EFFECTIVENESS OF RETARGETED DIRECT MAILING: WHEN DOES IT WORK?
(R2021-104605)

AUTHORS

Saeid Vafainia, ESCP Business School; Els Breugelmans, KU Leuven; Tammo Bijmolt, University of Groningen

KEYWORDS

Direct mailing; Retargeting; Customer churn

ABSTRACT

Retailers nowadays use direct mailings tailored to customer’s purchase recency in order to convince them to repurchase. This paper aims to investigates whether such retargeted direct mailings are more effective in impacting customer purchase behavior than non-targeted direct mailings, using an empirical a quasi-experimental setting. We found that retargeted direct mails are only effective in increasing the purchase likelihood of customer, while not successful in increasing their spending. Plus, the effectiveness of retargeted direct mailings depends on customer characteristics and retargeted direct mailing’s type. The results of the study provide valuable insights for managers when allocating the direct mailing budget.