An Analysis of the Profitability of Fee-Based Compensation Plans for Search Engine Marketing

International Journal of Research in Marketing, Forthcoming

41 Pages Posted: 19 Jul 2011 Last revised: 19 Jun 2014

See all articles by Nadia Abou Nabout

Nadia Abou Nabout

WU Vienna

Bernd Skiera

Goethe University Frankfurt

Tanja Stepanchuk

Independent

Eva Charlotte Gerstmeier

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: July 19, 2011

Abstract

Many advertisers hire agencies to run their search engine marketing campaigns; increasingly, they are using innovative performance-based compensation plans, in which they pay the agency a fee for each conversion (i.e., acquired customer) but require the agency to pay all search engine marketing costs. The authors for the first time address compensation decision problems in a search engine marketing context and reveal that such fee-based plans lower the advertiser’s profit by as much as 26-30%. This article uses a simulation study and four empirical data sets to better understand what drives this loss in profit. Two reasons account for the loss: First, the agency spends less on advertising than would be optimal for the advertiser. Second, the agency often earns more than it minimally requires to manage the advertiser’s campaign. This higher profit for the agency results because the advertiser must pay the agency more to limit its potential underspending on advertising. The authors show that the latter reason accounts for more than one-third of the advertiser’s profit loss. This article also offers insights into how the advertiser’s profit changes if it is uncertain about its profit per conversion or if it does not truthfully reveal its profit to the agency.

Keywords: electronic commerce, internet marketing, advertising, search engine marketing, agency compensation

Suggested Citation

Abou Nabout, Nadia and Skiera, Bernd and Stepanchuk, Tanja and Gerstmeier, Eva Charlotte, An Analysis of the Profitability of Fee-Based Compensation Plans for Search Engine Marketing (July 19, 2011). International Journal of Research in Marketing, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1889037

Nadia Abou Nabout (Contact Author)

WU Vienna ( email )

Welthandelsplatz 1
Vienna, Vienna 1020
Austria
+43 1 31 336 4900 (Phone)
+43 1 31 336 90 4900 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.wu.ac.at/imsm/jobs/team/abounabout

Bernd Skiera

Goethe University Frankfurt ( email )

Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 4
Frankfurt, 60323
Germany
+49 69 798 34640 (Phone)
+49 69 798 35001 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.skiera.de

Tanja Stepanchuk

Independent ( email )

Eva Charlotte Gerstmeier

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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