Systems and methods of enhancing leads

• US 7,752,236 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2007
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Experian Marketing Solutions, LLC (Experian plc)
• Original Assignee: Experian Marketing Solutions Incorporated (Experian plc)
• Inventors: Williams, Richard, Hughes, Lawrence J., Panigrahi, Damodar, Kong, Jacob
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali; Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hocker; John P
• Application Number:
  US11/671,412
• Publication Number:
  US 20080109444A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,247 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707/102
• US Class Current: 707/804
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A lead enhancement module transmits to one or more data sources an enhancement list requesting additional data items associated with a lead record. The enhancement list may comprise one or more data bundles, each comprising indicators associated with one or more additional data items. A personalized data bundle may be created by each client listing those specific additional data items that the particular client would like to retrieve for lead records from the client. A default data bundle may be included in the enhancement list for clients that have not defined a personalized data bundle, or the default bundle may be included in the enhancement list in addition to the personalized data bundle. Various default bundles, such as vertical market specific data bundles, may be created and provided to the client for possible inclusion in the enhancement list.

Claims

1. A computerized method of enhancing a lead record received from a business entity computing device, the method comprising:

entering into a lead record enhancement arrangement with a plurality of business entities, each business entity having a business entity computing device, the plurality of business entities representing a plurality of vertical business market segments;

receiving in a first computing device a lead record from at least one of the plurality of business entity computing devices, at least one lead record comprising information regarding an individual, the business entity having an interest in the individual as a potential customer or client of the business entity, and the lead record information configured to assist the business entity in entering into a business transaction with the individual,

the first computing device comprising a third party computing device independent of the at least one business entity computing device;

providing at least one second computing device in communication with the first computing device but not in communication with the at least one business entity computing device, the second computing device comprising a third party computing device independent of the business entity computing device;

determining the vertical business market segment associated with the business entity;

storing the at least one lead record on one or more storage devices associated with the first computing device;

providing a computer readable default data bundle associated with the at least one lead record based at least partly on the determined vertical business market segment of the business entity, the default data bundle indicating one or more additional data items associated with the at least one lead record that are to be retrieved from the second computing device,

wherein the additional data items are not included in the at least one lead record;

modifying the default data bundle by adding one or more indicators of data items to the default data bundle,

wherein at least one of the indicators of data items is added to the default data bundle based on a geographic residence location indicated in the received lead record;

generating at the request of the business entity in the first computing device a computer readable customized data bundle based at least in part on the determined vertical business market segment of the business entity;

transmitting at least a portion of the default data bundle or the customized data bundle to the second computing device;

receiving from the second computing device at least some of the additional data items indicated in the default data bundle or the customized data bundle;

storing the received additional data items on the one or more storage devices;

generating an enhanced lead record comprising at least a portion of the at least one lead record received from the business entity computing device and at least a portion of the additional data items received from the second computing device; and

transmitting the enhanced lead record to the business entity computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a computer readable personalized data bundle to be associated with the at least one lead record, the personalized data bundle comprising indicators of one or more additional data items to be requested from the second computing device, the indicators being selected by the business entity;

transmitting the personalized data bundle to the second computing device;

receiving from the second computing device at least some of the additional data items indicated in the personalized data bundle.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the personalized data bundle comprises indicators associated with additional data items that are not included in the default data bundle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more indicators of data items are added to the default data bundle based on one or more of a source of the lead record, in-the-market data associated with the lead record, a gender of the individual associated with the lead record, and an age of the individual associated with the lead record.

5. A computerized method of enhancing a lead record received from a client computing device, the method comprising:

entering into a lead record enhancement arrangement with a plurality of business entities, each business entity having a business entity computing device, the plurality of business entities representing a plurality of vertical business market segments;

receiving in a first computing device a lead record comprising information regarding an individual,

wherein the lead record is received from a business entity computing device associated with a business entity, the business entity having an interest in entering into a business transaction with the individual, and the lead record information is configured to assist the business entity in entering into the business transaction with the individual, and

wherein the first computing device comprises a third party computing device independent of the business entity computing device;

providing one or more data source computing devices in communication with the first computing device but not in communication with the business entity computing device,

wherein the one or more data source computing devices are independent of the business entity computing device;

determining the vertical business market segment associated with the business entity;

generating a computer readable default enhancement list based at least partly on one or more attributes associated with the lead record or the determined vertical business market segment of the business entity, the default enhancement list comprising one or more additional data item indicators that are to be retrieved from the one or more data source computing devices, the default enhancement list being configured for transmission to the one or more data source computing devices;

modifying the default enhancement list by adding one or more additional data item indicators to the default enhancement list, wherein at least one of the additional data item indicators is added to the default enhancement list based on a geographic residence location indicated in the received lead record;

generating at the request of the business entity a computer readable customized enhancement list based at least in part on the determined vertical business market segment of the business entity;

transmitting the default enhancement list or the customized enhancement list to the one or more data source computing devices;

receiving from the one or more data source computing devices respective of the additional data items corresponding to the one or more additional data item indicators in the default enhancement list or the customized enhancement list;

storing the additional data items on one or more storage devices; and

transmitting at least a portion of the received additional data items to the business entity computing device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the attributes comprise one or more of:

identification of the business entity associated with the business entity computing device, content of one or more data fields of the lead record, and information included in a header of the lead record.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the attributes comprise a client identifier indicating the business entity associated with the business entity computing device from which the lead record was received such that the additional data items included on the customized enhancement list are associated with the business entity associated with the business entity computing device.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the attributes comprise one or more of:

a contactability score of the lead record;

a geographic residence location indicated in the received lead record, a source of the lead record, in-the-market data associated with the lead record, a gender of an individual associated with the lead record, and an age of the individual associated with the lead record.

9. A computerized system for retrieving additional data items related to a received lead record in order to generate an enhanced lead record that is returned to a requesting entity, the system comprising:

a data source computing device comprising one or more additional data items associated with each of a plurality of individuals, the data source computing device in data communication with a network,

wherein the data source computing device in data communication with a lead enhancing computing device but not in communication with a business entity computing device, the data source computing device comprising a third party computing device independent of the business entity computing device;

the lead enhancing computing device comprising;

a processing unit,

a storage device,

an input/output interface in data communication with the network and configured to receive a lead record from the business entity computing device associated with a business entity,

wherein the business entity represents a vertical business market segment, the business entity computing device is independent of the lead enhancing computing device and the data source computing device,

wherein the business entity has an interest in an individual as a potential customer or client of the business entity, and the lead record comprises information configured to assist the business entity to enter into a business relationship with the individual indicated in the lead record, and

an output bundling module configured to;

provide a default data bundle indicating one or more additional data items to be requested from the data source computing device,

modify the default data bundle based at least partly on one or more attributes associated with the lead record, the attributes comprising at least a vertical business market of the business entity and a geographic residence location indicated in the lead record,

generate a customized data bundle based at least in part on the vertical business market segment of the business entity, and

transmit the default data bundle or the customized data bundle to the data source computing device via the input/output interface,

the output bundling module further configured to receive one or more of the additional data items from the data source computing device and to generate an enhanced lead record comprising at least some of the additional data items

and at least a portion of the lead record received from the business entity computing device.

10. The computerized system of claim 9, wherein the network comprises the Internet.

11. The computerized system of claim 9, wherein indicators of the one or more additional data items are included in a data bundle.

12. The computerized system of claim 9, wherein indicators of the one or more additional data items are included in a data bundle that is customized by the business entity.

13. The computerized system of claim 9, wherein at least some of the additional data items to be requested from the data source computing device are determined according to rules that are based at least partly upon an attribute of the received lead record.

14. The computerized system of claim 9, wherein the attributes of the received lead record farther comprises one or more of:

a contactability score of the lead record, a source of the lead record, in-the-market data associated with the lead record, a gender of an individual associated with the lead record, and an age of the individual associated with the lead record.

15. The computerized system of claim 9, wherein the output bundling module is configured to receive inputs from the business entity computing device indicating additional data items to be requested from the data source computing device.

16. The computerized system of claim 9, wherein indicators of the additional data items to be requested from the data source computing device are included in a client data bundle that is selected by the output bundling module for all lead records received from the business entity.

17. The computerized system of claim 9, wherein the additional data items requested from the data source computing device comprise a customized data bundle that is selected by the output bundling module only for a current lead record.

18. The computerized system of claim 17, wherein the customized data bundle is received by the lead enhancing computing device with the lead record.