Clickstream analysis methods and systems related to modifying an offline promotion for a consumer good

• US 8,626,834 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2010
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: comScore, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Compete, Inc. (comScore, Inc.)
• Inventors: Singh, Man Jit, Cancel, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alexander, Jenee
• Application Number:
  US12/891,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20110015982A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,198 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/204
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/17 using an input/output type connection, e.g. channel, I/O port
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/45 for identifying users
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 : Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 : Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided herein for the analysis of clickstream data of online users. The analysis methods and systems allow for the creation of new offline business methods based on online consumer behavior.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

initiating communication with members of a target population without previously receiving a registration from members of the target population prior to initiating the communication, wherein the communication determines, at least in part, demographic information about the members;

based at least in part on the determined demographic information, identifying a group of participants within the target population;

receiving click-stream data at a host processing facility from the group of participants that connotes Internet activity of individual members of the group of participants;

analyzing the Internet activity to calculate a metric of cross-shopping behavior of the group of participants between different brands of a consumer good; and

transmitting to a remote machine the metric of cross-shopping behavior, wherein the metric of cross-shopping behavior;

enables modifying an offline marketing promotion that includes an offline incentive for buying a particular brand of consumer good; and

is calculated based on hashed and decomposed URLs.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, analyzing the Internet activity to calculate a price sensitivity of the group of participants to enable modifying an offline pricing process for an offline consumer good.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, analyzing the Internet activity to calculate a metric of user buying behavior of the group of participants to enable modifying an offline process related to forecasting offline demand for a product.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating communication with the target population includes performing a random digit dial survey.