Digital Marketing

About us

The Chair of Digital Marketing investigates questions concerning digitalization of our everyday lives. Collaborating with leading companies in the digital sector, we strive to foster exchange between research and practice.

We provide expertise in the following areas:
- Preference measurement for digital goods using, e.g., choice-based conjoint or discrete choice experiments (Demo)
- Customer management and actionable customer analytics for better targeting
- Online marketing for NGOs.

Are you a company looking to join forces for a project, particularly on questions concerning digitalization? Are you a student at the end of your master and are you interested in writing your PhD on business related and scientific highly relevant research questions? Please contact Professor Dr. Christian Schlereth directly here.

News and stories

Read the news from Digital Marketing –
Keep up with the latest events and activities.

New HORIZONT article on Prof. Dr. Christian Schlereth

In a recent interview article, Christian Schlereth reflects the past 10 years after having won the HORIZONT Förderpreis

Dissertation at the Chair of Digital Marketing

Sebastian Hein successfully completes his doctoral degree.

Guest Lecture by Dr. Philip Köhler, Bosch eBike Systems

On December 8th Dr. Philip Köhler, Global Sales Manager at Bosch eBike Systems, gave an insightful guest lecture entitled “From Start-Up to Market Leader: How Market Research Helps Making Better Decisions” as part of our MSc course “Actionable Customer Analytics”.

Keynote at Facebook Select (DACH) 2020 Creative and Measurement Event

On December 3, Prof. Dr. Christian Schlereth gave a keynote on "Long-Term Brand Equity and its Impact on Sales" to a selected group of practice participants from the media and agency industry.

Guest Lecture by CRM Global Analytics @Douglas

On November 11, the Chair of Digital Marketing welcomed Thomas Oberste-Schemmann, Director Global CRM Analytics and Christian Koldehoff, Teamlead CRM Analytics at Douglas GmbH in a virtual session for another exciting guest lecture in our MSc course "Actionable Customer Analytics".

New publication on user targeting in Journal of Interactive Marketing

Simon Stolz and Prof. Dr. Christian Schlereth show in their new article “Predicting Tie Strength with Ego Network Structures” how network structures can be used to identify the closest friends. The method has a high potential for user targeting and has important implications for data privacy.

Guest Lecture by Michael Horn, XING

On October 28th Michael Horn, Team Lead User Analytics and Business Performance at XING, gave an insightful guest lecture in our MSc course “Actionable Customer Analytics”.

View all news

Our team

Professor Dr.
Christian Schlereth

Chairholder
+49 (0)261 6509 455
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Dörthe Barlach

Personal Assistant
+49 (0)261 6509 456
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Sven Beisecker

Research Assistant
+49 (0)261 6509 458
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Béatrice Martin

Research Assistant
+49 (0)261 6509 459
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Christina Reh

Research Assistant
+49 (0)261 6509 460
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External members

Simon Stolz

Research Assistant
+49 (0) 261 6509 457
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Our alumni

Dr. Joséphine Kreische

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Dr. Sebastian Hein

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Theses

Important information about theses.

The Chair of Digital Marketing offers a wide range of topics around digitalization and supervisory capacity for Bachelor and Master Theses - contact us for details. Part of the courses and theses requires the use of XML editors. Licenses are kindly sponsored by Liquid Technologies with their software solution Liquid XML Studio. When writing your thesis, the following template is a helpful guide and contains additional information.

Download thesis template

Publications

Practical, relevant, and innovative –
Explore research and publications.

Have we caught your attention? Do you want to take a deeper look at pre-print versions of the publications listed below? Many of these can be downloaded via ResearchGate.

International/national articles

Marketing and Sales Group
Sample-based longitudinal discrete choice experiments: preferences of electric vehicles over time
Keller, K., Schlereth, C., Hinz, O. (Pre-Print), Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science: JAMS

Marketing and Sales Group
Predicting tie strength with ego network structures
Stolz, S., Schlereth, C. (2021), Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 54, pp. 40-52

Marketing and Sales Group
Pricing metrics and the impact of minimum and billing increments
Skiera, B., Schlereth, C., Oetzel, S. (2020), Journal of Service Research: JSR, Vol. 23 (3), pp. 321-336

Marketing and Sales Group
Long-term brand equity measurement: status quo and challenges
Hein, S., Schlereth, C., Müller-Klockmann, T. (2019), Transfer, Werbeforschung & Praxis, Vol. 65 (3), pp. 6-11

Marketing and Sales Group
Bluffs, lies, and consequences: a reconceptualization of bluffing in buyer-supplier negotiations
Kaufmann, L., Rottenburger, J., Carter, C., Schlereth, C. (2018), The Journal of Supply Chain Management: JSCM, Vol. 54, pp. 49-70

Marketing and Sales Group
Why do consumers prefer static instead of dynamic pricing plans?an empirical study for a better understanding of the low preferences for time-variant pricing plans
Schlereth, C., Skiera, B., Schulz, F. (2018), European Journal of Operational Research: EJOR, Vol. 269 (3), pp. 1165-1179

Marketing and Sales Group
Fracking: Messung der gesellschaftlichen Akzeptanz und der Wirkung akzeptanzsteigernder Maßnahmen
Süptitz, J., Schlereth, C. (2017), Schmalenbachs Zeitschrift für betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung: ZfbF, Vol. 69, pp. 405-439

Marketing and Sales Group
Two new features in discrete choice experiments to improve willingness-to-pay estimation that result in SDR and SADR: separated (adaptive) dual response
Schlereth, C., Skiera, B. (2017), Management Science, Vol. 63, pp. 829-842

Books & book chapters

Book, Dr. Kovac, Hamburg
Gewinnoptimale Preisgestaltung von internetbasierten Diensten.

Schlereth, Christian (2010)

Book chapter, Gabler Verlag, 225-243, Wiesbaden
DISE: Dynamic Intelligent Survey Engine, in: Quantitative Marketing and Marketing Management. Marketing Models and Methods in Theory and Practice.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2012)

Proceedings & presentations

Proceedings of the 42nd INFORMS Marketing Science Conference, Duke University, Fuqua, America
How Conversions in Freemium Businesses Impact User Activity.

Stolz, Simon / Schlereth, Christian / Lanz, Andreas (2020) - via Zoom

Proceedings of the 49th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Budapest, Hungary
Is social media peer-to-peer fundraising a curse or a blessing? Analysing the factors that affect the donation amount.

Martin, Beatrice / Schlereth, Christian (2020) - cancelled

Proceedings of the 49th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Budapest, Hungary
How Conversions in Freemium Businesses Impact User Activity.

Stolz, Simon / Schlereth, Christian / Lanz, Andreas (2020) - cancelled

Proceedings of the 49th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Budapest, Hungary
Threshold Determination Using Extensions of Best-Worst Scaling.

Beisecker, Sven / Schlereth, Christian (2020) - cancelled

Proceedings of the 41st INFORMS Marketing Science Conference, Rome, Italy
How Conversions in Freemium Businesses Impact User Activity.

Stolz, Simon / Schlereth, Christian / Hofmann-Stölting, Christina (2019)

Proceedings of the 48th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Universität Hamburg
How Freemium Pricing Affects User Activity.

Stolz, Simon / Schlereth, Christian / Hofmann-Stölting, Christina (2019)

Proceedings of the 47th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Glasgow, UK
15 Shades of Fake News.

Schlereth, Christian / Hein, Sebastian (2018)

Proceedings of the 47th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Glasgow, UK
Finding the Right Balance for Marketing Activities Between First-Lifetime and Reacquired Customers.

Schlereth, Christian / Kreische, Joséphine / Hofmann-Stölting, Christina (2018)

Proceedings of the 47th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Glasgow, UK
Predicting Tie Strength With Ego Network Structures.

Schlereth, Christian / Stolz, Simon (2018)

Informs Marketing Science Conference, Los Angeles
Measuring Preferences Based On Attribute Exploration.

Hein, Sebastian / Schlereth, Christian (2017)

Informs Marketing Science Conference, Los Angeles
Are Reacquired Customers Really that Valuable? – Finding the Right Balance Between New and Reacquired Customers.

Süptitz, Joséphine / Schlereth, Christian / Hofmann-Stölting, Christina (2017)

Digital Marketing Conference, Passau
Valuable Zombies: How Customers Contribute to CLV After Their 'Death'.

Süptitz, Joséphine / Schlereth, Christian / Hofmann-Stölting, Christina (2016)

Proceedings of the 46th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Oslo, Norway
Product Newness: Determinants and Outcomes from the Consumer's Perspective at the Point-of-Sale.

Huang, Modan / Fassnacht, Martin / Schlereth, Christian (2016)

Proceedings of the 46th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Oslo, Norway
Quick and Easy Measurement of Attribute Importance Weights with Restricted-Click-Stream Analysis: An Empirical Comparison with Established Methods.

Hein, Sebastian / Schlereth, Christian / Schulz, Fabian (2016)

Proceedings of the 46th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Oslo, Norway
Valuable Zombies: How Customers Contribute to CLV After Their 'Death'.

Süptitz, Joséphine / Schlereth, Christian / Hofmann-Stölting, Christina (2016)

Theory and Practice in Marketing, Houston, Texas
Valuable Zombies: How Customers Contribute to CLV After Their 'Death'.

Süptitz, Joséphine / Schlereth, Christian / Hofmann-Stölting, Christina (2016)

University of Cologne
Valuable Zombies: How Customers Contribute to CLV After Their 'Death'.

Süptitz, Joséphine / Schlereth, Christian / Hofmann-Stölting, Christina (2016)

VHB-Kommissiontagung, WU Wien, Austria (Invited presentation)
SFFC: A New Method for Measuring Preferences and Willingness-to-Pay by Sequentially Asking Groups of Forced and Free Choice Questions.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2015)

Research Seminar Series, TU Darmstadt, Germany
Paying Too Much Today and Being Happy About it Tomorrow: Existence, Motives and Consequences of Payment Sequence Preferences.

Schulz, Fabian / Schlereth, Christian / Mazar, Nina / Skiera Bernd (2014)

Proceedings of the 44th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Valencia, Spain
Determinants of Contract Plan Choice.

Schlereth, Christian / El Kihal, Siham (2014)

Proceedings of the 36th INFORMS Marketing Science Conference, Atlanta, Georgia
Existence and Antecedents of Time-Variant Pricing Plan Preferences: Is Fairness all that Matters?

Schlereth, Christian / Schulz, Fabian / Skiera, Bernd (2014)

Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems, Milano, Italy
A Comparison of Nonlinear Pricing Preference Models for Digital Services.

Schlereth, Christian (2013)

Proceedings of the 21st European Conference on Information Systems, Utrecht, Netherlands
Profit Maximising Contract Plans for Cloud Computing.

Schlereth, Christian / El Kihal, Siham (2013)

42nd Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Istanbul, Turkey
Paying too much today and being happy about it tomorrow: Existence, motives and consequences of payment sequence preferences.

Schulz, Fabian / Schlereth, Christian / Skiera Bernd (2013)

Proceedings of the 42nd Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Istanbul, Turkey
Profit Maximising Contract Plans.

El Kihal, Siham / Schlereth, Christian (2013)

Research Seminar Series, Universität Braunschweig, Germany
Paying too much today and being happy about it tomorrow: Existence, motives and consequences of payment sequence preferences.

Schulz, Fabian / Schlereth, Christian / Skiera Bernd (2013)

Research Seminar Series, Universität Hamburg, Germany
Paying too much today and being happy about it tomorrow: Existence, motives and consequences of payment sequence preferences.

Schulz, Fabian / Schlereth, Christian / Skiera Bernd (2013)

Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Information Systems, Barcelona, Spain
Price Comparison for Infrastructure-as-a-Service.

El Kihal, Siham / Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2012)

Proceedings of the 41th Conference of the European Marketing Academy, Lisbon, Portugal
An Analysis of Pricing Scheme Preferences in Electricity Markets.

Schulz, Fabian / Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2012)

Research Seminar Series, Forschungsstelle für Customer Insight, Universität St. Gallen, Schweiz (Invited presentation)
Reduced Dual Response.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2012)

Research Seminar Series, MONASH University Business and Economics, Melbourne, Australia (Invited presentation)
Reduced Dual Response.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2011)

International Choice Modelling Conference, Leeds, UK
Bucket pricing plans and service attributes.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2011)

International Choice Modelling Conference, Leeds, UK
Reduced Dual Response.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2011)

Proceedings of the 40th Conference of the European Marketing Academy (EMAC), Liubliana, Slovenia
Estimation of Willingness to Pay Intervals by Discrete Choice Experiments.

Schlereth, Christian / Eckert, Christine / Skiera, Bernd (2011)

Statistische Woche, Nürnberg, Germany
Discrete Choice Experiments using Reduced Dual Response.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2010)

Proceedings of the 32nd INFORMS Marketing Science Conference, Cologne, Germany
Discrete Choice Experiments using Reduced Dual Response.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2010)

Proceedings of the 38th Conference of the European Marketing Academy (EMAC), Nantes, France
Do We Really Need That Many Purchase Decisions in Dual Response?

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2009)

Research Seminar Series, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Willingness-to-Pay for Digital Music.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2009)

Presentation at the Center for the Study of Choices (CenSoC), University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Introduction to Dynamic Intelligent Survey Engines.

Schlereth, Christian (2009)

Proceedings of the 30th INFORMS Marketing Science Conference, Vancouver
Measuring Willingness-to-Pay for Multiple Price-Quantity Combinations.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2008)

Proceedings of the 30th INFORMS Marketing Science Conference, Vancouver
Influence of Nonlinear Tariff Structures on Service Providers’ Profitability.

Stepanchuk, Tanja / Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2008)

Proceedings of the 37th EMAC Conference, Brighton, Great Britain
How Do Tariff Structures Influence Service Providers’ Profitability?

Stepanchuk, Tanja / Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd (2008)

EURO XXII - 22 European Conference on OR, Prague
Optimization of Optional Two-Part-Tariffs.

Schlereth, Christian / Skiera, Bernd / Stepanchuk, Tanja (2007)

Doctoral Consortium Wirtschaftsinformatik
Optimale Preisgestaltung von internetbasierten Diensten.

Schlereth, Christian (2007)

Digital knowledge

Digital Marketing in motion –
Watch, listen, and learn more.

Research, interviews, and teaching.

Take a look at videos from the different areas the Chair is involved in: research, teaching, and interviews with key figures within the field of Digital Marketing, including student club WHU Inside Business.

View video playlist

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung awards scholarships to students and graduates with exceptional academic achievements and outstanding political or social commitment. Since 2016 Professor Dr. Christian Schlereth has held the position of liaison lecturer of the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation and supervises the Koblenz group of BSc, MSc, and Doctoral program scholarship students.

These scholarship students at WHU are part of a group that regularly participate in academic lectures, as well as cultural and social activities.

Contact information

Are you looking for a financial scholarship? Do you have outstanding grades and course achievements? Are you involved in political, social, or cultural groups? Then you may be eligible for sponsorship by the foundation.

If you already have a KAS scholarship, contact:

christian.schlereth(at)whu.edu

+49 (0)261 6509 455

If you need support or further information, contact:

doerthe.barlach(at)whu.edu

+49 (0)261 6509 456