System and method of enhancing leads by determining contactability scores

• US 8,135,607 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2007
• Issued: 03/13/2012
• 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, Kong, Jacob, Hughes, Lawrence J., Hajikhani, Rasoul
• Primary Examiner(s): PATS, JUSTIN
• Application Number:
  US11/671,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20080109294A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,863 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.31, 705/7, 705/0.29
• US Class Current: 705/7.31
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities

Abstract

A client transmits one or more lead records to a lead enhancement module that is configured to enhance the received lead records and return enhanced lead records to the client. In one embodiment, the client specifies which of a plurality of enhancements should be applied to lead records received from the particular client. In one embodiment, the lead enhancement module returns a contactability score for each lead record, indicated a likelihood that the individual identified in the lead may be contacted using the contact information provided in the lead record and/or additional contract information located by the lead enhancement module. In one embodiment, data items associated with the individual that are returned to the client are selected based on a vertical market of the client. In one embodiment, custom models that are defined on a per client basis are applied to lead records that are received from the particular client.

Claims

1. A method of enhancing a lead record, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computing system comprising one or more processors, a plurality of electronic lead records, each electronic lead record comprising a plurality of data items stored in a plurality of corresponding fields, including at least a surname field for storing a surname data item and an address field for storing an address data item;

for ones of the plurality of electronic lead records;

determining, by the computing system, whether at least a first subset of the fields each comprise data items;

accessing, by the computing system, an electronic data structure comprising a plurality of spoof strings;

determining, by the computing system, whether the data items in each of a second subset of the fields include any of the spoof strings; and

determining, by the computing system, a first preliminary contactability score associated with a respective one of the plurality of electronic lead records, wherein the first preliminary contactability score is based at least partly on information received from a first electronic data source regarding a relationship between a telephone number data item of the respective one of the plurality of electronic lead records and two or more other data items of the respective one of the plurality of electronic lead records, the two or more other data items selected from the surname data item, a first name data item, and the address data item;

determining for a first one of the plurality of electronic lead records that its determined first preliminary contactability score is above a predetermined threshold, and in response, designating, by the computing system, the determined first preliminary contactability score as a finalized contactability score for the first one of the plurality of electronic lead records; and

determining for a second one of the plurality of electronic lead records that its determined first preliminary contactability score is below the predetermined threshold, and in response;

determining, by the computing system, for the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records, a second preliminary contactability score based on information received from a second electronic data source regarding a relationship between the telephone number data item of the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records and two or more other data items of the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records, the two or more other data items selected from the surname data item, the first name data item, and the address data item; and

determining, by the computing system, a finalized contactability score for the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records based at least in part on the first preliminary contactability score of the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records and the second preliminary contactability score.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the computing system, whether ones of the plurality of electronic lead records are associated with individuals that are also associated with respective electronic lead records received by the computing system in a previous predetermined time period.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the computing system, whether telephone number data items of respective ones of the plurality of electronic lead records represent a valid telephone number.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of electronic lead records is received from a customer of an entity that controls operations of the computing system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for ones of the plurality of lead records;

generating respective enhanced lead records comprising at least some of the data items of the respective one of the plurality of electronic lead records and one or more of;

an indication whether the first subset of the fields each comprise data items;

an indication whether the data items include any of the spoof strings; and

the finalized contactability score for the respective one of the plurality of electronic lead records.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing system, information from an electronic data source indicating an association between a second telephone number and the individual for a particular electronic lead record of the plurality of electronic lead records, wherein the second telephone number is different than the telephone number data item of the particular electronic lead record of the plurality of electronic lead records; and

after receiving the second telephone number, updating, by the computing system, the enhanced lead record for the particular electronic lead record of the plurality of electronic lead records to include the second telephone number.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the fields comprises the surname field, the address field, a city field, and a state field.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the fields comprises the surname field, the address field, and a zip code field.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second subset of the fields comprises the surname field, the address field, and a zip code field.

10. A computing system for enhancing lead records, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

an interface configured to access a plurality of electronic lead records comprising information regarding respective individuals, each of the plurality of electronic lead records including a plurality of data items stored in a plurality of corresponding fields including at least a surname field for storing a surname data item and an address field for storing an address data item;

a computer readable medium storing software modules having instructions configured for execution by the one or more processors, the software modules including at least;

a spoof module configured to perform spoof word checks on ones of the plurality of electronic lead records;

a scoring module configured to, for the ones of the plurality of electronic lead records;

determine, for the ones of the plurality of electronic lead records, a first preliminary contactability score, wherein the first preliminary contactability score is based at least partly on information received from a first electronic data source regarding a relationship between a telephone number data item of the respective one of the plurality of electronic lead records and two or more other data items of the respective one of the plurality of electronic lead records, the two or more other data items selected from the surname data item, a first name data item, and the address data item;

determine, for a first one of the plurality of electronic lead records, that its determined first preliminary contactability score is above a predetermined threshold, and in response, designating, by the computing system, the determined first preliminary contactability score as a finalized contactability score for the first one of the plurality of electronic lead records; and

determine, for a second one of the plurality of electronic lead records, that its determined first preliminary contactability score is below the predetermined threshold, and in response;

determine, for the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records, a second preliminary contactability score based on information received from a second electronic data source regarding a relationship between the telephone number data item of the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records and two or more other data items of the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records, the two or more other data items selected from the surname data item, the first name data item, and the address data item; and

determine a finalized contactability score for the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records based at least in part on the first preliminary contactability score of the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records and the second preliminary contactability score.

11. A tangible computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that are configured for execution by a computing system in order to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

accessing a plurality of electronic lead records comprising information regarding respective individuals, each of the plurality of electronic lead records including a plurality of data items stored in a plurality of corresponding fields including at least a surname field for storing a surname data item and an address field for storing an address data item;

performing spoof word checks on ones of the plurality of electronic lead records;

for the ones of the plurality of electronic lead records;

determining a first preliminary contactability score associated with a respective one of the plurality of electronic lead records, wherein the first preliminary contactability score is based at least partly on information received from a first electronic data source regarding a relationship between a telephone number data item of the respective one of the plurality of electronic lead records and two or more other data items of the respective one of the plurality of electronic lead records, the two or more other data items selected from the surname data item, a first name data item, and the address data item;

determining for a first one of the plurality of electronic lead records that its determined first preliminary contactability score is above a predetermined threshold, and in response, designating, by the computing system, the determined first preliminary contactability score as a finalized contactability score for the first one of the plurality of electronic lead records; and

determining for a second one of the plurality of electronic lead records that its determined first preliminary contactability score is below the predetermined threshold, and in response;

determining for the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records, a second preliminary contactability score based on information received from a second electronic data source regarding a relationship between the telephone number data item of the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records and two or more other data items of the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records, the two or more other data items selected from the surname data item, the first name data item, and the address data item; and

determining a finalized contactability score for the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records based at least in part on the first preliminary contactability score of the second one of the plurality of electronic lead records and the second preliminary contactability score.