MXPA06003193A - Method and system for purchase-based segmentation - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and system for purchased-based segmentation of potential customers employs the use of actual, observed purchases instead of presumptions and correlations to improve the accuracy of segmentation and involves collecting empirical data for a client on actual purchasing behavior of a group of customers and applying statistical modeling techniques to the empirical purchasing behavior data to identify segments or clusters of the customers that exhibit similar purchasing propensity characteristics. Thereafter, the segments or clusters are further differentiated from one another according to other factors having a tendency to directly affect actual purchasing behavior of the customers within the segments or clusters, and potential customers are then identified according to a correlation with the segments or clusters for customized marketing.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SEGMENTATION BASED ON PURCHASES Priority Solitude The present solitude claims the benefit of the Request North American Provisional No. 60 / 504,432, filed September 22, 2003, entitled "METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PURCHASING OBJECTIVE BASED ON PURCHASES" and incorporated herein by reference. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to methods and systems associated with the segmentation based on purchases and grouping used in commercial transactions and more particularly, to methods and systems for implementing segmentation based on purchases and grouping programs, which can be used to improve the success of different commercial efforts. These may include direct marketing (for example, direct mail to the customer, direct mail and shipping of coupons); creating services related to marketing for retail sellers, product / service providers and others based on the actual behavior of purchases of identified customers and similar customers; providing methods to understand the current behavior of a vendor to the menu or the customers of product / service providers against the behavior of those same customers with competitors and against the behavior of competitors with other customers; marketing planning; real estate planning; and other applications. Background of the invention A key essence and objective of segmentation and clustering is to maximize the return on marketing investments by directing marketing efforts towards those who are more likely to respond favorably and reducing the efforts of marketing. marketing for those who are less likely to respond favorably. To maximize the effectiveness of segmentation and grouping methodologies, the merchant must have means to differentiate those that are most likely to respond. There are many techniques for differentiation, including techniques related to geographic factors (that is, determining those who live near existing clients), demographic factors (that is, determining those with high incomes or those with children in their homes). ) and psychographic / lifestyle factors (that is, determine those who have active lifestyles, those who engage in handicrafts and those who attend church in a regular manner).

Once the differentiating factors are identified, the merchant is then challenged to determine, a selected means of communication, how to best reach the desired prospects with a minimum of waste. This may include advertising time spent shopping on certain television stations or during certain programs watched disproportionately! by the desired prospects, the sending of lists for the purchases of subscribers to the magazines that serve the interests of the desired clients, concentrating the publicity in the local newspapers in selected geographies and many other means. They could also include adjusting the positioning / sending of messages of the product or service that is being marketed to better align with the behaviors and attitudes expressed by the desired prospects, selecting the merchandise and locations of the stores that are most likely to draw attention to the desired prospects and other applications. Among the methods available to traders to identify likely buyers are those methods known as "grouping." These methods assign households or individuals to one of a number of separate segments or sets based on a "best-fit" statistical methodology that takes into account a number of the above factors. In all previous methods described, any success achieved by the merchant is a function of assumptions and correlations. For example, a sports merchant can achieve better results by mailing mail to subscribers to magazines such as Sports lllustrated than sending it to Time subscribers, because Sports Illustrated readers are more likely to participate in sports (it is to say, that they can be in a better relation between the reading of Sports lllustrated and the participation in the sports of which there are those that read the magazine Time). However, the results are relative and the actual response may be small. Many readers of Sports Illustrated are spectators, not participants. Many others are participants, but not necessarily users of the product ratings sold by the sports goods dealer. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a feature and advantage of the present invention to provide a methodology and system for segmentation based on the purchases of potential customers, which employs the use of actual observed transactions, rather than assumptions and correlations, to improve accuracy of segmentation and reach the prospects. It is another feature and advantage of the present invention to provide a methodology and system for segmentation based on the purchases of potential customers, which employs the use of real purchases observed to improve the accuracy of the segmentation when the buyers are known to the supplier. , as a means to facilitate marketing for real buyers of a product or category. It is a further feature and advantage of the present invention to provide a methodology and system for segmentation based on the purchases of potential customers, which employs the use of real purchases observed to improve the accuracy of segmentation when specific buyers or their transactions they are not known to the supplier or when key data about them is not available, as a means to create the most accurate and effective marketing by correlating with other behaviors or by improving existing methodologies. It is still another feature and advantage of the present invention to provide a methodology and system for segmentation based on the purchases of potential customers that provides insights into the actual observed behaviors of segmented customers and with competitors, and within the actual observed behavior of the customers of the competitors.

To achieve the disclosed characteristics and other features advantages and objects, the embodiments of the present invention, for example, use computer hardware, operating systems, programming languages, software applications and other technology to provide methods and systems for segmentation based on customer purchases in which empirical data is collected by a service provider for a customer in a real purchasing behavior of a group of customers. The data that will be collected, for example, directly or directly as a result of the use of the payment devices, such as credit cards, debit cards, storage value cards, and / or radio frequency identification devices, provided to customers by the customer or a third party. Alternatively, the data can be collected, for example, directly or indirectly as derivatives of the use of benefit credentials, such as guarantee cards, discount forms, barcode scans and proof of purchase data, provided to the customers by the third-party customer. In one embodiment of the present invention, statistical design techniques are applied to empirical purchasing behavior data to identify segments or sets of customers that present a propensity to purchase, similar characteristics of purchase propensity, in terms of probability of purchases. future of the client and / or a third party. The segments or sets are further differentiated according to other factors, such as geodemographic and psychographic / lifestyle factors, which have a tendency to directly affect the actual purchasing behavior of the customers within the segments or sets. Based on a correlation with the segments or sets, for example, by means of the indication, the potential clients that can be clients for the client and / or third-party clients and then can be identified for personalized marketing. The objects additional advantages and novel features of the present invention will be set forth in part in the following description, and in part, may be appreciated by those skilled in the art upon reviewing the following or may be learned from the practice of the invention. Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the key components and relationships between the key components of the segmentation process based on the purchases of potential customers that the data uses with respect to actual purchases observed and statistical design and grouping techniques for the embodiments of the present invention; Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating an example of the segmentation process based on the purchases of potential customers that uses the data with respect to the actual purchases observed and the statistical design and grouping techniques for the modalities of the present invention. Detailed Description of the Invention Referring now in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, the examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not as a limitation thereof. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. For example, characteristics used or described as part of one modality can be used in another modality to still produce an additional modality. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention cover such modifications and variations that are within the scope of the present invention. In the preferred embodiments, the invention uses various methods to collect data about the actual purchases of individuals, households and / or businesses ("prospects").; uses statistical design techniques to create segments or sets based on actual purchases, provides information on the actual form or means to reach those prospects when the actual prospects are known to the user of the invention (eg , customers of the user, or names and addresses acquired through third parties); and uses the actual purchases of others to improve the methodologies to provide the membership forecasts of specific segments / sets or behaviors ("indicative values", and / or qualifications) for the prospects for which the information is not available. the real purchases. In the preferred embodiments, the present invention may utilize similar data collection and segmentation methods and then provide information and insights into the manner in which the actual purchases of a specific customer (e.g., retail vendor or vendor) of products / services) are compared to the purchases of those same customers with competitors and those who are not competitors, the way in which the customer's behavior can differ or not differ from the behavior of those who are not customers and / or the way they can differ themselves in the clients. Acquisition methods include those methods through which data is acquired directly by the user and those that collect data from others who own it. Among the above are: the issuance of payment devices (credit and debit cards, RFI D devices, etc.), where the purchase data can be a derivative of facilitating the purchase transaction; the issuance of a "credential of benefits" (for example, a royalty program or a "frequent customer" identifier), where, again, the data collection is a derivative of facilitating other benefits of the client; or collect the information directly from the actual clients themselves, through various means (for example, warranty cards, forms of discounts that require proof of purchase, scanning of bar codes received at the facilities, prizes and rewards that they require proof of purchases or the collection of multiple vouchers, etc.). Among the latter are the collection of information directly or indirectly from the client and / or other users of the payment devices, credentials of benefits, the collection of contra information and / or the client directly or indirectly from one or the other merchants, the collection of customer information and / or purchases from other sources of third parties who use various means to obtain this information. In the embodiments of the present invention, for each retail vendor or product / service provider that is interested in obtaining better information, or for the categories of retail vendors or products / services, statistical design methods and methods are used. / or grouping to create relatively more probable and relatively less likely segments or sets of buyers, with varying degrees among them. The key statistical generators of the segments or sets will be the actual purchases in the specific warehouses or the products of the suppliers of products / services and similar purchases in warehouses or related categories. Other factors that seem to generate real purchases to create an additional differentiation between, and maximum homogeneity within the segments or sets, including purchases in other stores or categories, the purchase method, geodemographic and psychographic factors will also be used. / lifestyle (for example, a frequent buyer in the category who does not live near a retailer's nearby stores should be significantly less likely to buy in that store from the vendor at the menu, although real purchases in the category could, indicate otherwise by themselves). Sections or sets that can be expressed as names, ordinal numbers, indicators or ratings based on statistics can then be used by vendors to the menu or by product / service providers in different ways, including, in the embodiments of the present invention: selecting mass media is more likely to reach individuals / households in the highest potential segments or sets, observing and understanding the differences in their clients' own behaviors and the behavior of competitive customers of the segment or set to segment or accumulate and adjust offers, prod ucts, product / marketing mixes, formats of the warehouse and locations and other means to do business and attract and service customers accordingly. In the modalities of the present invention, the user or his retail seller and customers of the product / service provider may also combine the information created from the segments or sets with their own data or other data to market with known persons / households. in the highest potential segments or sets and to identify other people who are likely to be in the highest potential segments or groups, but for whom the specific purchase information is not known by the user. This can be done through the techniques of indication and / or qualification. The modalities of the present invention include the indication towards the individual factors or specific sets of factors (for example, customers in a specific high potential segment or set that have an indication of 250 for home ownership, ie, which is 2.5 times more likely to be a homeowner than the average, this would indicate that the owners of the target households would be an efficient means of reaching unknown potential customers) or the methodologies of indication for existing aggressions and use other techniques of grouping generated by non-purchase (for example, customers in a specific high potential group segment that have an indication of 600 in other "twelve sets" of the grouping methodology). The advantages for traders of the indication to other factors or sets is that, for certain marketing media, the relationship of the marketing channel with the other factors or sets is already established and known. For example, there are currently no viewer indicators per program for the segments or sets created in the embodiments of the present invention described herein, nor how many of the segments or sets created will be designed for these particular items, which is likely to be they exist. However, viewer indicators per program are widely available for many specific geodemographic and psychographic / lifestyle variables, and for at least two grouping methodologies provided by commercial companies (Personicx® and PRIZM®).

By providing an indicator or a diagram without a similar diagram measure for the existing factors or conjuncts, then traders can use these known factors and sets to select the means. Using the number of examples above, merchants would seek to advertise on television, programs that appeal to homeowners in a disproportionate way (for example, home improvement programs), or those in the other twelve sets. of the agripation methodology. In the embodiments of the present invention related to the understanding of the customers of the competitors or non-competitors against their own customers, the merchants to the menu and suppliers of products / services can use the segments or sets in different ways. When segments or sets are created for a general category, retail merchants and product / service providers can compare the relative presence of their customers and others' customers in each segment or set and use the characteristics of the segment or set to generate penetration about the nature of their own clients or the clients of the competitors or those who are not competitors. When segments or sets are created separately for the customer of the retail store or product / service provider and for customers of competitors and non-competitors, the characteristics of the overlap and non-overlap of the segments or sets can be identified and compared. In any case, as with all of the above, the ability to segmentation or aggravation in the modalities of the present invention, which will be based on actual purchasing behavior or actual purchasing transactions, provide an important advantage for improving the results of marketing and research efforts, leading to an increased efficiency in marketing, sales and other business functions. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the key components and relationships between the key components of the segmentation process based on the purchases of potential customers that use data with respect to actual realized purchases and statistical design techniques and ag rution for the embodiments of the present invention. Referring to Figure 1, there is a large warehouse of purchasing data (10). Using those purchases and for example, there is an interest in looking for customers who have a high probability of eating in a restaurant of casu al, the sets of buyers who can develop sets of buyers that show a behavior of food restaurants. casual Some of these groups could be, for example, customers who go to casual food restaurants during the week, but not on weekends; customers who go on weekends but not during the week; customers who go very frequently; people who do not go frequently; people who are not customers (those who never go); clients who go to casual food restaurants and also to luxury restaurants; customers who go to casual food restaurants and fast service restaurants but not luxury; and so on. The characteristics of buying behaviors in both restaurants, as well as the behavior of purchases that are not subtracting, create the greatest differentiation between the segments for the different types of purchase behavior that are identified (restaurants twelve , car leasing 14, department stores 16, clothes, etc.), it should be understood that the differentiation of the behaviors could be inside or outside the category. Several things that can be done with the segments or sets. Marketing can be facilitated and personalized with people in those specific segments or sets., either by a particular restaurant, by a category or in a broader way. Therefore, marketing to the customer base can be facilitated. In the present modality, the client base refers to the base of people of whom we have knowledge. Additionally, "birds of a single pen" can be determined, that is, potential customers who appear to be just customers in the desired segments or sets, but who do not present their behaviors. These can be potential customers who are in the customer base but who make their purchases through methods, which can not be observed in the data or can be potential customers that are not in the customer base. Furthermore, the segments or assemblies that are developed can be compared with existing known grouping or segmentation schemes and the incidences of high overlaps can be determined in particular for other segmentation or grouping schemes. In the modality shown in figure 1, in the set of restaurants 1 2 and the set "one" Personicx (1 8), a person who is in the "eight" sets of restaurants (20), is 3.3 times more likely to occur in the "not" Personicx set (1 8), and only about 60 percent is likely to occur in the "six" set Personicx (22). The advantage of knowing that certain grouping schemes have already been mapped to external sources.

For example, for almost every magazine, the reading has already been indicated to the Person icx sets. Therefore, media buyers already know in which magazines to advertise to reach the prospects in the desired Personicx sets. In addition, referring to the "eight" set of restaurants (20), the indication can be made directly between all the means and this set, or instead, as it is used, the set of restaurants determined in the modality Illustrated can be mapped on other existing customer schemes (eg, Personicx) This set can be similarly correlated with geographic or demographic information to identify prospective customers Fig. 2 is a flowchart that illustrates An example of the segmentation process based on the purchases of potential customers that uses data with respect to actual observed data and the statistical design and grouping techniques for the modalities of the present invention. 2, in the S 1 document, a service provider collects empirical data on the actual purchasing behavior of a client of a client group. In step S2, the statistical design techniques are applied to the empirical purchasing performance data collected by the service provider in order to identify the sets of customers with similar characteristics of propensity to purchase. . In step S3, the sets are further differentiated according to other factors that have a tendency to directly accept the actual purchasing behaviors of the customers, within the sets and in step S4, the potential customers for the marketing. Customs are identified according to a correlation with the sets. Although some modalities use data from purchases with credit cards, there are many other data sources that can be used to create the segments or sets. For example, data from debit cards or data that use credentials of merchant benefits, or buying from others who have the data and allying with others who have them in an association base to obtain the data they need. they have For example, credit card issuers have data; ACN ielsen has data that is obtained directly from the stores; the issuers of identification devices and other credentials have data; Debit card issuers have data; and the stores themselves have data. The modalities of the present invention have been described in a general manner and in a non-limiting manner. It will be appreciated that these examples are only illustrative of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate various modifications and variations.

Claims (8)

1. CLAIMS 1.- A method for segmentation based on customer purchases, which includes: collecting empirical data from a service provider for a client about the actual purchasing behavior of a group of customers; apply statistical design techniques to empirical purchasing behavior data to identify segments or sets of customers that exhibit similar characteristics of propensity to purchase; differentiate the segments or groups according to other factors that have the tendency to directly affect the actual purchasing behavior of the customers within the segments or groups; identify potential customers for personalized marketing according to a correlation with the segments or groups.
2. 2. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that the collection of empirical data also includes the collection of empirical data on real purchasing behavior of customers as a derivative of the use of payment devices provided to customers .
3. 3. The method as described in claim 2, characterized in that the collection of the empirical data additionally comprises the collection of empirical data as a derivative of the use of payment devices provided to the selected clients of a consistent group, less in part, credit cards, debit cards, stored value cards and radio frequency identification devices.
4. 4. The method as described in claim 2, characterized in that the collection of empirical data also comprises collecting the empirical data directly as a derivative of the use of the payment devices provided to the clients by the client.
5. 5. The method as described in claim 2, characterized in that the collection of empirical data also includes the collection of empirical data indirectly as a derivative of the use of payment devices provided to customers by a third party.
6. 6. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that the collection of empirical data also includes the collection of empirical data on the actual behavior of customer purchases as a derivative of the use of profit credentials provided to the customers. customers.
7. 7. The method as described in claim 6, characterized in that the collection of empirical data also comprises the collection of empirical data as a derivative of the use of benefit credentials selected from a consistent group, at least in part, of warranty cards, forms of discounts, barcode scans and purchase data vouchers.
8. 8. The method as described in claim 6, characterized in that the collection of empirical data also comprises collecting the empirical data directly as a derivative of the use of beneficiary credentials provided to the clients by the client. 9. - The method as described in claim 6, characterized in that the collection of empirical data also comprises the collection of empirical data indirectly as a derivative of the use of credentials of benefits provided to the clients by a third party. . 1. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that the application of statistical design techniques to identify the segments or sets of clients that have similar propensity characteristics similar to those of propensity to compromise. pras also includes applying statistical design techniques to identify segments or groups of clients that have similar characteristics of propensity to purchase, in terms of the likelihood of future purchases. 11. The method as described in claim 10, characterized in that the application of statistical design techniques to identify segments or groups of customers that exhibit similar characteristics of propensity to purchase also includes applying statistical design techniques to identify segments or groups of clients that have similar characteristics of propensity to purchases, in terms of the likelihood of future customer purchases. 12. The method as described in claim 10, characterized in that the application of statistical design techniques to identify customer segments or assemblies that have similar characteristics of propensity to purchase, also includes applying statistical design techniques to identify segments or sets of clients that present similar characteristics of propensity to purchase, in terms of the likelihood of future purchases by a third party. 13. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that the differentiation of the segments or sets based on other factors also includes the differentiation of segments or sets based on geodemographic and psychographic / lifestyle factors which have a tendency to directly affect the actual purchasing behavior of customers within the segments or groups. 14. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that the identification of potential customers for personalized marketing also includes identifying the clients within the segments or groups that are customers of the client for personalized marketing by the customer. client according to a correlation with the segments or sets. 15. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that the identification of potential customers for personalized marketing also includes identifying customers within the segments or groups that are customers of a third party, for personalized marketing by a third party. of the client according to a correlation with the segments or sets. 16. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that the identification of potential customers for personalized marketing also includes identifying potential customers for personalized marketing according to a correlation with the segments or sets by means of of the indication. 17.- A system for segmentation based on customer purchases, which includes: means to collect empirical data by a service provider for a customer on the actual purchasing behavior of a group of customers.; means to apply statistical design techniques to the empirical data of purchasing behavior to identify segments or groups of clients that present a similar characteristic and propensity to purchase; means to differentiate the segments or sets according to other factors that have the tendency to directly affect the actual purchasing behavior of the customers within the conju nt; and means to identify potential customers for personalized marketing according to a correlation with segments or sets. RES UMEN A method and system for segmentation based on the purchases of potential clients employs the use of observed, real purchases instead of assumptions and correlations to improve the accuracy of segmentation and involves collecting empirical data from a client about the Real purchasing behavior of a group of customers and applies statistical design techniques on empirical purchasing behavior data to identify segments or groups of customers that have similar characteristics of propensity to purchase. Then, the segments or sets differ from each other in accordance with other factors that have the tendency to directly affect the actual purchasing behavior of the customers within the segments or groups, and the potential customers are identified.