‘Nudging’ responses to marketing emails: Evidence from London Fireworks Campaign

Abstract

This study evaluates the efficiency of ‘nudging’ in a natural experiment conducted around London New Year’s Eve Fireworks campaign. We measure the click-through rates in response to various versions of the email sent on behalf of the Mayor of London. The results demonstrate that crafting marketing messages using the behavioural triggers of specificity, social proof and reciprocity can bring about an uplift in response rates to email communications compared to control groups which receive a standard message. Our results contribute to the empirical evidence on the validity of nudge theory.