Systems, methods, and apparatus for analyzing the influence of marketing assets

• US 8,417,560 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2009
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eloqua Corporation
• Original Assignee: Eloqua Corporation
• Inventors: Woods, Steven, Corey, Andrea
• Primary Examiner(s): Jasmin, Lynda
• Assistant Examiner(s): Koneru, Sujay
• Application Number:
  US12/424,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20090265221A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,455 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 742, 705/14.41
• US Class Current: 705/7.31
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

In various embodiments, the influence of marketing assets upon an individual are analyzed. In particular, a record of the individual'"'"'s interactions with a first marketing asset of a first marketing campaign may be stored in a database. Thereafter, the database may be queried to determine whether the individual interacted with the first marketing asset in accordance with defined criteria. If so, the individual may be associated with the first marketing campaign.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing the influence of marketing assets, the method comprising:

storing, in a database, records of an individual'"'"'s interactions with a first marketing asset of a first marketing campaign and of the individual'"'"'s interactions with a plurality of additional marketing assets, each marketing asset selected from the group consisting of an e-mail, a print-mail, a calling campaign, a web form, a page on a website, an online event, a survey, and a tradeshow;

querying the database to determine whether the individual interacted with the first marketing asset in accordance with defined criteria;

if the individual interacted with the first marketing asset in accordance with the defined criteria, associating, in computer memory, the individual with the first marketing campaign, the association identifying the individual as having been influenced by the first marketing campaign;

if the individual did not interact with the first marketing asset in accordance with the defined criteria, refraining from associating, in the computer memory, the individual with the first marketing campaign;

analyzing the stored records of the individual'"'"'s interactions with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets by querying the database with a series of inquiries relating to how the individual interacted with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets and assigning, in the computer memory, at least one score to the individual based upon responses to the series of inquiries, the score being increased by responses tending to increase a probability that the individual is interested in a product and being decreased by responses tending to decrease the probability that the individual is interested in the product, whereby the computer memory records, in connection with the first marketing campaign, an identification of an individual determined to have been influenced by the first marketing campaign and a separate score related to that individual that represents the individual'"'"'s level of interest in the product; and

querying the database to determine, based upon the individual'"'"'s interactions with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets, a stage at which the individual is at in a buying cycle, the stage being at least one of a stage at which the individual is seeking education about different products, a stage at which the individual is attempting to decide which vendor to purchase a product from, or a stage at which the individual is readying to purchase a particular product from a particular vendor.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising ranking the individual based upon the individual'"'"'s assigned score, and storing the individual'"'"'s rank in the computer memory.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising assigning, in the computer memory, a score to each of a plurality of additional persons based upon each person'"'"'s interactions with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising ranking each person based upon the person'"'"'s assigned score, and storing the persons'"'"' ranks in the computer memory.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising presenting, for the first marketing campaign, a graphical representation of the ranks of each individual and person associated with the first marketing campaign.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein a plurality of scores are assigned to the individual over time and a plurality of ranks for the individual are stored in the computer memory over time, each rank associated with a particular time frame.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising i) identifying a change in the individual'"'"'s rank from a first time frame to a second time frame and ii) determining whether the change in the individual'"'"'s rank occurred within a set time period from a beginning of the first marketing campaign.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the individual'"'"'s score exceeds a threshold and the method further comprises identifying the individual to a sales group.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the individual is associated, in the computer memory, with a plurality of marketing campaigns, and further comprising attributing, in the computer memory, revenue from a sale across the plurality of campaigns.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the revenue is attributed across the plurality of campaigns in accordance with user input.

31. The method of claim 6 further comprising determining that an individual, associated in the computer memory with the first marketing campaign, has had his or her interest in a product increased as a result of the first marketing campaign by identifying a change between the individual'"'"'s rank during a first time frame and the individual'"'"'s rank during second time frame.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the first time frame ends before the first marketing campaign begins, and the second time frame begins after the first marketing campaign has begun.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the first time frame ends before the individual is associated with the first marketing campaign, and the second time frame begins after the individual has been associated with the first marketing campaign.

11. A system that analyzes the influence of marketing assets, the system comprising:

a database that stores, in response to commands from a computer processor, records of an individual'"'"'s interactions with a first marketing asset of a first marketing campaign and of the individual'"'"'s interactions with a plurality of additional marketing assets, each marketing asset selected from the group consisting of an e-mail, a print-mail, a calling campaign, a web form, a page on a website, an online event, a survey, and a tradeshow;

a determination module that queries the database to determine whether the individual interacted with the first marketing asset in accordance with defined criteria;

an association module that (i) associates, in computer memory, the individual with the first marketing campaign if the individual interacted with the first marketing asset in accordance with the defined criteria, the association identifying the individual as having been influenced by the first marketing campaign, and (ii) refrains from associating, in the computer memory, the individual with the first marketing campaign if the individual did not interact with the first marketing asset in accordance with the defined criteria; and

a scoring module that;

(i) analyzes the stored records of the individual'"'"'s interactions with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets by querying the database with a series of inquiries relating to how the individual interacted with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets and assigning, in the computer memory, at least one score to the individual based upon responses to the series of inquiries, the score being increased by responses tending to increase a probability that the individual is interested in a product and being decreased by responses tending to decrease the probability that the individual is interested in the product, whereby the computer memory records, in connection with the first marketing campaign, an identification of an individual determined to have been influenced by the first marketing campaign and a separate score related to that individual that represents the individual'"'"'s level of interest in the product; and

(ii) queries the database to determine, based upon the individual'"'"'s interactions with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets, a stage at which the individual is at in a buying cycle, the stage being at least one of a stage at which the individual is seeking education about different products, a stage at which the individual is attempting to decide which vendor to purchase a product from, or a stage at which the individual is readying to purchase a particular product from a particular vendor.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising a ranking module that ranks the individual based upon the individual'"'"'s assigned score, and that stores the individual'"'"'s rank in the computer memory.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the scoring module further assigns, in the computer memory, a score to each of a plurality of additional persons based upon each person'"'"'s interactions with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the ranking module further ranks each person based upon the person'"'"'s assigned score, and stores the persons'"'"' ranks in the computer memory.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising a presentation module that presents, for the first marketing campaign, a graphical representation of the ranks of each individual and person associated with the first marketing campaign.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the scoring module assigns a plurality of scores to the individual over time and the ranking module stores a plurality of ranks for the individual in the computer memory over time, each rank being associated with a particular time frame.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising an analysis module that i) identifies a change in the individual'"'"'s rank from a first time frame to a second time frame and ii) determines whether the change in the individual'"'"'s rank occurred within a set time period from a beginning of the first marketing campaign.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the individual'"'"'s score exceeds a threshold and the scoring module identifies the individual to a sales group.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the association module associates, in the computer memory, the individual with a plurality of marketing campaigns, and further comprising a financial analysis module that attributes, in the computer memory, revenue from a sale across the plurality of campaigns.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the financial analysis module attributes the revenue across the plurality of campaigns in accordance with user input.

21. An article of manufacture storing computer-readable instructions thereon for analyzing the influence of marketing assets on an individual, the article of manufacture comprising:

instructions that (i) track the individual'"'"'s interactions with a first marketing asset of a first marketing campaign and the individual'"'"'s interactions with a plurality of additional marketing assets, and (ii) transmit records of the interactions to a database for storage thereat, each marketing asset selected from the group consisting of an e-mail, a print-mail, a calling campaign, a web form, a page on a website, an online event, a survey, and a tradeshow;

instructions that query the database to determine whether the individual interacted with the first marketing asset in accordance with defined criteria;

instructions that (i) associate, in computer memory, the individual with the first marketing campaign if the individual interacted with the first marketing asset in accordance with the defined criteria, the association identifying the individual as having been influenced by the first marketing campaign, and (ii) refrain from associating, in the computer memory, the individual with the first marketing campaign if the individual did not interact with the first marketing asset in accordance with the defined criteria;

instructions that analyze the stored records of the individual'"'"'s interactions with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets by querying the database with a series of inquiries relating to how the individual interacted with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets and assigning, in the computer memory, at least one score to the individual based upon responses to the series of inquiries, the score being increased by responses tending to increase a probability that the individual is interested in a product and being decreased by responses tending to decrease the probability that the individual is interested in the product, whereby the computer memory is able to record, in connection with the first marketing campaign, an identification of an individual determined to have been influenced by the first marketing campaign and a separate score related to that individual that represents the individual'"'"'s level of interest in the product; and

instructions that query the database to determine, based upon the individual'"'"'s interactions with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets, a stage at which the individual is at in a buying cycle, the stage being at least one of a stage at which the individual is seeking education about different products, a stage at which the individual is attempting to decide which vendor to purchase a product from, or a stage at which the individual is readying to purchase a particular product from a particular vendor.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21 further comprising instructions that rank the individual based upon the individual'"'"'s assigned score, and that store the individual'"'"'s rank in the computer memory.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 22 further comprising instructions that assign, in computer memory, a score to each of a plurality of additional persons based upon each person'"'"'s interactions with the first marketing asset and the plurality of additional marketing assets.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 23 further comprising instructions that rank each person based upon the person'"'"'s assigned score, and that store the persons'"'"' ranks in the computer memory.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24 further comprising instructions that present, for the first marketing campaign, a graphical representation of the ranks of each individual and person associated with the first marketing campaign.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 22, wherein the instructions that analyze comprise instructions that assign a plurality of scores to the individual over time and wherein the instructions that rank comprise instructions that store a plurality of ranks for the individual in the computer memory over time, each rank being associated with a particular time frame.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 26 further comprising i) instructions that identify a change in the individual'"'"'s rank from a first time frame to a second time frame and ii) instructions that determine whether the change in the individual'"'"'s rank occurred within a set time period from a beginning of the first marketing campaign.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the individual'"'"'s score exceeds a threshold and the article of manufacture further comprises instructions that identify the individual to a sales group.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the individual is associated, in the computer memory, with a plurality of marketing campaigns, and further comprising instructions that attribute, in the computer memory, revenue from a sale across the plurality of campaigns.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 29, wherein the revenue is attributed across the plurality of campaigns in accordance with user input.