METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ONLINE EVENTS

• US 20140207947A1
• Filed: 01/17/2014
• Published: 07/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Travelclick Incorporated (Amadeus Global Travel Distribution S.A.)
• Original Assignee: Zdirect, Inc. (Amadeus Global Travel Distribution S.A.)
• Inventors: THOMAS, Rowland Hayes, WIEDER, Isaac, PADDOCK, Christopher Shayne, TANG, Yadi, TORUNSKI, Jean-Philippe
• Application Number:
  US14/158,561
• Publication Number:
  US 20140207947A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Provided are methods and systems for determining whether an online event has been completed by a user. A website or other interactive service maintains user activity data reflective of the activities of its users. A failure analysis component analyzes the user activity data to automatically detect likely failure events. An event filtering component intelligently accesses information from unrelated websites, interactive services, and/or offline services to determine whether an event was successfully completed by a user. One or more communications are sent to the user for select failure and successful events, preferably taking into consideration information about the event itself and information about the particular user. Such communications present the user with information about the same event or other possible events that are related to the original event that the user might be interested in completing.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a server, that a user accessed a website associated with an electronic notification sent to the user;

determining that the user accessed an event engine associated with the website;

determining that the user initiated an event in the event engine, wherein the initiated event is associated with one or more goods and/or services offered by the website;

storing data about the initiated event in one or more databases;

determining, based on the stored data about the event, that the user abandoned the event in the event engine;

determining whether the event remains abandoned by the user based on a collection of data obtained from online and/or offline sources associated with the event, wherein the collection of data includes data about one or more other websites associated with the one or more goods and/or services offered by the website; and

in response to determining that the event remains abandoned by the user, sending the user a notification about the abandoned event.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the user re-accessed the website via the notification about the abandoned event; and

determining that the user completed the event in the event engine.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in response to determining that the event remains abandoned by the user after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the user re-accessed the website, sending the user an additional notification about the abandoned event.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, by the server, an electronic notification to a user device associated with the user, wherein the electronic notification includes information about the associated website.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the event engine is a web page associated with the website, the web page configured to allow the user to conduct an event associated with one or more goods and/or services offered by the website.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining, based on the collection of data obtained from the online and/or offline sources associated with the event, that the user completed the event outside of the event engine, sending the user a notification about one or more other goods and/or services related to the completed event.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the user initiated an event in the event engine includes:

determining that the user conducted a search in connection with the one or more goods and/or services offered by the website using the event engine, wherein the data stored about the initiated event includes one or more parameters of the search conducted by the user in connection with the one or more goods and/or services offered by the website.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection of data obtained from the online and/or offline sources associated with the event includes clickstream data from the one or more other websites associated with the one or more goods and/or services offered by the website.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the event remains abandoned by the user includes:

analyzing the collection of data obtained from the online and/or offline sources associated with the event; and

determining, based on the analyzed data, that the event has not been completed by the user outside of the event engine.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification about the abandoned event is sent to the user after a predetermined period of time following the determination that the event remains abandoned by the user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that the user initiated an event in the event engine, determining that the user entered information about the user in the event engine;

generating a user profile for the user based on the entered information about the user; and

storing the user profile with the data about the initiated event in the one or more databases.

12. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to said one or more processors having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by said one or more processors, causes said one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

determining that a user accessed a website associated with an electronic notification sent to the user;

determining that the user accessed an event engine associated with the website;

determining that the user initiated an event in the event engine, wherein the initiated event is associated with one or more goods and/or services offered by the website;

storing data about the initiated event in one or more databases;

determining, based on the stored data about the event, that the user abandoned the event in the event engine;

obtaining, from a collection of online and/or offline sources associated with the event, data about one or more other websites associated with the one or more goods and/or services offered by the website;

determining, based on the data about the one or more other websites, whether the event remains abandoned by the user; and

in response to determining that the event remains abandoned by the user, sending the user a notification about the abandoned event.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are caused to perform further operations comprising:

determining that the user re-accessed the website via the notification about the abandoned event; and

determining that the user completed the event in the event engine.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are caused to perform further operations comprising, in response to determining that the event remains abandoned by the user after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the user re-accessed the website, sending the user an additional notification about the abandoned event.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are caused to perform further operations comprising sending an electronic notification to a user device associated with the user, wherein the electronic notification includes information about the associated website.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the event engine is a web page associated with the website, the web page configured to allow the user to conduct an event associated with one or more goods and/or services offered by the website.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are caused to perform further operations comprising:

in response to determining, based on the data about the one or more other websites, that the user completed the event outside of the event engine, sending the user a notification about one or more other goods and/or services related to the completed event.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are caused to perform further operations comprising:

determining that the user conducted a search in connection with the one or more goods and/or services offered by the website using the event engine,

wherein the data stored about the initiated event includes one or more parameters of the search conducted by the user in connection with the one or more goods and/or services offered by the website.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the data obtained from the online and/or offline sources associated with the event includes clickstream data from the one or more other websites associated with the one or more goods and/or services offered by the website.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are caused to perform further operations comprising:

analyzing the data obtained from the online and/or offline sources associated with the event; and

determining, based on the analyzed data, that the event has not been completed by the user outside of the event engine.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the notification about the abandoned event is sent to the user after a predetermined period of time following the determination that the event remains abandoned by the user.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are caused to perform further operations comprising:

in response to determining that the user initiated an event in the event engine, determining that the user entered information about the user in the event engine;

generating a user profile for the user based on the entered information about the user; and

storing the user profile with the data about the initiated event in the one or more databases.

23. One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

determining that a user accessed a website associated with an electronic notification sent to the user;

determining that the user accessed an event engine associated with the website;

determining that the user initiated an event in the event engine, wherein the initiated event is associated with one or more goods and/or services offered by the website;

storing data about the initiated event in one or more databases;

determining, based on the stored data about the event, that the user abandoned the event in the event engine;

obtaining, from a collection of online and/or offline sources associated with the event, data about one or more other websites associated with the one or more goods and/or services offered by the website;

determining, based on the data about the one or more other websites, whether the event remains abandoned by the user; and

in response to determining that the event remains abandoned by the user, sending the user a notification about the abandoned event.