System and method for performing market research studies on online content

• US 7,181,696 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2001
• Issued: 02/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Blue Bear LLC
• Original Assignee: Blue Bear LLC
• Inventors: Brock, Stephen P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid; Kristine
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ke; Peng
• Application Number:
  US09/945,933
• Publication Number:
  US 20020072955A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,995 Days
• Field of Search: 345/751, 345/750, 345/709, 345/752, 345/753, 345/749, 345/755, 345/754, 345/756, 345/758, 345/759, 345/733, 725/9, 725/13
• US Class Current: 715/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A system and method for conducting market research studies on online content utilizing moderator and respondent computers connected over a network. A moderator at the moderator computer directs a plurality of respondents at the respondent computers to view preselected subject matter displayed on the respondent computers and collects comments and reactions on the subject matter from the respondents in a database for later review and for benchmarking. Software resident in the respondent computers enables the respondents to view a plurality of screens showing different aspects of the online content and, in a preferred embodiment, provides buttons that can be activated by the respondents to indicate a reaction to the content. In addition, the preferred embodiment enables the respondents to provide text comments to the content. Software resident in the moderator computer enables a moderator to view the progress of the respondents through the online content and view the reactions and comments of the respondents to each screen display, all in real time, as well as view the time spent by each respondent viewing each different screen. The moderator software also enables the moderator to force comments and reactions from the respondents, as well as gather personal data from the respondents, and to print out reports displaying the results. The system of the invention also includes client computers so the clients for whom the study is conducted may view the comments and reactions in real time and exchange messages with the moderator.

Claims

1. A system for performing focus group studies, comprising:

a plurality of respondent computers operatively coupled to the network, each of the respondent computers having a respondent software device programmed to download and display web pages from a Web site that is the subject of a focus group study as a respondent user of the respondent computer navigates within the Web site, the respondent browser device having a graphichal user interface having at least two rating buttons displayed on the respondent graphical user interface simultaneously with Web page from the Web site, the rating buttons including a favorable rating button and a disfavorable rating button configured for use in expressing a respondent user'"'"'s reaction to a simultaneously displayed Web page from the Web site that is the subject of the focus group study; and

at least one moderator computer operatively coupled to each of said respondent computers having a moderator software device and a database, said moderator software device being programmed to communicate with each of the respondent browser devices operating on the respondent computers, collect rating signals from the respondent computers corresponding to activation of rating buttons on the graphical user interfaces of the respondent browser devices, collect a navigation history for each respondent computer during the focus group study, the navigation history including address data corresponding to Web pages being displayed during activation of the rating buttons, and store the navigation history and data associated with the rating signals collected in the database such that each collected rating signal is associated with a Web page from the Web site, wherein the stored navigation history and data associated with the rating signals are for evaluating the design of the Web pages from the Web site that is the subject of the focus group study.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one respondent computer is a hand-held computer.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the hand-held computer includes a wire-less modem for operatively coupling to the moderator computer.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a digital sound recorder operatively coupled to at least one of the respondent computers, wherein the respondent computer is further programmed to create a digital recording of sounds made by a user during the focus group session, and wherein the moderator software device is further programmed to collect the digital recording from the respondent computer and store the digital recording in the database along with data associated with rating signals collected in the database.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a digital video recorder operatively coupled to at least one of the respondent computers, wherein the respondent computer is further programmed to create a digital recording of facial gestures made by a user during the focus group session, and wherein the moderator software device is further programmed to collect the digital recording from the respondent computer and store the digital in the database along with data associated with rating signals collected in the database.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one client computer operatively coupled to the moderator computer and including a client software device for displaying real-time data collected by the moderator software device from the respondent computers.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the graphical user interface of the respondent browser device is further programmed to query a user of the respondent computer for a comment responsive to a user activating a particular rating button; and

the moderator soflware device is further programmed to collect the comment from the respondent browser device and store the comment in the database along with data associated with the rating signal collected from the respondent computer that corresponds to the particular rating button.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein:

the moderator computer includes a moderator graphical user interface programmed to display data associated with the rating signals and comments collected in real-time.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the moderator graphical user interface is programmed to display real-time rating signal data and corresponding comments for several of the plurality of respondent computers in real-time.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the moderator software device includes a clock, and is further programmed to record timing data corresponding to the rating signal data and comments stored in the database.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the moderator graphical user interface is programmed to display real-time rating signal data, comments, timing data and address data for several of the plurality of respondent computers in real-time.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the moderator software device is further programmed to specify the Web page address for each of the respondent computers.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the respondent browser device is further programmed to generate a snap shot of the Web page substantially as it appears on a display device of the respondent computer; and

the moderator software device is further programmed to collect the snap shot from the respondent browser device and store the snap shot in the database along with data associated with rating signals collected in the database.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein moderator graphical user interface is further programmed to display a snap shot collected from the respondent browser device along with real-time rating signal data, comments, timing data and address data for at least one of the plurality of respondent computers.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the respondent browser device is further programmed to allow a user to overwrite marks and notations onto the snap shot.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface of the respondent browser device further includes a frustration (or analogous) ratings button.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface of the respondent browser device further includes a question ratings button.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to selectively prevent a respondent computer from navigating from a first Web page to a second Web page without first receiving user feedback on the first Web page.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator software device is further programmed to track an interval of time each of Web page is displayed by each respondent computer.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator software device is further programmed to track a sequence of Web pages navigated to by each respondent computer during the focus group session.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to collect user feedback from a respondent user and associate the user feedback with a currently displayed Web page.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to associate the collected user feedback with a task, and to indicate an association with the task in a display of the collected user feedback.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to assign a task to at least one respondent, and to indicate in the database an association between the assigned task and a navigation history collected subsequent to assigning the task.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to indicate in the database an association between the collected user feedback and a preselected project name associated with the focus group study.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to assign at least one group to the preselected project name, and to assign at least one respondent to the at least one group.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to output a report displaying the collected user feedback for use in analyzing results of the focus group study.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the report displays the collected user feedback filtered for at least one of a project, a group, a respondent and a Web page.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to solicit additional user feedback from a respondent based upon the collected user feedback.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to display collected user feedback to a moderator in real time.

30. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to collect a location in a currently displayed Web page with which collected user feedback is associated and to indicate in the database an association between the collected user feedback and the location in the currently displayed Web page.

31. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to transmit a survey to the recipient computers and collect survey results therefrom.

32. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to exchange instant messages between a moderator and a client for the focus group study.

33. The system of claim 1, wherein the moderator software device is programmed to receive user feedback from a respondent in a manner that is private from other respondents.

34. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of respondent computers and the at least one moderator computer are physically located in the same room during the focus group session to permit non-electronic conversation between a moderator and at least one respondent.

35. A method for performing a focus group study, comprising the steps of:

in each of a plurality of respondent computers, navigating among a plurality of Web pages in a Web site that is a subject of a focus group study in response to user input received from a respondent in a focus group during a focus group session, including displaying each Web page navigated to by the respondent in a respondent browser device on the respondent computer, and receiving feedback from the respondent via a graphical user interface on the respondent device, wherein the graphical user interface includes at least one rating button through which the respondent expresses that respondent'"'"'s reaction to a currently displayed Web page from the Web site that is the subject of the focus aroup study in the respondent browser device;

in at least one moderator computer operatively coupled to each of the respondent computers, communicating with the plurality of respondent computers to track the navigation of each respondent through the Web site when each respondent is interacting with the Web site to perform an assigned task, including tracking a current Web page displayed in each respondent browser device, logging and storing in a database a navigation history for each respondent browser device over the course of the focus group session, and detecting activation of the rating button in each respondent computer, and

in response to detecting activation of the rating button in a respondent computer, storing user feedback associated with the respondent using the respondent computer in the database, including associating the stored user feedback in the database with the current Web page displayed on the respondent computer when the rating button is activated, wherein the stored navigation history and stored user feedback are for evaluating the design of the Web pages from the Web site that is the subject of the focus group study.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising the steps of:

responsive to the activation of a rating button on the first one of the respondent computers, recording comment data by the first one of the respondent computers;

collecting the comment data from the first one of the respondent computers in the at least one moderator computer; and

storing the comment data collected by the at least one moderator computer into the database such that the comment data is associated with the first one of the respondent computers.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the step of recording comment data includes a step of providing an area on the graphical user interface of the respondent browser device of the first one of the respondent computers for recording comments typed in by a user of the first one of the respondent computers.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the step of recording comment data includes a step of recording a voice of a user of the first one of the respondent computers.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the step of recording comment data includes a step of recording a video of a user of the first one of the respondent computers.

40. The method of claim 36, wherein the step of recording comment data includes a step of providing a snap shot of the Web page and recording notations made by a user of the first one of the respondent computers on the snap shot using a marking device associated with the graphical user interface of the respondent browser device of the first one of the respondent computers.

41. The method of claim 36, further comprising the steps of:

using at least one of the rating signals and comment data to identify specific issues regarding the Web page;

generating a questionnaire related to the specific issues;

distributing the questionnaire to a large group of remote respondents; and

receiving responses to the questionnaire from at least a portion of the large group of respondents.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of distributing the questionnaire to the large group of remote respondents includes the step of sending an electronic mail message to each of the large group of respondents, wherein the electronic mail message includes the questionnaire and a representation of the Web page.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the representation of the Web page is a link to the Web page.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the questionnaire and Web page representation are embodied in an executable program sent with the electronic mail message.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein the step of distributing the questionnaire to the large group of remote respondents includes the step of directing the large group of respondents to a location on the Internet from which the large group of respondents can download the questionnaire and representation of the Web page.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the representation of the Web page is a link to the Web page.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the questionnaire and Web page representation are embodied in an executable program downloaded from the location on the Internet.

48. The method of claim 35, further comprising displaying user feedback stored in the database in real time on the moderator computer.

49. The method of claim 35, wherein tracking the navigation of each respondent through the Web site includes tracking a time a Web page is navigated to on a respondent computer.

50. The method of claim 35, wherein tracking the navigation of each respondent through the Web site includes tracking a length of time a Web page is displayed on a respondent computer.

51. The method of claim 35, wherein tracking the navigation of each respondent through the Web site includes tracking a sequence of Web pages navigated to by each respondent computer during the focus group session.

52. The method of claim 35, wherein the at least one rating button includes a favorable and an unfavorable rating button.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein the at least one rating button further includes at least one of a frustration and a question rating button.

54. The method of claim 35, further comprising preventing, with the moderator computer, a respondent computer from navigating from a first Web page to a second Web page without first receiving user feedback on the first Web page.

55. The method of claim 35, further comprising in the at least one moderator computer associating collected user feedback with a task, and indicating an association with the task in a display of the collected user feedback.

56. The method of claim 35, further comprising in the at least one moderator computer assigning a task to at least one respondent, and indicating in the database an association between the assigned task and a navigation history collected subsequent to assigning the task.

57. The method of claim 35, further comprising in the at least one moderator computer indicating in the database an association between collected user feedback and a preselected project name associated with the focus group study.

58. The method of claim 57, further comprising in the at least one moderator computer assigning at least one group to the preselected project name, and assigning at least one respondent to the at least one group.

59. The method of claim 35, further comprising in the at least one moderator computer outputting a report displaying collected user feedback for use in analyzing results of the focus group study.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein the report displays collected user feedback filtered for at least one of a project, a group, a respondent and a Web page.

61. The method of claim 35, further comprising in the at least one moderator computer exchanging instant messages between a moderator and a client for the focus group study.

62. The method of claim 35, further comprising in the at least one moderator computer receiving user feedback from a respondent in a manner that is private from other respondents.

63. The method of claim 35, wherein the plurality of respondent computers and the at least one moderator computer are physically located in the same room during the focus group session to permit non-electronic conversation between a moderator and at least one respondent.

64. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one moderator computer configured to be coupled to a plurality of respondent computers for use in performing a focus group study, and

moderator software resident on the at least one moderator computer and programmed to perform a focus group study by;

communicating with the plurality of respondent computers while a plurality of respondents in a focus group use the plurality of respondent computers to navigate among a plurality of Web pages in a Web site that is a subject of a focus group study during a focus group session;

logging and storing in a database a navigation history for each respondent over the course of the focus group session, including tracking a current Web page displayed by a browser on each respondent computer;

collecting user feedback from each respondent over the course of the focus group session, including receiving user feedback associated with activation of a rating button displayed in a graphical user interface of a respondent computer while a current Web page is displayed in the browser on the respondent computer; and

storing the collected user feedback in the database, including associating the user feedback associated with the activation of the rating button with the current Web page displayed on the respondent computer when the rating button is activated, wherein the stored navigation history and stored user feedback are for evaluating the design of the Web pages from the Web site that is the subject of the focus group study.

65. A method for performing a focus group study, comprising, in at least one moderator computer coupled to a plurality of respondent computers:

communicating with the plurality of respondent computers while a plurality of respondents in a focus group use the plurality of respondent computers to navigate among a plurality of Web pages in a Web site that is a subject of a focus group study during a focus group session;

logging and storing in a database a navigation history for each respondent over the course of the focus group session, including tracking a current Web page displayed by a browser on each respondent computer;

collecting user feedback from each respondent over the course of the focus group session, including receiving user feedback associated with activation of a rating button displayed in a graphical user interface of a respondent computer while a current Web page is displayed in the browser on the respondent computer; and

storing the collected user feedback in the database, including associating the user feedback associated with the activation of the rating button with the current Web page displayed on the respondent computer when the rating button is activated, wherein the stored navigation history and stored user feedback are for evaluating the design of the Web pages from the Web site that is the subject of the focus group study.

66. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

moderator software resident on the computer readable medium and configured to be executed by a moderator computer coupled to a plurality of respondent computers, the moderator software programmed to perform a focus group study by;

communicating with the plurality of respondent computers while a plurality of respondents in a focus group use the plurality of respondent computers to navigate among a plurality of Web pages in a Web site that is a subject of a focus group study during a focus group session;

logging and storing in a database a navigation history for each respondent over the course of the focus group session, including tracking a current Web page displayed by a browser on each respondent computer;

collecting user feedback from each respondent over the course of the focus group session, including receiving user feedback associated with activation of a rating button displayed in a graphical user interface of a respondent computer while a current Web page is displayed in the browser on the respondent computer; and

storing the collected user feedback in the database, including associating the user feedback associated with the activation of the rating button with the current Web page displayed on the respondent computer when the rating button is activated, wherein the stored navigation history and stored user feedback are for evaluating the design of the Web pages from the Web site that is the subject of the focus group study.