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Quality Certificates Alleviate Consumer Aversion to Sponsored Search Advertising

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Listed:
  • Xiang Hui
  • Meng Liu

Abstract

We study consumer response towards sponsored search advertising and how to improve advertising performance on a large e-commerce platform. Our research design is based on a field experiment which randomizes the salience of ad disclosure to consumers, and a natural experiment which eradicates a listing-level quality certificate for all listings because of a system glitch. Results suggest that consumers dislike search advertising in our setting, but quality certificates mitigate this aversion and increase advertising sales.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiang Hui & Meng Liu, 2022. "Quality Certificates Alleviate Consumer Aversion to Sponsored Search Advertising," CESifo Working Paper Series 9886, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9886
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Xiang Hui & Meng Liu & Tat Chan, 2023. "Targeted incentives, broad impacts: Evidence from an E-commerce platform," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 493-517, December.
    2. Mingyu Joo & Jiaqi Shi & Vibhanshu Abhishek, 2024. "Do Sellers Benefit from Sponsored Product Listings? Evidence from an Online Marketplace," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(4), pages 817-839, July.

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    sponsored search advertising; quality certificates; e-commerce;
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