TARGETING MESSAGES

• US 20090144201A1
• Filed: 11/25/2008
• Published: 06/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Datalogix Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: DataLogix Holdings, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gierkink, Robert W., Gaeth, Douglas E., Ray, James B. III, Wright, Timothy J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,299,078 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

The invention generally relates to systems and methods for directing information to people and/or households likely to be receptive to the information. Systems and methods according to the invention can be used to target one or more marketing messages, such as various types of offers, to one or more consumers determined likely to be receptive to the message(s).

Claims

1. A computerized method of targeting marketing messages to consumers, comprising:

(i) analyzing purchase records and any associated contact information of consumers to determine more complete contact information for at least some of the consumers and also to determine purchase profile information for at least some of the consumers;

(ii) using at least some of the determined more complete contact information and at least some of the purchase profile information to identify which one or more of the consumers will receive a certain marketing message; and

(iii) sending the certain marketing message electronically to the identified one or more of the consumers.

2. The computerized method of claim 1 wherein the electronic sending step comprises sending an email with the certain marketing message to each of the identified one or more of the consumers.

3. The computerized method of claim 1 wherein the certain marketing message is an offer to purchase a product or service at a discount.

4. A computerized method of obtaining more complete contact information for a consumer without requiring the consumer to provide that contact information directly to a single location or entity, the method comprising:

(i) receiving two or more store card accounts, at least one of the accounts including some contact information for the consumer that is not included in at least one other of the accounts;

(ii) receiving records of at least some of the consumer'"'"'s purchases, the purchase records including at least one use of each of the two or more accounts, each purchase record including a payment card used for that purchase;

(iii) analyzing the purchase records to associate two or more of the accounts with the consumer; and

(iv) storing all of the contact information included in the two or more associated accounts and thereby obtaining more complete contact information for the consumer.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising sending one or more advertising messages to the consumer using the more complete contact information.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the storing step comprises storing the obtained more complete contact information for the consumer in a central database.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein at least some of the store card accounts and the payment card are encrypted.

8. A computerized method of allocating money to business entities, comprising:

(i) providing a system for receiving contact information and purchase records of one or more consumer entities from one or more business entities, and for determining which one or more of the consumer entities fit a particular purchase profile based on one or more of the purchase records of the one or more consumer entities;

(ii) determining which of the one or more business entities provided at least a portion of the contact information for each of the consumer entities determined to fit the particular purchase profile; and

(iii) allocating a certain amount of money to each of the business entities determined to provide at least a portion of the contact information for each of the consumer entities determined to fit the particular purchase profile.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising distributing the certain amount of money to each of the determined business entities.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the allocating step comprises storing information about the certain amount of money in a central database.

11. A computerized method of determining the effectiveness of marketing messages to consumer entities, comprising:

(i) providing a system for receiving contact information and purchase records of one or more consumer entities from one or more business entities, and for determining which one or more of the consumers fit a particular purchase profile based on their purchase records;

(ii) selecting a subset of consumer entities, as a control group, from among the one or more consumer entities that fit the particular purchase profile;

(iii) sending a marketing message to the one or more consumer entities, exclusive of the control group, that fit the particular purchase profile; and

(iv) comparing the purchase records of the one or more consumer entities receiving the marketing message with the purchase records of the subset of consumer entities comprising the control group, the purchase records compared corresponding to purchases made subsequent to sending the marketing message, the result of the comparison related to the effectiveness the marketing message.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the comparing step comprises:

(i) determining the percentage of consumer entities that responded to the marketing message;

(ii) determining the percentage of consumer entities, from among the control group, that acted in accordance with one of the consumer entities that responded to the marketing message; and

(iii) storing the difference between the two percentages as a measure of the effectiveness of the marketing message.