IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joamsc/v47y2019i6d10.1007_s11747-019-00649-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mobile searching versus online searching: differential effects of paid search keywords on direct and indirect sales

Author

Listed:
  • Feng Wang

    (Hunan University)

  • Li Zuo

    (Beijing Jiaotong University)

  • Zhi Yang

    (Hunan University)

  • Yueyan Wu

    (Hunan University)

Abstract

Paid search advertising is a critical source of traffic for sellers on e-commerce platforms. As the mobile Internet gains prominence as the main channel for reaching consumers, sellers need to know how to select and bid on keywords in online versus mobile search settings. This study compares the differential effects of paid search keywords in online and mobile settings on both direct and indirect sales, along with the moderating roles of keyword specificity and keyword cost. Two field studies and two lab experiments consistently show that a paid keyword in a mobile setting can prompt higher direct sales than it does in an online setting, but it generates lower indirect sales in general. Moreover, while keyword cost attenuates this positive relationship between mobile searching and direct sales, keyword specificity and keyword cost attenuate this negative relationship between mobile searching and indirect sales. Empirical evidence also reveals the sales and return on investment of paid search keywords in mobile and online settings. This study enriches previous literature by detailing new insights into the distinct settings of mobile and online search advertising.

Suggested Citation

  • Feng Wang & Li Zuo & Zhi Yang & Yueyan Wu, 2019. "Mobile searching versus online searching: differential effects of paid search keywords on direct and indirect sales," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(6), pages 1151-1165, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:47:y:2019:i:6:d:10.1007_s11747-019-00649-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-019-00649-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-019-00649-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11747-019-00649-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anindya Ghose & Sang Pil Han, 2011. "An Empirical Analysis of User Content Generation and Usage Behavior on the Mobile Internet," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(9), pages 1671-1691, September.
    2. Wang, Rebecca Jen-Hui & Malthouse, Edward C. & Krishnamurthi, Lakshman, 2015. "On the Go: How Mobile Shopping Affects Customer Purchase Behavior," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 217-234.
    3. Benjamin Edelman & Michael Ostrovsky & Michael Schwarz, 2007. "Internet Advertising and the Generalized Second-Price Auction: Selling Billions of Dollars Worth of Keywords," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 242-259, March.
    4. Anindya Ghose & Avi Goldfarb & Sang Pil Han, 2013. "How Is the Mobile Internet Different? Search Costs and Local Activities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 613-631, September.
    5. Grewal, Dhruv & Bart, Yakov & Spann, Martin & Zubcsek, Peter Pal, 2016. "Mobile Advertising: A Framework and Research Agenda," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 3-14.
    6. Sridhar Narayanan & Kirthi Kalyanam, 2015. "Position Effects in Search Advertising and their Moderators: A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 388-407, May.
    7. Dowling, Grahame R & Staelin, Richard, 1994. "A Model of Perceived Risk and Intended Risk-Handling Activity," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(1), pages 119-134, June.
    8. Kaiquan Xu & Jason Chan & Anindya Ghose & Sang Pil Han, 2017. "Battle of the Channels: The Impact of Tablets on Digital Commerce," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(5), pages 1469-1492, May.
    9. Klapdor, Sebastian & Anderl, Eva M. & von Wangenheim, Florian & Schumann, Jan H., 2014. "Finding the Right Words: The Influence of Keyword Characteristics on Performance of Paid Search Campaigns," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 285-301.
    10. Kinshuk Jerath & Liye Ma & Young-Hoon Park & Kannan Srinivasan, 2011. "A "Position Paradox" in Sponsored Search Auctions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 612-627, July.
    11. Shankar, Venkatesh & Venkatesh, Alladi & Hofacker, Charles & Naik, Prasad, 2010. "Mobile Marketing in the Retailing Environment: Current Insights and Future Research Avenues," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 111-120.
    12. Xiaomeng Du & Meng Su & Xiaoquan (Michael) Zhang & Xiaona Zheng, 2017. "Bidding for Multiple Keywords in Sponsored Search Advertising: Keyword Categories and Match Types," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(4), pages 711-722, December.
    13. Zsolt Katona & Miklos Sarvary, 2010. "The Race for Sponsored Links: Bidding Patterns for Search Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 199-215, 03-04.
    14. Anindya Ghose & Sha Yang, 2009. "An Empirical Analysis of Search Engine Advertising: Sponsored Search in Electronic Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(10), pages 1605-1622, October.
    15. Animesh Animesh & Siva Viswanathan & Ritu Agarwal, 2011. "Competing “Creatively” in Sponsored Search Markets: The Effect of Rank, Differentiation Strategy, and Competition on Performance," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 153-169, March.
    16. Sha Yang & Anindya Ghose, 2010. "Analyzing the Relationship Between Organic and Sponsored Search Advertising: Positive, Negative, or Zero Interdependence?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 602-623, 07-08.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Erdmann, Anett & Arilla, Ramón & Ponzoa, José M., 2022. "Search engine optimization: The long-term strategy of keyword choice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 650-662.
    2. Stefan F. Bernritter & Paul E. Ketelaar & Francesca Sotgiu, 2021. "Behaviorally targeted location-based mobile marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 677-702, July.
    3. Sunday C. Eze & Hart O. Awa & Vera C. A. Chinedu-Eze & Adenike O. Bello, 2021. "Demographic determinants of mobile marketing technology adoption by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ekiti State, Nigeria," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Shrihari Sridhar & Eric Fang, 2019. "New vistas for marketing strategy: digital, data-rich, and developing market (D3) environments," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(6), pages 977-985, November.
    5. Siliang Tong & Xueming Luo & Bo Xu, 2020. "Personalized mobile marketing strategies," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 64-78, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Przemys?aw Jeziorski & Sridhar Moorthy, 2018. "Advertiser Prominence Effects in Search Advertising," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 1365-1383, March.
    2. Carsten D. Schultz, 2020. "The impact of ad positioning in search engine advertising: a multifaceted decision problem," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 945-968, December.
    3. Siliang Tong & Xueming Luo & Bo Xu, 2020. "Personalized mobile marketing strategies," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 64-78, January.
    4. Darius Schlangenotto & Martin Poniatowski & Dennis Kundisch, 2018. "What Drives Paid Search Success: A Systematic Literature Review," Working Papers Dissertations 31, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    5. Anindya Ghose & Panagiotis G. Ipeirotis & Beibei Li, 2014. "Examining the Impact of Ranking on Consumer Behavior and Search Engine Revenue," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(7), pages 1632-1654, July.
    6. Bernd Skiera & Nadia Abou Nabout, 2013. "Practice Prize Paper ---PROSAD: A Bidding Decision Support System for Profit Optimizing Search Engine Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 213-220, March.
    7. Shengqi Ye & Goker Aydin & Shanshan Hu, 2015. "Sponsored Search Marketing: Dynamic Pricing and Advertising for an Online Retailer," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(6), pages 1255-1274, June.
    8. Mengzhou Zhuang & Eric (Er) Fang & Jongkuk Lee & Xiaoling Li, 2021. "The Effects of Price Rank on Clicks and Conversions in Product List Advertising on Online Retail Platforms," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 1412-1430, December.
    9. Hongyan Dai & Ling Ge & Chen Li & Yan Wen, 2022. "The interaction of discount promotion and display-related promotion on on-demand platforms," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 285-302, June.
    10. Klapdor, Sebastian & Anderl, Eva M. & von Wangenheim, Florian & Schumann, Jan H., 2014. "Finding the Right Words: The Influence of Keyword Characteristics on Performance of Paid Search Campaigns," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 285-301.
    11. Xiaomeng Du & Meng Su & Xiaoquan (Michael) Zhang & Xiaona Zheng, 2017. "Bidding for Multiple Keywords in Sponsored Search Advertising: Keyword Categories and Match Types," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(4), pages 711-722, December.
    12. Shijie Lu & Sha Yang, 2017. "Investigating the Spillover Effect of Keyword Market Entry in Sponsored Search Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(6), pages 976-998, November.
    13. Preyas S. Desai & Woochoel Shin & Richard Staelin, 2014. "The Company That You Keep: When to Buy a Competitor's Keyword," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 485-508, July.
    14. Sridhar Narayanan & Kirthi Kalyanam, 2015. "Position Effects in Search Advertising and their Moderators: A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 388-407, May.
    15. Tunuguntla, Vaishnavi & Rakshit, Krishanu & Basu, Preetam, 2023. "Bidding for an optimal portfolio of keywords in sponsored search advertising: From generic to branded keywords," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(3), pages 1424-1440.
    16. Anindya Ghose & Avi Goldfarb & Sang Pil Han, 2013. "How Is the Mobile Internet Different? Search Costs and Local Activities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 613-631, September.
    17. Navdeep Sahni, 2015. "Effect of temporal spacing between advertising exposures: Evidence from online field experiments," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 203-247, September.
    18. Fei Long & Kinshuk Jerath & Miklos Sarvary, 2022. "Designing an Online Retail Marketplace: Leveraging Information from Sponsored Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(1), pages 115-138, January.
    19. Avi Goldfarb, 2014. "What is Different About Online Advertising?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(2), pages 115-129, March.
    20. Raluca M. Ursu, 2018. "The Power of Rankings: Quantifying the Effect of Rankings on Online Consumer Search and Purchase Decisions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(4), pages 530-552, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:47:y:2019:i:6:d:10.1007_s11747-019-00649-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.