Segmenting and analyzing market data
First Claim
1. A method of optimizing direct marketing campaigns to pools of potential donors, information about the potential donors stored in a first computer database, comprising the steps of:
- defining a plurality of segments for a first direct marketing campaign, wherein each potential donor is a member of no more than one respective segment;
defining and associating a respective package with each segment, each package indicative of the material to be sent to members of the respective segment;
fixing in time a first segmentation comprised of one or more of the segments, information about the first segmentation stored in a second computer database;
sending the respective package to members of the respective segments included in the first segmentation;
associating responses from the members of the respective segments included in the first segmentation with the information about the first segmentation;
based on the responses, calculating a response rate and an average gift amount for each respective segment included in the first segmentation; and
creating a second segmentation comprised of one or more segments included in the first segmentation, each segment in the second segmentation having an expected response rate and an estimated gift amount based on the response rate and the average gift amount for each corresponding segment from the first segmentation.
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Abstract
A method of optimizing direct marketing campaigns to a pool of potential donors, comprising defining a plurality of segments, wherein each potential donor is a member of no more than one respective segment, defining and associating a respective package with each segment wherein each package is indicative of the material to be sent to members of the respective segment, activating or fixing in time a first segmentation comprised of one or more of the segments, sending the respective package to members of the respective segments, thereafter associating responses with respective segments in a computer database, calculating a response rate and an average gift amount for each respective segment, and creating a new, optimized segmentation based on the responses obtained from the first segmentation. Another method includes means for ranking segments in a hierarchical fashion and optimizing projected return on investment based on an optimized segment hierarchy.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of optimizing direct marketing campaigns to pools of potential donors, information about the potential donors stored in a first computer database, comprising the steps of:
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defining a plurality of segments for a first direct marketing campaign, wherein each potential donor is a member of no more than one respective segment;
defining and associating a respective package with each segment, each package indicative of the material to be sent to members of the respective segment;
fixing in time a first segmentation comprised of one or more of the segments, information about the first segmentation stored in a second computer database;
sending the respective package to members of the respective segments included in the first segmentation;
associating responses from the members of the respective segments included in the first segmentation with the information about the first segmentation;
based on the responses, calculating a response rate and an average gift amount for each respective segment included in the first segmentation; and
creating a second segmentation comprised of one or more segments included in the first segmentation, each segment in the second segmentation having an expected response rate and an estimated gift amount based on the response rate and the average gift amount for each corresponding segment from the first segmentation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. In a direct marketing campaign system aimed at a pool of potential donors, wherein information about the potential donors is stored in a computer database and wherein a plurality of segments are defined for the direct marketing campaign, a method comprising the steps of:
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(a) arranging the plurality of segments into more than one hierarchy;
(b) for each respective hierarchy, assigning each potential donor from the computer database to no more than one respective segment of the respective hierarchy wherein assignment to one of the respective segments is based on the highest segment of the respective hierarchy for which the potential donor qualifies;
(c) calculating an expected return on investment for the campaign for each respective hierarchy;
(d) selecting the hierarchy with the highest expected return on investment as the optimized hierarchy; and
(e) activating a segmentation for the direct marketing campaign having the plurality of segments arranged according to the optimized hierarchy. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification