Tracking responses to promotions

• US 8,473,343 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2006
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chalimadugu, Sudhakar, Cheung, David F., Kennedy, Ruby, Lee, Yuchun, Martin, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): SORKOWITZ, DANIEL M
• Application Number:
  US11/491,714
• Publication Number:
  US 20080033784A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,528 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.41, 705/14.42
• US Class Current: 705/14.42
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A computer implemented method for response tracking is described. The method includes obtaining one or more responses to one or more promotions, attributing the one or more responses to one or more treatment instances, with the one or more treatment instances correspond to a promotion version assigned to a group of contact entities at an execution of a computer implemented marketing campaign, and generating a response table, the response table including one or more entries, the entries in the response table being in accordance with attribution of the one or more responses to one or more treatment instances.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for response tracking comprises:

generating, by one or more computers, a plurality of promotions for a marketing campaign by executing marketing campaign software that assigns the plurality of promotions to one or more contact entities;

receiving, by the one or more computers, a plurality of responses from the one or more contact entities to the plurality of promotions; and

generating, by the one or more computers, an attribution credit for a particular promotion, the attribution credit at least partly based on a number of responses that is attributable to the particular promotion.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the plurality of responses comprises:

entering one or more responses to one or more promotions into an action table with the action table having a row for each response.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein each row of the action table comprises plural fields for:

one or more audience IDs corresponding to the identity of the contact entity of the response;

at least one of a date and time of the response; and

one or more tracking codes.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the tracking codes comprises at least one of a campaign code, a promotion code, a group code, and a treatment code.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein each row of the action table further comprises fields for:

a response type corresponding to a classification of the response to the promotion; and

one or more promotion attributes.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein generating the attribution credit comprises:

determining whether the response is a direct response or an inferred response, with a response being a direct response if data is entered according to the one or more tracking codes and with a response being an inferred response if no data is entered according to the one or more tracking codes, and with generating the attribution credit further comprising;

attributing the response to one or more promotions according to one or more attribution rules.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the one or more attribution rules comprise:

a best match corresponding to a single target promotion fully credited for the response;

a fractional match corresponding to N target promotions, wherein each of the N target promotions are credited 1/N for the response;

a multiple match corresponding to N target promotions, wherein each of the N target promotions are fully credited for the response; and

a custom match corresponding to N target promotions, wherein each of the N target promotions are credited for the response according to a pre-determined credit distribution routine.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the response is a direct response.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprises:

attributing the direct response to one or more promotions with one or more attribution rules; and

matching the response to a unique promotion based on the one or more promotion attributes.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein he one or more attribution rules comprise:

attributing the best match to fully credit the unique promotion.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the direct type response is attributed to one or more promotions with one or more attribution rules, the method further comprising:

matching the response to N promotions based on one or more of the one or more tracking codes and one or more promotion attributes.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the N target promotions comprise an audience ID matching the audience ID of the response.

13. The method of claim 6 wherein the one or more attribution rules comprise:

crediting a response to a target promotion including an audience ID matching the audience ID.

14. The method of claim 6 wherein the one or more attribution rules comprise:

crediting a response to a target promotion wherein the response includes a time and date prior to at least one of an expiration time and date of the promotion.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more promotion attributes comprise parameterized promotion attributes.

16. The method of claim 6 wherein the one or more attribution rules comprise:

crediting a response to a target promotion wherein the response includes a and date after at least one of an expiration time and date of the promotion.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

generating a response tracking report from the response table.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more treatment instances comprise one or more control treatment instances.

19. The method of claim 3 wherein the row comprises an additional field for:

a product description field, wherein the product description field is determined from a values of a product table of one or more goods and services promoted in the marketing campaign.

20. The method of claim 2 wherein the response type comprises an audience level, the audience level corresponding to classifications of contact entities.

21. The method of claim 2 wherein the action table comprises a product hierarchy, the product hierarchy corresponding to classifications of products promoted in a marketing campaign.

22. The method of claim 4 wherein the treatment code uniquely identifies a promotion.

23. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

attributing the direct response to one or more promotions with one or more attribution rules; and

matching the response to a unique promotion based on the one or more tracking codes.

24. The method of claim 11 wherein the promotion attributes comprise:

plural values against which the response can be matched.

25. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for response tracking, comprises instructions for causing a computer to:

generate a plurality of promotions for a marketing campaign by executing marketing campaign software that assigns the plurality of promotions to one or more contact entities;

receive a plurality of responses from the one or more contact entities to the plurality of promotions; and

generate an attribution credit for a particular promotion the attribution credit-at least partly based on a number of responses that is attributable to the particular promotion.

26. The computer program product of claim 25 wherein instructions that receiving the plurality of responses further comprise instructions for causing the computer to:

enter one or more responses to one or more promotions into an action table with the action table having a row for each response.

27. The computer program product of claim 26 wherein each row of the action table comprises plural fields for:

one or more audience IDs corresponding to the identity of the contact entity of the response;

at least one of a date and time of the response; and

one or more tracking codes.

28. The computer program product of claim 27 wherein the tracking codes comprises at least one of a campaign code, a promotion code, a group code, and a treatment code.

29. The computer program product of claim 26 wherein each row of the action table further comprises fields for:

a response type corresponding to a classification of the response to the promotion; and

one or more promotion attributes.

30. The computer program product of claim 27 wherein instructions that generate the attribution credit further comprise instructions for causing the computer to:

determine whether the response is a direct response or an inferred response, with a response being a direct response if data is entered according to the one or more tracking codes and with a response being an inferred response if no data is entered according to the one or more tracking codes, and with instructions that generate the attribution credit further comprising instructions for causing the computer to;

attribute the response to one or more treatment instances according to one or more attribution rules.

31. The computer program product of claim 30 wherein the one or more attribution rules comprise:

a best match corresponding to a single target promotion fully credited for the response;

a fractional match corresponding to N target promotions, wherein each of the N target promotions are credited 1/N for the response;

a multiple match corresponding to N target promotions, wherein each of the N target promotions are fully credited for the response; and

a custom match corresponding to N target promotions, wherein each of the N target promotions are credited for the response according to a pre-determined credit distribution routine.

32. The computer program product of claim 31 wherein the response is a direct response.

33. The computer program product of claim 32 further comprises instructions for causing the computer to:

attribute the direct response to one or more promotions with one or more attribution rules; and

match the response to a unique promotion based on the one or more promotion attributes.

34. The computer program product of claim 33 wherein the one or more attribution rules comprise instructions for causing the computer to:

attribute the best match to fully credit the unique promotion.

35. The computer program product of claim 32 wherein the direct type response is attributed to one or more promotions with one or more attribution rules, and further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

match the response to N promotions based on one or more of the one or more tracking codes and one or more promotion attributes.

36. The computer program product of claim 35 wherein the N target promotions comprise an audience ID matching the audience ID of the response.

37. The computer program product of claim 30 wherein the one or more attribution rules comprise instructions for causing the computer to:

credit a response to a target promotion including an audience ID matching the audience ID.

38. The computer program product of claim 30 wherein the one or more attribution rules comprise instructions for causing a computer to:

credit a response to a target promotion wherein the response includes a time and date prior to at least one of an expiration time and date of the promotion.

39. The computer program product of claim 25 wherein the one or more promotion attributes comprise parameterized promotion attributes.

40. The computer program product of claim 30 wherein the one or more attribution rules comprise instructions for causing the computer to:

credit a response to a target promotion wherein the response includes a time and date after at least one of an expiration time and date of the promotion.

41. The computer program product of claim 25 further comprises instructions for causing a computer to:

generate a response tracking report from the response table.

42. The computer program product of claim 25 wherein the one or more treatment instances comprise one or more control treatment instances.

43. The computer program product of claim 27 wherein the row comprises an additional field for:

a product description field, wherein the product description field is determined from a values of a product table of one or more goods and services promoted in the marketing campaign.

44. The computer program product of claim 26 wherein the response type comprises an audience level, the audience level corresponding to classifications of contact entities.

45. The computer program product of claim 26 wherein the action table comprises a product hierarchy, the product hierarchy corresponding to classifications of products promoted in a marketing campaign.

46. The computer program product of claim 28 wherein the treatment code uniquely identifies a promotion.

47. The computer program product of claim 32 further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

attribute the direct response to one or more promotions with one or more attribution rules; and

match the response to a unique promotion based on the one or more tracking codes.

48. The computer program product of claim 35 wherein the promotion attributes comprise:

plural values against which the response can be matched.

49. An apparatus comprises:

a processor;

memory executing a computer program product for response tracking, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing the processor to;

generate a plurality of promotions for a marketing campaign by executing marketing campaign software that assigns the plurality of promotions to one or more contact entities;

receive a plurality of responses from the one or more contact entities to the plurality of promotions; and

generate an attribution credit for a particular promotion the attribution credit at least partly based on a number of responses that is attributable to the particular promotion.

50. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the computer program product further comprises instructions for causing the processor to:

enter one or more responses to one or more promotions into an action table with the action table having a row for each response.

51. The apparatus of claim 50 wherein each row of the action table comprises plural fields for:

one or more audience IDs corresponding to the identity of the contact entity of the response;

at least one of a date and time of the response; and

one or more tracking codes.

52. The apparatus of claim 51 wherein each row of the action table further comprises fields for:

a response type corresponding to a classification of the response to the promotion; and

one or more promotion attributes.

53. The apparatus of claim 49 wherein the computer program product further comprises instructions for causing the processor to

determine whether the response is a direct response or an inferred response, with a response being a direct response if data is entered according to the one or more tracking codes and with a response being an inferred response if no data is entered according to the one or more tracking codes, and with instructions that generate the attribution credit further comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

attribute the response to one or more treatment instances according to one or more attribution rules.

54. The apparatus of claim 53 wherein the one or more attribution rules comprise:

a best match corresponding to a single target promotion fully credited for the response;

a fractional match corresponding to N target promotions, wherein each of the N target promotions are credited 1/N for the response;

a multiple match corresponding to N target promotions, wherein each of the N target promotions are hilly credited for the response; and

a custom match corresponding to N target promotions, wherein each of the N target promotions are credited for the response according to a pre-determined credit distribution routine.