Dynamic selection of outbound marketing events

• US 7,827,061 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2005
• Issued: 11/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Selby, David A., Ramsey, Mark S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Myhre; James W
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHORNESKY, ADAM B
• Application Number:
  US11/120,833
• Publication Number:
  US 20060253469A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,009 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/10, 705/14.1, 705/14.13, 705/14.43, 705/14.52, 705/14.53, 705/14.61, 705/14.66, 707/999.1
• US Class Current: 705/14.43
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute

Abstract

A database system and method for ordering marketing events for offering to a candidate. The database system comprises a database manager software application, a first database structure storing a first list identifying marketing events, and a second database structure storing a second list of candidates. The database manager software application is stored on a computer readable medium. The database manager software application comprises an optimization tool. Each marketing event from the first list comprises a marketing offer and an identified channel means for communicating the marketing offer. The optimization tool is for optimizing and sorting, the marketing events from the first list for a first candidate from said second list.

Claims

1. A selection method, comprising:

providing a database system comprising a computer processor, a database manager software application, a first database structure storing a first list identifying marketing events, a second database structure storing a second list of candidates, and a third database structure storing a data model consisting of credit card balances, purchasing history, returned-items history, past marketing events that have been accepted by said candidates, and past spending habits associated with said second list of candidates, wherein said third database structure further comprises a predetermined total budget for said candidates regarding an amount of money that an entity offering said marketing events is willing to spend to offer said marketing events to the said candidates, wherein said database manager software application is stored on a computer readable medium, wherein said database manager software application comprises an optimization tool and a computing tool, and wherein each marketing event from said first list comprises a marketing offer associated with a credit based offer and an identified channel means for communicating said marketing offer;

calculating, by said computing tool, value scores associated with said marketing events from said first list, wherein each value score of said value scores is associated with a marketing event from said first list, wherein said value scores are associated with an expected profit gain associated with each said marketing offer, and wherein each said value score is calculated based on said data model, said predetermined total budget for said candidates, and an annual return of credit repayments vs infrastructure costs balanced against a risk of a candidate defaulting on said credit repayments;

computing by said computing tool, response probability scores for said marketing events from said first list for a first candidate from said second list, wherein each of said response probability scores are computed using said data model and said predetermined total budget, and wherein each of said response probability scores are computed simultaneously in parallel;

computing by said computing tool, ranking scores for said marketing events from said first list and said first candidate from said second list, wherein each ranking score for each of said marketing events from said first list is associated with said first candidate from said second list, and wherein each of said ranking scores are computed by multiplying each said response probability score with an associated value score of said third list;

sorting by said optimization tool for said first candidate, each said ranking score for each of said marketing events;

generating , by said computer processor in response to said sorting, a ranking list comprising a ranked version of said marketing events and said ranking scores;

determining, by said optimization tool, a date for offering each marketing event of said marketing events on said ranking list; and

storing, by said database system, said ranking list;

applying, by said optimization tool, timing constraint data to each ranking score of said ranking scores, wherein said timing constraint data comprises timing related data associated with a maximum number of offerings for each said marketing event and timing between each said marketing offer of each said marketing event;

determining, by said optimization tool, if any of said marketing events comprises a same type of marketing offer;

removing, by said optimization tool in response to results of said applying said timing constraint data and results of said determining if any of said marketing events comprises a same type of marketing offer, a group of marketing events and associated ranking scores from said ranking list resulting in a second ranking list comprising first remaining marketing events and first remaining ranking scores, wherein said group of marketing events comprise marketing events comprising timing constraints specified by said timing constraint data;

applying, by said optimization tool, monetary constraint data to said first remaining value scores, wherein said monetary constraint data consists of an amount of money regarding execution costs associated with channels used for offering said remaining marketing events to said first candidate, wherein said execution costs consist of costs for promotional materials, mailing costs, telemarketing costs, and infrastructure costs, and wherein said applying said monetary constraint data comprises subtracting said monetary constraint data from said predetermined total budget;

removing, by said optimization tool in response to results of said applying said monetary constraint data, a second group of marketing events and associated ranking scores from said second ranking list resulting in a third ranking list comprising second remaining marketing events and second remaining ranking scores;

ranking in simultaneously in parallel, by said optimization tool, said second remaining ranking scores;

generating , by said computer processor in response to said ranking said second remaining ranking scores, a final ranking list comprising said second remaining marketing events of said marketing events and said second remaining ranking scores in a specified order resulting from said ranking.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating by the optimization tool, a priority list comprising said marketing events, and wherein said priority list prioritizes an order in which to offer each of said marketing events to said first candidate.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating by the optimization tool, a priority list comprising only a first group of marketing events from said marketing events that fall within a specified set of constraints, wherein said priority list prioritizes an order in which to offer each of said marketing events from said first group to said first candidate.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said second list of candidates comprises existing customers of said entity that is offering said marketing events from said first list.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said marketing events are sorted and optimized essentially simultaneously.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each said marketing offer is selected from the group consisting of a product offer and a service offer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each identified channel means is selected from the group consisting of a telephone call, an email, a text message, and standard mail.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

offering, by said computer system to first candidate, each said marketing event on said ranking list.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

fourth determining, by said computer system, a plurality of channels for offering each said marketing event on said ranking list.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said plurality of channels comprise a mail channel, an email channel, a telephone channel, and a text message channel.

11. A database system, comprising a computer processor coupled to a computer-readable memory unit, a database manager software application, a first database structure storing a first list identifying marketing events, a second database structure storing a second list of candidates, and a third database structure storing a data model consisting of credit card balances, purchasing history, returned-items history, past marketing events that have been accepted by said candidates, and past spending habits associated with said second list of candidates, wherein said third database structure further comprises a predetermined total budget for said candidates regarding an amount of money that an entity offering said marketing events is willing to spend to offer said marketing events to the said candidates, wherein said database manager software application is stored on said computer-readable memory unit, wherein said database manager software application comprises an optimization tool and a computing tool, and wherein each marketing event from said first list comprises a marketing offer associated with a credit based offer and an identified channel means for communicating said marketing offer, said memory unit comprising instructions that when executed by the computer processor implements a selection method, said method comprising:

calculating, by said computing tool, value scores associated with said marketing events from said first list, wherein each value score of said value scores is associated with a marketing event from said first list, wherein said value scores are associated with an expected profit gain associated with each said marketing offer, and wherein each said value score is calculated based on said data model, said predetermined total budget for said candidates, and an annual return of credit repayments vs infrastructure costs balanced against a risk of a candidate defaulting on said credit repayments;

computing by said computing tool, response probability scores for said marketing events from said first list for a first candidate from said second list, wherein each of said response probability scores are computed using said data model and said predetermined total budget, and wherein each of said response probability scores are computed simultaneously in parallel;

computing by said computing tool, ranking scores for said marketing events from said first list and said first candidate from said second list, wherein each ranking score for each of said marketing events from said first list is associated with said first candidate from said second list, and wherein each of said ranking scores are computed by multiplying each said response probability score with an associated value score of said third list;

sorting by said optimization tool for said first candidate, each said ranking score for each of said marketing events;

generating , by said computer processor in response to said sorting, a ranking list comprising a ranked version of said marketing events and said ranking scores;

determining, by said optimization tool, a date for offering each marketing event of said marketing events on said ranking list; and

storing, by said database system, said ranking list;

applying, by said optimization tool, timing constraint data to each ranking score of said ranking scores, wherein said timing constraint data comprises timing related data associated with a maximum number of offerings for each said marketing event and timing between each said marketing offer of each said marketing event;

determining, by said optimization tool, if any of said marketing events comprises a same type of marketing offer;

removing, by said optimization tool in response to results of said applying said timing constraint data and results of said determining if any of said marketing events comprises a same type of marketing offer, a group of marketing events and associated ranking scores from said ranking list resulting in a second ranking list comprising first remaining marketing events and first remaining ranking scores, wherein said group of marketing events comprise marketing events comprising timing constraints specified by said timing constraint data;

applying, by said optimization tool, monetary constraint data to said first remaining value scores, wherein said monetary constraint data consists of an amount of money regarding execution costs associated with channels used for offering said remaining marketing events to said first candidate, wherein said execution costs consist of costs for promotional materials, mailing costs, telemarketing costs, and infrastructure costs, and wherein said applying said monetary constraint data comprises subtracting said monetary constraint data from said predetermined total budget;

removing, by said optimization tool in response to results of said applying said monetary constraint data, a second group of marketing events and associated ranking scores from said second ranking list resulting in a third ranking list comprising second remaining marketing events and second remaining ranking scores;

ranking in simultaneously in parallel, by said optimization tool, said second remaining ranking scores;

generating , by said computer processor in response to said ranking said second remaining ranking scores, a final ranking list comprising said second remaining marketing events of said marketing events and said second remaining ranking scores in a specified order resulting from said ranking.

12. The database system of claim 11, wherein said optimization tool is for generating a priority list comprising said marketing events, and wherein said priority list prioritizes an order in which to offer each of said marketing events from said first list to said first candidate.

13. The database system of claim 11, wherein said optimization tool is for generating a priority list comprising a first group of marketing events from said marketing events that fall within a specified set of constraints, and wherein said priority list prioritizes an order in which to offer each of said marketing events from said first group of marketing events to said first candidate.

14. The database system of claim 11, wherein said second list of candidates comprises existing customers of said entity that is offering said marketing events from said first list.

15. The database system of claim 11, wherein said marketing events are sorted and optimized essentially simultaneously.

16. The database system of claim 11, wherein each said marketing offer is selected from the group consisting of a product offer and a service offer.

17. The database system of claim 11, wherein each said identified channel means is selected from the group consisting of a telephone call, an email, a text message, and standard mail.

18. A process for integrating computing infrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system comprises a database system comprising a database manager software application, a first database structure storing a first list identifying marketing events, a second database structure storing a second list of candidates, and a third database structure storing a data model consisting of credit card balances, purchasing history, returned-items history, past marketing events that have been accepted by said candidates, and past spending habits associated with said second list of candidates, wherein said third database structure further comprises a predetermined total budget for said candidates regarding an amount of money that an entity offering said marketing events is willing to spend to offer said marketing events to the said candidates, wherein said database manager software application is stored on a computer-readable memory unit, wherein said database manager software application comprises an optimization tool and a computing tool, and wherein each marketing event from said first list comprises a marketing offer associated with a credit based offer and an identified channel means for communicating said marketing offer, and wherein the code in combination with the computing system is adapted to implement a method for performing the steps of:

calculating, by said computing tool, value scores associated with said marketing events from said first list, wherein each value score of said value scores is associated with a marketing event from said first list, wherein said value scores are associated with an expected profit gain associated with each said marketing offer, and wherein each said value score is calculated based on said data model, said predetermined total budget for said candidates, and an annual return of credit repayments vs infrastructure costs balanced against a risk of a candidate defaulting on said credit repayments;

computing by said computing tool, response probability scores for said marketing events from said first list for a first candidate from said second list, wherein each of said response probability scores are computed using said data model and said predetermined total budget, and wherein each of said response probability scores are computed simultaneously in parallel;

computing by said computing tool, ranking scores for said marketing events from said first list and said first candidate from said second list, wherein each ranking score for each of said marketing events from said first list is associated with said first candidate from said second list, and wherein each of said ranking scores are computed by multiplying each said response probability score with an associated value score of said third list;

sorting by said optimization tool for said first candidate, each said ranking score for each of said marketing events;

generating , by said computer processor in response to said sorting, a ranking list comprising a ranked version of said marketing events and said ranking scores;

determining, by said optimization tool, a date for offering each marketing event of said marketing events on said ranking list; and

storing, by said database system, said ranking list;

applying, by said optimization tool, timing constraint data to each ranking score of said ranking scores, wherein said timing constraint data comprises timing related data associated with a maximum number of offerings for each said marketing event and timing between each said marketing offer of each said marketing event;

determining, by said optimization tool, if any of said marketing events comprises a same type of marketing offer;

removing, by said optimization tool in response to results of said applying said timing constraint data and results of said determining if any of said marketing events comprises a same type of marketing offer, a group of marketing events and associated ranking scores from said ranking list resulting in a second ranking list comprising first remaining marketing events and first remaining ranking scores, wherein said group of marketing events comprise marketing events comprising timing constraints specified by said timing constraint data;

applying, by said optimization tool, monetary constraint data to said first remaining value scores, wherein said monetary constraint data consists of an amount of money regarding execution costs associated with channels used for offering said remaining marketing events to said first candidate, wherein said execution costs consist of costs for promotional materials, mailing costs, telemarketing costs, and infrastructure costs, and wherein said applying said monetary constraint data comprises subtracting said monetary constraint data from said predetermined total budget;

removing, by said optimization tool in response to results of said applying said monetary constraint data, a second group of marketing events and associated ranking scores from said second ranking list resulting in a third ranking list comprising second remaining marketing events and second remaining ranking scores;

ranking in simultaneously in parallel, by said optimization tool, said second remaining ranking scores;

generating , by said computer processor in response to said ranking said second remaining ranking scores, a final ranking list comprising said second remaining marketing event of said marketing events and said second remaining ranking scores in a specified order resulting from said ranking.

19. The process of claim 18, generating by the optimization tool, a priority list comprising said marketing events, and wherein said priority list prioritizes an order in which to offer each of said marketing events to said first candidate.

20. The process of claim 18, wherein said method further comprises generating by the optimization tool, a priority list comprising only a first group of marketing events from said marketing events that fall within a specified set of constraints, wherein said priority list prioritizes an order in which to offer each of said marketing events from said first group to said first candidate.

21. The process of claim 18, wherein said second list of candidates comprises existing customers of said entity that is offering said marketing events.

22. The process of claim 18, wherein said marketing events are sorted and optimized essentially simultaneously.

23. The process of claim 18, wherein each said marketing offer is selected from the group consisting of a product offer and a service offer.

24. The process of claim 18, wherein each said identified channel means is selected from the group consisting of a telephone call, an email, a text message, and standard mail.

25. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for ordering a list identifying marketing events within a database system, said database system comprising a database manager software application, a first database structure storing a first list identifying marketing events, a second database structure storing a second list of candidates, and a third database structure storing a data model consisting of credit card balances, purchasing history, returned-items history, past marketing events that have been accepted by said candidates, and past spending habits associated with said second list of candidates, wherein said third database structure further comprises a predetermined total budget for said candidates regarding an amount of money that an entity offering said marketing events is willing to spend to offer said marketing events to the said candidates, wherein said database manager software application is stored on a computer-readable memory unit, wherein said database manager software application comprises an optimization tool and a computing tool, and wherein each marketing event from said first list comprises a marketing offer associated with a credit based offer and an identified channel means for communicating said marketing offer, said method comprising the steps of:

calculating, by said computing tool, value scores associated with said marketing events from said first list, wherein each value score of said value scores is associated with a marketing event from said first list, wherein said value scores are associated with an expected profit gain associated with each said marketing offer, and wherein each said value score is calculated based on said data model, said predetermined total budget for said candidates, and an annual return of credit repayments vs infrastructure costs balanced against a risk of a candidate defaulting on said credit repayments;

computing by said computing tool, response probability scores for said marketing events from said first list for a first candidate from said second list, wherein each of said response probability scores are computed using said data model and said predetermined total budget, and wherein each of said response probability scores are computed simultaneously in parallel;

computing by said computing tool, ranking scores for said marketing events from said first list and said first candidate from said second list, wherein each ranking score for each of said marketing events from said first list is associated with said first candidate from said second list, and wherein each of said ranking scores are computed by multiplying each said response probability score with an associated value score of said third list;

sorting by said optimization tool for said first candidate, each said ranking score for each of said marketing events;

generating , by said computer processor in response to said sorting, a ranking list comprising a ranked version of said marketing events and said ranking scores;

determining, by said optimization tool, a date for offering each marketing event of said marketing events on said ranking list; and

storing, by said database system, said ranking list;

applying, by said optimization tool, timing constraint data to each ranking score of said ranking scores, wherein said timing constraint data comprises timing related data associated with a maximum number of offerings for each said marketing event and timing between each said marketing offer of each said marketing event;

determining, by said optimization tool, if any of said marketing events comprises a same type of marketing offer;

removing, by said optimization tool in response to results of said applying said timing constraint data and results of said determining if any of said marketing events comprises a same type of marketing offer, a group of marketing events and associated ranking scores from said ranking list resulting in a second ranking list comprising first remaining marketing events and first remaining ranking scores, wherein said group of marketing events comprise marketing events comprising timing constraints specified by said timing constraint data;

applying, by said optimization tool, monetary constraint data to said first remaining value scores, wherein said monetary constraint data consists of an amount of money regarding execution costs associated with channels used for offering said remaining marketing events to said first candidate, wherein said execution costs consist of costs for promotional materials, mailing costs, telemarketing costs, and infrastructure costs, and wherein said applying said monetary constraint data comprises subtracting said monetary constraint data from said predetermined total budget;

removing, by said optimization tool in response to results of said applying said monetary constraint data, a second group of marketing events and associated ranking scores from said second ranking list resulting in a third ranking list comprising second remaining marketing events and second remaining ranking scores;

ranking in simultaneously in parallel, by said optimization tool, said second remaining ranking scores;

generating, by said computer processor in response to said ranking said second remaining ranking scores, a final ranking list comprising said second remaining marketing events of said marketing events and said second remaining ranking scores in a specified order resulting from said ranking.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, generating by the optimization tool, a priority list comprising said marketing events, and wherein said priority list prioritizes an order in which to offer each of said marketing events to said first candidate.

27. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein said method further comprises generating by the optimization tool, a priority list comprising only a first group of marketing events from said marketing events that fall within a specified set of constraints, wherein said priority list prioritizes an order in which to offer each of said marketing events from said first group to said first candidate.

28. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein said second list of candidates comprises existing customers of said entity that is offering said marketing events.

29. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein each of said ranking scores are computed essentially simultaneously.

30. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein each said marketing offer is selected from the group consisting of a product offer and a service offer.

31. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein each said identified channel means is selected from the group consisting of a telephone call, an email, a text message, and standard mail.