BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a flow chart of the direct marketing channel coordination process using mail prediction;
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the direct marketing channel coordination process using mail control; and
FIGS. 3A and 3B is a flow chart of a direct marketing channel coordination process for contacting prospects using multiple channels.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring now to the drawings in detail and more particularly to FIG. 1, the process starts in Step 110, Create Coordinated Contact Strategy, where the prospects to contact are selected and the strategy for contacting them is determined based on demographics, historical results, creative, offer, contact lists, etc. The process continues in step 120, Create Mailing Campaign, where the mail for the mailing campaign is produced, and prepared to be delivered to the Carrier by the Shipper. Once the Shipper has processed the mailing campaign, the Induction Schedule, as indicated in Step 130, is produced by the shipper that indicates when individual shipments within the Mailing Campaign will be inducted by the Carrier. At the same time, the other marketing channel campaign being coordinated is created and prepared for execution, as indicated in Step 140.
The process continues with Step 150, Retrieve Names that are Common to both Marketing Channels, where a list is prepared of the recipient names that are common between the Mailing Campaign and the Other Marketing Channel Campaign. Once the list is prepared, the process continues in Step 300, Direct Marketing Channel Coordination Process (FIG. 3). Once the Direct Marketing Channel Coordination Process completes, the process finishes in Step 160, End Channel Coordination using Mail Prediction.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the direct marketing channel coordination process using mail control. The process starts in Step 210, Create Coordinated Contact Strategy, where the prospects to contact are selected and the strategy for contacting them is determined based on demographics, historical results, creative, offer, contact lists, etc. In addition, Step 220 provides information for the best days to have the mail delivered to the recipient (at their home or office), based on historical campaign performance results, demographics, and campaign requirements. The process continues in step 230, Create Mailing Campaign, where the mail for the mailing campaign is produced, and prepared to be delivered to the Carrier by the Shipper. Then, in Step 240, the Mailing Campaign is controlled to have the mail delivered to recipients in the best days, as specified earlier. Step 240 is more fully described in the assignee Pitney Bowes Inc. of this patent application co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/372,890, filed, Mar. 10, 2006, entitled “Method For Controlling When Mail Is Received By A Recipient”, herein incorporated by reference. Then an Induction Schedule is produced, as indicated in Step 250 that indicates when individual shipments within the Mailing Campaign will be inducted by the Carrier. With the Induction Schedule, the Shipper will proceed to deliver the mail to the Carrier facilities on the scheduled dates.
At the same time, the other marketing channel campaign being coordinated is created and prepared for execution, as indicated in Step 260.
The process continues with Step 270, Retrieve Names that are Common to both Marketing Channels, where a list is prepared of the recipient names that are common between the Mailing Campaign and the Other Marketing Channel Campaign. Once the list is prepared, the process continues in Step 300, Direct Marketing Channel Coordination Process (FIG. 3). Once the Direct Marketing Channel Coordination Process completes, the process finishes in Step 280, End Channel Coordination using Mail Control.
FIGS. 3A and 3B is a flow chart of a direct marketing channel coordination process for contacting prospects using multiple channels. The process starts in Step 300, (FIG. 3A) Direct Marketing Channel Coordination Process and is followed by Step 310, Retrieve USPS Induction Date, where the induction dates are retrieved for each shipment from the Induction Schedule in Step 320. If the Induction Schedule has been updated, then an updated induction date is retrieved.
Then in Step 330, Predict Mailing In-Home Dates for Common Names, where prediction curves are generated for the mailing campaign, for each shipment in the mailing campaign, and each container in each shipment, with the probability of how much mail will be delivered to the recipients on each day in the campaign. Steps 330, 335 and 350 are more fully described in the assignee Pitney Bowes Inc. of this patent application co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/373,557, filed, Mar. 10, 2006, entitled “Method For Predicting When Mail Is Received By A Recipient”, herein incorporated by reference. A Historical Mailing Campaign Prediction Model, as indicated in Step 335, is used to create the prediction curves. The prediction curves are stored in the Mailing Prediction in Step 350, and then in Step 340, each one of the Common Names is retrieved in order to calculate the best Contact Date for that name. Then in Step 360, the In-Home probability prediction curve is retrieved for the container associated with the Contact Name from the Mailing Prediction in Step 350. The process proceeds to Step 370, where the container (or Common Name) prediction curve is translated into a list of in-home dates, each with the associated probability of in homing on that date. Then, in Step 380, the Contact Date for the Common Name is calculated based on the in-home date probabilities, Historical Response Delays shown in Step 390, and the Contact Strategy that was created earlier in the process. Then in Step 400, the Common Name and associated Contact Date(s) are stored in the Common Names and other channel Contact Dates Database as shown in Step 410. The process continues in Step 420 where it is determined if more Common Names need to be processed. If more Common Names need to be processed, the process continues with Step 340, otherwise, the process continues with Step 430.
Step 430 (FIG. 3B), Start Other Marketing Channel Campaign, initiates the other marketing channel campaign by allocating, preparing and scheduling the necessary resources for the campaign. The process continues in Step 440, which is performed at the start of each day of the Other Marketing Channel Campaign. Then, in Step 450, the induction schedule for the Mailing Campaign is updated according to USPS Shipment Tracking, as indicated in Step 460. If a shipment's induction date was changed from the original induction schedule, then the induction schedule shown in Step 320 is updated. Then if mailpiece tracking is enabled, the process continues with Step 470, where the contact names are retrieved for mailpieces that have been delivered to recipients. Then in Step 490, the Mailing Prediction and Contact Dates for Contact Names that were affected by changes to the induction schedule and/or in-home/office date for mailpieces are updated. The process continues with label A, and proceeds with Steps 310 through 420, as hereinbefore described, for the Contact Names affected by the updated induction schedule or mailpiece in-home/office dates. When all corresponding Contact Dates have been updated, the process returns through label B to Step 500, where the Names to contact for the current day in the Other Marketing Channel Campaign are retrieved from the Common Names with Other Channel Contact Dates database, as shown in Step 410.
Once a list of Names to Contact is created for the current day, the process continues with Step 510, where the recipients who have responded to the offer or service are retrieved from the Campaign Response Database as shown in Step 520, and are removed from the list of Names to Contact, if possible. Then in Step 530, the recipients to contact are contacted via the appropriate means, as specified by the Marketing Channel for the Other Marketing Channel Campaign. Then in step 540, if more days are still left in the Other Marketing Channel Campaign, then the process continues with Step 440. If there are no more days left in the Other Marketing Channel Campaign, the process ends in Step 550, End Channel Coordination.
It should be understood that although the present invention was described with respect to mail processing by the USPS, the present invention is not so limited and can be utilized in any application in which mail is processed by any carrier. The present invention may also be utilized for mail other than direct marketing mail, for instance, transactional mail, i.e., bills, charitable solicitations, political solicitations, catalogues etc. Also the expression “in-home” refers to the recipient's residence or place of business.
The above specification describes a new and improved method for coordinating the date a recipient receives a mail piece containing a offer for a product or service with other marketing channels offering the product or the service. It is realized that the above description may indicate to those skilled in the art additional ways in which the principles of this invention may be used without departing from the spirit. Therefore, it is intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
Patent Application
20080010127
