CLICKSTREAM ANALYSIS METHODS AND SYSTEMS RELATED TO MODIFYING AN OFFLINE PROMOTION FOR A CONSUMER GOOD

• US 20110015982A1
• Filed: 09/27/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: comScore, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Compete, Inc. (comScore, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cancel, David, Singh, Man Jit
• Granted Patent: US 8,626,834 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/17 using an input/output type connection, e.g. channel, I/O port
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/45 for identifying users
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 : Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 : Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided herein for the analysis of clickstream data of online users. The analysis methods and systems allow for the creation of new offline business methods based on online consumer behavior.

Claims

1. A method of processing data at a host computer, comprising:

receiving a data file containing records of a plurality of HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) transactions of a plurality of users, each of the HTTP transactions including at least one URL (Uniform Resource Locator);

performing a panel selection process, comprising;

conducting a periodic survey of a subset of Internet users to determine characteristics of an Internet community that includes the subset of Internet users, the characteristics including demographic characteristics; and

selecting a panel of users from the subset of Internet users, the panel of users having a targeted combination of the demographic characteristics;

creating a plurality of session data files, each of which contain a user identifier, a time stamp, the URLs in the data file that belong to the session, and a session identifier;

decomposing the URLs in each of the plurality of session data files so that the URLs in each of the plurality of session data files are decomposed URLs; and

hashing the decomposed URLs so that the decomposed URLs are hashed, decomposed URLs;

calculating a metric of user behavior based upon the hashed, decomposed URLs, wherein the metric relates to a cross-shopping behavior of the users between different brands of a consumer good; and

transmitting to a remote machine the metric of user behavior, wherein the metric of user behavior enables modifying an offline marketing promotion that includes an offline incentive for buying a particular brand of consumer good.