Methods and apparatuses to determine prices of communication leads

• US 8,069,082 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2006
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: UTBK, Inc.
• Inventors: Van Der Linden, Sean, Crothers, Christopher Scott, Altberg, Ebbe, Faber, Scott, Hirson, Ron
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): VANDERHORST, MARIA VICTORIA
• Application Number:
  US11/536,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20070022011A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,888 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/14.7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0274 Split fees
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Systems and methods to determine prices for communication leads generated from pay for performance advertisements. In one embodiment, a method includes: providing an advertisement with a reference to customers on behalf of a specific party; facilitating communications between the party and a customer via the reference; and charging the party according to a price bid specified by the party in response to a lead to communications between the party and the customer facilitated via the reference. In one embodiment, a fee for the communication leads is determined according to the price bid specified by the party for the advertisement and at least one predetermined rule, which may be based on the geographic area of the advertisement, the categories of the advertisement, the price bids of a selected set of advertisements, and/or the query that causes the advertisement to be presented.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing, using a computing device, an advertisement to customers on behalf of a specific party, the advertisement including a reference;

facilitating, using a computing device, communications between the party and a customer via the reference;

charging, using a computing device, the party a fee according to a price bid specified by the party in response to a lead to communications between the party and the customer facilitated via the reference, wherein the fee is determined at the time of the lead according to the price bid and at least one predetermined rule based on a geographic area of the advertisement; and

determining the fee, comprising;

determining a highest price bid among advertisements covering at least the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no higher than the price bid specified by the party;

determining a ratio between advertisements covering a portion of the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no lower than the highest price bid, and advertisements covering the geographic area and having price bids no lower than the highest price bid; and

comparing the ratio with a threshold value to determine the fee.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference comprises one of a phone number without an extension, a phone number with an extension, a uniform resource identifier, and a click-to-call reference.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one predetermined rule includes searching for, at the time of the lead, a competitor advertisement to determine the fee based on a price bid of the competitor advertisement.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the searching is based on a query identified according to search log data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

when the ratio is larger than the threshold value, the fee is an increment above the highest price bid among advertisements covering the portion of the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no higher than the price bid specified by the party; and

when the ratio is smaller than the threshold value, the fee is an increment above the highest price bid among advertisements covering at least the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no higher than the price bid specified by the party.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a highest price bid among advertisements covering at least the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no higher than the price bid specified by the party;

determining a ratio between;

a customer population in a union of geographic areas of advertisements covering the portion of the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no lower than the highest price bid; and

a customer population in the geographic area of the advertisement; and

comparing the ratio with a threshold value to determine the fee.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the fee comprises:

determining price bids of a set of competitor advertisements, price bids of the competitor advertisements being no more than the price bid specified by the party; and

determining the fee based on the price bids of the set of competitors.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the price bids includes determining a highest price bid of the competitor advertisements;

and the fee is a predetermined amount above the highest price bid of the set of competitors.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

selecting the competitor advertisements according to a geographic area of the advertisement of the party;

wherein the competitor advertisements cover at least a portion of the geographic area of the advertisement of the party.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting the competitor advertisements further comprises:

selecting the competitor advertisements according to categories of the advertisement specified by the party;

wherein the competitor advertisements are associated with at least one category of the advertisement.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the fee comprises determining the fee to be the price bid specified by the party if one of the price bids of the competitor advertisements is equal to the price bid.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching for a list of advertisements in response to a query request, the list of advertisements including the advertisement of the specific party;

providing the list of advertisements, including the advertisement of the specific party, as a response to the query request;

determining a price for the advertisement of the specific party according to price bids of the list of advertisements; and

associating the price with the reference;

wherein charging the party comprises charging the party the determined price in response to the lead.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying the price based on the reference used to facilitate the communications between the party and the customer.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at a time of the lead to the communications between the party and the customer;

identifying a query based on the reference and a log of query activities;

performing a search according to the identified query to obtain a list of advertisements;

in the list of advertisements, identifying a highest price bid that is no higher than the price bid specified by the party; and

determining a fee based on the highest price bid;

wherein charging the party comprises charging the party the determined fee.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

when the highest price bid is equal to the price bid specified by the party, the fee is equal to the price bid specified by the party; and

when the highest price bid is lower than the price bid specified by the party, the fee is one increment above the highest price bid.

16. A machine readable medium containing instructions which when executed on a data processing system cause the system to perform a method, the method comprising:

providing an advertisement to customers on behalf of a specific party, the advertisement including a reference;

facilitating communications between the party and a customer via the reference;

charging the party according to a price bid specified by the party in response to a lead to communications between the party and the customer facilitated via the reference, wherein the fee is determined at the time of the lead according to the price bid and at least one predetermined rule based on a geographic area of the advertisement; and

determining the fee, comprising;

determining a highest price among advertisements covering at least the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no higher than the price specified by the party;

determining a ratio between advertisements covering a portion of the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no lower than the highest price bid, and advertisement covering the geographic area and having price bids no lower than the highest price bid; and

comparing the ratio with a threshold value to determine the fee.

17. A data processing system, comprising:

a processor; and

a tangible storage medium storing thereon program logic for the execution by the processor, the program logic comprising;

logic for providing an advertisement to customers on behalf of a specific party, the advertisement including a reference;

logic for facilitating communications between the party and a customer via the reference;

’

logic for charging the party according to a price bid specified by the party in response to a lead to communications between the party and the customer facilitated via the reference, wherein the fee is determined at the time of the lead according to the price bid and at least one predetermined rule based on a geographic area of the advertisement; and

logic for determining the fee, comprising logic for;

determining a highest price bid among advertisements covering at least the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no higher than the price bid specified by the party;

determining a ratio between advertisements covering a portion of the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no lower than the highest price bids, and advertisements covering the geographic area and having price bids no lower than the highest price bid; and

comparing the ratio with a threshold value to determine the fee.