JP7341286B2 - Advertisement control device, advertisement control method, advertisement control program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for supporting printing of direct mail.

Conventionally, advertising methods using direct mail have been known. Direct mail is generally printed in units of a certain number of mails (for example, 10,000 mails) from the viewpoint of advertising costs. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that supports the creation and dispatch of direct mail for a management department that manages a plurality of departments in a store. In this system, the store notifies each department of the address list number of the group of customers who meet the conditions notified from that department. The person in charge at each sales floor registers the direct mail draft and addressee list number on the direct mail draft creation site. The direct mail manuscript creation site provides the manuscript approved by the store among the registered manuscripts to the direct mail printing and shipping system along with the addressee list number. A direct mail printing and shipping system creates direct mail by printing a certain number of documents at once based on a manuscript.

Patent No. 6655999

By the way, assume that a direct mail is sent to viewers of a website operated by an advertiser. In this case, with the conventional method, after the number of website viewers reaches a certain number, direct mail would be printed and sent in units of that certain number of visitors. However, since direct mail is not sent until the number of viewers reaches a certain number, there is a problem in that direct mail is delayed to those users who viewed the website initially.

An example of the problem of the present invention is to provide an advertisement control device, an advertisement control method, and an advertisement control program that make it possible to improve the degree of achievement of results by direct mail .

The invention according to claim 1 provides a plurality of groups into which the users are divided based on user attributes, and a plurality of groups each having a printing condition for direct mail, which requests the advertisement by the direct mail. specifying means for specifying the printing conditions set for a group to which a user who viewed a website of an advertiser within a predetermined first period belongs; and instruction information indicating an instruction to print the direct mail. Print instruction information including address information indicating the address of the user who viewed the website within the first period and material information indicating advertising material determined for printing of the direct mail; transmitting means for transmitting information to a printer's computer, the transmitting means transmitting at least the address information and the material information included in the instruction information with respect to a group to which the user who viewed the website belongs among the plurality of groups; sending means for determining one of the results according to the specified printing conditions; and achievement information indicating the achievement status of the direct mail for each of the plurality of groups, which is printed in accordance with the transmitted instruction information. performance information acquisition means for acquiring before the cumulative number of printed direct mails reaches a number corresponding to a preset budget for advertising by the direct mail; and based on the acquired performance information. and a changing means for changing the set printing conditions for at least one group among the plurality of groups, and the transmitting means is configured to change the set printing conditions for at least one of the plurality of groups, and the transmitting means changes the printing conditions for the web within a second period after the first period. When transmitting the instruction information including the address information indicating the address of the user who viewed the site and the material information to the printer's computer, the address information included in the instruction information and The method is characterized in that at least one of the material information is determined in accordance with the changed printing conditions.

According to this invention, printing conditions for printing direct mail directed to each of a plurality of groups according to user attributes are set in advance. Before the advertising budget set in advance for direct mail is used up, performance information indicating the achievement status of results by direct mail is obtained for each group. Printing conditions for at least one group are changed based on the result information. Then, control for printing the direct mail using the remaining advertising budget is performed according to the changed printing conditions. Therefore, the degree of achievement of results by direct mail can be improved before the printing of direct mail corresponding to the advertising budget is completed.

The invention according to claim 2 provides that, for each of the plurality of groups, among a plurality of material information each indicating a plurality of advertising materials determined for printing of the direct mail, the direct mail addressed to a user belonging to the group The material information used for printing is set in advance, and the transmitting means transmits the material information set for the group to which the user who viewed the website belongs among the plurality of groups to the instruction information. and the changing means changes the set material information for the at least one group.

According to this invention, the direct mail advertisement for at least one group is changed based on the status of achievement of results by the direct mail. This change can improve the degree of success achieved through direct mail.

In the invention according to claim 3 , a budget for advertising by direct mail addressed to users belonging to the group is set in advance for each of the plurality of groups, and the sending means is configured to set a budget for advertising by direct mail addressed to users belonging to the group, and for each of the plurality of groups. , transmitting the instruction information including the address information of a number of users for whom the cumulative number of prints of the direct mail to the group does not exceed the number of prints according to the set budget for the group, and making the change. The means is characterized in that the set budget is changed for the at least one group.

According to this invention, a direct mail budget is allocated to each group. Then, the budget of at least one group is changed based on the status of achievement of results through direct mail. Therefore, budget allocation can be changed depending on the status of achievement of results.

In the invention according to claim 4 , the changing means increases the budget for at least one group in which the achievement status is relatively good among the plurality of groups, compared to the set budget, and The budget for at least one group having a relatively poor achievement status is reduced from the set budget.

According to this invention, the budget is transferred from a group with a relatively poor outcome achievement status to a group with a relatively good outcome achievement status. Therefore, overall, it is possible to improve the degree of achievement of results through direct mail.

In the invention according to claim 5 , an overall budget preset for the direct mail advertisement is distributed to the plurality of groups as the budget, and the result information acquisition means is configured to collect the transmitted instruction. further acquiring second result information indicating the result achievement status of the direct mail, which is printed according to the information, for the entire group including the plurality of groups, and the changing means is configured to adjust the budget set for the at least one group. The method is characterized in that the overall budget is changed based on the acquired second result information.

According to this invention, the overall budget for direct mail is changed based on the overall result achievement status.

In the invention as set forth in claim 6 , for each of the plurality of groups, a range of attributes of users belonging to the group is set in advance, and the transmitting means transmits the attribute range set for any of the plurality of groups. If the range includes the attributes of the user who viewed the website, the instruction information including the address information of the user is transmitted, and the changing means transmits the set information for the at least one group. It is characterized by changing the range of attributes.

According to this invention, the range of attributes of users to be included in at least one group is changed based on the status of achievement of results through direct mail. Therefore, the range of attributes can be changed to improve the degree of achievement of results through direct mail.

The invention according to claim 7 is characterized in that the result information acquisition means prints the result achievement status by the direct mail that is printed according to the transmitted instruction information, and the result information acquisition means prints the result achievement status by the direct mail, which is printed in accordance with the transmitted instruction information, and the result information acquisition means prints the result achievement status by the direct mail, which is printed according to the transmitted instruction information, and which includes a plurality of partial periods included in a predetermined cycle period. It is characterized in that third result information indicating the achievement status of each of the results is further acquired, and the changing means changes the first period based on the acquired third result information.

According to this invention, the period for acquiring the identification information of the user who viewed the advertiser's website is changed based on the outcome achievement status in each of the plurality of partial periods included in the periodic period. The timing at which the printing instruction information is sent to the printer's computer depends on the period during which the identification information is acquired. By changing this period, the timing of transmitting the instruction information also changes. As the timing of sending instruction information changes, the timing of printing, shipping, and delivery of direct mail also changes. Since the period for acquiring identification information can be changed so that the direct mail is delivered in a preferable partial period based on the result achievement status, it is possible to improve the degree of result achievement by direct mail.

The invention according to claim 8 provides an advertisement control method executed by a computer, in which the users are divided into a plurality of groups based on user attributes, each of which has a printing condition for direct mail set. Among these, a specifying step of specifying the printing conditions set for a group to which a user who viewed the website of the advertiser who requested the direct mail advertisement within a predetermined first period belongs, and printing the direct mail. As the instruction information indicating the instruction, address information indicating the address of the user who viewed the website within the first period, and material information indicating advertising material determined for printing of the direct mail. a first sending step of transmitting instruction information including instruction information to a computer of a printer who prints the direct mail, the instruction information regarding a group to which the user who viewed the website belongs among the plurality of groups; a first sending step of determining at least one of the address information and the material information to be included according to the specified printing conditions; and achievement of results by the direct mail printed according to the sent instruction information. Acquisition of performance information indicating the situation for each of the plurality of groups before the cumulative number of printed direct mails reaches a number corresponding to a preset budget for advertising by the direct mail. a step of acquiring result information; a changing step of changing the set printing conditions for at least one group among the plurality of groups based on the acquired result information; a second sending step of sending the instruction information including the address information indicating the address of the user who viewed the website within two periods and the material information to the printer's computer, the step of sending the instruction information to the computer of the printer; The method is characterized in that it includes a second sending step of determining at least one of the address information and the material information to be included in the instruction information in accordance with the changed printing conditions.

According to a ninth aspect of the invention, the computer is divided into a plurality of groups into which the users are divided based on user attributes, and each of the plurality of groups is set with printing conditions for the direct mail. Specification means for specifying the printing conditions set for a group to which a user who viewed the website of the advertiser who requested the advertisement within a predetermined first period belongs, and instruction information indicating an instruction to print the direct mail. , instruction information including address information indicating the address of the user who viewed the website within the first period, and material information indicating advertising material determined for printing of the direct mail, is sent to the direct mail. a sending means for sending an e-mail to a computer of a printer who prints the mail, the address information and the material information included in the instruction information for a group to which the user who viewed the website belongs among the plurality of groups; a transmitting means that determines at least one of them according to the specified printing conditions; and an outcome that indicates the achievement status of the outcome by the direct mail that is printed according to the transmitted instruction information for each of the plurality of groups. results information acquisition means for acquiring information before the cumulative number of printed direct mails reaches a number corresponding to a preset budget for advertising by the direct mail; and the acquired results. The transmission means functions as a changing means for changing the set printing conditions for at least one of the plurality of groups based on the information, and the sending means functions as a changing means for changing the set printing conditions for at least one group among the plurality of groups, When transmitting the instruction information including the address information indicating the address of the user who viewed the website and the material information to the printer's computer, the instruction information included in the instruction information for the at least one group. At least one of the address information and the material information is determined in accordance with the changed printing conditions.

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the degree of achievement of results through direct mail .

It is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an advertising system S according to an embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an R site server 1 according to an embodiment. 2 is a diagram showing an example of contents stored in a database and a table in the R site server 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of contents stored in a database in the R site server 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of the system control unit 11 of the R site server 1. FIG. It is a diagram showing an example of the flow from viewing an advertiser's website to sending direct mail. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of the flow from viewing an advertiser's website to sending direct mail. It is a diagram showing an example of direct mail. It is a figure which shows the example of a creative change. (a) shows an example of changing the segment budget. (b) is a diagram showing an example of changing the overall budget. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of changing the range of attributes. It is a figure which shows the example of a change of ID collection period. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation related to printing direct mail by the advertising system S according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation related to changing printing conditions by the advertising system S according to an embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described below is an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an advertising system for sending direct mail (DM) by mail to users who have visited an advertiser's website.

[1. Advertising system configuration]
First, the configuration and functional outline of the advertising system S according to this embodiment will be explained using FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an advertising system S according to this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the advertising system S includes an R site server 1, a person in charge terminal 2, a DM sending computer 3, a printer 4, a plurality of advertiser site servers 5, and a plurality of advertiser terminals 6. and a plurality of user terminals 7. The R site server 1, the person in charge terminal 2, the DM sending computer 3, each advertiser site server 5, each advertiser terminal 6, and each user terminal 7 are connected to each other via the network NW. . The network NW is constructed of, for example, the Internet, a dedicated communication line (for example, a CATV (Community Antenna Television) line), a mobile communication network (including base stations, etc.), a gateway, and the like.

The R site server 1 is a server device that executes processing related to a predetermined website. For example, the R site server 1 transmits a web page to the user terminal 7 and controls login. Assume that the name of a predetermined website is "Site R." Site R provides predetermined services to users who have registered as members (that is, users who have acquired accounts). The types of services provided on Site R are not limited as long as they allow membership registration, but examples of such sites or services include online shopping, online shopping malls, flea markets, hotel reservations, and beauty salons. Examples include reservations, golf course reservations, food delivery reservations, online banking, social networking services, housing information provision, blogs, weather forecasts, and news. Site R may be a collection of multiple sites. That is, site R may provide a plurality of services. When registering as a member or after registering as a member, the user can register his/her name, postal code, address, etc. on the site R. Therefore, site R may provide a user with an account with a service using the user's address. Site R is operated by, for example, a predetermined business operator. Assume that the name of this business operator is "Company R."

The R site server 1 sends a cookie to the user terminal 7 from which the user has accessed the R site server 1 in order to view the site R. One of the pieces of information sent to the user terminal 7 using cookies is the R cookie ID. The R cookie ID is identification information for identifying the user or user terminal 7 on the site R. The R cookie ID is linked to the user's account on site R. The R cookie ID may be, for example, a user ID. The user ID is information that identifies a user who has an account on site R. Alternatively, the R cookie ID may be a terminal ID. The terminal ID is information that identifies the user terminal 7. When the R cookie ID is a terminal ID, the R site server 1 manages the user ID and the terminal ID in association with each other.

The R site server 1 also controls printing of direct mail sent to users who have viewed the website of an advertiser who has requested direct mail advertising. For example, when a user browses a website, the R site server 1 acquires the R cookie ID from the user terminal 7 of the user. In this way, the R site server 1 collects the R cookie IDs of users who browsed the website at predetermined intervals. The R site server 1 acquires address information including the address of the user who viewed the website based on the collected R cookie ID. The R site server 1 transmits a print instruction (or shipping instruction) including address information to the DM shipping computer 3. At this time, the R site server 1 may also send advertisement data to be printed in the direct mail.

Compared to Internet advertisements, direct mail is less likely to be buried under other advertisements, and it is also less likely that users will view it while doing other tasks. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the user will consciously read the advertisement. This makes it possible to improve the conversion rate. In addition, since the addresses of Site R members are used, the larger the ratio of Site R members to the population of the area targeted for direct mailing, the more users who viewed the advertiser's website. Direct mail can be sent to users. Note that the R site server 1 may include, for example, a server device that executes processing related to site R, and a server device that executes processing related to direct mail.

The person in charge terminal 2 is a terminal device used by a person in charge in the advertising department of company R. For example, a person in charge uses the person in charge terminal 2 to register conditions specified by a direct mail advertiser in the R site server 1. Examples of authorizations specified by advertisers include advertising budget, attributes of segments to which direct mail is sent, creatives, and the like. A segment is a group of users that have common attributes. Creative refers to advertising materials printed in direct mail. Advertising materials include, for example, characters, images, marks, and the like. The creative may be an advertising production itself comprised of such materials. These conditions may be determined through discussions between the advertiser and the person in charge. Examples of the person in charge terminal 2 include a personal computer, a tablet computer, and the like.

The DM sending computer 3 is a terminal device or a server device used by a worker to send direct mail to members of the site R. The DM shipping computer 3 may be, for example, a computer managed by Company R, or a computer managed by an agency commissioned by Company R to print and ship direct mail.

The printer 4 is a printing machine for printing direct mail on demand. Direct mail may be sent, for example, as a postcard or in an envelope. In the case of postcards, advertisements are printed on at least one of the front and back sides of the postcard. In the case of envelopes, advertisements are printed on the letter that is placed in the envelope. The envelope may also contain samples of the product. Examples of the printer 4 include digital printing machines such as inkjet printers, laser printers, and LED printers. The printer 4 is connected to the DM sending computer 3. The printer 4 prints the digital image sent from the DM sending computer 3 onto a postcard or the like.

Each advertiser site server 5 is a server device that executes processing related to a website operated by a direct mail advertiser. For example, the advertiser site server 5 transmits a web page to the user terminal 7 and performs processing related to transactions of products or services provided by the advertiser. The advertiser's site contains information about the products or services that are being advertised. The advertiser's site may be, for example, an EC (Electronic Commerce) site. Examples of transactions from the user's perspective on e-commerce sites include purchasing products, making reservations for services, requesting information on products or services, making appointments to receive explanations of products or services, and visiting groups or sites operated by advertisers. Examples include member registration.

Each advertiser terminal 6 is a terminal device used by a direct mail advertiser. For example, by operating the advertiser terminal 6 and accessing the R site server 1, the advertiser may be able to check the shipping status of direct mail, the status of achievement of results, etc. Examples of the advertiser terminal 6 include a personal computer, a tablet computer, and the like.

Each user terminal 7 is a terminal device used by a user who has a site R account. Examples of the user terminal 7 include a smartphone, a portable information terminal such as a tablet computer, a mobile phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a personal computer, a set-top box, and the like. Each user terminal 7 has a built-in web browser. Each user terminal 7 receives and displays web pages of site R, sites operated by each advertiser, and other sites.

[2. R site server configuration]
Next, the configuration of the R site server 1 will be explained using FIGS. 2 to 4. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of the R site server 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the R site server 1 includes a system control section 11, a system bus 12, an input/output interface 13, a storage section 14, and a communication section 15. The system control unit 11 and the input/output interface 13 are connected via a system bus 12.

The system control unit 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11a, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 11b, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 11c, and the like.

The input/output interface 13 performs interface processing between the storage section 14 and the communication section 15 and the system control section 11.

The storage unit 14 includes, for example, a hard disk drive. This storage unit 14 includes databases such as a member DB 14a, a user ID table 14b, an advertiser DB 14c, a creative DB 14d, a segment DB 14e, a site R action history DB 14f, an advertiser site viewing history DB 14g, a print instruction history DB 14h, and a conversion information DB 14i. The table is memorized. "DB" is an abbreviation for database.

3 and 4 are diagrams showing examples of contents stored in a database and a table in the R site server 1. In the member DB 14a, member information regarding users who have accounts on site R is stored for each user. Specifically, in the member DB 14a, user ID, password, name, gender, date of birth, postal code, address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc. are stored in association with each other as member information.

The user ID table 14b is a table for associating the R cookie ID and user ID of the same user when the R cookie ID is a terminal ID. Specifically, in the user ID table 14b, an R cookie ID and a user ID are stored in association with each other for each user terminal 7 used by a user who has logged in to the site R to access the site R. If the R cookie ID is the user ID itself, the user ID table 14b is unnecessary.

The advertiser DB 14c stores advertiser information for each advertiser. Specifically, the advertiser DB 14c stores, as advertiser information, an advertiser ID, site ID, overall budget, ID collection period, etc. in association with each other. The advertiser ID is identification information for identifying an advertiser. The site ID is identification information that identifies a website operated by an advertiser. The site ID may be, for example, the domain name of the website. The overall budget is the entire advertising budget spent on direct mail by advertisers. The ID collection period is a period for collecting R cookie IDs of users who have viewed a website operated by an advertiser. R cookie IDs are collected every ID collection period. The ID collection period may be, for example, every day. Alternatively, the ID collection period may be every two days or every three days from a specific day. Alternatively, the start and end of the ID collection period may be specified by the day of the week, such as a period from Monday to Sunday. The advertiser DB 14c may further store a plurality of business office information in association with the advertiser ID. The business office information is information about a business office operated by an advertiser and that can be visited by customers. The business office may be, for example, an office or a store. Each business office information may include, for example, a business office name, postal code, address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, and the like. Advertiser information may be input by an advertiser, for example.

The creative DB 14d stores information regarding creatives for direct mail in association with each advertiser. Specifically, an advertiser ID and one or more pieces of creative information are stored in association with each other in the creative DB 14d. The creative information is information related to the advertiser's direct mail creative indicated by the advertiser ID. Each piece of creative information includes a creative ID and creative data. The creative ID is identification information that identifies a creative. Creative data is data indicating advertising materials. The creative data may include, for example, text data, image data, data indicating the arrangement of each material, and the like. Creative information may be specified by an advertiser, for example.

The segment DB 14e stores information regarding segments specified by advertisers for each advertiser. Specifically, the segment DB 14e stores an advertiser ID and one or more pieces of segment information in association with each other. The segment information indicates a segment specified by the advertiser indicated by the advertiser ID. Each segment information includes a segment ID, attribute information, segment budget, creative ID, and the like. The segment ID is identification information that identifies a segment. The attribute information indicates attributes of the segment. The attribute information may include at least a page ID. The page ID is identification information that identifies the web page viewed by the user among the web pages included in the advertiser's website. That is, the user's attributes are determined by the web page that the user viewed. The page ID may be, for example, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a web page. The attribute information may include other attributes in addition to or instead of the page ID. Examples of other attributes include gender, age, region of residence, and attributes identified from the history of behavior on Site R and the advertiser's site. Examples of attributes identified from behavior history include the presence or absence of purchase experience or purchase frequency of a specific product or product of a specific category, the presence or absence of reservation experience or reservation frequency of a specific service or service of a specific category, Examples include whether or not the service is used or not, how often the advertiser's website is viewed, the status of assets held, and the length of time that has passed since the last time the advertiser's website was viewed. A segment budget is an advertising budget to be spent on direct mail to users of that segment. The entire budget stored in the advertiser DB 14c is distributed to the segments. The creative ID indicates the creative used to print a direct mail advertisement for users in that segment.

The site R action history DB 14f stores the history of specific actions on site R by members of site R. Specifically, each time a specific action is performed, the action date and time, user ID, action information, etc. are stored in association with each other in the site R action history DB 14f as an action log. The action date and time indicates the date and time when the user took an action. The user ID indicates the user who took the action. The behavior information indicates the content of the behavior. The specific actions whose history is stored vary depending on the type, nature, etc. of the site R. For example, if the specific action is viewing a web page, the action information indicates the web page that was viewed. When the specific action is ordering or purchasing a product, reserving a service, etc., the action information indicates the targeted product or service.

The advertiser site viewing history DB 14g stores the viewing history of the advertiser's website by members of site R. Specifically, each time a member views a specific web page of an advertiser, the advertiser site viewing history DB 14g records the viewing date and time, R cookie ID, site ID, page ID, etc. in relation to each other as a viewing log. be remembered. The viewing date and time indicates the date and time when the advertiser's web page was viewed. The page ID indicates the viewed web page. The R cookie ID indicates the user who viewed the web page. The site ID indicates the website of the viewed web page.

The print instruction history DB 14h stores a history of sending direct mail print instructions to the DM shipping computer 3. Specifically, each time a print instruction is sent, the print instruction history DB 14h stores an advertiser ID, print instruction date and time, and one or more pieces of printing detailed information in association with each other as a print instruction transmission log. Ru. The advertiser ID indicates which advertiser's direct mail is printed. The print instruction date and time indicates the date and time when the print instruction was sent. The printing detailed information is detailed information regarding printing of direct mail. Print detailed information is set for each segment or creative. Each print detail information includes a segment ID, attribute information, creative ID, creative data, and one or more pieces of user information. The segment ID indicates which segment the direct mail is printed for. The attribute information indicates the attribute of the segment. The creative ID and creative data indicate direct mail advertising materials for that segment. The user information is information regarding the user to whom the direct mail is sent. Each user information includes a user ID, name, zip code, address, and date and time of viewing the advertiser site. The advertiser site viewing date and time is the date and time when the user viewed the advertiser's website.

The conversion information DB 14i stores conversion information regarding conversions each time a conversion is achieved as a result of direct mail. Specifically, the conversion information DB 14i stores, as conversion information, an advertiser ID, a conversion date, a user ID, a segment ID, etc. in association with each other. The advertiser ID indicates the advertiser for which the conversion was achieved. The conversion date indicates the date when the conversion was completed. The user ID indicates the user who completed the conversion. The segment ID indicates the segment to which the user who completed the conversion belongs. Examples of conversions include ordering or purchasing a product, making a reservation for a service, requesting information about a product or service, applying for an appointment to receive an explanation of a product or service, applying to register as a member of an association or site operated by an advertiser, Examples include visits to a business office and transitions to specific web pages. Except for web page-specific actions, these conversions may occur at the advertiser's website or business office, or via telephone, fax, email, or the like.

The storage unit 14 further stores various programs such as an operating system, a DBMS (Database Management System), and a server program. The server program is a program that causes the system control unit 11 to execute processes related to site R and processes related to sending direct mail. For example, the server program may be obtained from another device via the Internet NW, or may be recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic tape, optical disk, or memory card and read via a drive device. Good too.

The communication unit 15 is composed of, for example, a network interface card. The communication unit 15 connects to the person in charge terminal 2, the DM sending computer 3, the advertiser site server 5, the advertiser terminal 6, the user terminal 7, etc. via the network NW, and controls the communication state with these devices. do.

[3. Overview of system control unit functions]
Next, an overview of the functions of the system control unit 11 in the R site server 1 will be explained using FIGS. 5 to 12. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of the system control unit 11 of the R site server 1. As shown in FIG. 5, the CPU 11a reads and executes various program codes included in the server program. It functions as a transmitter 114, a condition changer 115, and the like.

The ID acquisition unit 111 acquires identification information that identifies a user who viewed an advertiser's website, and is identified in response to the website being viewed. This identification information may be, for example, an R cookie ID or a user ID. For example, the ID acquisition unit 111 transmits the R cookie ID to the user terminal 7 that has accessed the site R. When the R cookie ID is a terminal ID, the ID acquisition unit 111 may generate and transmit a new R cookie ID to the user terminal 7 accessing for the first time. As a result, the user terminal 7 stores the R cookie ID. Thereafter, the R cookie ID is added to the request sent from the user terminal 7 to the R site server 1. When the user logs in to site R by entering the user ID and password, the ID acquisition unit 111 associates the user ID with the R cookie ID received from the user terminal 7, and stores the information in the user ID table 14b. Make me remember. If the R cookie ID is a user ID, when the user enters the user ID and password and logs in to site R, the ID acquisition unit 111 uses the user ID as the R cookie ID to access the user terminal 7 of the user. Send. As a result, the user terminal 7 stores the R cookie ID.

The ID acquisition unit 111 may acquire identification information of a user who viewed at least one of one or more predetermined web pages included in the advertiser's website. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the flow from viewing an advertiser's website to sending direct mail. As shown in FIG. 6, at least a web page 200 includes an advertising tag 210 among a plurality of web pages included in the advertiser's website. The advertising tag 210 is a tag for acquiring the R cookie ID of the user who viewed the web page 200. Specifically, the advertising tag 210 may be a tag that instructs the user terminal 7 to transmit the page ID of the web page 200 and the site ID of the advertiser's website to the R site server 1. This tag may be written in a predetermined scripting language. Therefore, when the user terminal 7 displays the web page 200, the user terminal 7 transmits the page ID and site ID of the web page 200 to the R site server 1. If the user terminal 7 has stored the R cookie ID in advance, the user terminal 7 transmits the R cookie ID along with the page ID and site ID. The ID acquisition unit 111 stores the viewing log including the R cookie ID, page ID, and site ID thus acquired from the user terminal 7 in the advertiser site viewing history DB 14g. Here, the ID acquisition unit 111 includes the date and time of acquiring the R cookie ID in the viewing log as the viewing date and time.

The address information acquisition unit 112 acquires address information indicating the address associated with the R cookie ID acquired by the ID acquisition unit 111 from the member DB 14a. That is, the address information acquisition unit 112 acquires the address of the user who viewed the advertiser's website. When the R cookie ID is a terminal ID, the address information acquisition unit 112 acquires the user ID associated with the R cookie ID from the user ID table 14b. The address information acquisition unit 112 acquires address information from member information associated with the acquired user ID. Address information may include postal code, address, and name.

The creative information acquisition unit 113 acquires creative data indicating advertising materials determined for printing of direct mail. Specifically, the creative information acquisition unit 113 acquires creative data of creative information associated with the advertiser ID of the direct mail advertiser from the creative DB 14d. Note that creative personalization will be described later.

The print instruction sending unit 114 sends a print instruction that indicates an instruction to print the direct mail in units of number corresponding to the number of users who viewed the advertiser's website within the predetermined period every time a predetermined period elapses. is sent to the DM sending computer 3. The predetermined period is, for example, an ID collection period stored in the advertiser DB 14c. Printing direct mail in units of number corresponding to the number of users who viewed the advertiser's website during a predetermined period means printing direct mail on demand each time a print instruction is received. Therefore, for example, instead of printing after the number of viewers of the advertiser's website reaches a predetermined number (for example, 10,000 people), printing will be performed only after the number of viewers of the advertiser's website reaches a predetermined number (for example, 10,000 people). If there are 106 people, 106 direct mails will be printed. Note that the print instruction itself indicates that the direct mail is to be printed in units of number corresponding to the number of users who viewed the advertiser's website in a predetermined period, so There is no need for the print instruction to include special information indicating that the direct mail is to be printed in units of number corresponding to the number of users who have viewed the mail.

The print instruction includes address information acquired by the address information acquisition unit 112 and creative data acquired by the creative information acquisition unit 113 for each user who viewed the advertiser's website within a predetermined period. Upon receiving the print instruction, the DM shipping computer 3 generates address image data including a postal code, address, and name from the address information, and generates advertisement image data from the creative data. The DM sending computer 3 sends the generated image data to the printer 4. The printer 4 prints the direct mail according to the image received from the DM sending computer 3.

This makes it possible to shorten the period from when a user views a website until a direct mail addressed to that user is sent. The reason for this is that the identification information of the user who viewed the web page is obtained in real time or within a short period of time from the time of viewing, and the direct mail is printed on demand. Conventionally, due to advertising costs, messages are printed in units of 10,000, 50,000, etc., for example. However, waiting to print until the number of website viewers reaches 10,000, 50,000, etc. would mean that the users who initially viewed the website would not be able to print directly after a considerable number of days had passed since the time of their initial viewing. An email will be sent. Users tend to lose interest in advertisers' products or services as the number of days passes after viewing a website. In this embodiment, this period is shortened, so the user can read the direct mail with interest. Therefore, direct mail can increase the conversion rate.

The print instruction transmitter 114 generates a print instruction that includes address information for the number of users for which the total number of direct mails printed for each segment does not exceed the number of prints according to the segment budget allocated to that segment. Since the advertising cost for each piece of direct mail is determined in advance, it is possible to obtain the total number of scheduled prints of direct mail for that segment from the segment budget. The print instruction transmitter 114 calculates the total number of direct mails printed so far for each segment by referring to the print instruction history DB 14h, for example. The print instruction transmitting unit 114 does not include address information of users of segments whose cumulative total has already reached the planned total number of prints in the print instruction to be transmitted. Furthermore, for segments whose cumulative total up to now is less than the planned total number of prints, the print instruction transmitter 114 includes address information of up to the number of users less than or equal to the difference between the planned total number of prints and this cumulative total in the print instruction.

Returning to FIG. 6, it is assumed that the ID collection period is, for example, one day. For example, the user 101 views the web page 200 on April 1st, and the R site server 1 acquires the R cookie ID of the user 101. Next, on April 2nd or 3rd, the R site server 1 transmits a print instruction to the DM shipping computer 3 for the user who viewed the web page 200 on April 1st. Then, on April 3rd or 4th, the direct mail 300 is printed and shipped. This direct mail is delivered to the home of the user 101, for example, between April 5th and April 7th. Furthermore, the user 102 views the web page 200 on April 2nd. In this case, the print instruction and the printing and shipping of the direct mail are performed about one day later than in the case of the user 101. Furthermore, the user 103 views the web page 200 on April 3rd. In this case, the print instruction and the printing and shipping of the direct mail are performed about two days later than in the case of the user 101. In this way, if the ID collection period is set to one day, direct mail can basically be printed and shipped every day. In this way, direct mail can be sent out within a few days of viewing a web page. In the example shown in FIG. 6, it takes 3 or 4 days from viewing the web page to sending out the direct mail, but depending on the situation, it is possible to send the direct mail the day after the web page is viewed.

The creative information acquisition unit 113 selects creative data used for printing direct mail addressed to a user who has viewed an advertiser's website, among a plurality of pieces of creative data each representing a plurality of advertising materials determined for printing direct mail. may be obtained based on the user's attributes. The print instruction transmitting unit 114 then sends the address information acquired by the address information acquiring unit 112 and the material information acquired by the creative information acquiring unit 113 for each user who viewed the website within a predetermined period. The associated print instruction may be transmitted to the DM sending computer 3. This will print personalized direct mail. Personalizing direct mail can increase conversion rates. User attributes can be specified, for example, from the membership DB 14a, the site R action history DB 14f, and the advertiser site viewing history DB 14g. User attributes and creative data may be associated with the creative DB 14d. That is, creatives for direct mail are determined for each segment. Attributes and creatives for each segment can be specified by advertisers.

The creative information acquisition unit 113 may acquire creative data corresponding to a web page viewed by the user from among a plurality of predetermined web pages including advertising tags at the advertiser site. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of the flow from viewing an advertiser's website to sending direct mail. For example, assume that segments are divided according to web pages viewed by users. Typically, a user views multiple web pages at an advertiser's website. Among the web pages viewed by the user, which web page is viewed as the user's attribute may be set, for example, by the advertiser. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, an advertiser's website includes at least web pages 201, 202, and 203. Web page 201 is a page that introduces a specific product. The web page 202 is a web page for inputting user information to purchase a product or a web page for final confirmation of purchase details. The web page 203 is a web page that is displayed when the purchase of the product is completed. Users who viewed web page 201 but did not view either web page 202 or 203 are classified into segment A corresponding to web page 201. Users who viewed web page 202 but did not view web page 203 are classified into segment B, which corresponds to web page 202. Users who viewed the web page 203 are classified into segment C corresponding to the web page 203. Users 101 and 102 view web page 201 and belong to segment A. In this case, the creative information acquisition unit 113 acquires, for example, creative data of the creative C1. Creative C1 includes information about the viewed product. The print instruction transmitting unit 114 associates the creative data of the creative C1 with the address information of the users 101 and 102, and transmits a print instruction. As a result, a direct mail 301 on which an advertisement including information about the viewed product is printed is sent to the users 101 and 102. User 103 views web page 202 and belongs to segment B. In this case, the creative information acquisition unit 113 acquires, for example, creative data of creative C2. Creative C2 includes information on a coupon code given to a user who purchased a product. The print instruction transmitting unit 114 associates the address information of the user 102 with the creative data of the creative C2 and transmits a print instruction. As a result, the direct mail 302 on which the advertisement including the coupon code is printed is sent to the user 103. Users 104, 105, and 106 view web page 203 and belong to segment C. In this case, the creative information acquisition unit 113 acquires, for example, creative data of creative C3. Creative C3 includes information on a product different from the purchased product. The print instruction transmitting unit 114 associates the creative data of the creative C3 with the address information of the users 104 to 106, and transmits a print instruction. As a result, a direct mail 303 on which an advertisement including information on another product is printed is sent to the users 104 to 106. Note that the print instruction transmitting unit 114 may integrate the print instructions of the creatives C1, C2, and C3 into one print instruction, and transmit the integrated print instruction to the DM shipping computer 3.

A plurality of pieces of creative data may indicate information regarding a plurality of business offices operated by an advertiser. The information regarding the business office shown in the creative data may include information necessary for the user to go to the business office. Examples of such information include the address of the business office, telephone number, fax number, email address, and a map showing the location of the business office. By telephone, fax, or e-mail, a user can obtain from a business office the address of the business office or information on how to reach the business office. The creative information acquisition unit 113 may acquire creative data indicating information about a business office located at a location corresponding to the address indicated by the address information acquired by the address information acquisition unit 112 among these multiple business offices. . The business office located at the location corresponding to the user's address is the business office that is relatively easily accessible from the user's address or the best business office among the multiple business offices. Travel convenience may be indicated by the distance between the user's address and the business office, or may be indicated by the travel time from the user's address to the business office. Travel time can be calculated using known route search techniques. Alternatively, the travel route may be indicated by whether or not the user's address is included in the area where the office is in charge of sales. Since a direct mail containing information on business offices that are easily accessible from the address of the user who viewed the web page is printed, the probability that the user will visit the business office or make inquiries at that business office will be increased. . Therefore, the conversion rate is improved. A plurality of creative data regarding a plurality of business offices may be stored in advance in the creative DB 14d. The user may then be segmented based at least on the business office that is easily accessible from the user's address.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of direct mail. As shown in FIG. 8, user address information 3011 is printed on the front surface 3010 of the direct mail 300. This address information 3011 indicates that the user's address is in Setagaya Ward. Further, sender information 3012 may be further printed on the front surface 3010. Sender information 3012 indicates that the sender of direct mail 300 is site R or company R. An advertisement 3021 and business office information 3032 are printed on the back side 3021 of the direct mail 300. Business office information 3032 indicates the name, address, and telephone number of a business office located in Tamagawa, Setagaya Ward.

The condition changing unit 115 changes printing conditions for direct mail. The direct mail printing conditions may indicate, for example, under what conditions the direct mail is printed, or for which conditions the direct mail is printed for users who satisfy the conditions. For example, printing conditions may be set in advance for each of a plurality of segments. Examples of printing conditions for each segment include creatives used for printing direct mail, segment budget, and segment attributes. The R site server 1 operates according to preset printing conditions for each of the plurality of groups. The condition changing unit 115 specifies the segment to which the user who viewed the advertiser's website belongs among the plurality of segments. The segment to which the user belongs can be specified based on, for example, the member DB 14a, the site R action history DB 14f, or the advertiser site viewing history DB 14g, and the segment DB 14e.

The condition changing unit 115 acquires outcome information indicating the achievement status of the results of the direct mail printed in response to the print instruction transmitted by the print instruction transmitting unit 114 for each of the plurality of segments. The result of direct mail is, for example, a conversion. The status of achievement of results is indicated by the degree of achievement of the results. The degree of achievement of results may be, for example, a conversion rate. Alternatively, the degree of achievement of results may be the number of conversions, sales, or return on advertising costs. The condition change unit 115 updates such result information to the identified group before the cumulative number of printed direct mail reaches a number corresponding to the overall budget preset for direct mail advertising. Get based on. That is, the condition changing unit 115 acquires the performance information before the advertising budget is used up. Since the advertising cost for each piece of direct mail is determined in advance, the number of pieces of direct mail that can be printed and shipped can be calculated from the overall budget. As mentioned above, since direct mail is printed and shipped on demand, the advertising budget is typically not used up in the first printing and shipping session.

The method of acquiring result information depends, for example, on where the conversion occurs. For example, when a conversion occurs on an advertiser's site, by embedding a tag that has the same function as an advertising tag in the web page that is displayed when the conversion occurs, the R site server 1 It is possible to obtain the R cookie ID of the user and obtain the user ID from the R cookie ID. The condition change unit 115 acquires the advertiser ID associated with the site ID received from the user terminal 7 together with the R cookie ID from the advertiser DB 14c. The condition change unit 115 associates the user ID, advertiser ID, and today's date as the date of conversion, and stores them in the conversion information DB 14i. Alternatively, a list of customers who have achieved conversion may be periodically transmitted from the advertiser's site to the R site server 1. This list may include the name, address, and date of conversion of the user who completed the conversion. Based on this list and the member DB 14a, the condition changing unit 115 acquires the user IDs of the members of the site R among the customers who have achieved conversion. If the conversion occurs at the advertiser's office or via telephone, e-mail, or fax, the advertiser may send a list of converted customers to Company R, for example. This list may be sent by e-mail or other means, for example. The person in charge of company R may operate the person in charge terminal 2 to register the sent list in the R site server 1. The condition change unit 115 acquires the user ID of the member who has completed the conversion, based on the member DB 14a, as described above. Upon acquiring the user ID, the condition changing unit 115 refers to the print instruction history DB 14h to identify the user to whom the direct mail was sent among the users who have completed the conversion, and also identifies the segment to which the user belongs. . Then, the condition changing unit 115 stores conversion information in the conversion information DB 14i for users to whom the direct mail has been sent and who have completed conversion. Thereafter, the condition changing unit 115 calculates the number of users to whom direct mail has been sent for each segment by referring to the print instruction history DB 14h. Furthermore, the condition changing unit 115 refers to the conversion information DB 14i and calculates, for each segment, the number of users who have achieved conversion among the users who have been sent direct mail. Then, the condition changing unit 115 calculates a conversion rate as result information for each segment, for example, by dividing the number of users who have achieved conversion by the number of users who have received direct mail. At this time, the advertiser or the person in charge of Company R may specify for what period the conversion rate is calculated for the user who viewed the advertiser's web page.

The condition changing unit 115 changes preset printing conditions for at least one of the plurality of segments based on the acquired result information. Basically, the condition changing unit 115 changes the printing conditions so that the degree of achievement of results by direct mail, such as the conversion rate or the number of conversions, is improved.

As mentioned above, conventionally, direct mail is printed in units of large numbers. Therefore, the advertising budget is used up in just one printing. In this case, it is impossible to print direct mail by changing the printing conditions unless a new advertising budget is created. In contrast, in the present embodiment, even if an advertising budget corresponding to, for example, 10,000, 50,000, etc. is set in advance, the printing conditions can be changed before the budget is used up. Then, printing of direct mail using the remaining advertising budget is controlled according to the changed printing conditions. Therefore, it is possible to improve the degree of achievement of results through direct mail within the current budget. Note that if a mechanism for changing printing conditions is not necessary, the condition changing unit 115 is also unnecessary.

The print conditions that can be changed will be explained. For example, it is possible to change the creative. In the segment DB 14e, for each of a plurality of segments, among a plurality of creative data set for printing direct mail, the creative ID of creative data used for printing direct mail addressed to users belonging to that segment is preset. ing. The condition changing unit 115 may change the set creative ID. For example, the creative of at least one segment in which the results achieved through direct mail were poor may be changed to the creative of a segment in which the results achieved were good. The quality of the outcome achievement status may be determined based on a comparison of the outcome achievement status among all segments. Alternatively, the expected degree of achievement of results for each segment or common to all segments may be specified in advance by the advertiser or a person in charge at Company R, and may be stored in the segment DB 14e. The condition changing unit 115 may determine whether the outcome achievement status is good or bad based on a comparison between the expected outcome achievement degree and the actual outcome achievement degree. Note that it is also possible to change to a creative that has not been used so far. In this case, basically the advertiser or the person in charge at Company R selects the creative after the change.

FIG. 9 shows an example of creative changes. For example, an advertiser has specified segments A and B. Creative C1 is set as a creative for direct mail for segment A. Furthermore, creative C2 is set as a creative for the direct mail for segment B. After the start of direct mail advertising, the conversion rate of segment A was lower than the conversion rate of segment B from a certain point in time before the entire budget was used up. Therefore, the condition changing unit 115 may change the creative of segment A to creative C2. This is expected to improve the conversion rate of segment A. The creative for segment B remains creative C2.

Additionally, segment budgets can be changed. In the segment DB 14e, for each of a plurality of segments, a segment budget for advertising by direct mail addressed to users belonging to that segment is preset. The condition changing unit 115 may change this segment budget. For example, the condition changing unit 115 increases the segment budget for at least one group that has relatively good results achievement status through direct mail among the plurality of segments, and increases the segment budget for at least one group that has relatively poor results achievement status through direct mail. You may reduce your budget. It is stated that this improves the overall conversion rate. The condition changing unit 115 may change the budget amount itself, or may change the proportion of the budget to the overall budget. The condition changing unit 115 may determine the proportion of the changed budget of the segment in the overall budget depending on the degree of achievement of the results. Alternatively, the amount of change in the amount or percentage of the segment budget may be determined based on comparison with a representative value such as the average or median of the results achievement status values of all segments. For example, the condition changing unit 115 may determine the amount of change in the segment budget according to the difference or ratio between the achievement status of a certain segment and a representative value.

FIG. 10(a) shows an example of changing the segment budget. As shown in FIG. 10(a), segments A, B, C, and D are designated by the advertiser. Each segment is allocated 25% of the overall budget. At one point, segment A had a low conversion rate. Segment B had a very low conversion rate. The conversion rate for segment C was neither low nor high. Segment D had a high conversion rate. Therefore, the condition changing unit 115 changes the budget ratios for each of segments A, B, C, and D to, for example, 15%, 5%, 20%, and 60%.

The condition changing unit 115 changes the segment budget of at least one segment, and may also change the overall budget. In this case, the condition changing unit 115 obtains the entire result achievement status including all segments. The condition changing unit 115 may change the overall budget, for example, based on a comparison between a pre-assumed outcome achievement status and an actual outcome achievement status. When changing the segment budget and the overall budget, the condition changing unit 115 changes the ratio of the segment budget to the overall budget, and changes the segment budget after the change based on the overall budget after the change and the ratio of the segment budget after the change. You may decide on the amount of the budget.

FIG. 10(b) is a diagram showing an example of changing the overall budget. For example, suppose the overall conversion rate at a certain point in time is higher than the expected conversion rate. In this case, the condition changing unit 115 may increase the overall budget.

Furthermore, it is possible to change the range of attributes of users belonging to a segment. In the segment DB 14e, for each of a plurality of segments, the range of attributes of users belonging to that segment may be set in advance using attribute information. The condition changing unit 115 may change the range of this attribute. For example, the condition changing unit 115 may narrow the range of attributes for segments with poor results achieved through direct mail. At this time, the condition changing unit 115 may divide the current attribute range into a plurality of attribute ranges and calculate the outcome achievement status for each range. Then, the condition changing unit 115 may change the attribute range to a range of attributes with relatively good achievement status. Furthermore, the condition changing unit 115 may widen the range of attributes for segments with good results achieved through direct mail.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of changing the range of attributes. As shown in FIG. 11, segments A and B were designated by the advertiser. Users of segment A are users in their 20s to 30s who viewed the advertiser's web page X. Users of segment B are users in their 20s to 30s who viewed the advertiser's web page Y. At one point, segment A had a low conversion rate. Here, the conversion rate for users in their 20s was lower than the conversion rate for users in their 30s. Therefore, the condition changing unit 115 may change the attribute range of segment A from 20s to 30s to 30s. This is expected to improve the conversion rate. On the other hand, segment B had a high conversion rate. Therefore, the condition changing unit 115 may change the attribute range of segment B from 20s to 30s to 20s to 40s. This is expected to improve the overall conversion rate.

Furthermore, it is possible to change the ID collection period. The condition change unit 115 may further acquire partial period result information that is the overall result achievement status including all segments and indicates the result achievement status in a plurality of partial periods included in a predetermined cycle period. The condition changing unit 115 may change the ID collection period based on the acquired partial period result information. A cyclic period is a period that is visited repeatedly. The cycle period may be, for example, one week or one month. The partial period may be a day of the week or a date. The partial period result information may be, for example, the number of conversions or sales. The condition changing unit 115 specifies, for example, one or more partial periods in which the outcome achievement status is relatively good among the partial periods included in the periodic period. Then, the condition changing unit 115 may change the ID collection period so that the direct mail is delivered during a partial period in which the achievement status is relatively good or a period immediately before the partial period. As the number of days that have passed since a user read a direct mail increases, the user's interest in the direct mail advertisement tends to decrease. Further, a partial period in which the achievement status is relatively good is a convenient period for the user to take action to achieve conversion. Therefore, the conversion rate can be improved by shortening the period from when the user receives the direct mail until the day when it is convenient for the user to take action to complete the conversion.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of changing the ID collection period. For example, the ID collection period is set to one day (every day). Therefore, direct mail is basically sent out every day. Up to a certain point, if you look at the number of conversions for each day of the week from Monday to Sunday, Saturday has the highest conversion rate. Direct mail is generally not delivered on Saturdays and Sundays. Therefore, the ID collection period may be changed so that the direct mail is delivered on Friday. For example, every day, on the next day, a print instruction is sent to the DM sending computer 3 for a user who viewed the advertiser's web page the previous day. The agency that has been commissioned to print and ship the direct mail will print and ship the direct mail on the day after receiving the printing instructions. Let us assume that, for example, 70% of the direct mail that is sent out is delivered within two days of being shipped. Therefore, in order for the direct mail to be delivered on Friday, the R site server 1 only needs to send the print instruction on Tuesday. Therefore, the condition changing unit 115 may change the ID collection period to a period that starts on Tuesday and ends on Monday. If the peak number of conversions exists on two days, the condition changing unit 115 may divide one week into two ID collection periods.

The consent of the advertiser may be required to change the printing conditions. Therefore, the condition change unit 115 sends report information indicating the achievement status of direct mail results so far and printing condition recommended change information indicating recommended changes in the printing conditions to the advertiser terminal 6 of the corresponding advertiser or It may also be transmitted to the terminal 2 of the person in charge. The report information includes results achievement status such as conversion rate of each segment. The report information may further include the overall achievement status including all segments. Furthermore, the report information may include the achievement status of results for each partial period. The print condition recommended change information includes at least one change in creative, segment budget, and attribute range for at least one segment. Further, the printing condition recommended change information may include changes to the overall budget. Furthermore, the printing condition recommended change information may include changes in the ID collection period. The advertiser displays the report information and printing condition recommended change information on the advertiser terminal 6 and confirms the information. The advertiser selects whether or not to accept each change in printing conditions. Further, the advertiser may be able to modify the changes to the printing conditions. The advertiser inputs into the advertiser terminal 6 whether he accepts, rejects, or modifies the recommended changes. The condition changing unit 115 actually changes the printing conditions according to information input from the advertiser. Approval or disapproval of the changes, or whether or not to modify the changes, may be determined through discussions between the person in charge at Company R and the advertiser. Then, the person in charge may input the determined contents into the person in charge terminal 2, and the condition changing unit 115 may change the printing conditions according to the input information. The printing conditions are changed, for example, by updating information stored in a database. The R site server 1 operates according to the changed printing conditions by referring to the database.

[4. Advertising system operation]
Next, the operation of the advertising system S will be explained using FIGS. 13 and 14. FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation related to printing direct mail by the advertising system S according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 13, a certain user operates the user terminal 7 to display a certain advertiser's web page (step S1). The user terminal 7 analyzes the HTML document of the web page and detects the advertising tag (step S2). The user terminal 7 transmits the page ID and site ID associated with the web page, and the R cookie ID stored in the user terminal 7 to the R site server 1 in accordance with the advertising tag (step S3). The ID acquisition unit 111 of the R site server 1 associates the page ID, site ID, and R cookie ID received from the user terminal 7 with the current date and time as the viewing date and time, and stores them in the advertiser site viewing history DB 14g. (Step S4).

On the other hand, the print instruction transmitting unit 114 of the R site server 1 periodically refers to the ID collection period stored in the advertiser DB 14c, for example, and determines whether the ID collection period has elapsed. When the ID collection period has elapsed (step S5), the ID acquisition unit 111 collects the R cookie ID and page ID of the user who has viewed the corresponding advertiser's website within the elapsed ID collection period, based on the advertiser site viewing history. It is acquired from the DB 14g (step S6). For example, the ID acquisition unit 111 acquires the R cookie ID and page ID associated with the site ID of the corresponding advertiser's website and the viewing date and time within the ID collection period. Then, the ID acquisition unit 111 acquires the user ID associated with the R cookie ID from the user ID table 14b.

Next, the print instruction transmitting unit 114 identifies the segment to which each user who viewed the advertiser's website belongs (step S7). For example, the print instruction transmitter 114 acquires attribute information of each segment from the segment DB 14e. The print instruction transmission unit 114 receives the user ID or R cookie ID of the user who viewed the advertiser's website from at least one of the member DB 14a, the site R action history DB 14f, and the advertiser site viewing history DB 14g, according to the attribute information. Get information associated with. The print instruction transmitter 114 determines which segment the user belongs to based on the acquired information and the attribute information of each segment.

Next, for each segment in which there are users who viewed the advertiser's website, the print instruction sending unit 114 selects a number of users whose cumulative number of direct mail prints does not exceed the planned total number of prints according to the segment budget. , the user to whom the direct mail will be printed is determined (step S8). For example, the print instruction transmission unit 114 acquires a print instruction transmission log associated with the advertiser ID of the corresponding advertiser from the print instruction history DB 14h. The print instruction sending unit 114 calculates the total number of direct mails printed so far in each segment based on the printing detailed information included in the print instruction sending log. The print instruction transmitting unit 114 also obtains the segment budget of each segment associated with the advertiser ID of the corresponding advertiser from the segment DB 14e. The print instruction transmitter 114 calculates the total number of scheduled prints for each segment based on the segment budget and the advertising fee per piece. The print instruction transmitting unit 114 determines that the direct mail will not be printed for the users of the segment whose cumulative number of prints has reached the planned total number of prints. For each segment whose cumulative number of prints has not reached the planned total number of prints, the print instruction sending unit 114 calculates the sum of the cumulative number of prints and the number of users who viewed the advertiser's website within the ID collection period. do. The print instruction transmitter 114 determines to print a direct mail to all users who viewed the advertiser's website for segments whose calculated total is less than or equal to the planned total number of prints. For segments whose calculated total exceeds the planned total number of prints, the print instruction transmitting unit 114 sends the number of users who viewed the advertiser's website corresponding to the difference between the cumulative number of prints and the total number of planned prints. Decide to print direct mail to the user. At this time, the print instruction transmitting unit 114 may, for example, preferentially determine a user who viewed the advertiser's web page earlier as the user to whom the direct mail will be printed.

Next, the address information acquisition unit 112 acquires the address information of each user whose direct mail is to be printed from the membership information associated with the user ID of that user (step S9). Next, the creative information acquisition unit 113 acquires the creative data of the segment to which the user who is determined to have the direct mail printed belongs (step S10). For example, the creative information acquisition unit 113 acquires the creative ID associated with the advertiser ID of the corresponding advertiser and the segment ID of the segment from the segment DB 14e. Next, the creative information acquisition unit 113 acquires creative data associated with the creative ID from the creative DB 14d.

Next, the print instruction sending unit 114 sends a print instruction to the DM shipping computer 3 (step S11). For example, the print instruction transmitting unit 114 associates address information of one or more determined users with creative data for each segment in which a user whose direct mail is determined to be printed exists. The print instruction transmitting unit 114 generates a print instruction including associated address information and creative data, and transmits the print instruction.

Next, the print instruction transmission unit 114 stores the print instruction transmission log (step S12). For example, the print instruction transmitting unit 114 sends, for each segment in which there is a user for whom direct mail is determined to be printed, the segment ID, attribute information, and creative information of that segment, and the user information of each user of that segment, Generate printing details including: The print instruction transmission unit 114 generates a print instruction transmission log that includes print detailed information of each segment, the advertiser ID of the corresponding advertiser, and the current date and time as the print instruction date and time, and transmits this print instruction transmission log. It is stored in the print instruction history DB 14h.

The DM sending computer 3 that has received the print instruction sends the address image and advertisement image data to the printer 4 (step S13). For example, the DM sending computer 3 generates an advertising image from creative data for each segment. Further, the DM sending computer 3 generates a destination image for each user from address information. The DM sending computer 3 sends, for example, for each user, an address image and an advertisement image corresponding to the segment to which the user belongs to the printer 4. The printer 4 prints the direct mail according to the image received from the DM sending computer 3 (step S14). For example, the printer 4 prints an advertisement on the back side of a postcard according to the advertisement image, and prints an address on the front side of the postcard according to the addressee image. The agency worker sends out the printed direct mail.

FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation related to changing printing conditions by the advertising system S according to the present embodiment.

For example, a person in charge of company R operates the person in charge terminal 2 to request report information of a specific advertiser. In response, the person in charge terminal 2 transmits a report request to the R site server 1 (step S21).

Upon receiving the report request, the condition changing unit 115 of the R site server 1 calculates the conversion rate of each segment for the corresponding advertiser (step S22). For example, the condition change unit 115 acquires conversion information associated with the advertiser ID of the corresponding advertiser from the conversion information DB 14i. The condition change unit 115 calculates the number of users who have achieved conversion for each segment based on the segment ID included in the conversion information. The condition changing unit 115 also acquires a print instruction transmission log associated with the advertiser ID of the corresponding advertiser from the print instruction history DB 14h. The condition changing unit 115 calculates the number of direct mails to be printed in each segment based on the print detail information included in the print instruction transmission log. The condition changing unit 115 calculates the conversion rate for each segment by dividing the number of users who have completed conversion by the number of prints.

Next, the condition changing unit 115 calculates the overall conversion rate (step S23). For example, the condition changing unit 115 calculates the conversion rate by dividing the total number of users who have completed conversion by the total number of printed direct mails.

Next, the condition changing unit 115 calculates the number of conversions for each day of the week (step S24). For example, the condition changing unit 115 determines on which day of the week a conversion is achieved based on the conversion date included in the conversion information. The condition changing unit 115 calculates the number of conversions for each day of the week based on the determination result of the day of the week.

Next, the condition changing unit 115 transmits report information including the conversion rate of each segment, the overall conversion rate, and the number of conversions for each day of the week to the person in charge terminal 2 (step S25).

Next, the condition changing unit 115 determines whether the total number of direct mails to date has reached the planned total number of direct mails to be printed according to the overall budget (step S26). If the total number of prints has reached the planned total number of prints (step S26: YES), the process shown in FIG. 14 ends.

On the other hand, if the total number of prints does not reach the planned total number of prints (step S26: NO), the condition changing unit 115 determines recommended changes to the printing conditions of at least one segment (step S27). For example, the condition changing unit 115 calculates the average conversion rate of all segments. The condition changing unit 115 identifies, for example, a segment whose conversion rate is less than a predetermined percentage of the average value. Furthermore, the condition changing unit 115 identifies the segment with the highest conversion rate. The condition changing unit 115 may decide to change the creative of the segment whose conversion rate is less than a predetermined percentage of the average value to the creative of the segment whose conversion rate is the highest. For example, the condition changing unit 115 calculates the ratio of conversion rates among all segments. The condition changing unit 115 may decide to change the ratio of the segment budget of each segment to the overall budget to a ratio according to the conversion rate ratio. For example, the condition changing unit 115 acquires attribute information of a segment whose conversion rate is less than a predetermined percentage of the average value from the segment DB 14e. The condition changing unit 115 divides the attribute range into a plurality of ranges based on the attribute information. The condition changing unit 115 calculates the conversion rate for each of the plurality of attribute ranges. The condition changing unit 115 identifies a range of attributes with a relatively high conversion rate among the ranges of multiple attributes. The condition changing unit 115 may decide to change the attribute range indicated in the attribute information to the specified attribute range. The condition changing unit 115 also acquires attribute information of segments whose conversion rates are higher than the average value by a predetermined percentage or more. The condition changing unit 115 may decide to change the range of attributes indicated in the attribute information to a wider range. Note that there is no need to change the printing conditions for segments for which the number of direct mails printed so far has already reached the planned total number of prints.

Next, the condition changing unit 115 determines recommended changes to the overall budget (step S28). For example, the condition changing unit 115 acquires a prespecified expected conversion rate from the advertiser DB 14c or the like. The condition changing unit 115 may decide to change the overall budget if the overall conversion rate is higher than the expected conversion rate by a predetermined percentage or more. At this time, the condition changing unit 115 may determine the amount of the changed overall budget according to the ratio between the overall conversion rate and the assumed conversion rate.

Next, the condition changing unit 115 determines the details of changing the ID collection period (step S29). For example, the condition changing unit 115 may specify the day of the week when the number of conversions is at its peak and the deviation value of the number of conversions is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. The condition changing unit 115 determines the expected delivery day of the direct mail based on the specified day of the week. For example, if the specified day of the week is a weekday, the condition changing unit 115 determines the specified day of the week as the expected delivery day. If the specified day of the week is a holiday, the condition change unit 115 may determine the expected delivery day to be a weekday that is earlier than the specified day of the week. The condition changing unit 115 determines the day of the week on which the recommended ID collection period starts by subtracting the number of days required to deliver the direct mail after the print instruction is sent from the expected delivery day, and determines the length of the ID collection period. The date will be determined on the 7th. The condition changing unit 115 may decide to change the ID collection period if the recommended ID collection period is different from the current ID collection period.

Next, the condition changing unit 115 transmits recommended printing condition change information indicating recommended changes to the printing conditions to the person in charge terminal 2 (step S30). Note that if no change in any printing conditions is recommended, there is no need to transmit recommended printing condition change information.

The person in charge terminal 2 that received the printing condition recommended change information displays the report information and the printing condition recommended change information (step S31). The person in charge at Company R and the advertiser check the report information and the printing condition recommended change information and discuss changing the printing conditions. Based on the results of the discussion, the person in charge selects whether to approve, disapprove, or modify each change (step S32). If the person in charge selects correction, the person in charge inputs the changed contents after correction. The person in charge terminal 2 transmits selection information indicating the selection result for each change to the R site server 1 (step S33).

Upon receiving the selection information, the condition changing unit 115 changes the printing conditions based on this selection information (step S34). For example, the condition changing unit 115 changes the printing conditions whose change contents have been approved or modified. For example, the condition changing unit 115 specifies segment information of the corresponding segment from among the segment information stored in the segment DB 14e in association with the corresponding advertiser ID. The condition changing unit 115 may change at least one of attribute information, segment budget, and creative ID included in the identified segment information. For example, the condition change unit 115 may change the overall budget or ID collection period stored in the advertiser DB 14c in association with the corresponding advertiser ID.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, the R site server 1 uses an ID that identifies a user who has viewed an advertiser's website, and is specified in response to the website being viewed. get. Further, the R site server 1 acquires address information associated with the acquired ID from the storage unit 14. Further, the R site server 1 acquires creative data. Further, an instruction for the R site server 1 to print the direct mail in units of number corresponding to the number of users who viewed the website within the ID collection period each time the ID collection period elapses, A printing instruction including address information and creative data acquired for each user who viewed the website within the ID collection period is transmitted to the DM shipping computer 3. Therefore, a worker who receives a print instruction can send direct mail on-demand based on the address information and creative data included in the print instruction, without waiting for the number of users who have viewed the website to reach a predetermined number. Print. In this way, direct mail can be sent. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the period from when a user views a website until a direct mail addressed to that user is sent.

Here, the R site server 1 may acquire creative data used for printing a direct mail addressed to a user who viewed a website from among the plurality of creative data based on the user's attributes. Further, the R site server 1 may transmit a print instruction in which address information and creative data are associated with each user who viewed the website within the ID collection period. In this case, a direct mail is created in which a personalized advertisement is printed according to the user's attributes. Therefore, it is possible to increase the degree of achievement of results through direct mail.

Here, the plurality of creative data may indicate information regarding a plurality of business offices operated by the advertiser. Further, the R site server 1 may acquire creative data indicating information regarding a business office located at a location corresponding to the address indicated by the acquired address information among a plurality of business offices. In this case, a direct mail is created in which an advertisement containing information about a business office located at a location corresponding to the user's address is printed. Therefore, the office indicated in the direct mail is the one that is easier for the user to go to among the multiple offices. Therefore, there is a higher possibility that the user will visit the office, so the degree of achievement of results through direct mail can be increased.

Further, the R site server 1 may acquire the ID of the user who viewed at least one of a plurality of predetermined web pages included in the website. Further, the R site server 1 may acquire creative data corresponding to a web page viewed by the user among a plurality of web pages. In this case, a direct mail is created in which an advertisement corresponding to the web page viewed by the user is printed. Therefore, since direct mail is printed in accordance with the user's viewing behavior on the advertiser's site, it is possible to increase the degree of achievement of results by direct mail.

Further, printing conditions for direct mail may be set in advance for each of a plurality of segments into which users are divided based on user attributes. Further, the R site server 1 may operate according to preset printing conditions for each of a plurality of segments. In addition, the R site server 1 displays results information indicating the status of achievement of results for each of a plurality of segments by direct mails printed in response to the sent print instructions. may be obtained before reaching the number according to the preset overall budget for advertising by. Further, the R site server 1 may change the set printing conditions for at least one segment among the plurality of segments. Further, the R site server 1 may operate according to the changed printing conditions for at least one segment. In this case, performance information is obtained for each segment before the preset advertising budget for direct mail is used up. Printing conditions for at least one segment are changed based on the result information. Then, control for printing the direct mail using the remaining advertising budget is performed according to the changed printing conditions. Therefore, the degree of achievement of results by direct mail can be improved before the printing of direct mail corresponding to the advertising budget is completed.

Here, for each of the plurality of segments, among the plurality of creative data, creative data used for printing a direct mail addressed to a user belonging to the segment may be set in advance. Further, the R site server 1 may change the set creative data for at least one segment. In this case, the direct mail advertisement for at least one segment is changed based on the achievement of results by the direct mail. This change can improve the degree of success achieved through direct mail.

Further, for each of a plurality of segments, a segment budget for advertising by direct mail addressed to users belonging to the segment may be set in advance. In addition, for each of the plurality of segments, the R site server 1 performs printing that includes address information for the number of users for whom the cumulative number of direct mails printed for the segment does not exceed the number of prints according to the budget set for the segment. Instructions may also be sent. Further, the R site server 1 may change the set segment budget for at least one segment. In this case, the budget for at least one segment is changed based on the achievement of results through direct mail. Therefore, budget allocation can be changed depending on the status of achievement of results.

Here, the R site server 1 increases the segment budget for at least one of the plurality of segments with a relatively good result achievement status than the set segment budget, and increases the segment budget for at least one segment with a relatively good result achievement status, and The segment budget for one segment may be reduced from the set segment budget. In this case, the budget is transferred from a segment with a relatively poor achievement status to a segment with a relatively good achievement status. Therefore, overall, it is possible to improve the degree of achievement of results through direct mail.

Further, the R site server 1 may further acquire overall result information indicating the overall result achievement status of the direct mail printed in response to the transmitted print instruction, including a plurality of segments. Further, the R site server 1 may change the budget set for at least one segment, and may also change the overall budget based on the overall result information.

Further, for each of a plurality of segments, a range of attributes of users belonging to the segment may be set in advance. Furthermore, even if the R site server 1 sends a print instruction that includes the user's address information when the attribute range set for any of the multiple segments includes the attributes of the user who viewed the website. good. Further, the R site server 1 may change the range of attributes set for at least one segment. In this case, the range of attributes of users included in at least one segment is changed based on the achievement status of results through direct mail. Therefore, the range of attributes can be changed to improve the degree of achievement of results through direct mail.

In addition, the R site server 1 prints partial period results that indicate the result achievement status in each of a plurality of partial periods included in a predetermined cycle period, which is the result achievement status by direct mail that is printed in response to the sent print instruction. Further information may be obtained. Further, the R site server 1 may change the ID collection period based on the acquired partial period result information. In this case, the ID collection period is changed based on the achievement status of each of the plurality of partial periods included in the periodic period. The timing at which the print instruction is sent to the DM sending computer 3 depends on the ID collection period. By changing this period, the timing of sending the print instruction also changes. As the timing of sending printing instructions changes, the timing of printing, shipping, and delivery of direct mail also changes. Since the ID collection period can be changed so that the direct mail is delivered in a preferable partial period based on the result achievement status, the degree of result achievement by direct mail can be improved.

1 R site server 2 Person in charge terminal 3 DM sending computer 4 Printer 5 Advertiser site server 6 Advertiser terminal 7 User terminal 11 System control section 12 System bus 13 Input/output interface 14 Storage section 14a Member DB
14b User ID table 14c Advertiser DB
14d Creative DB
14e Segment DB
14f Site R action history DB
14g Advertiser site viewing history DB
14h Print instruction history DB
14i conversion information DB
15 Communication department 111 ID acquisition section 112 Address information acquisition section 113 Creative information acquisition section 114 Print instruction transmission section 115 Condition change section NW Network S Advertising system

Claims (9)

Among the plurality of groups into which the users are divided based on user attributes, each of which has its own direct mail printing conditions, the website of the advertiser who requested the direct mail advertisement is selected according to a predetermined setting. specifying means for specifying the printing conditions set for a group to which a user who viewed within a first period belongs;
The instruction information indicating the instruction to print the direct mail includes address information indicating the address of the user who viewed the website within the first period, and advertising material determined for printing the direct mail. A transmitting means for transmitting instruction information including material information indicating and to a computer of a printer who prints the direct mail, with respect to a group to which the user who viewed the website belongs among the plurality of groups; transmitting means for determining at least one of the address information and the material information to be included in the instruction information according to the specified printing condition;
The achievement information showing the achievement status of the direct mail for each of the plurality of groups is printed in accordance with the transmitted instruction information, and the total number of printed direct mails is the result of the advertisement by the direct mail. a means for acquiring result information before the number reaches a number according to a preset budget;
Changing means for changing the set printing conditions for at least one group among the plurality of groups based on the acquired result information;
Equipped with
The transmitting means transmits the instruction information including address information indicating an address of a user who viewed the website within a second period subsequent to the first period and the material information to the printer's computer. If so, the advertisement control device is characterized in that, for the at least one group, at least one of the address information and the material information to be included in the instruction information is determined in accordance with the changed printing condition. For each of the plurality of groups, among the plurality of material information each indicating a plurality of advertising materials determined for printing the direct mail, the material information used for printing the direct mail addressed to the users belonging to the group is preliminarily selected. is set,
The transmitting means includes, in the instruction information, the material information set for a group to which the user who viewed the website belongs among the plurality of groups;
The advertisement control device according to claim 1, wherein the changing means changes the set material information for the at least one group. For each of the plurality of groups, a budget for advertising via the direct mail addressed to users belonging to the group is set in advance,
The sending means transmits, for each of the plurality of groups, the address information of a number of users for whom the total number of prints of the direct mail to the group does not exceed the number of prints according to the set budget for the group. transmitting said instruction information including;
The advertisement control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the changing means changes the set budget for the at least one group. The changing means increases the budget for at least one of the plurality of groups in which the outcome achievement status is relatively good compared to the set budget, and increases the budget for at least one group in which the outcome achievement status is relatively poor among the plurality of groups; The advertisement control device according to claim 3, wherein the budget for the group is lower than the set budget. A preset overall budget for the direct mail advertisement is distributed to the plurality of groups as the budget,
The result information acquisition means further acquires second result information indicating the results achieved by the direct mail for the entire group including the plurality of groups, which is printed in accordance with the transmitted instruction information;
According to claim 3 or 4, the changing means changes the budget set for the at least one group and changes the overall budget based on the acquired second result information. Advertising control device as described. For each of the plurality of groups, a range of attributes of users belonging to the group is set in advance,
The transmitting means transmits the instruction information including the address information of the user when the attribute range set for any of the plurality of groups includes the attribute of the user who viewed the website. send,
6. The advertisement control device according to claim 1, wherein the changing means changes the range of the set attribute for the at least one group. The result information acquisition means is configured to print a third item indicating the result achievement status in each of a plurality of partial periods included in a predetermined cycle period, which is a result achievement status by the direct mail that is printed in accordance with the transmitted instruction information. Get more results information,
The advertisement control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the changing means changes the first period based on the acquired third result information. In an advertisement control method executed by a computer,
Among the plurality of groups into which the users are divided based on user attributes, each of which has its own direct mail printing conditions, the website of the advertiser who requested the direct mail advertisement is selected according to a predetermined setting. a specifying step of specifying the printing conditions set for a group to which a user who viewed within a first period belongs;
The instruction information indicating the instruction to print the direct mail includes address information indicating the address of the user who viewed the website within the first period, and advertising material determined for printing the direct mail. a first sending step of transmitting instruction information including material information indicating the information to a computer of a printer who prints the direct mail, the group to which the user who viewed the website belongs among the plurality of groups; a first sending step of determining at least one of the address information and the material information to be included in the instruction information according to the specified printing conditions;
The achievement information showing the achievement status of the direct mail for each of the plurality of groups is printed in accordance with the transmitted instruction information, and the cumulative number of printed direct mails is the result of the advertisement by the direct mail. a step of acquiring results information before the number reaches a number according to a preset budget;
a changing step of changing the set printing conditions for at least one group among the plurality of groups, based on the obtained result information;
a second sending step of sending the instruction information including address information indicating the address of a user who viewed the website within a second period after the first period and the material information to the computer of the printer; a second sending step of determining at least one of the address information and the material information to be included in the instruction information for the at least one group according to the changed printing conditions;
An advertisement control method characterized by comprising: computer,
Among the plurality of groups into which the users are divided based on user attributes, each of which has its own direct mail printing conditions, the website of the advertiser who requested the direct mail advertisement is selected according to a predetermined setting. specifying means for specifying the printing conditions set for a group to which a user who viewed within a first period belongs;
The instruction information indicating the instruction to print the direct mail includes address information indicating the address of the user who viewed the website within the first period, and advertising material determined for printing the direct mail. A transmitting means for transmitting instruction information including material information indicating and to a computer of a printer who prints the direct mail, with respect to a group to which the user who viewed the website belongs among the plurality of groups; transmitting means for determining at least one of the address information and the material information to be included in the instruction information according to the specified printing conditions;
The achievement information showing the achievement status of the direct mail for each of the plurality of groups is printed in accordance with the transmitted instruction information, and the total number of printed direct mails is the result of the advertisement by the direct mail. a means for acquiring result information before the number reaches a number according to a preset budget;
Changing means for changing the set printing conditions for at least one of the plurality of groups based on the acquired result information;
function as
The transmitting means transmits the instruction information including address information indicating an address of a user who viewed the website within a second period subsequent to the first period and the material information to the printer's computer. If so, the advertisement control program is characterized in that, for the at least one group, at least one of the address information and the material information to be included in the instruction information is determined in accordance with the changed printing conditions.

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