From free to fee: Monetizing digital content through expected utility-based recommender systems

This study proposes a novel framework for designing business rule analytics to assist businesses offering digital content in effectively converting free-only users (FOUs) into paying customers. Based on the theory of expected utility, we expand upon traditional frequency-driven rule analytics by integrating three business-relevant factors (target size, conversion profit, and conversion likelihood) into the process of generating recommendations for FOUs in digital content markets. The framework was tested using two different types of empirical analysis. We conducted a field experiment collaborating with a nationwide e-book store to determine how FOUs responded to the recommendations generated under the proposed framework. Furthermore, we analyzed over 5 million transactions collected from the e-book seller and a mobile application provider to examine the impact of customer segmentation on the effectiveness of our approach. Our findings suggest that business analytics derived from the utility-based mechanisms can significantly enhance digital content providers' business performance.