Quality Certificates Alleviate Consumer Aversion to Sponsored Search Advertising
40 Pages Posted: 24 Aug 2022
Date Written: 2022
Abstract
Building on growing evidence that consumers respond poorly to sponsored search advertising, this paper studies whether incorporating trust signals into ads can alleviate these negative reactions. We leverage a system glitch on a major e-commerce platform that removed the display of a badge representing a quality certificate from all eligible listings, to show that certification leads to a greater increase in sales for sponsored listings than for organic listings. We then corroborate these results using a second field experiment that randomizes the salience of ad display on the same platform. We find that more salient ad disclosure causes a more significant sales reduction in sponsored listings without a quality certificate compared to those with a quality certificate. The results of the experiments offer robust evidence that trust signals can enhance consumer sentiment toward sponsored search advertising.
Keywords: sponsored search advertising, quality certificates, e-commerce
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation