Methods and systems for facilitating communications between providers of on-line services and potential customers

• US 9,607,309 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2014
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kumar, Amit, Mukherjee, Rajat, Pariser, Andrew, Thill, Kevin Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen, Nicholas D
• Application Number:
  US14/196,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20140297362A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided that can include monitoring of activities of potential customer users, for example, on an e-commerce Web site. Based at least in part on the monitored activities, a notification or alert may be provided to a merchant or a merchant administrator, regarding a potential customer, such as by being sent to a mobile device of the merchant or merchant administrator. Real-time communications may be facilitated or initiated between the merchant or the merchant administrator and the potential customer, such as with regard to a potential purchase, which communications can include the use of mobile devices.

Claims

1. An analytics system comprising one or more server computers capable of being coupled, via a network, to computers or computing devices of potential customers, and to a computer or a computing device of a merchant administrator of a merchant, the system comprising one or more processors and a non-transitory storage medium comprising program logic for execution by the one or more processors, the program logic comprising:

an analytics engine that receives and stores real-time information about activity of potential customers on an e-commerce Web site, the receiving and storing real-time information about activity of potential customers on the e-commerce Web site comprising transmitting, by the analytics engine via the network to a computing device of a potential customer, a request for a ping from a browser running on the computing device of the potential customer, the ping comprising at least one of idle data and new web page data;

a rule engine including one or more rules for making a determination, based at least in part on the real-time information, of when to provide a real-time notification to the merchant administrator regarding contacting, in real-time, the potential customer on the e-commerce Web site regarding a potential purchase by the potential customer; and

a merchant notification engine that;

based on the determination, provides the notification to the merchant administrator; and

facilitates initiation of a real-time electronic communication between the merchant administrator and the potential customer regarding the potential purchase.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer or the computing device of the merchant administrator is a mobile device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the rule engine includes one or more rules for determining a format of the notification, and wherein the format is at least one of an instant message, a text message, a short message service, a multimedia message service, or a phone call.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the real-time electronic communication includes at least one of images, audio, video or multimedia messages.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein, utilizing the rule engine, the determination is triggered based on a combination of factors comprising factors relating to past and current activity of the potential customer on the e-commerce Web site.

6. The system of claim 2, comprising a deal engine that, based at least in part on information from the analytics engine and information from the rule engine, determines a deal or a coupon for the merchant administrator to present to the potential customer through the real-time electronic communication, wherein the deal or the coupon is customized to the potential customer and relates to a product for potential purchase by the potential customer, and wherein the notification provides the merchant administrator with an option to send the deal or the coupon to the potential customer as part of the real-time electronic communication.

7. The system of claim 2, comprising a recommendation engine that, based at least in part on information from the analytics engine and information from the rule engine, determines one or more recommendations for the merchant administrator to present to the potential customer through the real-time electronic communication, wherein the one or more recommendations are customized to the potential customer and relate to a product for potential purchase by the potential customer, and wherein the notification provides the merchant administrator with an option to send a recommendation, of the one or more recommendations, to the potential customer as part of the real-time electronic communication.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the notification includes a link which, if activated by the merchant administrator, causes a message, created by the analytics system, to be sent to the computer or the computing device of the potential customer, wherein the message invites the potential customer to engage in a direct, real-time communication with the merchant administrator.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the message invites the potential customer to engage in a direct real-time communication with the merchant administrator by at least one of SMS or a chat session.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the message includes a phone number of the merchant administrator and invites the potential customer to call the merchant administrator directly using the phone number.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the message includes a phone number of the merchant administrator and invites the potential customer to call the merchant administrator directly using the phone number using a click to call option.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein the notification is provided to the merchant administrator via a merchant administrator application running on the mobile device of the merchant administrator, and wherein the notification includes information regarding the type of device being used by the potential customer to access the e-commerce Web site, information about the potential customer obtained from at least one social networking site on which the potential customer has an account, and a geographic location of the potential customer.

13. The system of claim 2, wherein the notification is provided to the merchant administrator via a merchant administrator dashboard running on the mobile device of the merchant administrator, and wherein the dashboard provides the merchant administrator with real-time information regarding potential customers browsing the e-commerce Web site.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer or the computing device of the potential customer is a mobile device.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer or the computing device of the merchant administrator is a mobile device comprising a cell phone, a smart phone, an iPhone, a tablet, or a notebook computer.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one factor in determining a format of the notification is a type of mobile device being used by the merchant administrator.

17. A method, implemented on an analytics system comprising one or more server computers, each of the server computers comprising a processor and a memory, the method comprising:

the analytics system receiving and storing real-time activity information about activities of potential customers on an e-commerce Web site, the receiving and storing real-time information about activity of potential customers on the e-commerce Web site comprising transmitting, by the analytics engine via the network to a computing device of a potential customer, a request for a ping from a browser running on the computing device of the potential customer, the ping comprising at least one of idle data and new web page data;

the analytics system, based at least in part on a set of rules that utilize, as input, the real-time activity information, making a determination of when to provide a real-time alert message to a mobile computing device of a merchant administrator regarding contacting, in real-time, the potential customer on the e-commerce Web site regarding a potential purchase by the potential customer; and

the analytics system, based at least in part on the determination, sending the alert message to the mobile computing device of the merchant administrator, wherein at least a portion of the alert message can be selected by the merchant administrator to cause initiation of a real-time electronic communication between the merchant administrator and the potential customer regarding the potential purchase.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein at least a portion of the alert message can be selected by the merchant administrator to cause initiation of the real-time electronic communication, including sending a deal message or a recommendation message to the potential customer from the merchant administrator and regarding the potential purchase, and wherein content of the deal message or content of the recommendation message is generated by the analytics system utilizing the real-time activity information, and wherein the deal message or the recommendation message is customized to the potential customer.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the mobile device of the merchant administrator comprises a cell phone, a smart phone, an iPhone, a tablet, or a notebook computer.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium or media tangibly storing computer program logic capable of being executed by a computer processor, the program logic comprising:

analytics engine logic for obtaining and storing real-time information about activity of potential customers on an e-commerce Web site, the obtaining and storing real-time information about activity of potential customers on the e-commerce Web site comprising transmitting, by the analytics engine via the network to a computing device of a potential customer, a request for a ping from a browser running on the computing device of the potential customer, the ping comprising at least one of idle data and new web page data;

rule engine logic including one or more rules for making a determination, based at least in part on the real-time information, of when to provide a real-time notification to a merchant administrator regarding contacting, in real-time, the potential customer on the e-commerce Web site regarding a potential purchase by the potential customer; and

merchant notification engine logic for;

based on the determination, sending the notification to the merchant administrator; and

upon selection by the merchant administrator of at least a portion of the notification, initiating a real-time electronic communication between the merchant administrator and the potential customer regarding the potential purchase.