Indices for credibility trending, monitoring, and lead generation

• US 9,202,200 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2012
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dun & Bradstreet Corp., DUN & Bradstreet Incorporated (Dun & Bradstreet Corp.), Hoover's Incorporated (Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Credibility Corp. (Dun & Bradstreet Corp.)
• Inventors: Stibel, Jeffrey M., Stibel, Aaron B., Hackett, Judith Gentile, Kazerani, Moujan, Loeb, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Ng, Amy
• Assistant Examiner(s): VU, TOAN H
• Application Number:
  US13/456,170
• Publication Number:
  US 20120278767A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,315 Days
• Field of Search: 715/854
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a credibility system that computes credibility scores to quantify the credibility of different businesses and to coalesce the generated credibility scores into various indices. The indices comparatively present the credibility of a particular business relative to other businesses along one or more dimensions. Based on the indices, the system identifies trends in the credibility of a particular business. The system derives preliminary credibility for a new business for which credibility data has not yet been obtained based on credibility that has been previously established for other businesses in an index associated with the new business. The system provides automated services for monitoring credibility of a business and for generating alerts to notify the business that its credibility has reached various thresholds. The system identifies business practices that improve upon or adversely affect the credibility of a particular business.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating comparative analysis of entity credibility, the computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying at least one filter for restricting entities to include as part of the comparative analysis;

filtering a plurality of entities based on the at least one filter to obtain a set of entities satisfying the at least one identified filter;

aggregating credibility scores for each entity of the set of entities, wherein each credibility score quantifies, into a numeric value, qualitative credibility data and quantitative credibility data directed to reputation of a different entity of the set of entities, wherein the qualitative credibility data comprises reviews and the quantitative credibility data comprises ratings about experiences and accounts with the entity;

ordering the credibility scores for the set of entities;

generating an index based on the ordering of the credibility scores, wherein generating the index comprises plotting in a graph (i) a plurality of data points representing the credibility score of each entity of the set of entities based on the ordering and (ii) an indicator identifying in the graph, the credibility score of a particular entity from the set of entities;

isolating from the index, a subset of the set of entities having a credibility score exceeding a specified score;

determining at least one commonality in the qualitative and quantitative credibility data of the subset of entities; and

providing to the particular entity in the set of entities and not in the subset of entities, the at least one commonality as a suggested business practice for improving the particular entity credibility score.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the qualitative credibility data and quantitative credibility data is aggregated from a plurality of data sources, and the computer-implemented method further comprising associating the credibility data that is aggregated for each entity of the set of entities with a credibility score of that entity.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising providing an interactive tool to display the credibility data that is aggregated for an entity by interacting with a credibility score of the entity that is presented in said index.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising aggregating credibility data that is related to each entity of the plurality of entities from a plurality of data sources, wherein said credibility data comprises (i) qualitative data having a textual statement and (ii) quantitative data having an objective measure bounded by a specific scale.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 further comprising computing a credibility score for each entity of the plurality of entities from credibility data that is aggregated for said entity.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set of entities is a first set of entities, the method further comprising providing an interactive tool for modifying the filter in order to modify said index to present credibility scores for a second set of the plurality of entities that satisfies the modified filter.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein filtering the plurality of entities comprises identifying a set of entities from the plurality of entities that are located within a specified geographic region.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein filtering the plurality of entities comprises identifying a set of entities from the plurality of entities that operate in the same field of business.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the index comprises generating a graphical representation for the ordered credibility scores for the set of entities.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

specifying at least one dimension for filtering credibility scores of a plurality of entities that are to be included in an index;

specifying a range for the at least one specified dimension for further filtering of the credibility scores of the plurality of entities that are to be included in said index;

retrieving a set of credibility scores for a set of the plurality of entities that satisfy the at least one specified dimension and the range for the at least one specified dimension, wherein said set of credibility scores are retrieved from a database storing a plurality of credibility scores for the plurality of entities, wherein each credibility score of the plurality of credibility scores numerically quantifies qualitative credibility data and quantitative credibility data that is directed to reputation of a different entity of the plurality of entities, and wherein the qualitative credibility data comprises reviews and the quantitative credibility data comprises ratings about the entity; and

generating an index to present the retrieved set of credibility scores in a graphical representation that comparatively presents the retrieved sets of credibility scores for the set of entities; and

isolating from the index, a subset of the set of entities having a credibility score exceeding a specified score;

determining at least one commonality in the qualitative and quantitative credibility data of the subset of entities; and

providing to a particular entity that is in the set of entities and that is not in the subset of entities, the at least one commonality as a suggested business practice for improving the particular entity credibility score.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising linking said index to an account for each entity of the set of entities for presentation of said index when an account of an entity of the set of entities is accessed.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising providing interactive functionality with said index, wherein said interactive functionality enables access to the qualitative and quantitative credibility data that is used in deriving the credibility score for at least one particular entity of the set of entities.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising keying said index to the particular entity of the set of entities, wherein keying said index to the particular entity comprises highlighting a credibility score of the particular entity relative to credibility scores of other entities of the set of entities that are presented in the index.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein keying said index to the particular entity further comprises demarcating in the index, a credibility score of the particular entity from credibility scores of other entities in the set of entities.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the at least one specified dimension comprises location, the range for the at least one specified dimension comprises a defined geographic region, and the set of entities comprises entities in the defined geographic region.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the at least one specified dimension comprises goods and services, the range for the at least one specified dimension comprises at least one enumerated good and service, and the set of entities comprises entities offering the at least one enumerated good and service.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the at least one specified dimension comprises business, the range for the at least one specified dimension comprises a particular field of business, and the set of entities comprises entities operating in the particular field of business.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein specifying the at least one dimension comprises specifying a first dimension and a second dimension, wherein specifying the range for the at least one specified dimension comprises specifying a first range for the first dimension and a second range for the second dimension, and wherein retrieving the set of credibility scores comprises retrieving a set of credibility scores for a set of the plurality of entities that satisfy the first dimension and the first range for the first dimension and that satisfy the second dimension and the second range for the second dimension.