Offer delivery system

• US 20020026356A1
• Filed: 02/05/2001
• Published: 02/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unica Corporation (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Unica Corporation (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Erman, Gregory, Furbish, Kevin, Mandel, John, Bauer, Michael S., Michon, Sidra, Miloushev, Zack, Evett, Charles, Bergh, Christopher P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,533,038 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history

Abstract

An offer delivery system provides a mechanism for coordinating presentation of offers to customers that may originate from multiple different sources and that may be delivered to the customers over different channels. The systems makes use of rules to prioritize, select, and time the delivery of offers to any particular customer, allocate limited resources in the channels to deliver offers to a set of customers, and provide mechanisms for users or their agents to limit the delivery of offers, for example, by their frequency or type.

Claims

1. A computer-controlled method for managing and distributing offers comprising:

preparing data characterizing a plurality of offers, each offer being associated with a targeted individual and one of a plurality of channels for presenting offers;

selecting from the plurality of offers a number of offers for presenting to the individuals associated with those offers, including for at least some individuals, selecting from multiple offers associated with each of those individuals; and

presenting the selected offers to the associated individuals over the associated ones of the plurality of channels.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting from the plurality of offers includes prioritizing offers for particular individuals, and selecting offers according to their priorities.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting from the plurality of offers includes allocating capacity of the plurality of channels to the selected offers, thereby not exceeding a capacity associated with each of the channels.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the selected offers includes accepting information from individuals and limiting presentation of the offers to said individuals according to said accepted information.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the accepted information characterizes acceptable timing of presentation of offers to the individuals, and limiting presentation of offers includes scheduling presentation of offers to the individuals according to the acceptable timing.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein preparing the data characterizing the offers includes preparing data characterizing conditions under which said offers are to be presented.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein preparing the data characterizing the offers includes preparing data characterizing the target groups associated with said offers.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein preparing the data characterizing the offers includes preparing data characterizing information to be presented with the offers.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

tracking activities of the individuals to whom the offers were presented; and

reporting statistics related an effectiveness of the plurality of offers.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

tracking activities of the individuals to whom the offers were presented; and

presenting a sequence of related offers to those individuals based on their tracked activities.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein preparing the data characterizing the offers includes, for at least some of the offers, a first user preparing data characterizing a class of offers, passing the data characterizing the class of offers to a second user, and the second user preparing additional data characterizing the offer.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the prepared offers in a shared storage, and wherein selecting from the offers is performed in a distributed manner in which separate computers access the shared storage.

13. A computer-controlled method for managing and distributing offers comprising:

preparing data characterizing a plurality of offers, each offer being associated with a targeted individual and one of a plurality of channels for presenting offers;

selecting from the plurality of offers a number of offers for presenting to the individuals associated with those offers, including

prioritizing offers for particular individuals, and selecting offers according to their priorities,

allocating capacity of the plurality of channels to the selected offers, thereby not exceeding a capacity associated with each of the channels,

accepting information from individuals and limiting presentation of the offers to said individuals according to said accepted information, and

for at least some individuals, selecting from multiple offers associated with each of those individuals; and

presenting the selected offers to the associated individuals over the associated ones of the plurality of channels.

14. An offer management system comprising:

an offer design component for preparing data characterizing a plurality of offers, each offer being associated with a corresponding target group of individuals;

a delivery component for selecting and presenting the offers to the individuals in the corresponding target groups, including a broker for prioritizing offers to particular individuals, for allocating capacity on a plurality of channels for presenting the offers, and for limiting presentation of the offers to individuals in the corresponding targets groups.

15. An offer management system comprising:

means for preparing data characterizing a plurality of offers, each offer being associated with a targeted individual and one of a plurality of channels for presenting offers;

means for selecting from the plurality of offers a number of offers for presenting to the individuals associated with those offers, including for at least some individuals, selecting from multiple offers associated with each of those individuals; and

means presenting the selected offers to the associated individuals over the associated ones of the plurality of channels.

16. Software stored on computer-readable media for causing a computer system to perform functions including:

preparing data characterizing a plurality of offers, each offer being associated with a targeted individual and one of a plurality of channels for presenting offers;

selecting from the plurality of offers a number of offers for presenting to the individuals associated with those offers, including for at least some individuals, selecting from multiple offers associated with each of those individuals; and

presenting the selected offers to the associated individuals over the associated ones of the plurality of channels.