AUTOMATIC CLASSIFICATION OF PROSPECTS
First Claim
1. A method for facilitating a transaction, comprising the steps of:
- receiving, from a web-based listing that describes a product or service, information associated with a first party interested in the product or service, wherein the information is determined upon the first party viewing the web-based listing;
automatically classifying the first party based in part on the information associated with the first party, wherein the classification is performed on the basis of an algorithmic formula applying values to one or more criteria derived from the information associated with the first party; and
in response to determining that the first party exceeds a predetermined threshold of qualification, contacting a second party associated with the product or service and facilitating a proposed transaction between the first party and the second party.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for automatically identifying customers with potential for completing a transaction and facilitating the transaction is provided herein. Visitors to a website or listing posted thereon may be identified and characterized according to publicly available information and/or other information provided by the visitor. Attributes of a visitor may be compared to one or more predefined evaluation variables and criteria. The evaluation variables and criteria are used to determine a probability that the visitor will complete a transaction. Points may be assigned for matching variables. Visitors may be categorized according to a determining probability. If a visitor has a sufficiently high probability, a counterparty to the transaction may be contacted. A transaction system may further be used to facilitate the transaction between the visitor and the counterparty. The variables and algorithms used to evaluate visitors may further be refined based on information from completion of past transactions.
82 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method for facilitating a transaction, comprising the steps of:
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receiving, from a web-based listing that describes a product or service, information associated with a first party interested in the product or service, wherein the information is determined upon the first party viewing the web-based listing; automatically classifying the first party based in part on the information associated with the first party, wherein the classification is performed on the basis of an algorithmic formula applying values to one or more criteria derived from the information associated with the first party; and in response to determining that the first party exceeds a predetermined threshold of qualification, contacting a second party associated with the product or service and facilitating a proposed transaction between the first party and the second party. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for facilitating a transaction, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a request from a first party to view a web-based listing that describes a product or service; identifying one or more attributes of the first party based on information received in the request; determining a probability that the first party will complete a proposed transaction based on a comparison of the one or more identified attributes and a set of one or more predefined evaluation variables; automatically classifying the first party based on the determined probability; and in response to determining that the determined probability of the first party exceeds a predetermined probability threshold, facilitating the proposed transaction between the first party and the second party. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:
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receiving, from a web-based listing that describes a product or service, information associated with a first party interested in the product or service, wherein the information is determined based on the first party viewing the web-based listing; automatically classifying the first party based in part on the information associated with the first party, wherein the classification is performed on the basis of an algorithmic formula applying values to one or more criteria derived from the information associated with the first party; in response to determining that the first party exceeds a predetermined threshold of qualification, facilitating a proposed transaction between the first party and the second party; and revising the algorithmic formula based on whether the first party and the second party completed the proposed transaction. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
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Specification