It was found that PROscriptive messages were more effective at getting children to eat fruits instead of candy.
PROscriptive messages are negative statements of things you SHOULD NOT do. The opposite are PREscriptive messages which are positive statements of things you SHOULD do.
Source: Khan, H., Lee, R., & Khan, Z. (2022). The interaction of social influence and message framing on children’s food choice. European Journal of Marketing.
5. Online consumers are motivated to share online advertisements based on the need for self-enhancement
In other words, when a person believes an ad is consistent with the person they want to become, they are more likely to share it with others. As a marketer, you can use this to your advantage by creating ads that feed into the ego of your audience.
Source: Taylor, D. G., Strutton, D., & Thompson, K. (2012). Self-enhancement as a motivation for sharing online advertising. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 12(2), 13-28.
6. A pricing discount is not likely to encourage many consumers to switch brands if the perceived quality of the discounted product is lower
In other words, people are not willing to sacrifice quality for a slightly less expensive product (loss aversion). Also, first movers into a market act as a reference point for comparing quality.
The lesson: Do not simply offer a lower priced version of the incumbent product if your company is entering a new market. Position your product as a premium alternative or introduce a new product attribute that will establish your product as the new market reference point.
Source: Hardie, B. G., Johnson, E. J., & Fader, P. S. (1993). Modeling loss aversion and reference dependence effects on brand choice. Marketing science, 12(4), 378-394.
7. Losses loom larger than gains
Customers that have a negative experience with a service provider are less likely to stay with that service provider in the future, which is not surprising. But what's interesting is that customers who had a GREAT experience stay with a service provider for as long as those who had a neutral experience. So it’s more important to focus on minimizing bad experiences over anything else.
Source: Bolton, R. N. (1998). A dynamic model of the duration of the customer's relationship with a continuous service provider: The role of satisfaction. Marketing science, 17(1), 45-65.
8. The IKEA Effect: Consumers are willing to pay more for self-made products than for identical products made by others
A study confirmed that consumers were willing to pay more for products they successfully co-created because it fulfills a psychological desire to signal to themselves and others that they are competent.
However, the risk with this approach is that poor results tend to reflect poorly on the company rather than the person assembling it. Another challenge is that consumers are often reluctant to participate in co-creation in the first place.
Source: Mochon, D., Norton, M. I., & Ariely, D. (2012). Bolstering and restoring feelings of competence via the IKEA effect. International journal of research in marketing, 29(4), 363-369.
9. The most significant reasons consumers avoid ads are because they are not relevant and do not appear credible
For example, consumers understand that social media sites allow any person to publish any information. This causes consumers to be more skeptical of social media ads because the MEDIUM, Facebook for example, has a lower perceived credibility.
The best way for advertisers to overcome this is by using more credible mediums to advertise, or to increase the relevance of their ads with better targeting or messaging.
Source: Kelly, L., Kerr, G., & Drennan, J. (2010). Avoidance of advertising in social networking sites: The teenage perspective. Journal of interactive advertising, 10(2), 16-27.
10. A study of 15,000 mobile phone users discovered that people are twice as likely to respond to a mobile advertisement when they are in a crowded subway train than people in non-crowded trains
Follow-up surveys determined that the most likely cause was that when people become crowded, and their personal space is invaded, they tend to turn inwards and become more susceptible to mobile ads. This might create some interesting opportunities for hyper-contextual advertisers in big cities.
Source: Andrews, M., Luo, X., Fang, Z., & Ghose, A. (2016). Mobile ad effectiveness: Hyper-contextual targeting with crowdedness. Marketing Science, 35(2), 218-233.
P.S. I reverse engineer marketing case studies in a weekly newsletter. Link in bio.