This research reports the results o

This research reports the results of two fifield experiments designed to help determine what format of email advertising is most effective with customers at different lifecycle stages. The experiments examine customer response to picture-dominant versus text-dominant advertising. Although the relative effectiveness of picture- versus text-dominant advertising has received some attention in previous research, the issue of which type would be most effective at different points in the customer’s relationship with the brand and for different metrics has not been explored. The two fifield experiments were executed by a major fashion retailer that sells clothing and accessories for special events. The fifirst experiment was conducted with prospective customers and focused on advertising for the retailer’s primary product, which typically occurs fifirst in the purchase cycle. The second experiment was conducted with customers who had already purchased the primary product and focused on advertising for an accessory typically purchased later in the cycle. The investigation was conducted from a customer relationship management perspective, examining the fifinancial impact of each type of advertisement at different stages in the customer’s relationship with the brand. At the aggregate level we fifind only minor differences in the performance of the picture-dominant versus text-dominant advertisements. However, we fifind that the retailer can greatly improve revenue by customizing ad format based on observed customer traits.