JP2003527693A - Method and system for electronically distributing invitations to participate in market research based on actual purchase behavior - Google Patents

Abstract

  (57) [Summary] Disclosed are methods, systems, and computers for distributing refined offers in market research to participants. The market research server associates the first identifier corresponding to the consumer with a second identifier associated with the consumer's purchase history information. The market research server also associates the search recruitment with the second identifier. Recruitments are filtered based on consumer purchase history information and include contact information used by consumers to participate in market research, and incentives to encourage consumers to participate in market research. The market research server distributes the search recruitment to the remote computer associated with the first identifier. The first identifier may be, for example, a customer card number, a cookie, an email address, or a name. The host computer narrows down recruitment to the consumer based on the purchase history information of the consumer. Once the offer is delivered, the host computer uses the updated purchase history information to determine the effectiveness of participating in market research based on observed consumer purchasing behavior.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

(Cross Reference of Related Application) This application is US provisional application No. 60/188172 (Attorney Docket No. 7791-
0110-25 PROV, filed March 10, 2000), which is hereby incorporated by reference. This application is US Patent Application No. 0
9/226174, 09/472069, 09/472197 and 0
9/526535 (Attorney Docket No. 7791-0109-25, filed March 16, 200) and US Provisional Application No. 60/188176 (Lawyer Docket Number 779).
1-0108-25 PROV, filed March 10, 2000), each of which is incorporated by reference.
Be united here.

The present invention relates generally to the use of computer systems, and more specifically to the use of computer systems to lure consumers into market research based on their actual purchasing behavior. Related. Examples of market research include questions, prospective packaging design reviews, prospective product reviews, opinion submissions, advertising and concept tests, and / or chat gatherings on the Internet, discussion groups, chat rooms and more. Including participation in focus groups.

[0003]

[Prior art]

Market research is used by advertisers, manufacturers, retailers and consumer advocacy groups, as well as by people, groups and groups providing information on consumer sentiment and trends. The information obtained from market research is used to increase sales and to provide consumers with products that are likely to be well accepted by the masses. Common forms of market research include high volume mail, email and phone calls to random consumers. These consumers are invited to participate in surveys, answer questions, and participate in live interviews with market researchers and other groups conducting market research. Thus, market research is conducted in a random or quasi-random fashion.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

As a result, many consumers invited to participate in market research may have little or no knowledge of the product that is the subject of the research. As a result, many consumers participating in market research are useless because they do not use or purchase the products that are the subject of the research. In addition, many consumers are tired of invitations, often in the form of "junk mail," because the subject of market research is unrelated to their buying behavior and habits. There is. Moreover, what is said to be the behavior of the consumer is not necessarily the same as the actual behavior of the consumer. Thus, the information provided by consumers may not be a sufficient basis for narrowing research recruitment.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to narrow down research invitations (search guidance) to a specific consumer based on the actual purchase history of the consumer.

[0006] Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel method and system for delivering to consumers their targeted research invitations to their computers.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

These and other objectives are targeted research recruitment.
It is achieved by providing novel methods, systems and program products for delivering ch invitations, targeted research invitations. The method on which the system and computer program product is based includes associating a first identifier corresponding to a consumer with a second identifier associated with the consumer's purchase history information. The purchase history information is
Contains information about at least one actual purchase of a product purchased by a consumer. A refined search offer associated with the second identifier is received. The recruitment is narrowed down based on the purchase history information of the consumer, and contact information (contact information, contact information, contact information, contact information) used by the consumer to participate in the market research and the consumer are market researched. Incentives to encourage participation (
Incentives, rewards, incentives and products). The narrowing search request is then made to the remote computer associated with the first identifier.
r, remote computer). The first identifier is preferably a unique alphanumeric string associated with the consumer, such as a customer card number, email address, name, or cookie ID.

[0008] Thus, the present invention conveniently narrows research recruitment based on actual consumer behavior, rather than what is said to be consumer behavior. In addition, the present invention can leverage computer networks, such as the Internet, to electronically deliver targeted survey offers to consumers without the need to use retail printers.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a list of consumers and consumer identifiers corresponding to targeted research offers is stored. Each of the consumer identifiers is associated with at least one narrowed search offer. One of the consumer identifiers is received from the remote computer and one of the targeted search offers is for delivery to the remote computer.
Selected based on the narrowed search offer associated with the consumer identifier received from the remote computer. The selected narrowed survey recruitment is then
Delivered to that remote computer. In this way, targeted research offers can be electronically distributed to consumers on their computers.

According to another aspect of the invention, consumer purchase history information is stored. The narrow-down survey recruitment is selected based on the purchase history information of the corresponding consumer for distribution to the consumer at the remote computer. Targeted search offers include contact information used by consumers to participate in market research and incentives to encourage consumers to participate in market research. Each consumer identifier is associated with the corresponding narrowed search offering selected for distribution to the corresponding consumer. In one embodiment, the purchase history information is updated and the effect of the consumer's participation in market research is analyzed based on the updated purchase history information. So once a consumer participates in market research,
The effectiveness of participation can be monitored based on actual purchasing behavior.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A satisfactory evaluation of the present invention and its many attendant advantages will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Referring now to the drawings in which the same or corresponding parts are designated by the same reference numerals throughout the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1, there is a computerized system for delivering targeted advertisements to consumers. It is shown. The system of FIG.
Host computer 101, global purchase database 103, one or more retail stores 105, purchase data computer 107, local purchase database 109, retail store controller 111, retail store database 113, one or more Pos (POS, point of sale)
, Point of sale, point of sale information management) 115, and each of the POSs includes a printer 117, a terminal 119, and a scanner 121.

The host computer 101 communicates with the purchase data computer 107 as in the computer system 701 of FIG.
3 is any workstation, server, or other device suitable for storing information in and retrieving information from its database. The host computer 101 uses the purchase data computer 107 using any suitable protocol.
And may be introduced using the computer system 701 of FIG. 7, for example.

The global purchase database 103 is a file including a record containing information for providing a narrowed survey recruitment. This information is used by consumers to
Contains information about each purchase made in 5. Such information is, for example, a shelf management unit (SK
U, shelf keeping unit), brand, size, weight, price, date and time of purchase, and consumer identifier (CID) of the shopping consumer.
It is not limited to that. In one embodiment, some of this information is
Obtained from the barcode on the purchased item that is scanned by the scanner 121 during payment. These barcodes may include UPC, JAN and EAN information. The records of the global purchases database 103 include areas, as well as a series of scans for search, classification, recombination and other database functions. The global purchasing database 103 may be implemented as two or more databases, if desired, and obtained from different sources such as the internet, grocery store, hardware store, pet store, video store, restaurant, etc. It may be a collection of several databases that store consumer purchase data. US Pat. No. 5,832,457
One or more of Nos. 5,649,114, 5,430,644 and 5,592,560 may collect consumer purchase information and store such information in a database such as global purchase database 103 or retail store database 113. Techniques for storing are described. US Pat. Nos. 5,832,457 and 56.
49144, 5430644, and 5592560 are incorporated herein by reference. In addition, techniques for collecting consumer purchase history information and storing that information in databases such as global purchase database 103 and retail store database 113 are described in other patents owned by Catalina Marketing and / or Catalina Marketing International. Have been described. The respective patents owned by Catalina Marketing and / or Catalina Marketing International are incorporated herein by reference.

The retail store 105 is generally called a retail place, and is a place where goods are stored for retail sale to consumers. As mentioned above, many retail stores 105
May be connected to the host computer 101.

The purchase data computer 107 is, for example, the computer system 70 of FIG.
1 or some other suitable PC, workstation, server or host computer 101 to store and retrieve information from the local purchase database 109, terminal 119 and retail store controller 111 (ie transaction data).
A device for monitoring data transmitted between and controlling the printer 117 may be used and implemented.

The local purchase database 109 is a file containing records containing information for providing targeted research recruitment in accordance with the present invention. The records in the local purchases database 109 include areas for associating barcodes with items in the retail store 105 (eg, by using UPC, JAN, and / or EAN codes). The local purchase database 109 also includes operations for search, classification, recombination and other database functions. The local purchase database 109 may be implemented as two or more databases if desired. Periodically (eg, daily), sales transaction information stored in local purchase database 109 is retrieved by purchase data computer 107 and sent to host computer 101, which uses that information to The purchase history information stored in the global purchase database 103 is updated.

The retail store controller 111 communicates with the terminal 119 and communicates with the retail store database 1
Any computer or device for conducting transactions at POS 115 using the information stored at 13. For the explanation of the retail store controller 111,
See, for example, US Pat. No. 5,173,851.

The retail store database 113 is a file containing records containing information for conducting transactions at the POS 115 by scanning the barcode printed on the purchased merchandise. The records in retail store database 113 include areas for associating barcodes with products and their corresponding prices. The retail store database 11
3 also includes operations for search, classification, recombination and other database functions, which may be implemented as two or more databases if desired.

Retail store 105 includes one or more post 115. Each post 115 preferably includes a corresponding printer 117, terminal 119 and scanner 121. The printer 117 receives a print command from the purchase data computer 107. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the survey request of interest is printed by the printer 117 in response to the received command from the purchase data computer 107.
The terminal 119 may be implemented as a standard cash register (cash teller) or may include, for example, a screen, a credit card reader, and a numeric keyboard. The terminal 119 communicates with the retail store controller 111 and the scanner 121. The scanner 121 may be implemented as any conventional scanning device for reading product information such as a product code (eg, UPC, EAN, or JAN) from a bar code or other indicator on the product. This information read by the scanner 121 is transmitted to the retail store controller 111 via the terminal 119. The retail store controller 111 uses the scanned information and the information stored in the retail store database 113 to determine transaction information including, for example, SKU, price, quantity, and transaction date and time.

If there are multiple posts 115 in the retail store 105, then each terminal 119 is preferably in loop with the retail store controller 111. The purchase data computer 107 is placed on the loop in front of the retail store controller 111, and the information sent from the terminal 119 to the retail store controller 111 is monitored by the purchase data computer 107.

The system of FIG. 1 is for purposes of illustration only, and many variations of the particular hardware and software used to implement the invention will include those of ordinary skill in the art. Obviously, this is obvious. For example, the functionality of the purchase data computer 107 and the retail store controller 111 may be combined into a single device. These and other retail computer system implementations are incorporated herein by reference, respectively, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,212, 4,910,672, 5,173,851, and 5,612,866.
One or more of Nos. 8 and 6026370 are described in more detail. To implement these variants as well as other variants, a single computer (eg, computer system 701 of FIG. 7) may include two or more of the devices shown in FIG. It may be programmed to perform a special purpose function. On the contrary, two or more programmed computers may be replaced by any one of the devices shown in FIG. Distributed processing principles and advantages, such as redundancy and iteration, may also be introduced if necessary to increase system robustness and performance, for example.

The present invention provides information relating to, for example, various consumers shopping at retail stores 105,
The consumer's purchase history, narrowed-down survey recruitment, and consumer's identification information are stored. This information is stored in one or more storage devices, such as, for example, hard disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, and / or RAM. One or more databases, such as global purchase database 103 and retail store database 113, may store information used to implement the present invention. The database may be a data structure (eg, record, table, alignment, etc.) contained in one or more storage devices, such as the storage devices described above or any of the storage devices described below in the description of FIG. Area, graph, hierarchy, and / or list).

2A, 2B, 2C and 2D illustrate data structures used to implement a system for providing targeted research recruitment in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The data structure is shown in a relational form using a table so that the information stored in one column (ie, area) of a table is stored in the same row (ie, It is located or linked to the information stored in the record). These data structures are used by the host computer 101 and / or purchase data computer 107 to provide survey offers to consumers in accordance with the present invention. The data structures shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D are stored in global purchase database 103, local purchase database 109, and / or some other suitable storage device or storage medium.

FIG. 2A shows a purchase history table 201 including an area 203 for storing a consumer identifier (CID) and an area 205 for storing a purchase history of a consumer in the area 203.
Is. A CID is an identifier that is scanned, read, or otherwise input into a computer or terminal to identify a consumer. Each consumer may have multiple CIDs. Preferably, the CID is, though any other machine-readable or non-machine-readable one for storing or displaying the identifier may be used, including magnetic strips, memory chips and smart cards.
When represented by a bar code, it can be quickly scanned by the scanner 117 during checkout. Examples of CIDs include credit card numbers, debit card numbers, social insurance card numbers, driver's license numbers, checking account numbers, addresses, names, email addresses, although other suitable identification forms may be used. It includes a telephone number, a customer's consumer card number, a shopper card identification number (SCID), or a shopper customer's card number issued by the retail store 105. For example, the CID may be a cookie stored on the consumer's computer that identifies the user's computer.
As used herein, a "cookie" is any data block that contains identification information (ie, a cookie ID) to identify a consumer's computer to a server or remote computer.

Preferably, the area 205 is the place of purchase, the SKU, the price of each item purchased,
It is divided into several sub-areas for separately storing purchase data such as the date and time of the transaction and any other desired information about the consumer's transaction.

FIG. 2B is a purchase history reference table 207 including an area 209 for storing the purchase history reference and an area 211 for storing the narrowed survey recruitment. The purchase history criteria are criteria that must be met by the consumer to receive a corresponding survey offering in the same record as area 211, based on the consumer purchase history in area 205. An example of a survey callout stored in area 211 is provided below in connection with FIGS. 4A and 4B.

FIG. 2C is a survey offering table 213 that includes an area 215 for storing CIDs and an area 217 for storing survey offerings. This survey application table 213 shows each CID
Is associated with one or more survey offerings stored in the same record as area 217. Using this survey recruitment table 213, the purchase data computer 107
Based on the consumer's CID or other identifier associated with the consumer, survey solicitations may be determined for distribution to the consumer's computer (eg, "net product").

FIG. 2D is a sample consumer identification table 219 for associating a consumer's CID with other consumer identification information. The consumer identification table 219 includes an area 221 for storing the consumer's CID and an area 2 for storing the consumer's e-mail address.
23, an area 225 for storing a cookie ID, and an area 227 for storing a login ID of a consumer. In this way, the consumer identification table 219 identifies the CID of the consumer based on other identification information (eg, email address, cookie ID, login ID) stored in other areas of the consumer identification table 219. May be used for The consumer identification table 219 may be used during the registration procedure where the consumer provides the CID as well as other identifying information such as the consumer's email address and / or login ID. In one embodiment, the cookie ID is associated with the consumer's CID by sending a cookie containing the cookie ID to each consumer's computer during the registration procedure. A cookie ID is some data that identifies a cookie and thereby identifies the computer on which the cookie is stored. Consumer Identification Table 2 depending on how the consumer's CID is cross-referenced
The number of 19 areas may vary. For example, if consumers always provide their CID directly, then that table 219 is not needed because the CID does not need to be cross-referenced. However, if the consumer is to be identified based on the cookie sent from their computer, then an area for storing the cookie ID (ie area 225) is required. Similarly,
The area storing the email address and login ID may be used if these types of identifying information are used to associate the consumer with the consumer's CID.

FIG. 3 shows a system for conducting market research on the Internet. One or more consumer computers 301 can be
Connected to one or more market research servers 309. Consumer computer 301 is any computer for accessing a computer network such as the Internet 307. Examples of consumer computers 301 include PCs, workstations, laptops, palmtops, computer system 701 of FIG. 7, and home appliances (eg, refrigerators, ovens, microwave ovens) configured to access the Internet. (Ie, "Net product" or "Web product"). Consumer computer 301 preferably includes web browser software for the user (ie, consumer) to view documents (eg, HTML documents) available on the Internet. Market research server 30
Reference numeral 9 is a computer, server, device, and / or software for conducting and / or promoting market research through the Internet 307. Such market research includes questionnaires, discussion groups, chat rooms, and / or focus groups. The market research server 309 is in communication with the market research database 311, which includes one or more files that store information for delivering targeted research offers. Such information includes, for example, survey recruitment table 213 and consumer identification table 219.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are examples of survey solicitations that may be delivered to consumer computer 301 from market research server 307, for example. As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, each survey recruitment 401 includes contact information 403, condition information 404, reward information 405, and a code (eg, virtual personal information number (PIN) 407).
The contact information is, for example, a website, web page, uniform source identifier (URL) and / or email address that a person may use to initiate participation in a market research. The term "URL" is intended to include uniform source names, uniform source discriminators, and their equivalents. Condition 404 is reward 40
It shows what a person must do to receive 5. Examples of condition 404 are completing surveys, market research, and / or questionnaires. Rewards 405 may be checks, coupons, discounts, certifications, redeemable media, and / or other positive benefits to those who meet condition 404. The code 407 is an identification display that uniquely identifies each survey recruitment. In one embodiment of the invention, when a person seeks to receive a reward 405 by participating in a market research, the person is asked to provide a code 407 for the research request 401. In this way, a surveyor, a group, or a person conducting a market survey can avoid providing more than one reward 405 for each survey call 401 and avoid double counting of participants. . This embodiment may be implemented, for example, by storing code 407 in areas 211 and 217 along with other survey offerings. According to one embodiment, the code 407 is provided to, for example, an organization that conducts market research or an organization that rewards people who participate in market research (ie, a market researcher), and each code 407. Can be recognized by the surveyor and only one reward 405 is provided for each code 407. This and other embodiments may utilize PIN technology as described in US Pat. Nos. 5,915,007 and 5,892,827, respectively, which are incorporated herein by reference.

Each survey call 401 may be tailored to suit a different purpose, if desired, and one or more of items 403, 404, 405, and 407 may be omitted. Rewards 405 and market research subjects may include subjects other than grocery stores and retail stores. The survey offer 401 also receives a reward 405 as well as information indicating how long and how long the offer or offer is valid and what equipment (eg, a PC) is required to participate in the market research. Other required conditions may be included.

FIG. 5A is a flowchart for explaining how the target survey recruitment is distributed based on the purchase history of the consumer. In step 501, the host computer 101 surveys the purchase data computer 107 for purchase history information at each of the retail stores 105 to update the purchase history information stored in the global purchase database 103. Then, in step 503, the host computer 101 generates behavior information from the purchase history information stored in the global purchase database 103. This behavioral information is market researcher (
That is, it may be some information that the surveyor would like to use to decide whether the targeted search offer should be delivered to the consumer. Examples of behavioral information are whether a consumer bought at least £ 5 dog food per month last year, whether that consumer bought a cold medicine last week, and whether that consumer was consistent. And whether or not I bought lactose-free milk. The narrowed search offer 401 may be, for example, an Internet banner, an email message, an email attachment, a regular email message, an interactive television message, or a telephone message. .

In step 505, the host computer 101 compares the behavior information generated in step 503 with the purchase criteria stored in the area 209 of the purchase criteria table 207. If any consumer behavior information matches the purchase criteria in area 209, then the consumer's CID is stored in area 215 and area 211.
The corresponding survey offerings therein are stored in area 217 of the survey offering table. In this way, the survey recruitment table 213 describes the CIDs and associated narrowed survey recruitments to be delivered to the corresponding consumers. In an alternative embodiment, the host computer 101 simply sends the market research server 309 a list of CIDs corresponding to consumers who meet certain criteria, and the research offer table 213 includes the market research server 309, which is the server 309. Receives, for example, the narrowing-down survey invitation from another computer or a computer-readable recording medium (computer readable medium). Therefore, research invitations are filtered based on actual purchase behavior (eg, consumer purchase history), rather than being distributed randomly or based on alleged consumer behavior. Be done. in this way,
The present invention facilitates the procedure of delivering survey offers to the appropriate consumers.

In step 507, the host computer 101 delivers the research recruitment table 213 to the market research server 309. If desired, the survey offer table 213 is divided into small, separate survey offer tables, which are distributed to different market research servers 309. In this way, a specific market research server 3
Only consumer CIDs registered with 09 are provided to that market research server 309. The market research server 309 receives the research recruitment table 213 and stores it in the market research database 311. The stored survey recruitment table 213 is updated to reflect new projects and incentives, if necessary.

FIG. 5B is a flow chart showing how market research server 309 associates a consumer's CID with other identification information for that consumer. In step 509, the consumer uses the consumer's computer 301 to initiate online registration with the market research server 309. In step 511, the consumer uses the market research server 309 to select the consumer's CID, e-mail address, login ID automatically provided by the market research server 309, or the social insurance number. Provide identification information such as, or some other identification information. As long as the consumer provides the market research server 309 with the consumer's CID, the market research server 309 may associate the consumer's CID with other identifying information for the consumer. In one embodiment, the consumer identification table 219 or a variant thereof is present during the registration process and the market research server 3
09, it is stored in the market research database 311. In addition, step 5
At 13, the market research server 309 sends other identification information from the market research server 309 to the consumer computer 301, and the consumer computer 301
May be associated with the consumer's CID, such as a cookie stored in. In this way, whenever the consumer computer 301 accesses the market research server 309, a cookie containing the cookie ID is sent back to the market research server 309, which server 309 has the same record as the cookie ID. The cookie ID stored in area 225 is used to determine the consumer's CID stored in area 221. Other forms of identification, such as an email address, allow the market research server 309 to target the survey request to the consumer without the consumer having to identify themselves and without the use of cookies. Allow delivery to. Further, if the consumer provides the CID upon login, then there is no need to use the consumer identification table 219. On the contrary, if the consumer provides identification information other than the password, login ID, and / or the consumer's CID, and such information is registered in the consumer identification table 217 during the registration If the market research server 309 is associated with the market research server 30 then,
Regardless of which consumer computer 301 was used to access 9, the consumer's CID may be determined from such information.

FIG. 5C is a flow chart for explaining how targeted research recruitment is distributed to consumers according to an embodiment of the present invention. In step 515, market research server 309 receives identification information from consumer computer 301. This identifying information may be the consumer's CID, or some other identifying information associated with the consumer's CID (eg, a cookie ID or other identifier or login ID automatically sent from the consumer computer 301). Alternatively, it may be a password entered by the consumer on the consumer computer). In step 517, the market research server 309 determines the CID of the consumer using the consumer identification table 217, for example, and determines which narrowed-down research recruitment is associated with the CID in the research recruitment table 213. . Then, the market research server 309 delivers the narrow-down research recruitment to the consumer computer 301. If the narrowed search offer is a consumer email address, address, or other identifying information that does not require the consumer to be at the consumer computer 301 when the narrowed search offer is delivered,
If it is to be delivered to that consumer based on, then step 515 may be skipped. For example, if the consumer provided the consumer's email address, then the narrowed search offer would be, for example, when consumer computer 301 retrieved the offer from the mail server in step 517. It may be transmitted as an electronic mail delivered to the consumer computer 301 via the mail server or as an attached document of the electronic mail.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining how a market research can be performed on the Internet 307. In step 613, the consumer uses the computer 301 to view the web page identified by the URL identified by the contact information 403 of the narrowed search offer 401 delivered to the consumer.
Use the web browser running above. In addition, in step 613, the consumer is prompted to enter the code 407 that appears on the narrowed search offering 401. The code 407 operates the same as the virtual PIN, described above, to prevent the same survey call 401 from being accepted more than once.

Then, in step 615, the consumer participates in market research such as focus groups. When the consumer's participation in the research program is complete, the consumer is presented with a reward 405 in the narrowed research incentive 401 in step 617. The consumer may be offered the reward in any known form. According to one embodiment, if the reward is cash, the amount of check specified in area 405 is mailed to the consumer. Other forms of remuneration are minutes of free long distance calls, free virtual money that can be used to buy products over the internet, and coupons for products sold at retail stores 105. , And a certificate that can be exchanged for free products at the retail store 105. However, it may be preferable to give the consumer an Internet-related reward, such as "Internet money," that a certain amount of Internet money can use to receive "win" prizes. Other rewards include pet products (eg dog food plates), cookbooks, and household or kitchen products (
For example, wine racks).

As described above, according to one embodiment, the purchase history information stored in the global purchase database 103 is regularly updated. In step 619, the purchase history information of the consumer is updated. Then, in step 621, the consumer's updated purchase history is analyzed. According to one embodiment, this analysis is performed by comparing the consumer's behavior prior to participating in the market research with the consumer's purchasing behavior during and / or after participating in the market research. Then, based on the results of the analysis, in step 623, the effectiveness of the market research for the consumer is determined (eg, whether the consumer has switched his favorite product from brand X to brand Y, or See if you have increased the frequency of buying Z). The use of actual consumer behavior (ie, purchase history information) rather than what consumers are being told about how trial advertising or other forms of market research impacted consumers Helps avoid misleading reactions (feedback) that occur when simply reporting.

All or part of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the computer arts, and may be conveniently implemented using a conventional general purpose computer or micro-processor programmed according to the teachings of the present invention. Appropriate software will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art of software and can be readily created by programmers of ordinary skill based on the teachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 shows a computer system 701 on which one embodiment of the invention may be implemented. Computer system 701 includes a bus 703 or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processing unit 705 coupled with bus 703 for processing that information. The computer system 701 also includes an occasional write / read storage device (
Random Access Memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device (eg, dynamic RAM (DRAM), static RAM) coupled to bus 703 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processing unit 705. (SRAM), synchronous D
A main storage device 707 such as a RAM (SDRAM) or a flash RAM is included. In addition, main memory 707 may be used to store temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processing unit 705. The computer system 701 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 709 or other static memory device coupled to the bus 703 for storing static information and instructions for the processing unit 705 (eg, Includes programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), and electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM). A storage device 711 such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk is prepared for storing information and instructions, and a bus 703 is provided.
Connected to.

Computer system 701 also includes special purpose logic devices (eg, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or configurable logic devices (eg, general logic arrays (GALs) or reprogrammable area programmable gate arrays). (
EPGA)) is included. Other removable recording media devices (eg, compact discs, tapes, and removable magneto-optical media) or fixed high-density media devices are suitable device buses (eg, small computer system interface (SCSI) buses, A hardened integrated device electronic (IDE) bus or a super-direct memory access (DMA) bus may be used to add to the computer system 701. Computer system 701 may further include a compact disc reader, a compact disc reader / writer unit, or a compact disc jukebox, each of which may be connected to the same device bus or other device buses.

Computer system 701 may be coupled via bus 703 to a display device 713, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user. The display device 713 may be controlled by a display card or a graphic card. The computer system includes input devices, such as keyboard 715 and cursor control 717, for communicating information and command selections to processing device 705. The cursor control 717 is, for example, a mouse, a trackball, or a cursor direction key for transmitting direction information and command selection to the processing device 705 to control the movement of the cursor on the display device 713. In addition, the printer may provide the list of printed data structures shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D, or some other data stored and / or generated by computer system 701. Good.

Computer system 701 is responsive to a processing unit 705 that executes one or more consecutive sequences of one or more instructions contained in a storage device, such as main storage device 707, to process steps of the present invention. Do some or all of the.
Such instructions may be read into main memory 707 from another computer-readable recording medium, such as memory 711. One or more processors in a multi-processing arrangement may also be used to execute successive instructions contained in main memory 707. In an alternative embodiment, the wired circuits are:
It may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions. Thus, embodiments are not limited to any particular combination of hardware circuitry and software.

As mentioned above, system 701 includes at least one computer readable storage medium or storage device for storing data structures, tables, records or other data described herein programmed according to the teachings of the present invention. including. The invention is stored on any one of the computer-readable recording media, or on a consortium thereof,
It includes software for controlling computer system 701, driving one or more devices for practicing the present invention, and for causing computer system 701 to interact with a human user, eg, a consumer. Such software may include, but is not limited to, device drivers, operating systems, development tools, and application software. Such a computer-readable recording medium further includes the computer program product of the present invention for performing all or a part (if the processing is distributed) of the processing performed in implementing the present invention.

Computer code devices of the present invention include, but are not limited to, scripts, interpreters, dynamic link libraries, JAVA®.
It may be any interpreted or executable code mechanism, including classes and fully executable programs. Further, some of the processes of the present invention may be distributed for better performance, reliability, and / or cost.

The term “computer-readable recording medium” as used herein refers to any recording medium that participates in providing instructions to processing unit 705 for execution. Computer readable recording media include, but are not limited to, non-volatile media,
It may take many forms, including volatile media and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical disks, magnetic disks, and magneto-optical disks such as storage device 711. Volatile media includes dynamic storage, such as main storage 707. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 703. Transmission media may also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during wireless and infrared data communications.

A general form of a computer-readable recording medium is, for example, a hard disk,
Floppy (registered trademark) disk, tape, magneto-optical disk, PROM (EPR
OM, EEPROM, flash EPROM), DRAM, SRAM, SDRA
M, or some other magnetic medium, compact disc (eg CD-RO
M), or any other optical medium, punched card, paper tape or other physical medium with a hole pattern, carrier wave (described below), or some other computer-readable recording medium.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying out one or more sequences of one or more sequences of instructions for processor 705 to execute. For example, the instructions may initially be executed on a magnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can remotely retrieve the instructions for implementing all or part of the invention into a dynamic storage device and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. The modem attached to the computer system 701 receives the data on the telephone line, and the infrared transmitter is used.
The data may be converted into an infrared signal. An infrared detector coupled to bus 703 can receive the data carried in the infrared signal and place the data on bus 703. The bus 703 carries the data to the main storage device 707, and the processing device 705 fetches and executes the instruction from the main storage device 707. The instructions received by main memory 707 may be stored optically in memory 711 before or after execution by processor 705.

Computer system 701 also includes a communication interface 719 coupled to bus 703. The communication interface 719 is a local network (
For example, it provides bidirectional data communication coupled to a network link 721 connected to LAN 723). For example, the communication interface 719 may be a network interface card attached to some kind of packet-switched local information network (local area network: LAN). As another example, the communication interface 719 may be an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) card, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a modem that provides a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. . Wireless links may also be introduced. In any such implementation, communication interface 719 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

Network link 721 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For example, the network link 721 provides a data communication service via a host computer 725 or an IP (Internet Protocol) network 727 (for example, the Internet 307). May be provided. Both LAN 723 and IP network 727 use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals over the various networks and the signals on the network link 721 and through the communication interface 719 that carry digital data in and out of the computer system 701 are examples of carrier waves that carry information. Computer system 701 can send notifications and receive data, including program code, through the network (s), network link 721 and communication interface 719.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. Therefore, it is to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computerized system for storing consumer purchase history in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a diagram showing a purchase history table for associating a customer identifier (CID) with a purchase history of a consumer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2B is a diagram showing a purchase history criterion for associating a purchase history criterion with a consumer having a purchase history satisfying a corresponding purchase history criterion to a narrowed-down survey recruitment in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2C is a diagram showing a survey recruitment table for associating a CID with a narrowed survey recruitment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2D is a diagram showing a consumer identification table for associating various types of consumer identification information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a system for conducting a market research on a computer network such as the Internet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A   It is explanatory drawing which shows the research recruitment which invites to participate in a market research.

FIG. 4B   It is explanatory drawing which shows the research recruitment which invites to participate in a market research.

FIG. 5A is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for making a survey request based on a purchase history of a consumer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5B is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for associating a narrowed survey recruitment with consumer identification information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5C is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for delivering a narrowing-down survey invitation to consumers according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for conducting a market research and analyzing an effect of the market research in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a computer system programmed to carry out one or more special purpose functions of the invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

  101 host computer   103 Global Purchasing Database   105 retail stores   107 Purchase Data Computer   109 Local Purchasing Database   111 Retail Store Controller   113 Retail Store Database   115 POS   117 Printer   119 terminal   121 scanner   201 Purchase history table   203, 205, 209, 211, 215, 217 areas   207 Purchase history standard table   213 Survey Application Table   219 Consumer Identification Table   221, 223, 225, 227 areas   301 Consumer Computer   307 Internet   309 Market Research Server   311 Market Research Database   401 Survey recruitment   403 Contact information   404 Condition information   405 Reward information   407 Virtual personal identification number   501, 503, 505, 507, 509 steps   511, 513, 515, 517 steps   613, 615, 617, 619, 621, 623 steps   701 computer system   703 bus   705 processor   707 main memory   709 ROM   711 storage device   713 display device   715 input device   717 Cursor control   719 communication interface   721 network link   723 LAN   725 host computer   727 IP network

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (81) Designated countries EP (AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, I T, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE), OA (BF, BJ , CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GW, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG), AP (GH, GM, K E, LS, MW, MZ, SD, SL, SZ, TZ, UG , ZW), EA (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ, TM), AE, AG, AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BR, BY, BZ, C A, CH, CN, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DK, DM , DZ, EE, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IS, JP, K E, KG, KP, KR, KZ, LC, LK, LR, LS , LT, LU, LV, MA, MD, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MZ, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, R U, SD, SE, SG, SI, SK, SL, TJ, TM , TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, UZ, VN, YU, ZA, ZW

Claims (58)

[Claims] 1. The first identifier corresponding to a consumer is at least one of the products purchased by the consumer.
Associating with a second identifier associated with the consumer's purchase history information, including one purchase information, participating in a market research narrowed down based on the consumer's purchase history information and associated with the second identifier Storing the narrowed search offer, including contact information that the consumer uses to do so, and delivering the narrowed search offer to a remote computer associated with the first identifier. 2. The step of receiving a first identifier during a registration procedure in which the consumer provides the first identifier and the second identifier prior to the step of associating the first identifier and the second identifier. The method of claim 1, comprising: 3. The method further comprises, after the step of associating the first identifier with the second identifier, after the step of storing the narrowed search invitation and before the step of delivering the narrowed search invitation.
Distributing the narrowed search offer to the remote computer in response to receiving the first identifier from the remote computer, including receiving the first identifier from the remote computer. The method of claim 1 including the steps. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first identifier is a cookie stored on a remote computer. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first identifier is selected from a group including cookies, email addresses and login IDs. 6. The first identifier comprises an email address, the remote computer comprises a mail server, and the delivering step comprises delivering the narrowed search offer to the remote computer via email. Item 5. The method according to Item 5. 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a second identifier and an associated narrowed search offer from a host computer. 8. A step of storing a list of second identifiers including a second identifier associated with the consumer, and storing the narrowed survey recruitment including the narrowed survey recruitment distributed to the consumer. The method of claim 1, wherein the second identifiers are each associated with at least one narrowed survey recruitment. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the narrowed search offer is selected from a group including email messages, email attachments, and internet banners. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the contact information forms hyperlinks. 11. The contact information is a uniform information source discriminator (URL, uniform form).
rce locator). 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the narrowed search offering includes incentives to encourage consumers to participate in market research. 13. A step of storing a list of consumer identifiers corresponding to consumers, each of the consumer identifiers being associated with at least one narrowed search offer.
Storing the narrowed search offer, receiving one of the consumer identifiers from a remote computer, and based on at least one narrowed search offer associated with the consumer identifier received from the remote computer, the remote computer Selecting one of the narrowed search offerings for delivery, and delivering the selected narrowed search offerings to a remote computer. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the delivering step includes delivering the selected narrowed survey offerings to the remote computer via email. 15. The consumer identifier received from the remote computer is a customer card ID,
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method is selected from a group that includes a cookie ID and an email address. 16. The narrowing search recruitment associated with each consumer identifier is narrowed down based on the corresponding purchase history information of the consumer, and the purchase history information of each consumer is at least 1 by that consumer. 14. The method of claim 13, including information about a single product purchase. 17. A step of storing purchase history information of each consumer including information on at least one purchase of a product by a consumer and associated with a consumer identifier corresponding to the consumer, participating in a market research Steps for selecting a narrowed search recruitment for contacting a remote computer based on the consumer's corresponding purchase history information, the narrowed search recruitment including contact information used by the consumer for , And associating each consumer identifier with a corresponding narrowed survey offering selected for distribution to a corresponding consumer. 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising updating purchase history information, and analyzing the effect of a consumer participating in a market research based on the updated purchase history information. 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the targeted research incentives include incentives to encourage consumers to participate in market research. 20. Program instructions for execution on a computer system, which when executed by a computer system cause the computer system to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1-19. A computer-readable recording medium including. 21. The consumer is responsive to the second identifier being associated with consumer purchase history information, the purchase history information including information for at least one purchase of an item purchased by the consumer at a retail store. The first and second identifiers to do so, and to the second identifier, including contact information that consumers use to participate in market research and incentives to encourage consumers to participate in market research. A storage device that internally stores the narrowed search recruitment that is related and narrowed down based on the purchase history information of the consumer, and communicates with the storage device to narrow down to the remote computer associated with the first identifier. A system comprising: a processing device configured to deliver an embedded survey invitation. 22. The processing device is further configured to receive the first identifier during a registration procedure in which the consumer is providing the first identifier and the second identifier. System. 23. The processing device further receives a first identifier from the remote computer and, in response to receiving the first identifier from the remote computer, prior to delivering the narrowed search offer. 3. The method of claim 2 configured to deliver a targeted search offer to a remote computer.
The system according to 1. 24. The system of claim 23, wherein the first identifier is a cookie stored on a remote computer. 25. The system of claim 21, wherein the first identifier is selected from a group including cookies, email addresses, and login IDs. 26. The first identifier comprises an email address, the remote computer comprises a mail server, and the processing unit is further configured to deliver the narrowed search offer to the remote computer via email. 26. The system of claim 25, which is: 27. The system of claim 21, wherein the processing device is further configured to receive the second identifier and the associated narrowed search offer from the host computer. 28. The storage device internally includes a list of second identifiers including a second identifier associated with the consumer, and a narrowed survey recruitment including the narrowed survey recruitment distributed to the consumer. 22. The system of claim 21, wherein the system stores, and each second identifier is associated with at least one of the targeted search offerings. 29. The system of claim 21, wherein the narrowed search offer is selected from a group including email messages, email attachments, and internet banners. 30. At least a portion of the contact information forms a hyperlink.
The system described. 31. The system of claim 30, wherein the contact information comprises a uniform source discriminator (URL). 32. The system of claim 21, wherein the targeted research incentives include an incentive to encourage consumers to participate in market research. 33. A storage device internally storing a list of consumer identifiers corresponding to consumers, and a narrowing-down survey recruitment in which each of the consumer identifiers is associated with at least one of them, and the storage device. A narrowed search offer for communicating to, received one of the consumer identifiers from the remote computer, and delivering to the remote computer based on at least one narrowed search offer associated with the consumer identifier received from the remote computer. And a processor configured to deliver the selected narrowed search offerings to a remote computer. 34. The system of claim 33, wherein the means for delivering comprises delivering the selected targeted research offerings to a remote computer via email. 35. The consumer identifier received from the remote computer is a customer card ID,
34. The system of claim 33, selected from a group that includes a cookie ID and an email address. 36. The narrowing down search recruitment associated with each consumer identifier is narrowed down based on the corresponding purchase history information of the consumer, and the purchase history information of each consumer is at least by that consumer. 34. The system of claim 33, including information for a single item purchase. 37. A storage device that internally stores purchase history information of each consumer, which information includes at least one product purchase by the consumer and is associated with a consumer identifier associated with the consumer, and Select a narrowed search offer to communicate to the storage device and deliver to the consumer on the remote computer based on the consumer's corresponding purchase history information, where the consumer participates in the market research Contains contact information used to
A processor configured to associate each consumer identifier with a corresponding narrowed search offering selected for distribution to a corresponding consumer. 38. The processing device is further configured to update the purchase history information and analyze the effect of the consumer's participation in the market research based on the updated purchase history information.
The system of claim 37. 39. The system of claim 37, wherein the targeted research recruitment includes incentives to encourage consumers to participate in market research. 40. Associating a first identifier corresponding to a consumer with a second identifier that is associated with purchase history information for that consumer, including information for at least one purchase of a product purchased by that consumer. Means associated with the second identifier, narrowed down based on the purchase history information of the consumer,
Means for storing the narrowed search offer, including contact information used by the consumer to participate in the market research, and for delivering the narrowed search offer to a remote computer associated with the first identifier. A system comprising means and. 41. Means for receiving the first identifier during a registration procedure in which the consumer provides the first identifier and the second identifier prior to associating the first identifier and the second identifier. 41. The system of claim 40, comprising. 42. Further, the remote computer may be configured to access the first identifier from the remote computer after the first identifier is associated with the second identifier, after the narrowed search invitation is stored, and before the narrowed search invitation is delivered. A means for delivering the narrowed-down survey invitation to the remote computer in response to receiving the first identifier from the remote computer. 41. The system of claim 40, including means. 43. The system of claim 42, wherein the first identifier is a cookie stored on a remote computer. 44. The system of claim 40, wherein the first identifier is selected from the group including cookies, email addresses, and login IDs. 45. The first identifier includes an e-mail address, the remote computer comprises a mail server, and the means for delivering delivers the narrowed search offer to the remote computer via email. 45. The system of claim 44, comprising: 46. The system of claim 40, further comprising means for receiving a second identifier and associated narrowed search offer from a host computer. 47. Means for storing a list of second identifiers, including a second identifier associated with a consumer, and a narrowed survey recruitment, including a narrowed survey recruitment delivered to the consumer. 41. The system of claim 40, comprising means for storing, each second identifier being associated with at least one of the targeted research recruitment. 48. The system of claim 40, wherein the narrowed search offer is selected from a group including email messages, email attachments, and internet banners. 49. At least a portion of the contact information forms a hyperlink.
The system described. 50. The system of claim 49, wherein the contact information comprises a uniform source discriminator (URL). 51. The system of claim 40, wherein the targeted research advertisement comprises an incentive to encourage consumers to participate in market research. 52. Means for storing a list of consumer identifiers corresponding to consumers; Means for storing narrowed search offers, each of the consumer identifiers being associated with at least one of them; Means for receiving one of the identifiers from the remote computer, based on the at least one narrowed survey recruitment associated with the consumer identifier received from the remote computer, of the narrowed survey recruitment for delivery to the remote computer. A system comprising a means for selecting one and a means for delivering a selected narrowed search offer to a remote computer. 53. The system of claim 52, wherein the means for delivering comprises means for delivering the selected narrowed search offer to a remote computer via email. 54. The consumer identifier received from the remote computer is a customer card ID,
53. The system of claim 52, selected from a group that includes a cookie ID and an email address. 55. The narrowing survey recruitment associated with each consumer identifier is narrowed down based on the corresponding purchase history information of the consumer, and the purchase history information of each consumer is at least once. 53. The system of claim 52, including information for purchasing goods. 56. Means for storing consumer purchase history information associated with a consumer identifier associated with a consumer, including information for at least one purchase of a product by the consumer, market research Narrow down survey information including contact information used by consumers to participate, and based on the consumer's corresponding purchase history information, select a narrow down survey recruitment for distribution to consumers on remote computers. And a means for associating each consumer identifier with the corresponding narrowed search offering selected for distribution to the corresponding consumer. 57. A means for updating the purchase history information, and a means for analyzing the effect of the consumer's participation in the market research based on the updated purchase history information. The system of claim 56. 58. The system of claim 56, wherein the targeted research recruitment includes incentives to encourage consumers to participate in market research.