Information overload, decreasing marginal responsiveness, and the estimation of nonmonotonic relationships in direct marketing

Abstract

The paper examines the Eastlick, Feinberg, and Trappey (1) study concerning the relationship between the number of catalogs received by consumers and their purchases by direct mail. We question the validity of their conclusion that there is a nonmonotonic inverse U-shaped relationship between these two variables, and their explanation that this relationship is associated with information overload. We suggest a parsimonious explanation which attributes the results to decreasing marginal responsiveness to direct mail offers.