Using online controlled experiments to examine authority effects on user behavior in email campaigns

• Main Authors: LIM Kwan Hui, Ee-peng LIM, JIANG, Binyan, ACHANANUPARP Palakorn
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2016
• Subjects: Online Controlled Experiments; A/B Testing; Behavioral Analysis; Authority; Email; Marketing; Applied Behavior Analysis; Experimental Analysis of Behavior
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/3574; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/4575/viewcontent/using_online_controlled__1_.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Authority users often play important roles in a social system. They are expected to write good reviews at product review sites; provide high quality answers in question answering systems; and share interesting content in social networks. In the context of marketing and advertising, knowing how users react to (quails and messages from authority senders is important, given the prevalence of email in our everyday life. Using a real-life academic event, we designed and conducted an online controlled experiment to determine how email senders of different types of authority (department head, event organizer and a general email account) affect the range of response behavior of recipients, which includes opening the email, browsing the event website, and registering for the event. Tu addition, we proposed a systematic approach to analyze the user response behavior to email campaigns from the time the user receives the email till he/she browses the website in a seamless manner.