System and method for reporting to a website owner user reactions to particular web pages of a website

• US 7,085,820 B1
• Filed: 06/14/2000
• Issued: 08/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: OpinionLab Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Nickerson, Rand B., Treschl, Mark A., Kidd, Kathryn L., Crofoot, Matthew J., Samata, A. Gregory, Mason, David E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Assistant Examiner(s): STRANGE, AARON N
• Application Number:
  US09/595,050
• Time in Patent Office: 2,239 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/201, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/224, 709/204, 709/205, 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A system (10) for reporting to a website owner (12) user reactions to one or more particular web pages (28) of a website (26) includes a database (36) containing user reaction information for each page (28). The user reaction information for a particular page (28) reflects the subjective user reactions to the particular page (28) received from users (16) that have accessed the particular page (28). A reporting module (46) coupled to the database (36) generates one or more reports (100) using the user reaction information for communication to the website owner (12). Each of the reports (100) reflects the subjective user reactions to one or more particular pages (28). User reactions to a particular page (28) may be received using user reaction measurement software (30, 32, 34) associated with a viewable icon (50).

Claims

1. A system for reporting to a website owner page-specific subjective user reactions concerning each of a plurality of particular web pages of a website, comprising:

a database containing page-specific subjective user reaction information for each of the plurality of particular web pages of the website, the page-specific subjective user reaction information for a particular web page reflecting page-specific subjective user reactions to the particular web page as a whole received from users that have accessed the particular web page; and

a reporting module coupled to the database and operable to generate one or more reports using the page-specific subjective user reaction information for communication to the website owner, each report reflecting page-specific subjective user reactions across the plurality of particular web pages of the website and allowing the website owner to identify one or more particular web pages of the website for which the page-specific subjective user reactions are notable relative to page-specific subjective user reactions for other particular web pages of the website.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the page-specific subjective user reactions to a particular web page as a whole are received from users using user reaction measurement software associated with a viewable icon.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the page-specific subjective user reactions are according to a multi-level subjective rating scale that includes at least one positive rating, a neutral rating, and at least one negative rating.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each page-specific subjective user reaction to a particular web page as a whole comprises one of:

a general page-specific subjective user reaction to the particular web page as a whole; and

a specific page-specific subjective user reaction to at least one characteristic of the particular web page as a whole.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the characteristic is selected from the group consisting of content, design, and usability.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the page-specific subjective user reaction information for at least one particular web page comprises a plurality of subjective ratings of the particular web page as a whole, each subjective rating being for a corresponding characteristic of the particular web page as a whole.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the subjective ratings are according to a plurality of multi-level rating scales that each include at least one positive rating, a neutral rating, and at least one negative rating.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein each characteristic is selected from the group consisting of content, design, and usability.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one report associates the page-specific subjective user reactions to a particular web page as a whole with demographic information for users that provided the page-specific subjective user reactions to the particular web page as a whole.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one page-specific subjective user reaction comprises a response to an explicit question presented to a user concerning a particular web page of the website.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting module is operable to generate the reports in response to a request received from the website owner that specifies one or more report criteria.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting module is operable to generate a map of the website and to generate the reports according to the map.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein a first report for a first particular web page comprises a link to a second report for a second particular web page, the first and second web pages being linked within the website.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the reporting module is operable to generate the second report in response to a request received from the website owner using the first report, the website owner receiving the first and second reports in a similar manner that a user might access the corresponding first and second particular web pages according to the topography of the website.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting module is operable to generate at least one report reflecting page-specific subjective user reactions to all the particular web pages of the website.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the page-specific subjective user reaction information for at least one particular web page comprises:

a total number of subjective ratings of the particular web page as a whole received from the users that have accessed the particular web page, according to a multi-level rating scale; and

an aggregate rating of the particular web page as a whole reflecting all the subjective ratings of the particular web page as a whole received from the users.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the reporting module is operable to communicate a message to a person associated with the website owner in response to the number of page-specific subjective user reactions of a specified type exceeding a specified threshold for a particular web page.

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising a computer system that is operable to support the reporting module and communicate the reports to the website owner.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein each report reflects only page-specific subjective user reactions from users having a specified user profile.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the page-specific subjective user reactions reflected in one or more reports each comprise one or more page-specific open-ended comments.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the database stores contact information for a person associated with a set of one or more particular web pages of the website and contact criteria for contacting the person according to subjective user reactions to one or more particular web pages in the set received from one or more users; and

the reporting module is operable to automatically communicate a message to the person using the contact information according to the contact criteria being satisfied based on subjective user reactions received from one or more users.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein:

the contact information comprises an e-mail address for the person; and

the message comprises an e-mail message.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the contact criteria comprise a number of negative ratings received in a specified time period exceeding a pre-determined threshold.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the reporting module is operable to communicate page-specific open-ended comments to the person as they are received from users or periodically as a group.

25. A method of reporting to a website owner page-specific subjective user reactions concerning each of a plurality of particular web pages of a website, comprising:

accessing stored page-specific subjective user reaction information for each of the plurality of particular web pages of the website, the page-specific subjective user reaction information for a particular web page reflecting page-specific subjective user reactions to the particular web page as a whole received from users that have accessed the particular web page; and

generating one or more reports for communication to the owner according to the page-specific subjective stored user reaction information, each report reflecting page-specific subjective user reactions across the plurality of particular web pages of the website and allowing the owner to identify one or more particular web pages of the website for which the page-specific subjective user reactions are notable relative to page-specific user reactions for other particular web pages of the website.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the page-specific subjective user reactions to the particular web page as a whole have been received from users using reaction measurement software associated with a viewable icon.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the page-specific subjective user reactions are according to a multi-level subjective rating scale that includes at least one positive rating, a neutral rating, and at least one negative rating.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein each page-specific subjective user reaction to a particular web page as a whole comprises one of:

a general page-specific subjective user reaction to the particular web page as a whole; and

a specific page-specific subjective user reaction to at least one characteristic of the particular web page as a whole.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the characteristic is selected from the group consisting of content, design, and usability.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the page-specific subjective user reaction information for at least one particular web page comprises a plurality of subjective ratings of the particular web page as a whole, each subjective rating being for a corresponding characteristic of the particular web page as a whole.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the subjective ratings are according to a plurality of multi-level rating scales that each include at least one positive rating, a neutral rating, and at least one negative rating.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein each characteristic is selected from the group consisting of content, design, and usability.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one report associates the page-specific subjective user reactions to a particular web page as a whole with demographic information for users that provide the page-specific subjective user reactions to the particular web page as a whole.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one page-specific subjective user reaction comprises a response to an explicit question presented to a user concerning a particular web page of the website.

35. The method of claim 25, further comprising receiving a request from the website owner specifying one or more report criteria, the reports being generated in response to the request.

36. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

generating a map of the website; and

generate the reports according to the map.

37. The method of claim 25, wherein a first report for a first particular web page comprises a link to a second report for a second particular web page, the first and second web pages being linked within the website.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

communicating a first report to the website owner;

receiving a request from the website owner using the first report;

generating the second report in response to the request; and

communicating the second report to the website owner, the website owner receiving the first and second reports in a similar manner that a user might access the corresponding first and second particular web pages according to the topography of the website.

39. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one report reflects page-specific subjective user reactions to all the particular pages of the website.

40. The method of claim 25, wherein the page-specific subjective user reaction information for at least one particular web page comprises:

a total number of subjective ratings of the particular web page as a whole received from the users that have accessed the particular web page, according to a multi-level ratings scale; and

an aggregate rating of the particular web page as a whole reflecting all the subjective ratings of the particular web page as a whole received from the users.

41. The method of claim 25, wherein each report reflects only page-specific subjective user reactions from users having a specified user profile.

42. The method of claim 25, wherein at least some of the page-specific subjective user reactions reflected in one or more reports each comprise one or more page-specific open-ended comments.

43. The method of claim 25, comprising:

accessing contact information for a person associated with a set of one or more particular web pages of the website and contact criteria for contacting the person according to subjective user reactions to one or more particular web pages in the set received from one or more users; and

automatically communicating a message to the person using the contact information according to the contact criteria being satisfied based on subjective user reactions received from one or more users.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein:

the contact information comprises an e-mail address for the person; and

the message comprises an e-mail message.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the contact criteria comprise a number of negative ratings received in a specified time period exceeding a pre-determined threshold.

46. The method of claim 43, comprising communicating page-specific open-ended comments to the person as they are received from users or periodically as a group.