Patent Application
20080071687
In the following detailed description of example embodiments of the invention, reference is made to specific example embodiments of the invention by way of drawings and illustrations. These examples are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and serve to illustrate how the invention may be applied to various purposes or embodiments. Other embodiments of the invention exist and are within the scope of the invention, and logical, mechanical, electrical, and other changes may be made without departing from the subject or scope of the present invention. Features or limitations of various embodiments of the invention described herein, however essential to the example embodiments in which they are incorporated, do not limit other embodiments of the invention or the invention as a whole, and any reference to the invention, its elements, operation, and application do not limit the invention as a whole but serve only to define these example embodiments. The following detailed description does not, therefore, limit the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the appended claims.
The present invention includes a system for conducting retail transactions. In particular, a direct response system receives and organizes participating sellers, provides multimedia advertisements of each participating seller, ranks each participating seller, and routes incoming calls from interested potential buyers to the corresponding seller's call center.
In an embodiment, management system 110 includes any person or system responsible for the administration of computers, networks, or software systems within direct response system 100. In an embodiment, computer 112 includes a networked computer server used to store and distribute information relevant to specific companies. Computer 112 may contain components including databases, such as database 114, and software, such as availability software 116, scoring software 118, and invoicing software 120.
In an embodiment, database 114 includes a commercial database system, such as those available from Oracle, Microsoft, or IBM. Database 114 may be a relational database and contain a collection of related data. More particularly, database 114 includes company information file 122, business arrangement file 124, and advertisement file 126.
In an embodiment, company information file 122 includes pertinent background information related to a specific company. Business arrangement file 124 includes one or more business arrangements between company product/service 156 and management system 110. Advertisement file 126 includes advertising information, such as textual and graphical content for an online advertisement of the products or services of a company within company information file 122. In one embodiment, advertisement file 126 contains a short text description of the product or service being advertised and a toll-free number to present to the customer for them to call for more information or to order the product. In embodiments, advertisement file 126 does not include data or links to an advertiser's online catalog or order form. In such an embodiment, it is perceived to be advantageous to direct a potential customer to a live operator instead of an online catalog or order form. In particular, phone calls are generally more effective at closing sales than providing an online ordering system, so much so that it may be preferable to direct potential customers to a live phone representative than to an informational website.
In an embodiment, availability software 116 includes a software program that interfaces with various call centers that sell a specific product or service. Availability software 116 may periodically or regularly connect with the call centers or may be continuously connected to the call center to perform queries and updates at or near real-time. Availability software 116 can determine the availability of call center agents. As needed, availability software 116 queries participating call centers 142 via network 130 to determine one or more metrics, such as the average speed that a call is answered at a call center (e.g., the average hold time), the number of working agents, or the like.
In an embodiment, scoring software 118 includes a software program that categorizes and ranks companies that are selling a company product/service 156. Scoring software 118 can use one or more criteria including the availability of agents in call centers, the product's or service's price, customer satisfaction rankings of the product or service, or industry awards or recognition. For example, in an embodiment, rankings within scoring software 118 are based partly on an established scoring system, such as product rankings from Consumer Reports. Scoring software 118 can analyze companies within company information file 122 and calculate their respective ranks or positions.
In an embodiment, invoicing software 120 includes a software program that allows computer 112 to invoice advertising company 140 for calls referred to participating call center 142.
In an embodiment, switch 128 includes a telecommunications network device that selects a path or circuit for sending a unit of data to its next destination. Switch 128 may also include the function of a router, which determines a route to a network destination point. Switch 128 may include, in various embodiments, conventional telecommunications switch functionality, such as interactive voice response (IVR), call recording functionality, and the like. Network 130 includes a communications or data network, such as a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or the Internet.
Customer 132 includes a person or company that searches portal website 152 in order to find information on a particular product or service. Customer telephone 134 is a telecommunications device, such as a mobile phone or a standard land-line telephone, which transmits and receives voice data. Customer computer 136 includes a laptop, desktop, or networked computer. Customer computer 136 further includes components, such as web browser 138. Web browser 138 includes a software program that provides a graphical interface that allows users to view and navigate web pages.
Advertising company 140 includes a company or business that advertises or places content on direct response system 100 via a business arrangement with management system 110.
Participating call center 142 includes a call center that handles inbound calls. For example, participating call center 142 is the call center for a specific company, such as advertising company 140. Participating call center 142 may include a sophisticated voice operations center that provides a full range of high-volume, inbound call-handling services, for example, customer support, operator services, or directory assistance. Associated with each participating call center 142 are one or more remote service agents (RSA) 150. RSA 150 may include people who are trained and knowledgeable in one or more product or service areas for a specific company.
Each participating call center 142 maintains one or more call center computers 146. Call center computer 146 includes a networked computer server used to store and distribute information. Call center computer 146 also includes call center database 148. In various embodiments, call center database 148 includes a commercial database system, such as those available from Oracle, Microsoft, or IBM. Call center database 146 may be a relational database and contain a collection of related data. Call center database 148 stores data received from customers by RSA 150. Call center database 148 may also include data derived from customer calls. For example, call center database 148 may contain the number of calls transferred, the number of calls converted into sales, order data, customer information collected by RSA 150, or the like. Participating call center 142 also includes call center switch 144, which is a telecommunications network device that selects a path or circuit for sending data to its next destination, such as a sales agent or group of sales agents. In some embodiments, call center switch 144 stores generic call data, such as the number of calls received, which agent the call was routed to, the length of call, and the like. In an embodiment, calls routed from switch 128 are handled by call center switch 144.
In an embodiment, portal website 152 includes a website that provides a user interface that allows customers to search or browse for products or services. Portal website 152 may be provided by one or more servers, collectively termed a website server system, which may include a web server, a database server, an application server, a file server, or other servers to enable and provide an interactive website. Alternatively, portal website 152 is located on one or more servers within management system 110.
In an example embodiment, during operation, management system 110 selects products or services to participate. One or more companies within an industry are evaluated by management system 110, such as by an established scoring system. The evaluations are stored in company information file 122 by scoring software 118. Formalized business agreements are made between management system 110 and the selected companies. The formalized business agreements are stored in business arrangement file 124. Creative content is developed, such as by advertising company 140, management system 110, or a third party, and a phone number, such as a unique toll-free number, is created to include with each participating company's advertisement. The phone number may be assigned and managed by management system 110. Portal website 152 may be developed by management system 110. The creative content and unique toll-free number are uploaded to advertisement file 126 and stored in database 114 of computer 112.
Customer 132 can use web browser 138 to access portal website 152 and search for a product or service. Scoring software 118 utilizes availability software 116 and reviews one or more company information files 122 to determine company advertisements that are relevant to customer's search. Advertisements are retrieved from advertisement file 126 and may contain a phone number for customer 132 to call. The advertisements are presented using a ranking derived from scoring software 118. Using customer phone 134, customer 132 can select a company from the list and call the phone number. The call is routed through switch 128 to call center switch 144. Call center switch 144 routes the call to RSA 150.
Customer 132 can speak with RSA 150 at participating call center 142. RSA 150 may answer questions from customer 132 regarding a specific product or service or assist in expanding customer's knowledge base of the product or service. Also, RSA 150 may attempt to sell customer 132 the specific product or service.
At 202, management system 110 develops a direct response system 100. In an embodiment, development of direct response system 100 includes selecting one or more companies or industries to participate as advertisers. Participation may be based on one or more criteria, such as whether the company is approved by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), whether the company provides a credit refund or has a credit refund policy, whether the company pre-screens credit cards to reduce fraud, or other quality or customer service indicia such as reviews, awards, or the like. Factors such as these may be weighted or scaled to prefer product quality, customer service, price, or other product or service characteristics.
At 204, management system 110 develops one or more invoicing processes for direct response system 100. In an embodiment, invoice process development includes developing business arrangements with participating advertising companies 140, receiving aggregated reports from participating call centers 142 and fulfillment centers 154, analyzing the aggregated reports, and invoicing the participating companies.
At 206, one or more customers 132 access portal website 152 to view advertising from participating advertising companies 140. Based upon these ads, the customer 132 can initiate a phone call to a company. In an embodiment, advertisements using one or more advertising mediums may be used to drive traffic to the portal website 152. Advertising mediums may include, in various embodiments, online advertising, push advertising (e.g., to a cellular phone, to a browser over a persistent Internet connection, or the like), radio advertising, television advertising, or print advertising. For example, a radio advertisement may advertise the portal website 152 generally, such as by announcing: “Would you like to know the top five service providers in your area? Visit www.top5.com and find out more.” A listener may then visit the website (e.g., www.top5.com) and search or browse to find a service or product of interest. Upon finding the product or service, the listener can call one of the providers and be connected with a live sales agent to obtain additional information.
At 208, a participating call center 142, which is associated with a company product/service 156, receives the call from customer 132. Remote service agent (RSA) 150 can speak directly with the customer 132 to handle the customer inquiry.
At 302, a scoring system is developed. In various embodiments, one or more factors are used to determine an overall score of a product or service, such as a price, an indicia of customer satisfaction, a third-party score, an adjustment value, or an availability. An additional factor may include whether the participating company has an available advertising budget remaining. In an embodiment, participating companies can pre-pay for referrals through management system 110. After a customer 132 is referred to a participating call center 142, the participating company's account is debited by the referral fee. If a participating company's account balance is zero, then further referrals are not provided by management system 110. Another factor that may affect scoring is a geographic score. A geographic score may be determined by querying the customer 132 at portal website 152 for some indicia of the customer's location (e.g., ZIP code or state). By analyzing company information file 122 in database 114, portal website 152 may be able to determine which companies are located closer to customer 132 and adjust scores based on proximity.
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At 306, one or more business agreements are formalized. Business agreements can be made between management system 110 and one or more selected companies. Formalized business agreements may include terms, such as compensation for referrals, fees for an increased ranking, or other details about the business arrangement between management system 110 and a selected company. In an embodiment, the details of a business agreement are stored in business arrangement file 124 of database 114.
At 308, creative content is developed. In various embodiments, the creative content is developed by the participating company, management system 110, or a third party. In addition, in an embodiment, a unique toll-free number is assigned to a participating company advertisement by the management system 110.
At 310, creative content and the associated unique toll-free number are stored in the database 114. In an embodiment, the information is stored in advertisement file 126. In some embodiments, auxiliary creative content is developed, such as to support advertising campaigns with the intent of driving traffic to a portal website 152.
At 312, a portal website 152 is updated. In an embodiment, portal website 152 is developed and managed by management system 110. Management system 110 may update static web pages on portal website 152 to include the new products or services. In another embodiment, portal website 152 is implemented using dynamic web programming, such as JavaScript, Active Server Pages, or the like, such that when database 114 is updated, portal website 152 may dynamically update its contents for browsers.
Portal website 152 includes one or more navigational or search user interfaces. In an embodiment, portal website 152 includes a search user interface where a user may enter one or more key words or phrases and portal website 152 may provide search results that include one or more advertisements of relevant products or services. In another embodiment, portal website 152 includes one or more groupings or categories of products or services, which may be navigated using a menu or other hierarchal browsing.
As a result of searching or browsing, the user is presented with a listing of relevant products or services. The listing may include advertisements. In an embodiment, the advertisements include a unique phone number (e.g., a toll-free number) and text or graphical advertising copy. For example, a banner or image may be displayed next to a unique toll-free number that connects the customer to a corresponding participating call center 142 via switch 128 and call center switch 144. In an alternative embodiment, search results are presented as a list of descriptive links, which the user may select to view a more detailed advertisement that includes a phone number.
At 314, management system 110 determines whether there are more products to be added to direct response system 100. In an embodiment, the decision of whether to add more products is based on market data. For example, market data may identify a product or service that sells well via direct response methods, but which is not offered currently via direct response system 100. If market data exists that warrants the addition of more products, then the method 202 continues at block 300.
At 502, one or more reports are received from at least one of participating call center 142 or fulfillment center 154. In some embodiments, reports are aggregated reports and are sent via email, postal mail, fax, or the like. Reports may include information such as the number of calls received, the time of each call, the length of each call, and the number of resulting sales. Other information may be included in the reports, such as client information, shipping information, billing information, and the like. Reports may be sent on periodic or regular intervals, for example, daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
At 504, the reports are analyzed. In an embodiment, management system 110 analyzes the reports received from participating call center 142 and fulfillment center 154 to verify information. For example, management system 110 may check and compare the number of calls that switch 128 reported as referred to participating call center 142 against the number of calls participating call center 142 indicates were received by call center switch 144. Any inconsistencies may be followed up by management system 110.
At 506, using the results of the analysis, one or more participating companies, which are associated with participating call center 142, are invoiced for referrals. In various embodiments, invoices are delivered via email, postal mail, fax, or the like. In an embodiment, invoices are made available to the participating companies via a website management system 110. For example, a participating company may connect with a web server at management system 110 and view a past or current invoice online.
At 602, one or more advertisements are presented. In an embodiment, the advertisements are displayed as a result of a search performed by customer 132. In an embodiment, scoring software 118 utilizes availability software 116, one or more company information files 122, and one or more corresponding advertisement files 126 to determine relevant advertisements based on a query and rank the relevant advertisements. In embodiments, advertisements include text, graphics, or other multimedia elements. In an embodiment, advertisements include a phone number (e.g., a toll-free number) to contact the advertising company. For example, if the customer 132 uses the search terms “home refinance” at portal website 152, the top three mortgage lender advertisements based on scores derived from scoring software 118 may be displayed for customer 132 to review. In an embodiment, scores are calculated at the time of the query. Each advertisement may contain a small advertisement copy (e.g., text, graphic, animated graphic) as well as a unique toll-free number for customer 132 to call for further details.
At 604, a user contacts a selected company. In an embodiment, customer 132 may select a company based on at least one of an advertisement or ranking and call the corresponding unique toll-free number.
At 606, a user is connected with a participating company. In an embodiment, customer 132 may speak with a remote service agent (RSA) 150 at participating call center 142. The RSA 150 may answer questions as well as educate customer 132 regarding the product or service. RSA 150 may also gather customer information or attempt to sell customer 132 a product or service.
At 702, the call is routed to an available agent. In an embodiment, call center switch 144 determines one or more available agents and routes the call to at least one available agent. If no agents are available, call center switch 144 may provide a voice message to the caller while the call is queued for processing.
At 704, the call is received by an available agent (e.g., RSA 150). The agent may provide answers and other information to customer 132.
At 706, call data is collected. In an embodiment, RSA 150 may collect various data during or after a call, such as personal customer data, customer billing data, order data, or the like.
At 708, call data is saved. In an embodiment, RSA 150 may save collected data to call center database 148.
At 710, one or more reports are generated. In an embodiment, periodically or regularly, participating call center 142 may manually or automatically provide collected call data. The collected call data may include aggregated data from call center database 148 or call center switch 144. Data collected from call center switch 144 may include, for example, the number of calls received, the length of each call, and the RSA 150 to whom the call was transferred. Collected data may be aggregated over a time period, for example, daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. At periodic or regular intervals, reports are transmitted to computer 112 for analysis and review by management system 110.
Various embodiments may provide one or more advantages, including a search website that features focused product or service vendors and a direct marketing channel that may increase the effectiveness or efficiency of a company's marketing plan.
It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. For example, the above-described embodiments (and/or aspects thereof) may be used in combination with each other. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein.” Also, in the following claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are open-ended, that is, a system, device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms “first,” “second,” and “third,” etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.
For the purposes of this specification, the term “machine-readable medium” or “computer-readable medium” shall be taken to include any medium which is capable of storing or encoding a sequence of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one of the methodologies of the inventive subject matter. The terms “machine-readable medium” or “computer-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic disks, and carrier wave signals. Further, it will be appreciated that the software could be distributed across multiple machines or storage media, which may include the machine-readable medium.
Method embodiments described herein may be computer-implemented. Some embodiments may include computer-readable media encoded with a computer program (e.g., software), which includes instructions operable to cause an electronic device to perform methods of various embodiments. A software implementation (or computer-implemented method) may include microcode, assembly language code, or a higher-level language code, which further may include computer-readable instructions for performing various methods. The code may form portions of computer program products. Further, the code may be tangibly stored on one or more volatile or non-volatile computer-readable media during execution or at other times. These computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, hard disks, removable magnetic disks, removable optical disks (e.g., compact disks and digital video disks), magnetic cassettes, memory cards or sticks, random access memories (RAMs), read-only memories (ROMs), and the like.
The foregoing description of specific embodiments reveals the general nature of the inventive subject matter sufficiently that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt it for various applications without departing from the generic concept. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications are within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. The phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Accordingly, the inventive subject matter embraces all such alternatives, modifications, equivalents and variations as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.
The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b), which requires that it allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also, in the above Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure. This should not be interpreted as intending that an unclaimed disclosed feature is essential to any claim. Rather, inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of a particular disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.
