WO2009018228A1 - Système et procédé d'optimisation de version d'essai - Google Patents

Système et procédé d'optimisation de version d'essai Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2009018228A1
WO2009018228A1 PCT/US2008/071382 US2008071382W WO2009018228A1 WO 2009018228 A1 WO2009018228 A1 WO 2009018228A1 US 2008071382 W US2008071382 W US 2008071382W WO 2009018228 A1 WO2009018228 A1 WO 2009018228A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
trial
live
optimization system
product
operatively configured
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2008/071382
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
James M. Crowley
Suhas S Bhosale
Khushru R. Minocherhomji
Binu Jose Moothedan
Umeed Z. Kothavala
Original Assignee
Digital River, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Digital River, Inc. filed Critical Digital River, Inc.
Publication of WO2009018228A1 publication Critical patent/WO2009018228A1/fr

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to software publishing. In particular, it relates to downloading software trials and updates.
  • a software publisher is a publishing company in the software industry that works between the developer and the distributor. In some companies, two or all three of these roles may be combined (and indeed, may reside in a single person, especially in the case of shareware).
  • Software publishers often license software from developers with specific limitations, such as a time limit or geographical region. The terms of licensing vary enormously, and are typically secret. Developers may use publishers to reach larger or foreign markets, or to avoid having to focus on marketing. Or publishers may use developers to create software to meet a market need that the publisher has identified.
  • ESD Electronic Software Distribution
  • TTYB try-before-you-buy
  • the trial license is a cornerstone of online software sales. It is the primary business driver for smaller software companies, with sixty percent or more of revenues generated as a direct result of trial conversions to paid licenses. It is therefore critical to maximize the number of trial users who convert to a paid license. The more conversions, the higher the revenues.
  • Fair use can take on several forms, such as a perpetual license (pay once and use forever), subscription license (pay at set intervals; use as long as the payment stream continues), pay per use (pay once, use once; pay again, use again) and trial license (free use of the product or a portion of the product for a limited period; when that expires, the product shuts down unless a payment is made).
  • a perpetual license pay once and use forever
  • subscription license pay at set intervals; use as long as the payment stream continues
  • pay per use pay once, use once; pay again, use again
  • trial license free use of the product or a portion of the product for a limited period; when that expires, the product shuts down unless a payment is made.
  • What the trial business model does differently is that it provides free use of the application for a temporary period to allow the prospective buyer to evaluate the product. If the user decides not to purchase the software, the developer or vendor is protected from intellectual property theft by digital rights management technology. The application simply shuts down and can no longer be used.
  • Trial licenses have proven to be far more successful in converting trial users into buyers. Even large, well-known software brands have been shown to increase their revenue by ten percent or more by adding a trial option. Smaller brands derive sixty percent or more of their revenue from trial users who convert to paid licenses. The trial license is the lifeblood of these businesses. As such, it is imperative for these vendors to convince as many trial users as possible to convert to paid licenses.
  • Bandwidth problems Another reason for failing to purchase, involve long waits in downloading large file sizes (hundreds of megabytes to gigabytes) if the user lacks a good connection or sufficient bandwidth. If this the case, the product design can be altered to support a small initial download, and then have the rest of the file downloaded by the product itself during the first product use. Furthermore, the primary reason that users disappear between the download stop and install start is that they cannot find where they stored the downloaded file. This can easily occur using standard hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) downloads. The problem can be easily rectified by using a download manager equipped with technology that can trigger the installation automatically, yielding a near 1 :1 conversion rate.
  • HTTP hyper text transfer protocol
  • the previous method of trial download was selling software through various channels, such as retail, direct, or online.
  • the previous method urged users to register later or at the time of sale.
  • Sending email and postal mail to market new products and updates is also popular. Companies also send physical updates or host downloads for updates. Unfortunately, they also conduct focus groups to assess user program usage and user behavior which can be costly.
  • the present invention is related to a software system that solves the above- mentioned problems.
  • Trial optimization provides software developers and hardware suppliers with a framework and tools to manage ongoing software updates, measure customer product usage, and reach all product users through in application messaging. Messages and updates are tailored to the specific needs of end users. When collating product usage information, no personal customer details are collected. The anonymity of end users is assured.
  • a trial optimization system and method has three main components, including: live messaging, live bits, and live metrics.
  • live messaging vendors can reach all active users through targeted in application messages such as when the user starts up the application. These messages are contextual ized such as offering upgrades during startup or offering discounts on full versions of products once trial periods have expired.
  • the live bits tool enables streaming of data updates straight to a user's desktop. This allows businesses to customize update and messaging policies.
  • the live bits tool also limits notices of updates to customers based on their specific version and product identification.
  • the live metrics tool enables vendors to capture general information about how end users utilize their products along with installed platform and version information.
  • the live metrics tool collects details from the installed user base and sends them to a central server which aggregates the data.
  • Live metrics usage reports give a picture of overall usage patterns across the installed user base rather than reporting on the specific behavior of any individual user. Individual installations are identified by an anonymous identification so that end user confidentiality is assured.
  • trial optimization is a process of persuading the maximum number of users to buy a product after the trial period expires.
  • Trial optimization utilizes tools used to analyze website traffic and shopping cart behavior. The goal is to determine where users enter and exit the site and the buying process, and then modify site design or other variables to encourage trial users to become paying customers. Through careful measurement and analysis of online behavior, software publishers can pinpoint the precise spots in the trial process where customers lose interest. They can then take action to remedy those problems by refining download processes, installation procedures, site design or other variables. This in turn helps turn more "software testers" into buyers. Advantages of trial optimization are increased revenue, reduced support costs, better relationship with customers, and increased return on investment (ROI).
  • the trial optimization system seeks to send messages all end users. Further, it manages and delivers program updates to end users. Furthermore, it measures and gathers anonymous customer usage information.
  • Another advantage of the trial optimization system is that the messaging reaches all end users and messages are delivered contextually at the start of the program. Thus, the messages are far more likely to be clicked. Further, eligible users are notified of program updates and updates are made available by download resulting in a huge cost reduction. Vendors can track adoption, and there is also a considerable reduction in customer support costs. For user behavior, a customer can easily create a program to measure user usage and get larger customer groups with large data samples over time. Additionally, the customer can track changes during the setup process.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates screen shots for downloading components of trial optimization.
  • FIG. 2 shows a developer modifying an application shortcut from a target address.
  • FIG. 3 shows a developer running a trial optimization wizard.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates a developer copying target application setup files.
  • FIG. 5 illustrates a user starting a wrapped application for trial optimization.
  • FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram of live messaging with trial optimization.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates an example screen shot of a welcome message.
  • FIG. 8 shows an example screen shot of what a user sees with an add - on sale.
  • FIG. 9 shows an example screen shot of a third party offer.
  • FIG. 10 shows an example login screen shot for an administration console in trial optimization.
  • FIG. 11 illustrates an example main menu screen shot.
  • FIG. 12 illustrates a series of manage user screen shots from an administration console.
  • FIG. 13 shows a series of manage product screen shots.
  • FIG. 14 shows a sample manage messages screen shot in an administration console.
  • FIG. 15 illustrates an example manage updates screen shot.
  • FIG. 16 shows a reporting screen shot in an administration console.
  • FIG. 17 illustrates a flow chart of a user experience with live metrics tool.
  • FIG. 18 illustrates a flow chart for a live metrics tool setup.
  • FIG. 19 describes a flowchart for live metrics tool working in an application.
  • FIG. 20 illustrates a flowchart for live metrics tool working with PONG messaging system.
  • FIG. 21 shows an example PONG message window screen shot.
  • FIG. 22 shows a diagram of a sales funnel in trial optimization.
  • FIG. 23 illustrates a diagram for using self selection to segment customers.
  • FIG. 24 shows an example spreadsheet for use in trial optimization.
  • FIG. 25 illustrates a screen shot of one way of communicating with a customer in an application.
  • FIG. 26 illustrates an example of a user experience product detail page.
  • FIG. 27 illustrates an example of a product trial detail page.
  • FIG. 28 shows an example opt out cart screen shot.
  • FIG. 29 shows an example cart abandonment message.
  • FIG. 30 illustrates a screen shot of a main menu page for utilizing live messaging tool.
  • FIG. 31 illustrates a show segment page.
  • FIG. 32 shows an add segment page.
  • FIG. 33 illustrates a new segment message
  • FIG. 34 shows a screen shot for product administration.
  • FIG. 35 shows a screen shot of an edit segment page.
  • FIG. 36 illustrates a message for segment updates.
  • FIG. 37 shows a delete segment page.
  • FIG. 38 illustrates a message for segment deletion.
  • FIG. 39 shows an add live messaging page.
  • FIG. 40 shows a live messaging details table.
  • FIG. 41 further shows an add live messaging page.
  • FIG. 42 illustrates a screen shot of FIG. 41 with the options for subversion expanded.
  • FIG. 43 further illustrates a screen shot of FIG. 42 with an option for enter subversion selected.
  • FIG. 44 shows a screen shot of a segment identification (ID) field options expanded.
  • FIG. 45 shows a screen shot with a buy now uniform resource locator (URL) box selected.
  • URL uniform resource locator
  • FIG. 46 illustrates a message for new PONG insertion.
  • FIG. 47 illustrates a message for updating a PONG.
  • FIG. 48 shows a screen shot of live messaging with tabs and a banner image.
  • FIG. 49 shows a live metrics file packaged in the sources of a dummy application.
  • FIG. 50 illustrates a screen shot for a modified shortcut.
  • FIG. 51 shows an application sources folder.
  • FIG. 52 illustrates setup files copied into an application sources folder.
  • FIG. 53 shows an images folder.
  • trial optimization there are no changes required to an independent software vendor (ISV) source code.
  • ISV independent software vendor
  • Trial optimization is implemented with less than thirty lines of "wrapper" code added to the setup, and a wizard creates this code.
  • the "wrapper” calls an application and initiates message delivery by connecting the client agent and the server side component.
  • To get started with trial optimization a user would first download trial optimization components and then modify application shortcuts. The user would run a wizard and wrap the application to begin a startup process.
  • FIG. 1 for downloading the components of the system, a developer extracts contents of a trial optimization developer's kit 100 to a folder 102.
  • FIG. 2 shows the developer modifying 106 an application shortcut 108 from a target address 104.
  • FIG. 3 shows the developer running a trial optimization wizard.
  • step one 110 of the wizard the developer enters product information.
  • step two 112 of the wizard the developer enters message settings in the fields provided.
  • step three 114 of the wizard the developer enters customization settings. All three steps are saved to a configuration data file 116.
  • the developer 118 copies target application setup files 120. These files are copied to an application sources folder 124.
  • the developer 118 then creates 122 a wrapped installation installer 126. As shown in FIG.
  • FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram of live messenger 138.
  • the user starts the application and in the background 140, a live ware client checks a registry entry 152 to see when the last message was delivered.
  • the application pings 144 a server 150 for a message for the user's defined product identification (ID).
  • the server component delivers 146 the message.
  • the message can be delivered based on segmentation information like operating systems (OS), program usage, and locale to better match user targets. Error messages never display if a connection is unavailable, server side message is unavailable, unusual proxy, or firewall issues prevent connection.
  • the message is displayed 142 in an appropriate screen 148.
  • OS operating systems
  • Live messaging also can be used to sell product upgrades, sell add - on products, maintenance plans, services, training, books, related company products and third party products. Furthermore, live messaging can be used to provide tips, techniques, training events and web seminars.
  • FIG. 7 shows a sample screen 156 of what the user sees with an add - on sale. The user receives the offer when their attention is focused and therefore more likely to purchase.
  • FIG. 9 shows a third party offer example 158.
  • the business can send offers for partner's software, thereby increasing third party sales. Live messaging works effectively by reaching every customer at the best contextual time and reaches the actual user, not just the purchaser. There is no way to block messages without manually turning them off, and one can send different messages to different product IDs. With live messaging, the user can expect to increase trial optimization conversion and increase direct sales.
  • a live metrics tool tracks customer usage and allows the business to better understand how the programs and hardware are used.
  • the business can gather anonymous usage information by product version, track which features are used and which are infrequently used, and determine how often a product is used and for what duration.
  • the hardware manufacturers can measure any function accessible by the driver. Advantages include gathering large samples of anonymous user information over large periods of product usage. Live metrics has an inexpensive, aggregated approach which allows vendors to make sound future product decisions and investments based on extensive product usage.
  • Live metrics tool includes substantial reporting capabilities such as registration statistics, download data, setup data, application data, usage intensity, frequency of usage, operating system statistics, and trial conversion rate.
  • An administration console allows secure accessibility from the internet. The administration console can manage users, product IDs, messages, updates and product segments. The console also allows access and export reports.
  • FIG. 10 shows an example login screen 160 for the administration console.
  • an example main menu screen 162 is shown.
  • the business can alter user administrator settings 164 by adding or changing users and editing login settings.
  • the business can also change product settings 166 by managing live bits tools, live messaging and segmentation information for the administration console.
  • the business can view and change report settings 168 by download data, registration data, setup data, application data, absolute usage, usage intensity, operating system stats, and trial conversion.
  • the business can click under help 170 to view a user manual, view steps to methcize, or to download the application wrapper.
  • FIG. 12 illustrates a series of manage user screens 172 in the administration console as a sample.
  • FIG. 13 shows a series of manage product screens 174
  • FIG. 14 shows a sample manage messages screen 176 in the administration console.
  • FIG. 15 illustrates a manage updates sample screen 178. This screen shows an example of managing the live bits tool, with fields to fill in product IDs and descriptions.
  • FIG. 16 shows a reporting screen 180 in the administration console. By choosing a product name, start and end date, a report will be run for trial conversions.
  • a live loops tool is utilized to communicate between clients and servers. Live loops is an application independent hypertext transfer (HTTP) based protocol that enables seamless communication between clients and servers.
  • HTTP hypertext transfer
  • Live loops application utilizes industry standards and works over firewalls and proxies. It can be used for registration, surveys, application updates, etc.
  • a live bits tool informs users of new program updates. Vendors can then automatically send updates and detect if the user is eligible for the update.
  • Advantages include reduced customer support costs since significant number of support calls can be tracked to outdated versions. Moreover, the traditional physical fulfillment costs are reduced. Live bits also highlights the value of maintenance contracts.
  • live metrics supports client application setup tracking, usage tracking, data submission, and reporting.. It can also be used in a variety of applications like improving conversions, product usage and more.
  • live metrics the user can track usage, determine what to track and how, gather client system information, and have opt-in decisions.
  • FIG. 17 illustrates a flow chart of a user experience with live metrics tool.
  • Live metrics workflow at the client side begins with the user 184 manually initiating a wrapper setup 186 on a user machine 182. The setup 186 will then ask the user 194 for permission to participate 188 in live metrics. This involves capturing various details like setup launch time, end time, setup status, user's machine configuration details, etc. If the user 184 chooses yes, then a unique ID is generated and stored in a registry.
  • a live metrics framework on the user's machine 182
  • launches the target setup and collects information about the user's machine 182 details. These details are written to a metrics file 192.
  • This is an extended markup language (XML) file and contains a unique ID. At this point the installation as seen by the user 184 is complete.
  • the metrics file 192 is then uploaded to a server 194. If the user 184 chooses no, then the wrapper setup 186 launches a target setup that completes the installation and stops 194.
  • live metrics workflow at the server side begins when the metrics file 192 is uploaded to the server 194 and it is seen by a batch process running on the server 194.
  • the batch process parses the metrics file 192 and the parsed file so obtained is inserted into a database 196.
  • FIG. 18 illustrates a flow chart for live metrics setup.
  • Client side activity begins 198 with the user manually launching an application shortcut 199.
  • the user decides 200 whether to participate in live metrics or not. This would allow capturing machine specifications. If yes, then a unique ID is generated 202 and stored in a registry. Then the live metrics framework is installed 204. If no, then the process heads straight to launching 206 a target setup. It will then check if a metrics upload time period has lapsed. This can be set to a week or a month or any specific time period. If the user has agreed 209 to information capturing, then it captures 210 information such as setup status, setup launch time, end time, computer configuration and writes to a metrics file 214. Installation is then complete 216 and the metrics file 214 is uploaded to the server. If the user has not agreed 209 to information capturing, then the process skips capturing information and instead installation is complete 212 and the rest of the process stops 208.
  • the server first saves 220 the file 222 locally.
  • a batch process that runs once a day on the server processes the uploaded files.
  • the batch process parses 224 the uploaded files and inserts data into the database 226. From the database 226 there is reporting 228 of the information in the file 222 and then the server side activity stops 230.
  • Application client side activity starts 232 by the user manually launching 234 the application shortcut.
  • This shortcut which points to the wrapper application, launches the wrapper application. It will then check 236 if the metrics upload time period has lapsed. This can be set to a week or a month or any specific time period. If yes, then it uploads 238 the existing metrics files to the server and then launches 240 the target application. If no, then it will directly launch 240 the target application. System information such application status, launch time, end time etc. is again captured 242 and saved to a metrics file 246. The launch is then complete 248 and the process stops 250.
  • the server side activity starts with the server saving 252 the file 254 locally.
  • a batch process that runs once a day on the server processes the uploaded files. Then, the batch process parses 256 the uploaded files and inserts data into the database 258. As with FIG. 18, reporting 260 is done and the process stops 262.
  • live metrics tool For reporting with the live metrics tool, details are inserted into a database by a batch process that parses the XML based metrics files and decrypts if necessary. These details or the data in the database can be used to generate reports as per the user specifications and requirement.
  • the process by which live metrics tool gets integrated with a third party application is that first a customer hands over the setup of the product with which they want live metrics to be integrated. A live metrics setup is then built around the product setup. This setup includes live metrics framework components and modifications to application shortcuts to point to live metrics launcher application. The product with a wrapped Live Metrics function is returned to the customer. The product is then ready to be distributed. Logins for reporting access, etc. will be determined and managed separately.
  • An example metrics file code is shown below:
  • PONG is a pinging component that is used to serve messages such as upgrade information to a client machine.
  • PONG is similar to the live messaging tool.
  • PONG functions with live metrics tool on the client side by first (start 306) running 308 on the client machine and accepting a product ID. It then connects 310 to a server 294 and transfers product ID (this step can be integrated with live metrics level data submissions to the server). The server 294 looks up 296 the database 298 for any messages that map to the product ID. It then asks 300 if there is a message.
  • message content 302 is sent to the client 312 and displayed 314. The process is then stopped 316.
  • Message content 302 can include uniform resource locators (URLs), hyper text markup language (HTML) files, text, etc.
  • URLs uniform resource locators
  • HTML hyper text markup language
  • the most common kind of messaging content is a URL that can further take the user to additional information, download pages, and special offers. If there is no message at step 300, then the process stops 304.
  • a PONG message window 318 is shown in FIG. 21.
  • the actual presentation and content can be controlled by the client application or the PONG component on the client machine. This image is illustrative.
  • the sample data present in the PONG database is shown in Table 1. Actual data will vary.
  • trial optimization consists of three iterative steps: measure, assess, and modify.
  • Measure means to track traffic through the website, what pages are viewed and in what order, and where the traffic leaves the site. Assess is based on the metrics generated by the previous step, determine why the traffic followed the measured patterns, and identify changes that can be made to reduce the number of people who fail to complete the sales cycle.
  • Modify is to implement the recommended change, or a series of changes, and run A/B (comparison) tests between different changes to determine which one yields the best results. These steps are repeated on an ongoing basis to evaluate the results of any changes and fine-tune strategies accordingly. In this way, software vendors can achieve incremental increases in trial conversion rates that can translate into significant dollars. Referring now to FIG.
  • the goal is to move more consumers from one end of a sales funnel 322 and out the other.
  • Traffic enters 320 the top of the funnel (entry to a shopping cart), and the goal is to get everyone to drop through the bottom 326, that is, becoming a customer by purchasing something from the site.
  • Optimizing the shopping cart involves measuring where people fall out of the funnel (site flow 324). For example, this could be at the home page, product detail page, store or catalog page, or the shopping cart page. With an understanding of where, one can then assess why, identify alternatives to reduce the fall out, implement and test those changes, and start the process again.
  • Trial optimization involves understanding user behavior related to a trial application, and then altering variables such as web page design or explanations of product benefits in order to change that behavior and thereby drive conversions to a paid license.
  • Trial optimization is unique to every product and every site. Very rarely will two different trial products demonstrate the same behavior. Very rarely will one software product behave the same on separate download pages or download sites. This complexity can be reduced by establishing a standard measurement process related to trials that can be applied across all products and all sites. With this kind of measurement process, one can measure performance and compare results for any combination of products and sites.
  • the standard trial optimization measurement process is comprised of the following stages: Download page hit, Download link click-through, Download start, Download stop, Install start, Install stop, Product use / start, Product use / stop, Shopping cart, and Order confirmation (payment completed).
  • Trial optimization is an attempt to minimize the fallout or drop-off at each level of the funnel in order to maximize the number of people that reach the bottom, or paid use.
  • the first step is to measure the funnel. The goal is to be able to trace the flow through the funnel. In other words, it is to trace how many people come and go at each stage of the process.
  • FIG. 23 a diagram for using self selection to segment customers into price and time sensitive streams is shown. It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that customers are either price sensitive or time sensitive. Buyers who purchase directly 328 are time sensitive. They need the software immediately, and are the ideal customers because money is exchanged directly.
  • free trial opt out customers 330 have a free trial for a specified time period. After the specified time they will be charged 332 for the software unless they take an action, such as canceling 334. These customers are also good for the business. Free trial opt in customers 336 are price sensitive because the trial expires after a certain period of time and the customer needs to choose whether to continue and pay 338 or do nothing 340.
  • FIG. 23 shows just one area of information to analyze for trial optimization.
  • Web analytics systems that collect data on website traffic patterns provide valuable information on how many people enter the funnel, navigate to a download page, and the path taken by users to get to the download stage or page. These systems also provide visibility into the number of people who move from the trial product into the shopping cart, and then to converted or paid use as reflected on the order confirmation page.
  • a download manager that is capable of measuring and reporting on download statistics will help one track users from the start of the download to completion to determine how many abandon the process along the way.
  • Additional information such as operating system, total bytes transferred, start and stop time stamps, and a success flag indicating whether the download was completed successfully can reveal download difficulties that may be sabotaging the trial process.
  • In-product measurement tools such as third-party products that essentially wrap an installer with an installer for a measurement application can uncover problems in the installation process. This third-party installer, which can be branded to ones' standards, installs the metrics tool and takes a time stamp of the start of installation. It then initiates the actual product's installer. When the product install is complete, the metrics tool records a time stamp of the installation completion stage, then exits. All of this information is written to disk for transmission to a central server at some predetermined time and frequency.
  • An e-commerce provider's revenue reports will provide revenue information that indicates how many people actually reach the purchase stage. This can be combined with data from a web analytics tool showing traffic to the order confirmation page to paint a complete picture of the number of people who succeed in moving through the entire sales funnel. With all of these tools deployed, the focus shifts to gathering the data. It is important to collect enough data to ensure that one has sufficient information to determine user behavior patterns. For manual calculations, data is collected for at least three to four weeks, depending on download volume. For automated analyses, the analytic software will provide the statistically significant sample size based on expected volume in a given time frame. When the measurement period is complete, it is possible to develop a spreadsheet 342 that is similar to what is displayed in FIG. 24.
  • the trial optimization process moves to the analysis and assessment phase.
  • the objective here is to determine where prospective customers leave the sales funnel and why.
  • every user will move through every level of the funnel from top to bottom, creating a 1 :1 conversion ratio between every stage. That is, every person who hits the download page will initiate the download. everybody who initiates the download completes the download successfully. But this never happens. There is always fallout from one stage to the next.
  • the data gathered can provide valuable insight for reducing this fallout moving forward. First, compare the actual revenue gained to what the revenue could have been with a complete 1 :1 conversion ratio all the way through the funnel. The difference between these two amounts is the revenue opportunity. In the example in FIG.
  • FIG. 25 illustrates a screen shot 344 example of a way of communicating with a customer in an application.
  • FIG. 26 illustrates an example user experience product detail page 346. A try now 348 button allows the user to proceed to trial download.
  • FIG. 27 illustrates an example product trial detail page 350 that the user would see when downloading the trial product.
  • FIG. 28 shows an example opt out cart screen shot 352. Here the user can sign up for a trial offer and simultaneously opt out.
  • FIG. 29 shows an example cart abandonment message (or POP) 354. This message shows one way of communicating to the customer that they can proceed with trial download without paying immediately for the product, thereby increasing the chance that the customer will change their mind about abandoning.
  • POP cart abandonment message
  • a live messaging component that is used to serve messages such as upgrade information to a client machine.
  • Live messaging works alongside a segmenting component that is used to add, edit, and delete messages among segments of existing products in a database.
  • a screen shot 356 example for using the live messaging pages is shown in FIG. 30.
  • users will have access to submenus. Here they can view, add, edit, and delete segment details or they can add, view, edit pong, and edit live messaging details (shown in circles 358).
  • a segment is a set of certain criteria based on operating system, usage count, number of days since last used and average time usage on which live messaging will be shown to the user.
  • Add/View/Ed it/Delete Segment details 358 link on the main menu page from FIG. 30 After clicking on this link, a show segment page 360 will be displayed as seen in FIG. 31. Here the user can edit 362, delete 364, or add segment 366. Add segment 366 will insert the information for a particular segment. On click, an add segment page 368 is shown as seen in FIG. 32. Table 2 explains details about fields on the add segment page 368.
  • an add live messaging page 412 (or add pong) displays, as shown in FIG. 41.
  • Table 3 explains the fields shown in FIG. 41.
  • FIG. 42 illustrates a screen shot 462 of FIG. 41 with the options for subversion expanded.
  • FIG. 43 further illustrates a screen shot 464 of FIG. 42 with an option for enter subversion selected.
  • FIG. 44 shows a screen shot 466 of segment ID field options expanded.
  • FIG. 45 shows a screen shot 468 with the show buy now URL box selected, revealing a field for buy now URL.
  • FIG. 48 shows an example screen shot 476 of live messaging with tabs and a banner image at the bottom.
  • the pages which need to be displayed on the live messaging tabs can be in HTML, active server page (ASP), active server page framework (ASPX), hypertext pre-processor (PHP) or any browser supported format.
  • the size of the page is pre-defined to prevent scrolling.
  • Links can be assigned to selected parts of the images on the page by mapping the image with links.
  • the image 478 at the bottom of the live message screen shot 476 is known as a banner Image.
  • the banner URL specified at the time of adding live messaging (See FIG. 41) will direct to this banner image.
  • metricize means to enable an application to report metrics data.
  • Live metrics supports client application setup tracking, usage tracking, data submission, and reporting. It can also be used in a variety of applications like improving conversions, and product usage, thus helping vendors to gauge user patterns and analyze trends.
  • the process of enabling any third party application to report metrics data is referred to "metricizing" hereafter.
  • Each application that is to be methcized is wrapped in a setup called as a LIVEMETRICS Wrapper setup.
  • the LIVEMETRICS Wrapper setup acts as a container for the end party application that is to be metricized.
  • the LIVEMETRICS Wrapper setup displays a dialog box that will ask the end user for permission to report metrics data. Based on whether the end user opts to report metrics data, the requisite files will be installed on the user's end machine.
  • the setup invokes the third party application setup and reports metrics data to the server (if the user agrees for metrics data to be collected).
  • the process does not require changes in the sources of the third party application files. The only changes that are required would need to be done in the sources of the setup file.
  • each product should have its own LiveMetrics.ini file. Also, each product should have a globally unique identifier (GUID).
  • the LiveMetrics.ini file contains information about target setup, live message setting information, XML file upload setting and vendor settings which will in turn be used by the LiveMethcs Wrapper file to identify the product being installed. This file is created and then placed into the folder that contains the sources for the setup.
  • the information that is to be contained in a LiveMetrics.ini file is product information such as application name, product GUID, version number, product name, setup title, company name, company banner name, show participation dialog, optln, SubVersionRegKey, SubVersionRegPath, ShowLiveMessage, BUILDREGKEY, and BUILDREGPATH. Descriptions of the various fields related to product information are shown in Table 4 (assuming that an application "Foo" is to be metricized). Table 4 - Fields related to product information utilized by live metrics tool
  • Table 5 shows descriptions of the various fields related to Live Message setting.
  • Table 6 shows descriptions of the various fields related to XML file upload in trial optimization.
  • Table 7 shows descriptions of fields related to customization.
  • Table 8 shows descriptions of the various fields related to vendors in trial optimization.
  • ⁇ wrapperpath> is the path where Live Metrics wrapper is installed.
  • the live metrics wrapper will typically exist in a path such as " ⁇ Program Files ⁇ Common Files ⁇ LiveMethcs ⁇ appname> ⁇ LMWrapper.exe”.
  • “Foo” it will be " ⁇ Program Files ⁇ Common Files ⁇ l_iveMetrics ⁇ Foo ⁇ LMWrapper.exe”.
  • ⁇ space> is blank space that should be provided after the ⁇ wrapperpath>.
  • ⁇ appname> is the third party application that is to be launched on clicking the shortcut.
  • LiveMetrics.ini file 490 is copied into this folder.
  • an images folder 492 is created inside the application sources 488 folder with two images with different resolutions (494 and 496) and an lcon.ico file 498 of the application.
  • the specifications for the images are explained in Table 10. This is the last step in the process.
  • the application that is to be metricized is ready for distribution.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne un système et un procédé d'optimisation de version d'essai qui consiste à persuader un maximum d'utilisateurs d'acheter un produit après que la période d'essai ait expiré. Le but est de déterminer à quel moment les utilisateurs entrent dans le processus d'achat et sortent de celui-ci, et de modifier ensuite des variables pour encourager des utilisateurs de version d'essai à acheter. L'optimisation de version d'essai comprend trois composants : une messagerie opérationnelle, des bits opérationnels, et des métriques opérationnelles. Avec la messagerie opérationnelle, les fournisseurs peuvent atteindre des utilisateurs par des messages internes à l'application ciblés. Ces messages sont contextualisés. Des bits opérationnels permettent la diffusion en continu de mises à jour de données directement sur le bureau d'un utilisateur, en permettant à des entreprises de personnaliser des mises à jour. Des métriques opérationnelles permettent à des fournisseurs de capturer des informations sur la façon dont les utilisateurs finaux utilisent des produits. Les métriques opérationnelles rassemblent des détails à partir de la base d'utilisateur installée et les envoie à un serveur central qui agrège les données. Grâce à la mesure et l'analyse du comportement, les éditeurs de logiciel peuvent identifier des points dans le processus de version d'essai où les clients n'y trouvent plus d'intérêt, et convertir plus d'utilisateurs de version d'essai en acheteurs.
PCT/US2008/071382 2007-07-27 2008-07-28 Système et procédé d'optimisation de version d'essai WO2009018228A1 (fr)

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Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2012036598A1 (fr) * 2010-09-14 2012-03-22 Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (Publ) Procédé et configuration de segmentation de clients de télécommunications
CN116561603A (zh) * 2023-07-10 2023-08-08 深圳益普睿达市场咨询有限责任公司 一种基于数据分析的用户匹配方法及装置

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20020143568A1 (en) * 2001-03-27 2002-10-03 Masakatsu Nakamura Trial management system, program, and computer readable recording medium recording the program
US20030088515A1 (en) * 1999-12-31 2003-05-08 Cooper Thomas Edward Installing and controlling trial software
US20050251489A1 (en) * 1996-02-26 2005-11-10 Coley Christopher D Method for evaluating software freely distributed over the internet
US20070027767A1 (en) * 2005-08-01 2007-02-01 Tsunetaka Akagane Server apparatus, system, and method for managing use of software

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20050251489A1 (en) * 1996-02-26 2005-11-10 Coley Christopher D Method for evaluating software freely distributed over the internet
US20030088515A1 (en) * 1999-12-31 2003-05-08 Cooper Thomas Edward Installing and controlling trial software
US20020143568A1 (en) * 2001-03-27 2002-10-03 Masakatsu Nakamura Trial management system, program, and computer readable recording medium recording the program
US20070027767A1 (en) * 2005-08-01 2007-02-01 Tsunetaka Akagane Server apparatus, system, and method for managing use of software

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2012036598A1 (fr) * 2010-09-14 2012-03-22 Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (Publ) Procédé et configuration de segmentation de clients de télécommunications
CN116561603A (zh) * 2023-07-10 2023-08-08 深圳益普睿达市场咨询有限责任公司 一种基于数据分析的用户匹配方法及装置
CN116561603B (zh) * 2023-07-10 2023-09-01 深圳益普睿达市场咨询有限责任公司 一种基于数据分析的用户匹配方法及装置

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