Determination of financial impact of promotional activities

• US 10,614,485 B1
• Filed: 08/17/2016
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2016
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ford, Daniel Morgan, Kock, Hendrik Jacobus de, Fox, Austin, Hilal, Dina, Kulkarni, Mohanish Hemant, Learmonth, Jr., Gerard P., Liang, Chuen Leong, Liu, Yaodong, Ludwinski, Graham Thomas, Roso, Yusuf
• Primary Examiner(s): Sittner, Matthew T
• Application Number:
  US15/239,511
• Time in Patent Office: 1,329 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0247 Calculate past, present or future revenues

Abstract

A content item may be received from an author and offered to customers on behalf of the author. A promotional activity associated with the content item may be conducted or performed. A baseline amount of sales expected for the content item during a time period associated with the promotional activity may be determined. The actual amount of sales of the content item during the time period may also be determined. Based on the baseline amount of sales and the actual amount of sales, the financial impact of the promotional activity may be determined. The expected financial impact of a future promotional activity for the content item that has yet to occur may be predicted. Some or all of the data may be visually presented to the author via a self-service interface.

Claims

1. A system associated with a service provider, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more computer-executable instructions stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, by the one or more processors and from a device associated with an entity, a first electronic book (eBook), the first eBook to be offered to customers via at least one of a website or a mobile application associated with the service provider on behalf of the entity;

identifying, by the one or more processors, a promotional activity associated with the first eBook, the promotional activity including at least one of an e-mail message or an electronic advertisement that is to be displayed to the customers via corresponding customer devices;

calculating, by the one or more processors, a time period associated with the promotional activity, the time period including a first time at which the promotional activity is first displayed to the customers and a second time at which the promotional activity at least one of ceases to be displayed to the customers or expires;

determining, by the one or more processors and based on historical sales data relating to at least one of the first eBook or a second eBook determined to be similar or related to the first eBook, a baseline amount of sales expected for the first eBook during the time period;

determining, by the one or more processors, an actual amount of sales of the first eBook via the service provider during the time period;

determining, by the one or more processors and based on the baseline amount of sales and the actual amount of sales, a financial impact of the promotional activity, the financial impact of the promotional activity indicating sales of the first eBook during the time period that are attributable to the promotional activity; and

visually presenting, by the one or more processors and via an interface that is maintained by the service provider and that is accessible by the entity via the device, entity data that includes at least one of an identity of the promotional activity, the baseline amount of sales, the actual amount of sales, or the financial impact of the promotional activity, wherein visually presenting the entity data further comprises visually presenting at least one of a graph or a timeline that includes;

a sales curve representing the actual amount of sales, the sales curve being annotated with the promotional activity, the first time, and the second time; and

the financial impact of the promotional activity.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising additional computer-executable instructions stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to perform additional operations comprising:

identifying a second promotional activity associated with the first eBook that has yet to occur;

determining a third promotional activity that was previously performed for the second eBook;

determining a second financial impact of the third promotional activity with respect to the second eBook; and

predicting an expected financial impact of the second promotional activity with respect to the first eBook, the expected financial impact of the second promotional activity representing an additional amount of sales of the first eBook that are likely to be caused by an occurrence of the second promotional activity.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein determining the financial impact of the promotional activity further comprises determining that one or more customers of the customers that purchased the first eBook via the service provider at least one of viewed or selected the promotional activity prior to purchasing the first eBook.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising additional computer-executable instructions stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to perform additional operations comprising:

subtracting the baseline amount of sales from the actual amount of sales to generate an additional amount of sales; and

determining the financial impact of the promotional activity based on the additional amount of sales.

5. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more computing devices associated with a service provider and from a device associated with an entity, a first electronic book (eBook), the first eBook to be offered to customers via at least one of a website or a mobile application associated with the service provider on behalf of the entity;

determining, by the one or more computing devices, a promotional activity associated with the first eBook, the promotional activity including at least one of an e-mail message or an electronic advertisement that is to be displayed to the customers via corresponding customer devices;

calculating, by the one or more computing devices, a time period associated with the promotional activity, the time period including a first time at which the promotional activity is first displayed to the customers and a second time at which the promotional activity at least one of ceases to be displayed to the customers or expires;

determining, by the one or more computing devices and based on historical sales data relating to the first eBook or a second eBook determined to be similar or related to the first eBook, a baseline amount of sales expected for the first eBook during the time period;

determining, by the one or more computing devices, an actual amount of sales for the first eBook during the time period;

determining, by the one or more computing devices and based on the baseline amount of sales and the actual amount of sales, a financial impact of the promotional activity, the financial impact of the promotional activity indicating sales of the first eBook during the time period that are attributable to the promotional activity; and

visually presenting, by the one or more computing devices and via an interface that is maintained by the service provider and that is accessible by the entity via the device, entity data that includes at least one of an identity of the promotional activity, the baseline amount of sales, the actual amount of sales, or the financial impact of the promotional activity, wherein visually presenting the entity data further comprises visually presenting at least one of a graph or a timeline that includes;

a sales curve representing the actual amount of sales, the sales curve being annotated with the promotional activity, the first time, and the second time; and

the financial impact of the promotional activity.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the second eBook is also associated with the entity.

7. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the promotional activity further includes at least one of a book signing attended by the entity or presence at a trade show or conference.

8. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising determining the time period based on a second promotional activity conducted for the second eBook, wherein at least one of:

the second eBook is included in a same genre as the first eBook;

the second eBook and the first eBook are both associated with the entity;

the second eBook is in a same series as the first eBook;

the second eBook and the first eBook were at least one of previously acquired or previously consumed by a same customer;

or

the second eBook and the first eBook were previously acquired in a same transaction.

9. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the financial impact of the promotional activity corresponds to an additional amount of sales that are determined to likely result from the promotional activity.

10. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the financial impact of the promotional activity further comprises determining that one or more customers that acquired the first eBook at least one of viewed or selected the promotional activity prior to purchasing the first eBook.

11. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

identifying a second promotional activity associated with the first eBook that has yet to occur;

determining a third promotional activity that was previously performed for the second eBook;

determining a second financial impact of the third promotional activity with respect to the second eBook; and

predicting an expected financial impact of the second promotional activity with respect to the first eBook, the expected financial impact of the second promotional activity representing an additional amount of sales of the first eBook that are likely to be caused by an occurrence of the second promotional activity.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein predicting the expected financial impact of the second promotional activity further comprises:

determining, using one or more machine learning techniques, whether one or more first characteristics of the third promotional activity are predictive of an increase in eBook sales; and

determining, using the one or more machine learning techniques, whether one or more second characteristics of the second eBook are predictive of the increase in eBook sales.

13. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

subtracting the baseline amount of sales from the actual amount of sales to generate an additional amount of sales; and

determining the financial impact of the promotional activity based on the additional amount of sales.

14. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more computer-executable instructions stored in the memory for generating a graphical user interface that is maintained by a service provider, the one or more computer-executable instructions being executable by the one or more processors to cause the graphical user interface to visually present to a device associated with an entity associated with a first eBook;

an identity of a promotional activity conducted with respect to the first eBook, the first eBook offered to customers via at least one of a website or a mobile application associated with the service provider on behalf of the entity, and the promotional activity including at least one of an e-mail message or an electronic advertisement that was displayed to the customers via corresponding customer devices;

an actual amount of sales of the first eBook during a time period associated with the promotional activity, the time period including a first time at which the promotional activity is first displayed to the customers and a second time at which the promotional activity at least one of ceases to be displayed to the customers or expires;

a baseline amount of sales expected for the first eBook during the time period, the baseline amount of sales being determined based on historical sales data relating to at least one of the first eBook or a second eBook determined to be similar or related to the first eBook;

a financial impact of the promotional activity first eBook, the financial impact of the promotional activity being based on the actual amount of sales and the baseline amount of sales, and the financial impact of the promotional activity indicating sales of the first eBook during the time period that are attributable to the promotional activity; and

a graph or a timeline that includes;

a sales curve representing the actual amount of sales, the sales curve being annotated with the promotional activity, the first time, and the second time; and

the financial impact of the promotional activity.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface further presents:

a second promotional activity associated with the first eBook that has yet to occur; and

an expected financial impact of the second promotional activity with respect to the first eBook, the expected financial impact of the second promotional activity indicating an expected amount of sales of the first eBook that are likely to result from the second promotional activity.

16. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface further presents:

a second promotional activity associated with the first eBook that has yet to occur; and

a second financial impact associated with a third promotional activity previously conducted with respect to the second eBook, the third promotional activity determined to be similar to the second promotional activity.

17. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface further presents information relating to one or more customers that acquired the first eBook, the information including at least one of an identity of the one or more customers, demographic data associated with the one or more customers, or readership preferences of the one or more customers.

18. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the financial impact of the promotional activity is based on an additional amount of sales that is determined by subtracting the baseline amount of sales from the actual amount of sales.

19. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface visually presents one or more selectable options that each correspond to a different eBook, and wherein a user selection of a selectable option of the one or more selectable options causes display of information associated with the first eBook.

20. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface visually presents a royalty curve that indicates the royalties to be received by the entity as a result of sales of the first eBook by the customers.