Internet-enabled lead generation
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of automatically generating intender leads, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) determining appropriate purchase indicators that are leading indicators for desired near future purchases and defining in a sources configuration file one or more web page sources that contain said purchase indicators;
b) locating and searching, based on step a), said one or more web page sources on the Internet via an automated spider tailored to access said one or more web page sources;
wherein said spider is located on a server computer connected to the Internet and wherein said spider for translating semi-structured information into a structured format;
c) obtaining said purchase indicators from said one or more web page sources by downloading each of said one or more web page sources onto said server computer and into a specified directory, identifying and normalizing said purchase indicators according to a normalizer configuration file, and loading normalized high confidence purchase indicators into a database table;
d) extracting prospect identifiers from said purchase indicators obtained in step c), wherein said prospect identifiers identify prospects;
e) obtaining full contact information of each of said prospects;
f) extracting auxiliary data from said purchase indicators via said automated spider;
g) obtaining data enhancement information including behavioral data, demographic data, and psychographic data;
h) applying a predictive model to said full contact information, said auxiliary data, and said data enhancement information stored in said database table to assess each of said prospects'"'"' likelihood of making said desired near future purchases, said predictive model for predicting whether and what a seller is likely to buy in near future; and
i) selecting intenders from said prospects based on step h), said intenders having a stated or likely intention of making said desired near future purchases in accordance with said predictive model.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of generating intender leads in a distributed computer system includes the steps of identifying purchase indicators and extracting prospect identifiers from the purchase indicators. Purchase indicators are pieces of data that represent a potential future purchase by a prospect. For example, an online classified advertisement selling an automobile is a purchase indicator for a potential future purchase of a new car by the old car seller. The prospect identifier, such as a telephone number or email address, uniquely identifies the prospect likely to make the future purchase. Preferably, the method also contains the steps of obtaining full contact information for the prospect from a profile database, applying a predictive model to the prospects to select intender leads, and transferring the intender leads to an interested party, such as a direct marketing service or sales force. An intender lead is a lead for a person intending to make a purchase of a particular product or service within a given time period. Only some of the prospects are actual intenders. Preferably, the method also includes the steps of extracting auxiliary data that is independent of the prospect from the purchase indicator, and obtaining data enhancement information about the prospect from data enhancement databases. The predictive model is preferably also applied to the data enhancement information and auxiliary data. The method is particularly well-suited for the Internet, which is a large source of publicly-available purchase indicators that is constantly updated. The intender leads are preferably transferred over the Internet, e.g. by email, so that they arrive at the sales force when they are still “hot.”
320 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of automatically generating intender leads, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) determining appropriate purchase indicators that are leading indicators for desired near future purchases and defining in a sources configuration file one or more web page sources that contain said purchase indicators;
b) locating and searching, based on step a), said one or more web page sources on the Internet via an automated spider tailored to access said one or more web page sources;
whereinsaid spider is located on a server computer connected to the Internet and wherein said spider for translating semi-structured information into a structured format;
c) obtaining said purchase indicators from said one or more web page sources by downloading each of said one or more web page sources onto said server computer and into a specified directory, identifying and normalizing said purchase indicators according to a normalizer configuration file, and loading normalized high confidence purchase indicators into a database table;
d) extracting prospect identifiers from said purchase indicators obtained in step c), wherein said prospect identifiers identify prospects;
e) obtaining full contact information of each of said prospects;
f) extracting auxiliary data from said purchase indicators via said automated spider;
g) obtaining data enhancement information including behavioral data, demographic data, and psychographic data;
h) applying a predictive model to said full contact information, said auxiliary data, and said data enhancement information stored in said database table to assess each of said prospects'"'"' likelihood of making said desired near future purchases, said predictive model for predicting whether and what a seller is likely to buy in near future; and
i) selecting intenders from said prospects based on step h), said intenders having a stated or likely intention of making said desired near future purchases in accordance with said predictive model. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification