Manufacturers and commercial enterprises regularly use discount coupons to attract consumers to their products, build consumer rapport, and provide marketing information for future business decisions. Traditionally, the commercial enterprises themselves must find ways to distribute the coupons to consumers. These distribution methods often use print media, such as advertising mailings and newspapers. The traditional methods of coupon distribution are often costly and have limited success as the mailings can be a nuisance to potential consumers.
Many commercial enterprises employ electronic media to distribute electronic coupons. Oftentimes, however, the traditional distribution methods are simply replaced by Internet-based distribution methods resulting in the same failures and difficulties. For example, an electronic coupon can be offered to a potential customer by sending an unsolicited electronic mail to the customer or an electronic coupon can be posted as an advertisement on a webpage. In the latter example, commercial enterprises are required to expend resources to direct coupons to potential customers or establish their own webpages to distribute their coupons. Consumers are hesitant to use coupons that are unsolicited and even those consumers seeking coupons would have difficulties finding the appropriate ones amongst a multitude of webpages. Furthermore, the many different websites typically have many different requirements, which may be cumbersome to potential customers.
Centralized coupon distribution services, e.g. MyCoupons.com, are available to distribute coupons from multiple commercial enterprises to individual consumers. A centralized distribution service typically has a website where individual consumers can select coupons from multiple manufacturers. However, consumers may not know about the website or the coupon distributing website can be difficult to find. The consumer is typically unfamiliar with the coupon distribution website and would naturally have reservations about using the website. A consumer would question the validity of the coupons offered at the website. The coupon distribution service also typically requires users to register and log on to the website, where registering generally entails filling out multiple forms and submitting user information. This registration data can be used for marketing analysis. Consumers are hesitant to enter personal information, particularly to an unfamiliar website. For at least these difficulties, traditional centralized coupon distribution services can be unpopular and would limit marketing analyses.
The present invention addresses the difficult problem of distribution of electronic offers.
The present invention is directed to group profiling in an offer and reward system. The offer and reward system includes an offer exchange system, a plurality of sponsors, and a plurality of affinity groups. Affinity groups can be an organization, a religious organization, a school, a bank, a team, a company, a special interest group, an online community, an online social network, an insurance group, or any combination thereof. Members of each of the affinity groups have pre-existing relationships with the affinity group. The sponsors submit offers to the offer exchange system, which includes an offer database for storing the offers. The offers can be for discounts on products and are redeemable at one or more physical or online stores.
The offer exchange system includes a mechanism to distribute the offers to be received by the members of the affinity groups. A member of an affinity group receives an offer distributed by the offer exchange system through a forum established by the affinity group. Affinity group forums are preferably websites, though they can also be a physical newsletter, an online newsletter, a mailing, an online mailing, an electronic mail, or any combination thereof.
Each distributed offer includes an identifier, preferably in the form of a bar code. The identifier is associated with a product and associated with an affinity group of the member receiving the distributed offer. Optionally, the identifier can also be associated with the individual member receiving the offer. After or upon redemption of the offer at a store, redemption data is recorded. The redemption data identifies the store and/or region where the offer was redeemed and the time of redemption. The offer exchange system includes a receive mechanism for receiving the redemption data, possibly through a redemption agent.
The offer exchange system also includes a group profiler for profiling the affinity group associated with the identifier on a redeemed offer based on the redemption data. The group profiler can also use one or more group properties of the affinity groups for profiling. The group properties, such as demographic data, can be stored in a group database of the offer exchange system. The group profiling can also include calculating an effective cost per number of impressions (eCPM) as a function of the redemption data and the group properties.
Sponsor rules and affinity group rules are also provided. Sponsor rules are determined by the sponsors to place restrictions on the offers. Affinity groups can also determine affinity group rules. The offer exchange system stores and manages sponsor rules and affinity group rules to determine what offers can be distributed to which members of the affinity groups.
The present invention together with its objectives and advantages will be understood by reading the following description in conjunction with the drawings, in which:
Discount offers create savings opportunities for users and create valuable marketing opportunities for sponsors who create the offers. However, the distribution of the offers to a large number of users, which requires a trustworthy and easy to use environment, can be difficult. Below is a detailed description of distributing offers to members of affinity groups and profiling the affinity groups by using the redemption information from the offers.
The customers receiving the offers in the offer and reward system of
At least one of the affinity groups AGn has a forum 150 accessible by the affinity group's members M. The forum 150 is established, possibly with the help of or in combination with another party, by the affinity group AGn. Types of forums 150 include, but are not limited to, a website, an electronic mail, an online mailing, a physical newsletter, an online newsletter, another type of mailing, or any combination thereof.
Typically, a redemption agent 140 retrieves the redemption data from the store 170 and transmits the redemption data to the offer exchange system 100. The offer exchange system 100 has a mechanism for receiving the redemption data, whereby the group profiler 130 uses the redemption data to profile the affinity group AGn . The redemption agent 140 can be an external agent contracted by the offer exchange system 100 or can be a part of the offer exchange system 100. Redemption data can be transmitted through a redemption agent 140, directly to the offer exchange system 100, or through any number of intermediaries.
It is important to note that the offer 160 in
Without the use of a centralized offer or coupon distribution system, sponsors or commercial enterprises would have difficulties reaching potential customers and must establish their own offer distribution mechanisms. With a separate and distinct distribution mechanism for every sponsor, potential customers must navigate through multiple different forums to receive a variety of coupons or offers. Furthermore, the different forums would naturally have different requirements, such as usemames and passwords. This process of receiving offers from multiple distinct forums can be burdensome and inconvenient for a customer seeking savings.
More centralized offer or coupon distribution systems directed at distributing coupons to individual users exist. Typically, individual users of these systems must find and use a central forum, e.g. a website, established by the coupon distribution system to receive coupons. The received coupons can then be redeemed at a store and the coupon redemption process is managed by a separate coupon redemption service. It is important to note that existing centralized coupon distribution systems provide services for individual users and not groups of users.
Distinct disadvantages exist when coupons or offers are distributed through a centralized distribution system directed at individuals instead of groups. The forum or website is generally not known by many potential customers causing a natural lack of trust to be felt by potential customers pertaining to the validity of the coupons offered. Customers must also be able to easily find the website or extensive advertising is required to reach a large number of potential customers. In addition, if the distributed coupons are used for marketing purposes, the marketing analyses focus on information of individuals. To obtain information of individuals, existing coupon distribution systems typically require individual users to enter personal information. For example, many coupon distribution websites require users to log in with a usemame and password and fill out personal information about the user. Users are often reluctant to enter personal information, especially to an unfamiliar website.
The offer and reward system shown in
In a preferred embodiment, the forum established by an affinity group is a group website 301. An example of a group website 301 is shown by
In a preferred embodiment, the identifier 320, 420 of a distributed offer 310, 410 comprises a bar code. The bar code can be in a standard bar code format, a customized bar code format, or any other format as long as it can be associated with an affinity group. The association of the identifier 320, 420 with an affinity group enables the offer to be traced back to the affinity group for profiling purposes. Preferably, a group database 530, shown in
A group database 530 may also be used to store one or more group properties of each of the affinity groups AG1-AGn. A group property may include demographic data. The group properties of an affinity group, along with the redemption data, can be used in profiling the affinity group. In particular, profiling can include calculating an effective cost per number of impressions (eCPM) as a function of the group properties and the redemption data for different offers or offer programs. eCPM is typically measured per thousand impressions, though any other number can be used. The group database 530 can also store properties of individual members of the group.
Affinity groups AG1-AGn can determine one or more affinity group rules 520. An affinity group rule 520 includes one or more restrictions on at least one of the offers to be received by the members M of the affinity group determining the rule. The restrictions allow the affinity group to determine which products or sponsors S1-Sm are appropriate for the group. The offer exchange system 500 of
As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made or otherwise implemented without departing from the principles of the present invention, e.g. the Internet could be substituted by a local area network and the offers can be for any product or service. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined by the following claims and their legal equivalents.