JP2000298691A - Information distributing device and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide effective marketing information to a 1st client and to allow a 2nd client to perform a simple application procedure in an information distributing device. SOLUTION: When a sales source 4, etc., distributes information, it uploads customer data about customers 5 and information to be transmitted to a server 2. The server 2 prepares transmission data and transmits it to each customer 5. When the customers 5 browse the information, the browsing state is stored in the database 6 of the server 2. The source 4, etc., can know the movement of the customers 5 by downloading state data stored in the database 6 and freely acquires data effective to marketing as necessary.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information distribution apparatus for distributing information through a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the sale of merchandise, there is a case where a seller provides a customer with various kinds of information such as merchandise information. In this case, paper information is usually delivered to customers by mail or transport. If there is a product that you want to purchase during the product information, the customer fills out the application form that was mailed or transported together and returns it by mail or FAX, or Make an application.

[0003] The seller sends out the merchandise in response to the returned application form or telephone sales application, and at the same time, tabulates and analyzes the data (name, company name, etc.) concerning the customer obtained at the time of application. Implement marketing by At this time, data aggregation and the like are performed manually. The provision of information and the collection and analysis of information using the paper information described above are widely used not only for selling products but also for soliciting participation in seminars and receiving requests for materials. In the information distribution method using the paper information, a sales source (a sales source,
Seminar organizers, material publishers, etc.), as the number of information provisions to customers increases, costs and postage (transportation) costs, the amount of work required for marketing, etc.
Time rises.

[0004] Therefore, recently, with the spread of information distribution through a network, a seller or the like converts various kinds of information such as product information into electronic data using a computer and distributes the data to customers via the network. It has become. Also, regarding the application from the customer side,
The customer selects items such as a desired product or a desired seminar or a desired material by using a computer, inputs personal information of the customer himself / herself, and replies to the seller via a network.

[0005] The information distribution method using this network greatly reduces the information production costs, mailing (transportation) costs, and work volume at the seller. Also, data collection and analysis for marketing at a distributor or the like can be processed by directly using the returned data.
Therefore, even if a large number of customers return information collectively via the network, the seller can easily carry out marketing for the applied product or the like.

[0006]

However, in the information distribution method using the conventional network, when a customer makes an application for purchase or the like (application for purchase, application for seminar participation, application for document request, etc.), the customer is required Despite applying for the information sent, the customer himself had to input personal data such as name and address and then return it to the seller.

[0007] Further, in marketing at a distributor or the like, not only items (product name, seminar name, material name) for which a purchase application or the like has been made, but also customers who are not interested in the application etc. have a certain interest. Even if it ’s just an item,
That information becomes valuable data as marketing information. However, conventional information distribution using paper information and
In information distribution using a network, such information could not be obtained.

According to the present invention, information provided by a first client such as a sales agency is transmitted to a second client such as a customer using a network.
In the information distribution apparatus for transmitting to the client of
The purpose of this is to make the application procedure in the client of the company more efficient. In addition, the present invention uses a network to transfer information provided by a first client to a second client.
In the information distribution apparatus for transmitting to the client of the
The purpose is to provide effective marketing information for clients.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above object. The information distribution apparatus according to the present invention is configured to create transmission data to be transmitted to a second client and browsing data to be browsed by the second client, from data transmitted from the first client;
Means for transmitting the transmission data to the second client; and, when the second client accesses the browsing data, creating status data in which the status of the access is associated with data relating to the second client. And a memory for storing the created situation data, and a means for transmitting the situation data stored in the memory to the first client in response to a request from the first client.

[0010] According to this information distribution apparatus, the second client accesses the information distribution apparatus based on information in the transmission data after receiving the transmission data. When the customer browses the browsing data, the information distribution apparatus creates situation data in which the access situation is associated with data relating to the second client, and records the situation data in the memory. The situation data includes data of a product purchase application made by the second client, and data obtained by the second client with a certain interest at the time of browsing even if the application is not reached. Is accumulated.

[0011] The first client can request the information distribution apparatus to transmit status data. At this time, the information distribution device transmits the status data stored in the memory to the first client. The status data includes items for which the second client has applied or items for which tentative interest has been shown, in association with data relating to the second client. Therefore, the first client can efficiently and in real time collect such information as information effective for marketing.

Further, in the present invention, when the second client browses and intends to apply for a product purchase or the like, a means for displaying data relating to the second client on the application screen may be provided. it can. Second
If there is no error or correction in the data, the client performs the operation for application as it is, and if there is a correction, etc., corrects it and then performs the operation for application. As a result, the second client is free from the hassle of inputting data relating to itself such as name and address.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An information distribution apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the entire network system. FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a database provided in the server of FIG. In FIG. 1, a server 2 as an information distribution device and a plurality of clients 3 are connected to a network 1 such as the Internet. In the present example, of the plurality of clients 3, the first client is a sales agent 4 (seller, seminar organizer, material publisher, etc.), and the second plurality of clients is a customer 5.

First, the general operation of the server 2 in FIG. 1 will be described. Note that reference numerals A to D given in the following description
Correspond to the symbols A to D in FIG. (A) When trying to distribute information to the customer 5, the distributor 4 etc. stores data (company name,
Upload the department name, name, e-mail address, telephone number, FAX number, etc. and transmission information (product name, seminar name, material name, etc.) to be transmitted to the customer 5. Server 2
The customer information and the transmission information are borrowed, the transmission information is added to the database 6, and the customer data is registered in the database 6.

(B) The server 2 creates transmission data including merchandise guidance and the like for each customer 5 based on the customer data and transmission information recorded in the database 6, and at the date and time designated by the seller 4. Send by e-mail to customer 5.
(C) When the customer 5 is interested in the sent e-mail, he accesses the contents of the e-mail. When there is access from the customer 5, the server 2 sends the browsing destination data to the customer 5. The customer 5 looks at the browsing screen and, when there is an item (product name, seminar name, material name) desired to apply for purchase or the like, performs a predetermined application procedure operation on the terminal. The applied data is stored in the database 6 of the server 2. If there is no desired item, browsing ends without applying.

While the customer 5 is browsing, the server 2 collects information necessary for marketing.
The information includes (1) whether the customer 4 viewed the sent e-mail (whether or not he was interested in the content of the transmitted data), and (2) what items (product name, seminar name) ,
(Name of the material) was accessed (what items showed interest). Such information is important information for the seller 3 etc. for marketing even if it does not reach the purchase application of the product.

(D) The distributor 4 confirms the application, etc.
Or, when trying to get marketing information,
The server 2 is accessed. After performing the authentication process, the server 2 transmits the marketing information stored in the database 6 to the seller 4 or the like. Next, the procedures (A) to (D) executed by the server 2 will be described in detail with reference to flowcharts.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating transmission data in the server 2 in FIG.
The sales source 4 and the like, customer data (customer data such as name)
After uploading the transmission data (such as product information) to be transmitted to the customer, the server 2 borrows the data from the customer 5 (step S11).

The server 2 transmits the transmission information to the database 6
(Step S12), the customer data is registered in the database 6 (step S13), and the process ends.
FIG. 4 shows a procedure for transmitting transmission information from the server 2 to the customer 5 in FIG. Server 2 has database 6
The transmission data 11 and the browsing destination data 13 for each customer 5 are created together based on the transmission information and the customer data registered in (step S21).

The transmission data 11 includes a transmission data page 12 which is displayed on the screen of the customer 5 and guides the customer to goods, etc., and the browsing destination data 13 includes a browsing data page 14, An item selection data registration page 15 and a customer data transmission page 16 are included. The browsing data page 14 is displayed on the screen of the customer 5 for the customer 5 to browse. The item selection data registration page 15 and the customer data transmission page 16 are not displayed on the screen of the customer 5.

The server 2 changes the transmission data page 12 of the created data on the date and time designated by the seller 4 or the like.
It is sent to the customer 5 by e-mail (step S22),
The process ends. 5 and 6 show a procedure of collecting marketing information in the server 2 of FIG. 1C. FIG. 7 shows a screen displayed on the screen of the customer 5,
8 and 9 show various data obtained during the procedure.

When the customer 5 opens the received e-mail, the transmission data page 12 shown in FIG. 7A is displayed on the screen (step S31). The transmission data page 12 displays a greeting to the customer and browsing destination data (URL). When the customer 5 looks at the greeting and is interested in the sent guidance, and clicks the item “browse destination data (URL)” on the screen, the customer 5 in FIG.
Is displayed on the screen of the customer 5 (step S32). On this page 14, the name of the customer 5 and items 1 to 3 (eg, product names 1, 2, 3 and seminar names 1, 2, 3) are displayed.

The server 2 simultaneously stores the date and time of the browsing and customer data (customer name, e-mail address, etc.) in the browsing status file 7 in the database 6 (step S33). As a result, the browsing status file 7 accumulates the browsing user list data 17 shown in FIG. This data includes the date and time when the customer 5 accessed, the name of the customer data, the company name, and the like. In the viewer list data 17, data indicating that the customer 5 has shown an interest in the guidance sent by the seller 4 is accumulated regardless of whether the customer 5 has finally applied. .

Customer 2 browses data page 14 (FIG. 7).
(2)) If the user is interested in the above items (product name, seminar name, material name, etc.), the corresponding item is selected (step S3).
4). If not, the process ends. Server 2
Enters customer data on the customer 5 displayed on the browsing data page 14 on the item selection data registration page 15 in the browsing destination data 13 (this page is not displayed on the screen of the customer 5). (Step S35), and the item selected by the customer 5 is output to the same page 15
(Step S36).

Thereafter, a customer data transmission page 16 (not displayed on the screen of the customer 5) is displayed (step S).
37), and transmits the customer data and item selection data to the customer data transmission page 16 (step S38). The data transmitted to the customer data transmission page 16 is added and stored in the item selection file 8 (see FIG. 2) (step S39). By this processing, the item selection file 8 contains
The item selection data 18 shown in FIG. 9 is accumulated. This data includes the date and time when the customer 5 accessed, the name of the customer data, the company name, and the selected item name. The item selection data 18 accumulates data indicating items (product names, etc.) to which the customer 5 has temporarily shown interest, regardless of whether or not the customer 5 has applied.

The item selection data 18 is stored in the item selection file 8.
Is stored, a transmission end message is displayed on the item selection data registration page 15 (step S40), and after a few seconds, the item selection data registration page 15 is displayed again (step S41). The server 2 displays the item details / application page shown in FIG. 7 (3) on the screen of the customer 5 for the item selected by the customer 5 (step S42). On this screen, a description of a product, a seminar or the like of the item selected by the customer 5 and a customer data input portion are displayed. In the customer data input portion, customer data such as a company name, a department name, a name, an e-mail address, a telephone number, and a fax number of the customer are displayed (step S43).

When applying for the item displayed on the screen, if there is no error in the customer data displayed on the screen, the customer 5 performs an application operation and ends the processing.
If there is an error or correction in the customer data, the correction is made on the screen. As described above, according to this example, the customer 5 does not need to input his or her own data such as the name and the company name at the time of application, so that the application procedure at the customer 5 is simplified.

In the server 2, if there is an application, the contents of the item selection data registration page 15 are stored in the item selection registration file 9 of the database 6. FIG. 10 shows the state shown in FIG.
2 shows the procedure of the authentication processing of the seller etc. in the server 2 of FIG.
FIG. 11 shows a screen displayed on the screen of the seller 4 in this procedure. FIG. 12 shows the contents of the item registration data.

In order for the seller 4 to know the result of the application,
Alternatively, when accessing the server 2 to obtain marketing data, the server 2
The authentication processing page shown in (1) is displayed on the screen of the seller 4 (step S51). When the seller 4 performs the authentication process (step S52), if the authentication process cannot be performed, an authentication process impossible message is displayed (step S52).
53) When the authentication process ends normally, a registration data acquisition page shown in FIG. 11 (2) is displayed on the screen (step S54).

The seller 4 selects the required item registration data on the registration data acquisition page (step S55), and thereby the viewer list data 17 (see FIG. 8), the item selection data 18 (see FIG. 9) and Data such as the item registration data 19 (see FIG. 12) is displayed as shown in FIG. 11 (3) (step S56). Here, the viewer list data 17 indicates a guide in which the customer 5 is interested, and the item selection data 18 indicates items (product name, seminar name, etc.) in which the customer 5 is interested. The item registration data 19
Is data for each item to which the customer 5 has applied.

These data can be acquired while the customer 5 is performing an operation such as applying for a product or confirming the contents, and imposes no burden on the customer 5. , And can be obtained by the seller 4 or the like. Moreover, as the data, not only the items to which the customer 5 has applied, but also the items to which the customer 5 has shown tentative interest can be collected. Such data that is effective for marketing but could not be obtained conventionally can be easily obtained.

By using the present information distribution apparatus, the seller can shorten the time for marketing work and can collect individual answers in detail as digital data in real time. And since it can be effectively used, the accuracy of the marketing results is improved, and business efficiency can be improved. In addition, since the customer can save the trouble of registering an application or the like, it is expected that more response data can be collected.

[0033]

According to the present invention, a first client such as a sales agent grasps status data such as information browsing status, item selection status, and application status of a second client such as a customer in real time. This makes it possible to quickly and efficiently perform marketing for sellers and the like with respect to each customer.

Further, information on the second client required when the second client makes an application is displayed on the screen of the client in advance, and the information is transmitted to the first client. Can be easier.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a network system to which an information distribution device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a database provided in the server of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating transmission data in the server of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for transmitting data from the server of FIG. 1 to a customer.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart (part 1) showing a procedure of collecting marketing information in the server of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating a procedure of collecting marketing information in the server of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a view showing a screen of a customer in the flows of FIGS. 5 and 6;

FIG. 8 is a view showing viewer list data stored in the viewing status file of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing item selection data stored in the browsing status file of FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a procedure by which the seller or the like in FIG. 1 acquires marketing information from a server.

FIG. 11 is a view showing contents displayed on a screen of a seller or the like during the processing shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing item registration data stored in the item registration data file of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network 2 ... Server 3 ... Client 4 ... Distributor etc. 5 ... Customer 6 ... Database 7 ... Viewing status file 8 ... Item selection file 9 ... Item selection registration file 11 ... Transmission data 12 ... Transmission data page 13 ... Viewing destination data 14: Browse data page 15: Item selection data registration page 16: Customer data transmission page 17: Viewer list data 18: Item selection data 19: Item registration data

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] May 12, 1999 (1999.5.1
2)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0015

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

(B) The server 2 creates transmission data including merchandise guidance and the like for each customer 5 based on the customer data and transmission information recorded in the database 6, and at the date and time designated by the seller 4. Send by e-mail to customer 5. (C) When the customer 5 is interested in the sent e-mail, he accesses the browsing destination data of the e-mail. Server 2, when there is access from the customer 5, browsing destination data Bae
Is displayed on the screen of the customer 5. The customer 5 looks at the browsing screen and, when there is an item (product name, seminar name, material name) desired to apply for purchase or the like, performs a predetermined application procedure operation on the terminal. The applied data is stored in the database 6 of the server 2. If there is no desired item, browsing ends without applying.

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0016

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

While the customer 5 is browsing, the server 2 collects information necessary for marketing.
The information includes (1) browsing data sent by the customer 5
Whether or not the user browsed the page (whether or not he was interested in the contents of the transmitted data); (2) which item (product name, seminar name, material name) the customer 5 accessed (which item Has been shown). Such information is important information for marketing to the seller 4 even if it does not reach a purchase application or the like for a product.

[Procedure amendment 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0017

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

(D) The distributor 4 confirms the application, etc.
Or, when trying to get marketing information,
And access to the server 2, after the authentication processing, marketing information stored in the database 6
To get . Next, the procedures (A) to (D) executed by the server 2 will be described in detail with reference to flowcharts.

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0018

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating transmission data in the server 2 in FIG.
The server 2 borrows the customer data (customer data such as a name) and the transmission data (product information and the like) to be transmitted to the customer from the seller 4 (step S11).

[Procedure amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0025

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Thereafter, a customer data transmission page 16 (not displayed on the screen of the customer 5) is displayed (step S).
37), the above-mentioned customer data and item selection data are stored in the server 2
(Step S38). The data transmitted to the server 2 is added and stored in the item selection file 8 (see FIG. 2) (step S39). By this processing, the item selection data 18 shown in FIG. This data includes the date and time when the customer 5 accessed, the name of the customer data, the company name, and the selected item name. The item selection data 18 includes the customer 5
Regardless of whether or not the customer has made an application, data indicating items (such as product names) to which the customer 5 has temporarily shown interest is accumulated.

[Procedure amendment 6]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0028

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

In the server 2, if there is an application, the item details / application in the item selection registration file 9 of the database 6
Only the page registration data 19 is stored. FIG.
2 shows a procedure of a vendor authentication process in the server 2 of FIG. FIG. 11 shows a screen displayed on the screen of the seller 4 in this procedure. FIG. 12 shows the contents of the item registration data.

[Procedure amendment 7]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0030

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

When the seller 4 selects necessary item registration data on the registration data acquisition page (step S55), the item registration data 19 (see FIG. 12) is converted into the item registration data 19 (see FIG. 12).
It can be obtained as shown in 1 (3) (step S56).
Note that the viewer list data 17 (see FIG. 8) and the item selection
Data 18 (see FIG. 9) can also be obtained. here,
The viewer list data 17 indicates a guide that the customer 5 is interested in, and the item selection data 18 indicates items (a product name, a seminar name, and the like) that the customer 5 is interested in. The item registration data 19 is data for each item to which the customer 5 has applied.

[Procedure amendment 8]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0032

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

By using this information distribution apparatus, the seller can shorten the time for marketing work, and can further divide individual answers into digital data as needed.
Can be collected freely . And because it can be used effectively, the accuracy of marketing results has improved,
Work efficiency can be improved. In addition, since the customer can save the trouble of registering an application or the like, it is expected that more response data can be collected.

[Procedure amendment 9]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0033

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0033]

According to the present invention, a first client such as a sales agency can send status data such as information browsing status, item selection status, and application status of a second client such as a customer as necessary. It is possible to freely grasp the information, and it is possible to quickly and efficiently perform the marketing of the seller and the like for each customer.

[Procedure amendment 10]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Fig. 9

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing item selection data stored in the item selection file of FIG. 2;

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Claims (3)

[Claims] Means for creating, from data sent from a first client, transmission data to be transmitted to a second client and browsing data to be browsed by the second client; Means for transmitting to the client; means for, when the second client accesses the browsing data, means for creating situation data relating the state of the access to data relating to the second client; And a means for transmitting, to the first client, status data stored in the memory in response to a request from the first client. 2. The information distribution apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying data relating to the second client on an application screen in the browsing data. 3. A medium on which a program for causing a computer to function as the means according to claim 1 or 2 is recorded.