System and method for example based targeted marketing

• US 9,129,292 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2009
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Almeida, Noel J., Basak, Jayanta, Krishnapuram, Raghuram, Majumdar, Debapriyo, Padmanabhan, Deepak S., Visweswariah, Karthik
• Primary Examiner(s): Singh, Gurkanwaljit
• Application Number:
  US12/608,162
• Publication Number:
  US 20110106580A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,140 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 30/0204 Market segmentation

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide retailers with the ability to employ concept-based marketing using only a few representative examples. Embodiments of the invention take seed examples, utilize the seed examples to provide an expanded list (that can be edited as desired) representative of the concept, and map the expanded list to a final set of customers to be included in a targeted marketing operation.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith and executable by the one or more processors, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to permit, at a user interface, inputting of one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept, the example inputs including at least one positive example and at least one negative example;

computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to present at the user interface an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs; and

computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to output one or more output lists for display at the user interface, based on the expanded list of examples, the one or more output lists comprising a filtered target customer list;

the one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept comprising one or more of;

at least one product example and at least one customer example;

the at least one positive example comprising at least one example which guides inclusion in the filtered target customer list;

the at least one negative example comprising at least one example which guides exclusion from the filtered output target customer list; and

said computer readable program code being configured to utilize the one or more processors to incorporate at least one similarity score in outputting the one or more output lists, the at least one similarity score comprising at least one of;

a similarity score relating two products; and

a similarity score relating two customers.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more product identifications.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more customer identifications.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to present at the user interface an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs is further configured to utilize one or more of transaction data, product attribute data and customer demographic data to provide the expanded list.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable program code further comprises computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to permit, at the user interface, editing of the expanded list.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

the computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to permit, at the user interface, editing of the expanded list is configured to permit the user to provide one or more of product attribute information and customer demographic information to update the expanded list; and

the computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to present at the user interface an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs is configured to calculate an updated expanded list using the one or more of product attribute information and customer demographic information.

7. A method comprising:

using one or more processors to execute computer readable program code embodied on a computer readable storage medium, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to permit, at a user interface, inputting of one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept, the example inputs including at least one positive example and at least one negative example;

computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to present at the user interface an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs; and

computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to output one or more output lists for display at the user interface, based on the expanded list of examples, the one or more output lists comprising a filtered target customer list;

the one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept comprising one or more of;

at least one product example and at least one customer example;

the at least one positive example comprising at least one example which guides inclusion in the filtered target customer list;

the at least one negative example comprising at least one example which guides exclusion from the filtered output target customer list; and

said computer readable program code being configured to utilize the one or more processors to incorporate at least one similarity score in outputting the one or more output lists, the at least one similarity score comprising at least one of;

a similarity score relating two products; and

a similarity score relating two customers.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more product identifications.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more customer identifications.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to present at the user interface an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs is further configured to utilize one or more of transaction data, product attribute data and customer demographic data to provide the expanded list.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the computer readable program code further comprises computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to permit, at the user interface, editing of the expanded list.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein:

the computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to permit, at the user interface, editing of the expanded list is configured to permit the user to provide one or more of product attribute information and customer demographic information to update the expanded list; and

the computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to present at the user interface an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs is configured to calculate an updated expanded list using the one or more of product attribute information and customer demographic information.

13. The method according to claim 7, wherein the one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept comprise positive and negative product examples.

14. The method according to claim 7, wherein the one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept comprise positive and negative customer examples.

15. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to utilize one or more processors to permit, at a user interface, inputting of one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept, the example inputs including at least one positive example and at least one negative example;

computer readable program code configured to utilize one or more processors to present at the user interface an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs; and

computer readable program code configured to utilize one or more processors to output one or more output lists for display at the user interface, based on the expanded list of examples, the one or more output lists comprising a filtered target customer list;

the one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept comprising one or more of;

at least one product example and at least one customer example;

the at least one positive example comprising at least one example which guides inclusion in the filtered target customer list;

the at least one negative example comprising at least one example which guides exclusion from the filtered output target customer list; and

said computer readable program code being configured to utilize one or more processors to incorporate at least one similarity score in outputting the one or more output lists, the at least one similarity score comprising at least one of;

a similarity score relating two products; and

a similarity score relating two customers.

16. The computer program product according to claim 15, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more product identifications.

17. The computer program product according to claim 16, wherein the one or more example inputs comprise one or more customer identifications.

18. The computer program product according to claim 16, wherein the computer readable program code configured to utilize one or more processors to present at the user interface an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept based on the one or more example inputs is further configured to utilize one or more of transaction data, product attribute data and customer demographic data to provide the expanded list.

19. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a display device; and

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith and executable by the one or more processors, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to permit, at a user interface at the display device, inputting of one or more of product example inputs and customer example inputs representing a marketing concept for a targeted marketing operation, the one or more of product example inputs and customer example inputs including at least one positive example and at least one negative example;

computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more of product example inputs and customer example inputs representing a marketing concept for a targeted marketing operation as seed inputs for a machine learning program configured to utilize the one or more processors to present at the user interface at the display device an expanded list of examples representing the marketing concept, the expanded list of examples derived from one or more of a transaction data source, a product attribute data source, and a customer demographic data source; and

computer readable program code configured to utilize the one or more processors to output automatically to the user interface at the display device one or more output lists according to a predetermined threshold corresponding to examples in the expanded list of examples, the one or more output lists comprising a filtered target customer list;

the one or more example inputs representing a marketing concept comprising one or more of;

at least one product example and at least one customer example;

the at least one positive example comprising at least one example which guides inclusion in the filtered target customer list;

the at least one negative example comprising at least one example which guides exclusion from the filtered output target customer list; and

said computer readable program code being configured to utilize the one or more processors to incorporate at least one similarity score in outputting the one or more output lists, the at least one similarity score comprising at least one of;

a similarity score relating two products; and

a similarity score relating two customers.