Systems, method, and computer program product for cross-channel customer relationship management support with dynamically inserted voice call numbers

• US 9,699,311 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2014
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DialogTech, Inc.
• Original Assignee: DialogTech, Inc.
• Inventors: Shapiro, Irvin M., Dupree, Timothy Edman, Keys, Khyle David
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pope, Kharye
• Application Number:
  US14/228,789
• Publication Number:
  US 20150281450A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1473, 705 1469, 705 1445, 705 1451, 705 1441, 705 1453, 705 1423, 705 1439, 705 144, 705 1449, 705 1454, 37920112, 37926509
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0033 Notification or handling of incoming calls by a computer

Abstract

Disclosed embodiments relate generally to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and more particularly to a system, methods, and computer program products providing or supporting a cross-channel CRM support system for serving contact phone numbers for display at a web site and using such numbers to track, analyze and utilize prospective customer behavior on the Internet prior to the prospective customer calling the served contact phone number.

Claims

1. A cross-channel customer relationship management (CRM) support system that serves contact phone numbers for display at a client web site and uses the numbers to match web-based activity of a prospective customer with a call to one of the served contact phone numbers, the system comprising:

at least one database including the contact phone numbers organized into a plurality of predetermined pools of available contact phone numbers for insertion on a page of the client web site; and

at least one server coupled to the at least one database, the server running software that selects one of the contact phone numbers from one pool of available contact phone numbers for insertion on the page of the client web site based on data indicating the prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity that is sent to the at least one server as a result of the prospective customer'"'"'s computer requesting the page of the client web site while visiting the client web site,

wherein the prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity is matched up with the call to the one of the served contact phone numbers to associate the web-based activity and voice call activity of the prospective customer with each other,

wherein the contact phone number selected is one of;

specific to a prospective customer visiting the client web site, specific to a client advertisement campaign, or specific to a client advertisement.

2. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 1, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity for the call to the one of the served contact phone numbers is forwarded to a CRM support system prior to the call being connected to call personnel thereby enabling the call personnel to have access to the data to assist in servicing the call.

3. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 1, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity for the call to the one of the served contact phone numbers is forwarded to an interactive voice response (IVR) system for call processing by an automated call attendant, wherein the data is used to intelligently query the prospective customer based on the prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity.

4. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 1, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity for the call to the one of the served contact phone numbers is matched up with data generated during the call and forwarded to a CRM system for subsequent analysis and/or processing.

5. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 1, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes funnel data.

6. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 1, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes domain referral data.

7. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 1, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes keywords used by the prospective customer at a search engine.

8. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 1, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes tagged uniform resource locator (URL) data.

9. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 1, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity indicates whether the prospective customer'"'"'s visit to the client web site is a direct visit.

10. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 1, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes identification of a pay per click (PPC) advertisement selected by the prospective customer triggering the visit to the client web site.

11. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 1, wherein each number in the pool of available numbers is served for insertion into a page of the client web site within a specified period of time.

12. The cross-channel CRM support system of claim 11, wherein in response to a number of visitors visiting the client web site within the specified period of time exceeds the number of contact phone numbers in the pool, the at least one server selects an overflow contact number for insertion on the page of the client web site viewed by each visitor beyond the number of visitors matching the number of contact phone numbers in the pool until the number of visitors visiting the client web site within the specified period of time no longer exceeds the number of contact phone numbers in the pool.

13. A method for serving contact phone numbers for display at a client web site, the method comprising:

organizing the contact phone numbers in at least one database into of available contact phone numbers for insertion on a page of the client web site; and

selecting, at least one server coupled to the at least one database, one of the contact phone numbers from one pool of available contact phone numbers for insertion on the page of the client web site based on data indicating the prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity that is sent to the at least one server as a result of the prospective customer'"'"'s computer requesting the page of the client web site while visiting the client web site, and

using the phone numbers to match web-based activity of a prospective customer with a call to one of the served contact phone numbers so as to associate the prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity and voice call activity of the prospective customer with each other,

wherein in response to a number of visitors visiting the client web site within the specified period of time exceeds the number of contact phone numbers in the pool, the at least one server selects an overflow contact number for insertion on the page of the client web site viewed by each visitor beyond the number of visitors matching the number of contact phone numbers in the pool until the number of visitors visiting the client web site within the specified period of time no longer exceeds the number of contact phone numbers in the pool,

wherein the contact phone number selected is one of;

specific to a prospective customer visiting the client web site, specific to a client advertisement campaign, or specific to a client advertisement.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising forwarding the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity for the call to the one of the served contact phone numbers to a customer relationship management (CRM) support system prior to the call being connected to call personnel thereby enabling the call personnel to have access to the data to assist in servicing the call.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising forwarding the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity for the call to the one of the served contact phone numbers to an interactive voice response (IVR) system for call processing by an automated call attendant, wherein the data is used to intelligently query the prospective customer based on the prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising matching up the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity for the call to the one of the served contact phone numbers with data generated during the call and forwarding the matched up data to a CRM system for subsequent analysis and/or processing.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes funnel data.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes domain referral data.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes keywords used by the prospective customer at a search engine.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes tagged uniform resource locator (URL) data.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity indicates whether the prospective customer'"'"'s visit to the client web site is a direct visit.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes identification of a pay per click (PPC) advertisement selected by the prospective customer triggering the visit to the client web site.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein each number in the pool of available numbers is served for insertion into a page of the client web site within a specified period of time.

24. A computer readable medium having instructions for causing a computer to execute a method comprising

organizing the contact phone numbers in at least one database into a plurality of predetermined pools of available contact phone numbers for insertion on a page of the client web site;

and

selecting, at least one server coupled to the at least one database, one of the contact phone numbers from one pool of available contact phone numbers for insertion on the page of the client web site based on data indicating the prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity that is sent to the at least one server as a result of the prospective customer'"'"'s computer requesting the page of the client web site while visiting the client web site, and

using the phone numbers to match web-based activity of a prospective customer with a call to one of the served contact phone numbers so as to associate the prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity and voice call activity of the prospective customer with each other,

wherein the contact phone number selected is one of;

specific to a prospective customer visiting the client web site, specific to a client advertisement campaign, or specific to a client advertisement.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises forwarding the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity for the call to the one of the served contact phone numbers to a CRM support system prior to the call being connected to call personnel thereby enabling the call personnel to have access to the data to assist in servicing the call.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises forwarding the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity for the call to the one of the served contact phone numbers to an IVR system for call processing by an automated call attendant, wherein the data is used to intelligently query the prospective customer based on the prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises matching up the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity for the call to the one of the served contact phone numbers with data generated during the call and forwarding the matched up data to a CRM system for subsequent analysis and/or processing.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes funnel data.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes domain referral data.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes keywords used by the prospective customer at a search engine.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes tagged uniform resource locator (URL) data.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity indicates whether the prospective customer'"'"'s visit to the client web site is a direct visit.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the data indicating the matched prospective customer'"'"'s web-based activity includes identification of a pay per click (PPC) advertisement selected by the prospective customer triggering the visit to the client web site.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein each number in the pool of available numbers is served for insertion into a page of the client web site within a specified period of time.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein response to a number of visitors visiting the client web site within the specified period of time exceeds the number of contact phone numbers in the pool, the at least one server selects an overflow contact number for insertion on the page of the client web site viewed by each visitor beyond the number of visitors matching the number of contact phone numbers in the pool until the number of visitors visiting the client web site within the specified period of time no longer exceeds the number of contact phone numbers in the pool.