Determining a value for a coupon

• US 8,615,427 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2011
• Issued: 12/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quotient Technology Inc.
• Original Assignee: Quotient Technology Inc.
• Inventors: Goel, Deepak, Patel, Kavel, Thampy, Sajjit
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss, John G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Scott C
• Application Number:
  US13/277,152
• Publication Number:
  US 20130103474A1
• Time in Patent Office: 797 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.21
• US Class Current: 705/14.21
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0219 based on funds or budget

Abstract

Techniques are provided for determining, by a coupon distributor, a value for a coupon of a product or service that will be provided by a coupon provider. The coupon provider provides, to the coupon distributor, one or both of a budget value that indicates an amount the coupon provider is willing to pay the coupon distributor for distributing the coupon, and a redemption rate that indicates one or more target redemption rates. The coupon provider uses a coupon value equation to calculate the coupon value based on a budget value and a redemption rate. The coupon provider might estimate that no coupon value will allow the coupon provider to stay within the budget and ensure that the actual redemption rate will be close to a particular redemption rate, which may or may not be specified by the coupon distributor.

Claims

1. A method comprising, prior to distributing a coupon:

receiving, from a coupon provider that provides a product or service to which the coupon pertains, budget data that indicates an amount to spend, by the coupon provider, on coupon services relating to the issuance of the coupon;

receiving redemption data that indicates a number of anticipated redemptions of the coupon; and

based on the budget data and the redemption data and data about one or more previous coupon campaigns, computing, by a coupon distributor that is different than the coupon provider, a particular value of the coupon;

establishing, by the coupon distributor, the particular value as the value of the coupon in a coupon campaign that is to be initiated by the coupon provider;

sending the particular value to the coupon provider;

wherein computing is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. A method comprising, prior to distributing a coupon of a proposed coupon campaign:

receiving, from a coupon provider that provides a product or service to which the coupon pertains, at a coupon distributor, proposed coupon campaign data regarding the proposed coupon campaign, wherein the proposed coupon campaign data indicates one or more of a target budget or a target redemption rate;

determining, based on the proposed coupon campaign data, at the coupon distributor, whether to accept the proposed coupon campaign;

determining, based on the proposed coupon campaign data and data previously collected, at the coupon distributor, a value for the coupon of the proposed coupon campaign;

in response to accepting the proposed coupon campaign, sending, to the coupon provider, an indication of the value for the coupon;

wherein determining the value is performed by one or more computing devices.

3. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause, prior to distributing a coupon:

receiving, from a coupon provider that provides a product or service to which the coupon pertains, budget data that indicates an amount to spend, by the coupon provider, on coupon services relating to the issuance of the coupon;

receiving redemption data that indicates a number of anticipated redemptions of the coupon; and

based on the budget data, the redemption data, and data about one or more previous coupon campaigns, computing, by a coupon distributor that is different than the coupon provider, a particular value of the coupon;

establishing, by the coupon distributor, the particular value as the value of the coupon in a coupon campaign that is to be initiated by the coupon provider;

sending the particular value to the coupon provider.

4. The one or more storage media of claim 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, further cause receiving the redemption data and the budget data from the coupon provider.

5. The one or more storage media of claim 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, further cause receiving one of the budget data and the redemption data from the coupon provider and receiving the other of the budget data and the redemption data from the coupon distributor that is different than the coupon provider.

6. The one or more storage media of claim 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, further cause receiving the redemption data and the budget data over a network from a client device of the coupon provider.

7. The one or more storage media of claim 6, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, further cause sending, over the network to the client device, a user interface that includes one or more input fields configured to receive the budget data and the redemption data into the one or more input fields from the client device.

8. The one or more storage media of claim 7, wherein:

the user interface is configured for the client device to select one payment model from among a plurality of payment models;

a first payment model of the plurality of payment models is a print-based payment model;

a second payment model of the plurality of payment models is a budget-based payment model.

9. The one or more storage media of claim 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, further cause computing the particular value of the coupon according to:

10. The one or more storage media of claim 3, wherein computing the particular value of the coupon comprises using a function that calculates a plurality of redemption rates based on different possible values of the coupon.

11. The one or more storage media of claim 10, wherein:

the function is a first function;

the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, further cause, after computing the particular value of the coupon;

receiving second budget data that indicates a second amount to spend on coupon services relating to the issuance of a second coupon;

receiving second redemption data that indicates a second number of redemptions of the second coupon;

based on the second budget data and the second redemption data, computing a value of the second coupon;

computing the value of the second coupon comprises using a second function that is different than the first function and that calculates a second plurality of redemption rates based on different possible values of the second coupon.

12. The one or more storage media of claim 10, wherein:

the coupon is a first coupon for a first product;

the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, further cause, after computing the particular value of the coupon;

receiving second budget data that indicates a second amount to spend on coupon services relating to the issuance of a second coupon for a second product that is different than the first product;

receiving second redemption data that indicates a second number of redemptions of the second coupon;

based on the second budget data and the second redemption data, computing a value of the second coupon;

computing the value of the second coupon comprises using the function that calculates a second plurality of redemption rates based on different possible values of the second coupon.

13. The one or more storage media of claim 10, wherein:

the coupon is for a first product; and

the function is based on historical data relating to one or more previous coupon campaigns for one or more products that are different than the first product.

14. The one or more storage media of claim 13, wherein the first product is produced by a first manufacturer and the one or more products are produced by one or more second manufacturers that are different than the first manufacturer.

15. The one or more storage media of claim 3, wherein computing the particular value is also based on a historical redemption rate.

16. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause, prior to distributing a coupon of a proposed coupon campaign:

receiving, from a coupon provider that provides a product or service to which the coupon pertains, at a coupon distributor, proposed coupon campaign data regarding the proposed coupon campaign, wherein the proposed coupon campaign data indicates one or more of a target budget or a target redemption rate;

determining, based on the proposed coupon campaign data, at the coupon distributor, whether to accept the proposed coupon campaign;

determining, based on the proposed coupon campaign data and data previously collected, at the coupon distributor, a value for the coupon of the proposed coupon campaign;

in response to accepting the proposed coupon campaign, sending, to the coupon provider, an indication of the value for the coupon.

17. The one or more storage media of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, further cause, prior to accepting the proposed coupon campaign:

sending, to the coupon provider, one or more new terms for the proposed coupon campaign, wherein the one or more new terms is one of a proposed budget or a proposed redemption rate;

receiving, from the coupon provider, an indication of whether the coupon provider accepts the one or more new terms.

18. An apparatus comprising:

a first logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to receive, from a coupon provider that provides a product or service to which a coupon pertains, budget data that indicates an amount to spend, by the coupon provider, on coupon services relating to the issuance of the coupon;

a second logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to receive redemption data that indicates a number of anticipated redemptions of the coupon; and

a third logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to compute, based on the budget data and the redemption data and data about one or more previous coupon campaigns, by a coupon distributor that is different than the coupon provider, a particular value of the coupon;

a fourth logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to establish, by the coupon distributor, the particular value as the value of the coupon in a coupon campaign that is to be initiated by the coupon provider;

a fifth logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to send the particular value to the coupon provider prior to distributing the coupon.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a sixth logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to receive the redemption data and the budget data from the coupon provider.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a sixth logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to receive one of the budget data and the redemption data from the coupon provider and receives the other of the budget data and the redemption data from the coupon distributor that is different than the coupon provider.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a sixth logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to receive the redemption data and the budget data over a network from a client device of the coupon provider.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a seventh logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to send, over the network to the client device, a user interface that includes one or more input fields configured to receive the budget data and the redemption data into the one or more input fields from the client device.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein:

the user interface is configured for the client device to select one payment model from among a plurality of payment models;

a first payment model of the plurality of payment models is a print-based payment model;

a second payment model of the plurality of payment models is a budget-based payment model.

24. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the particular value of the coupon is computed according to:

25. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a sixth logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to compute the particular value of the coupon using a function that calculates a plurality of redemption rates based on different possible values of the coupon.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the function is a first function;

further comprising a seventh logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to, after computing the particular value of the coupon;

receive second budget data that indicates a second amount to spend on coupon services relating to the issuance of a second coupon;

receive second redemption data that indicates a second number of redemptions of the second coupon;

based on the second budget data and the second redemption data, compute a value of the second coupon;

wherein seventh logic is further configured to use a second function that is different than the first function and calculate a second plurality of redemption rates based on different possible values of the second coupon.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the coupon is a first coupon for a first product, wherein the apparatus further comprising a seventh logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to, after computing the particular value of the coupon:

receive second budget data that indicates a second amount to spend on coupon services relating to the issuance of a second coupon for a second product that is different than the first product;

receive second redemption data that indicates a second number of redemptions of the second coupon;

based on the second budget data and the second redemption data, compute a value of the second coupon;

wherein the seventh logic is further configured to use the function that calculates a second plurality of redemption rates based on different possible values of the second coupon.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein:

the coupon is for a first product; and

the function is based on historical data relating to one or more previous coupon campaigns for one or more products that are different than the first product.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the first product is produced by a first manufacturer and the one or more products are produced by one or more second manufacturers that are different than the first manufacturer.

30. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the third logic is configured to compute the particular value also based on a historical redemption rate.

31. An apparatus comprising:

a first logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to receive, from a coupon provider that provides a product or service to which a coupon pertains, at a coupon distributor, proposed coupon campaign data regarding a proposed coupon campaign, wherein the proposed coupon campaign data indicates one or more of a target budget or a target redemption rate;

a second logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to determine, based on the proposed coupon campaign data, at the coupon distributor, whether to accept the proposed coupon campaign;

a third logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to determine, based on the proposed coupon campaign data and data previously collected, at the coupon distributor, a value for the coupon of the proposed coupon campaign;

a fourth logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to, in response to accepting the proposed coupon campaign, send, to the coupon provider, an indication of the value for the coupon prior to distributing the coupon of the proposed coupon campaign.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising a fifth logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, that is configured to, prior to accepting the proposed coupon campaign:

send, to the coupon provider, one or more new terms for the proposed coupon campaign, wherein the one or more new terms is one of a proposed budget or a proposed redemption rate;

receive, from the coupon provider, an indication of whether the coupon provider accepts the one or more new terms.