About

Anand V. Bodapati is an Associate Professor of Marketing at UCLA Anderson School of Management. His research is at the intersection of consumer psychology, decision making, statistics, marketing, and computer science. His interests include the development of statistical models, methodologies, and decision support systems to address marketing problems related to value creation, value communication, customer acquisition, customer development, customer retention, and the assessment of customer response to marketing. Bodapati has worked on customer acquisition targeting, product optimization, consumer preference assessment, conjoint analysis, segmentation, advertising response, direct marketing, customer relationship management, Bayesian statistics, and experimental design. His domain-specific interests encompass advertising, retailing, direct marketing, digital marketing, and social marketing for health and public policy.

Research topics

• Advertising
• Business
• Computer Science
• Marketing
• Commerce
• Psychology

Selected publications

• Correction: Multiple-Category Decision-Making: Review and Synthesis

  Marketing Letters · 2025-10-02

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Effect of Gambling Outcomes on Casino Return Times with Scalable DDC

  Customer Needs and Solutions · 2024-09-27

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Enabled by modern interaction-logging technologies, managers increasingly have access to outcome data from customer interactions. We consider the direct marketing targeting problem in situations where 1) the customer’s outcomes vary randomly and independently from occasion to occasion, 2) the firm has measures of the outcomes experienced by each customer on each occasion, and 3) the firm can customize marketing according to these measures and the customer’s behaviors. A primary contribution of this paper is a framework and methodology to use data on customer outcome data to model a customer’s evolving beliefs related to the firm and how these beliefs combine with marketing to influence purchase behavior. Thereby, this paper allows the manager to assess the marketing response of a customer with any specific outcome and behavior history, which in turn can be used to decide which customers to target for marketing. This research develops a novel, tractable way to estimate and introduce flexible heterogeneity distributions into Bayesian dynamic discrete choice learning models on large datasets. The model is estimated using data from the casino industry, an industry which generates more than $60 billion in U.S. revenues but has surprisingly little academic, econometric research. The counterfactuals suggest that casino profitability can increase substantially when marketing incorporates gamblers’ beliefs and past outcome sequences into the targeting decision.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Retailer Marketing Communications in the Digital Age: Getting the Right Message to the Right Shopper at the Right Time

  Journal of Retailing · 2021 · 73 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Business
  • Marketing
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Effects of Age on Shopping Behavior for Consumer Packaged Goods

  Routledge eBooks · 2020 · 2 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Advertising
  • Business
  • Commerce

  We report the results of an analysis of age effects on consumer buying behaviors across a total of 29 different consumer package good categories, several of which one would expect to change with age (e.g., categories related to workforce participation). Specifically, in terms of spending behaviors, we look at buying volume, brand loyalty, unit size, mean volume per shopping occasion, size loyalty, shopping trip frequency, inter-trip gap stability, time of day, day of week, store loyalty, and preferred store size. Our analysis reveals large differences across categories in terms of whether age had a significant increasing, decreasing, or no effect. In addition, we investigate the effect of age on consumer responsiveness to marketers’ promotional activities, including feature advertising, in-store displays, and price promotions, which is a novel aspect of the investigation. Taken together, our results reveal few age differences in consumer response to key promotional activities.

  PublisherDOI

• Are Young Adults More Narcissistic Than Older Adults?

  Routledge eBooks · 2020 · 1 citations

  • Psychology

  We address the question of whether young adults are generally more narcissistic than older adults. Older generations often characterize younger generations as relatively egoistic versus altruistic. For example, the Depression-era generation labeled its Baby Boomer offspring the “Me Generation” which is essentially the same label that the Baby Boomer generation now uses to characterize its own Millennial offspring (“Generation Me”). We review various past research findings on the nature of the relationship between age and (sub-clinical) narcissism. These findings are mixed in part due to studies’ focus on age effects versus cohort effects. Although these findings are mixed, studies suggest that both older adults and young adults view young adults as more narcissistic compared to older adults. Understanding differences due to age in narcissistic tendencies is important from a marketing perspective. For example, by targeting consumers’ egoistic (vs. altruistic) values, advertisers can increase felt involvement with a product and in turn the effectiveness of their persuasive appeals.

  PublisherDOI

• Incorporating Experience Quality Data into CRM Models: The Impact of Gambler Outcomes on Casino Return Times

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2017-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Habits and Free Associations: Free Your Mind but Mind Your Habits

  Journal of the Association for Consumer Research · 2017-07-01 · 10 citations

  article

  Most consumer choices are repeat choices driven by habits. Psychological accounts of habits have generally emphasized the driving role of external factors, especially contextual cues, in habit performance. The present research investigates the influence of an individual-difference variable that reflects a more internal driver of habits. Three studies reveal a negative relationship between people’s tendency to generate relatively uncommon word responses in free-association tasks and their tendency to repeat choice behavior across different consumer contexts. These results implicate free associations as having a role in habit performance and inform practical research on predictors of consumers’ repeat choices.

  PublisherDOI

• MP55-05 PARENTAL PREFERENCE ASSESSMENT FOR VESICOURETERAL REFLUX MANAGEMENT IN CHILDREN

  The Journal of Urology · 2016-03-28

  articleOpen access

  You have accessJournal of UrologyPediatrics: Urinary Tract Infection and Vesicoureteral Reflux1 Apr 2016MP55-05 PARENTAL PREFERENCE ASSESSMENT FOR VESICOURETERAL REFLUX MANAGEMENT IN CHILDREN Geraldine Tran, Anand Bodapati, Jonathan Routh, Christopher Saigal, and Hillary Copp Geraldine TranGeraldine Tran More articles by this author , Anand BodapatiAnand Bodapati More articles by this author , Jonathan RouthJonathan Routh More articles by this author , Christopher SaigalChristopher Saigal More articles by this author , and Hillary CoppHillary Copp More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2016.02.596AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Parents of children with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) are presented with a variety of management options including watchful waiting, antibiotic prophylaxis, and surgery, which in many cases offer a similar risk-benefit balance. However, no clinical tools exist to help parents formulate an evidence-based decision accounting for their preferences. This study aims to elicit core themes regarding VUR management as a first step in creating a standardized shared decision-making tool for VUR. METHODS A semi-structured, qualitative interview script was developed and vetted by 25 pediatric urologists to discuss treatment options for VUR. A single pediatric urologist interviewed parents of pediatric patients treated for VUR. Interviews were conducted until new ideas failed to arise. We performed a content analysis of verbatim interview transcripts to extract all statements that specifically differentiated between treatment options. Two researchers independently grouped the statements under common themes. Similar themes were combined until a final list of unique themes emerged. Disputes regarding theme assignment and merging were resolved through discussion with a six-member expert panel. RESULTS 26 interviews were performed yielding 503 statements that differentiated treatment options. 9 general themes emerged. 92% of parents valued the ability of a treatment option to eliminate urinary tract infection (UTI). 73% considered the risks of long-term complications unique to each treatment option, while 57% weighed the associated short-term risks of surgical intervention in their decision-making. 65% regarded the burdens of compliance with each treatment option, and 62% preferred an option that allows for decisive action. CONCLUSIONS Our study emphasizes that when choosing a treatment option for their child's VUR, parents' preferences regarding risks and benefits are variable. Parents' chief concerns include whether a method eliminates UTI, aligns itself with their family's capabilities, has possible surgical complications, and allows for decisive action. These themes help to frame the discussion between families and clinicians regarding VUR management and can be used to form a structured decision-making tool that elicits key parental preferences. © 2016FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 195Issue 4SApril 2016Page: e737 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2016MetricsAuthor Information Geraldine Tran More articles by this author Anand Bodapati More articles by this author Jonathan Routh More articles by this author Christopher Saigal More articles by this author Hillary Copp More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reward-scrounging in customer referral programs

  International Journal of Research in Marketing · 2016-11-25 · 18 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Parental Preference Assessment for Vesicoureteral Reflux Management in Children

  The Journal of Urology · 2016-12-11 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  PurposeParents of children with vesicoureteral reflux are presented with a variety of management options, which in many cases offer a similar risk-benefit ratio. To facilitate shared decision making, parental preferences regarding vesicoureteral reflux treatment options need to be acknowledged. We aimed to characterize the clinical experience of parents and elicit core themes affecting decision making in regard to managing vesicoureteral reflux in their child.Materials and methodsA semistructured, qualitative interview script was developed and vetted by 25 pediatric urologists to discuss treatment options for vesicoureteral reflux. Additional patient interviews were conducted until new themes failed to arise. Content analysis was performed to extract all statements that described treatment options. Similar statements were combined until a final list of unique themes emerged.ResultsA total of 26 interviews were performed, yielding 689 statements about overall parent experiences with managing vesicoureteral reflux in the child and 450 statements (65%) pertaining to treatment options. Of the 13 themes that emerged, those most commonly considered were the prevention of future urinary tract infections by 85% of parents, the efficacy rate of treatment options by 85%, the burden of daily maintenance or compliance by 77%, antibiotic resistance by 69%, chronic kidney damage by 62% and invasiveness by 58%.ConclusionsOur study emphasizes that when choosing a treatment option for vesicoureteral reflux in their child, parent preferences regarding risks and benefits are variable. However, their chief concerns include whether a method decreases the risk of urinary tract infections, has an acceptable efficacy rate and aligns itself with the capabilities of the family. These themes help frame discussions between families and clinicians regarding vesicoureteral reflux management, and they can facilitate shared decision making.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sachin Gupta

  SC Johnson (United States)

  9 shared

• Wagner A. Kamakura

  Rice University

  7 shared

• P. A. Naik

  University of Liverpool

  7 shared

• Aimée Drolet

  Anderson University - South Carolina

  7 shared

• Randolph E. Bucklin

  6 shared

• Michel Wedel

  6 shared

• Peter C. Verhoef

  5 shared

• Peter Lenk

  5 shared

Awards & honors

• American Marketing Association's Paul Green Award twice
• American Marketing Association's Lehmann Award
• finalist for the O'Dell Award for his work on recommendation…
• Paul Green 'Best Paper' Award (2008)
• O'Dell Award for Long Term Impact