The Effects of Personalized Product Recommendations on Advertisement Response Rates: The “Try This. It Works!” Technique

Three field experiments examined an information processing explanation for the effectiveness of a direct mail persuasion technique. Respondents received an ad in the mail accompanied by a hand‐written note of the form, “John, Try this. It works!” and signed using a common initial. In the first experiment, the technique increased (decreased) free sample requests when strong (weak) brand attributes were used. In a second experiment, the attribute quality interaction effect was found only for respondents who could not identify who sent them the ad. Those who knew the sender requested more free samples regardless of the attribute strength of the brand. A third experiment revealed that both the personalization and content of the note contribute to its effectiveness. Theoretical implications are discussed.