United States. (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2013/ A1 Koonce et al. (43) Pub. Date: Oct. 10, 2013 (19) (54) (71) (72)

Transcription

1 (19) United States US A1 (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2013/ A1 Koonce et al. (43) Pub. Date: Oct. 10, 2013 (54) (71) (72) (21) (22) (63) SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZATION OF VIRAL MARKETING EFFORTS ApplicantszRyan Michael Koonce, Austin, TX (US); James Newton Calhoun, Ross, CA (US); David Allen Bell, Berkeley, CA (US); Sage Bray, San Francisco, CA (Us) Inventors: Ryan Michael Koonce, Austin, TX (US); James Newton Calhoun, Ross, CA (US); David Allen Bell, Berkeley, CA (US); Sage Bray, San Francisco, CA (Us) Appl. No.: 13/858,772 Filed: Apr. 8, 2013 Related US. Application Data Continuation of application No. 13/424,302,?led on Mar. 19, 2012, now Pat. No. 8,417,558, Which is a continuation of application No. 11/900,589,?led on Sep. 12, 2007, now Pat. No. 8,140, > m /8 (60) Provisional application No. 60/843,789,?led on Sep. 12, 2006, provisional application No. 60/918,088,?led on Mar. 15, Publication Classi?cation (51) Int. Cl. G06Q 30/02 ( ) (52) US. Cl. CPC..... G06Q 30/0244 ( ) USPC /14.43 (57) ABSTRACT Systems and methods for optimizing viral marketing efforts are disclosed in Which a trial a viral marketing trial program is presented to a user. The viral marketing trial program includes a user incentive as Well as a plurality of user tasks that needs to be completed to receive the user incentive. One or more user reactions to the plurality of user tasks are moni tored; user feedback in accordance With the one or more user reactions is collected, the user feedback is analyzed using one or more metrics and the viral marketing trial program is adjusted in accordance With the analyzed user feedback. 18 > m 18 > E 18 > m 18 > m

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12 Patent Application Publication Oct. 10, 2013 Sheet 11 of 16 US 2013/ A1 111 Header Image I " _ \ Invite your friends to adopt your earth! My Friends Network / _,f Check all the boxes so you get your FREE $25 Gift Card 1144 <Condition copy and links>/1134 STD IMPORTER BUTTONS M Status Con?rmed Adopted AND COPY 1146 f y Earth. STD STD 1148f <users ema l> Checkbox Checkbox 1123 \ Copy and paste the text below into message. Send the to everyone My Friends 1120 i you think would like to learn more about \ <1 participating in earthscreen. You can l,- 1 send from any account. Standard l ' Q / Friends 5 5 l I List STD sro : : (5 is base case) Checkboxes Checkboxes : l l I 11 6 I : COPY AND PASTE BOX <Conditional offer button / link> : I : 1153 \,-\ Special Bonus When youn adopt your earth you will be I : I entered in the Belize Eco Adventure I l Sweepstakes. You ll also get an additional ' 1138 \ entry for every friend thatjoins and also I \\adopts some earth tool I I I '\ STD COPY AND PASTE HELP Youncurrently have x sweepstakes entries,' m Standard Footer Fig. 11 l l

13 Patent Application Publication Oct. 10, 2013 Sheet 12 0f 16 US 2013/ A Invitation lno Yes Landing Terminate Page lno 1 Yes S T. Invite erminate Page 3 NO Yes S 1214/» I Status Terminate Page es / V NO 1216 Offer Page Terminate Yes No S Terminate Yes No Redeem. Page Terminate M1226 Fig. 12

14 Patent Application Publication Oct. 10, 2013 Sheet 13 0f 16 US 2013/ A invitation No 1306 Yes. Terminate Register 1 304,. No Yes, Q Terminate invite 1310 N Yes w Terminate offer Action - Terminate Terminate No 2 v Fig; 1.3

15 Patent Application Publication Oct. 10, 2013 Sheet 14 0f 16 US 2013/ A \. Initiate Different Trials A 1430 \ Replace All Collect $, Trials With Action, Regist One Trial Data \ Yes 95 And 1.Replace All Action Data Trials With z Elevated Trial No 1431 Yes Plurality 1435 Trials > Resist Regist. Yes Data And Action Data 1432 Yes \. No Substitute Elevated <- Non-elevated Trials FOl' Trials Y $ 1455 One Trial > Action Data No es 1461 And Regist. Data No P Ura ity NO Substitiite Elevated 1460 \ Yes Trials > Action Trials For _ Data Non-elevated Trials Replace All Trials With One Trial Yes Substitute Elevated <- Trials For Non-elevated Trials Fig. 14

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18 US 2013/ A1 Oct. 10,2013 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZATION OF VIRAL MARKETING EFFORTS RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority to currently pend ing US. Provisional Application No. 60/843,789?led Sep. 12, 2006 by the inventor s named in this application and US. Provisional Application No. 60/918,088?led Mar. 15, 2007 by the inventors named in this application, the disclosures of both of Which are hereby incorporated herein by this refer ence. BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY [0002] The disclosed system and method relate to market ing systems and more particularly to viral marketing systems and programs. [0003] Many marketing systems are recognized by the mar keting and advertising industry for communicating informa tion about a product or service to potential consumers. One form of communication is Word-of-mouth communication Which is generally considered to be the passing of informa tion by verbal means, especially recommendations, but also general information, in an informal, person-to-person man ner, rather than by mass media, advertising, organized publi cation, or traditional marketing. While the term Word-of mouth communication implies a spoken form of communication, other forms of passing information between individuals are encompassed Within the phrase including Written forms of communication. With the advent of com puter networks and in particularly the internet, Web dialogue, such as blogs, message boards and s are often now included in the de?nition of Word-of-mouth communication. [0004] Word-of-mouth marketing or Word-of-mouth promotion is a term used in the marketing and advertising industry to describe activities that companies undertake to generate personal recommendations as Well as referrals for brand names, products and services. Word-of-mouth promo tion is highly valued by advertisers. It is believed that this form of communication has valuable source credibility. Research points to individuals being more inclined to believe Word-of-mouth promotion than more formal forms of promo tion methods because the receiver of Word-of-mouth referrals may believe that the communicator is unlikely to have an ulterior motive (i.e.: they are not receiving an incentive for their referrals.) Also, people tend to believe people Who they know. In order to promote and manage Word-of-mouth com munications, marketers use publicity techniques as Well as viral marketing methods to achieve desired behavioral response. [0005] Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that seek to exploit pre-existing social networks to produce exponential increases in brand aware ness, through viral processes similar to the spread of an epi demic. It is Word-of-mouth delivered and enhanced online; it harnesses the network effect of the Internet and can be very useful in reaching a large number of people rapidly. [0006] One perceived limitation of Word-of-mouth/viral marketing is that While companies have achieved success in generating sustained viral growth for various marketing pro motions, it is dif?cult to predict the success of a viral market ing campaign as success is often a matter of creative chance rather than mathematical or scienti?c principles. Further more, there have been limited successes in generating rev enue as the direct result of speci?c viral marketing cam paigns. [0007] The disclosed system and method of marketing facilitates repeatable viral marketing success from a distribu tion standpoint While allowing the marketer to motivate a desired consumer action not necessarily related to the viral mechanism. The disclosed business process attempts to lever age proprietary Word-of-mouth and viral marketing tech niques to motivate the maximum number of participants to complete one or more pre-de?ned consumer action(s) for the minimal cost. In doing so, the business process accounts for and manipulates the inverse correlation between Word-of mouth/viral marketing (generating new participants by exploiting social networks) and the ability to motivate a con sumer action (selling a product, etc). The process preferably uses trials and analytics to achieve these and other busi ness purposes. [0008] The disclosed system and method include a trial process and an analytical suite. The analytical suite takes as inputs the data generated by users interacting With the trial. The outputs of the analytical suite form the basis of a decision making process. The objective of the decision making process is to optimize the invitation process to achieve the maxi mum number of participants, While simultaneously achieving the maximum number of desired consumer actions While minimizing the cost. The challenges presented by the optimi Zation problem are derived from the countervailing nature of these business objectives. [0009] In accordance With one aspect of the disclosure, a method of improving the performance of a viral marketing program comprises developing a plurality of trials of a viral marketing program Wherein each of the plurality of trials have a plurality of attributes at least one of Which differs from an attribute of the other of the plurality of trials and Wherein the viral marketing program has a business objective; exposing a?rst plurality of users to a?rst trial of the plurality of trials and a second plurality of users to a second trial of the plurality of trials; collecting?rst data indicative of the?rst plurality of users responses to exposure to the?rst trial Which collected?rst data is re?ective of the likelihood of the?rst trial obtain ing the business objective and second data indicative of the second plurality of users responses to exposure to the second trial Which collected second data is re?ective of the likelihood of the second trial obtaining the business objective; compar ing the collected data to identify a trial of the plurality of trials of viral marketing program that is more likely to obtain the business objective than a non-identi?ed trial; and continuing to utilize the identi?ed trial in the viral marketing program While ceasing use of a non-identi?ed trial. [0010] According to another aspect of the disclosure, a computer implemented method of improving the perfor mance of a viral marketing program comprises developing a plurality of trials of a viral marketing program Wherein each of the plurality of trials have a plurality of attributes at least one of Which differs from an attribute of the other of the plurality of trials and Wherein the viral marketing program has a business objective; exposing a?rst plurality of users to a?rst trial of the plurality of trials utilizing a?rst invitation sent over a computer network and a second plurality of users to a second trial of the plurality of trials utilizing a second invitation sent over the computer network; collecting via the computer network?rst data indicative of the?rst plurality of users responses to exposure to the?rst trial Which collected

19 US 2013/ A1 Oct. 10,2013?rst data is re?ective of the likelihood of the?rst trial obtain ing the business objective and second data indicative of the second plurality of users responses to exposure to the second trial Which collected second data is re?ective of the likelihood of the second trial obtaining the business objective; compar ing utilizing a processor the collected data to identify a trial of the plurality of trials of the viral marketing program that is more likely to obtain the business objective than a non-iden ti?ed trial; and continuing to utilize the identi?ed trial in the viral marketing program While ceasing use of a non-identi?ed trial. [0011] According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, a system for improving viral marketing programs comprises a server, a computer network and a plurality of clients. The server is con?gured to act as a host Web-server for commu nications With Web clients and is con?gured to generate a plurality of Web pages. The server includes memory and a processor. The computer network is coupled to the server. The plurality of clients are coupled via the computer network to the server via Which a plurality of users may access Web pages generated by the server. The clients run a Web browser. The processor runs software con?gured to develop a plurality of trials of a viral marketing program Wherein each of the plu rality of trials have a plurality of attributes at least one of Which differs from an attribute of the other of the plurality of trials and Wherein the viral marketing program has a business objective. The server is con?gured to expose a?rst plurality of users to a?rst trial of the plurality of trials utilizing a?rst invitation sent over a computer network to a client and to expose a second plurality of users to a second trial of the plurality of trials utilizing a second invitation sent over the computer network. The server is con?gured to collect?rst data indicative of the?rst plurality of users responses to exposure to the?rst trial Which collected?rst data is re?ective of the likelihood of the?rst trial obtaining the business obj ec tive. The server is con?gured to collect second data indicative of the second plurality of users responses to exposure to the second trial Which collected second data is re?ective of the likelihood of the second trial obtaining the business objective. The server is con?gured to store the?rst and second data in memory. The processor is con?gured to access memory to retrieve the collected?rst and second data and compare the collected data to identify a trial of the plurality of trials of viral marketing program that is more likely to obtain the business objective than a non-identi?ed trial. [0012] Additional features and advantages of the invention Will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consid eration of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0013] The present invention is illustrated by Way of example and not limitation in the?gures of the accompanying drawings in Which like references indicate similar elements and in Which: [0014] FIG. 1 is ablock diagram of a system for implement ing the disclosed viral marketing process; [0015] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of six trials of a viral marketing process; [0016] FIG. 3 is a relational diagram of twelve seed users each inviting one to three invitees into a viral marketing system; [0017] FIG. 4 is a relational diagram of the parent child relationship between a single seed user, the seed user s invi tees and invitees invited by other invitees of a viral marketing system; [0018] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a?rst landing page utilized With the?rst and second trial of FIG. 2; [0019] FIG. 6 is a block diagram ofa second landing page utilized With the third and fourth trial of FIG. 2; [0020] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a third landing page utilized With the?fth and sixth trial of FIG. 2; [0021] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a?rst invite page utilized With the?rst and second trial of FIG. 2; [0022] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a second invite page utilized With the third and fourth trial of FIG. 2; [0023] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a third invite page utilized With the?fth and sixth trial of FIG. 2; [0024] FIG. 11 is a block trial of a status page utilized With the?rst and second trial of FIG. 2; [0025] FIG. 12 is a binary decision tree representing a simpli?ed trial?ow for and Web mediums; [0026] FIG. 13 is a fundamental binary decision tree of the invitation process. [0027] FIG. 14 is a?ow diagram of one embodiment ofa method of optimizing a viral marketing program; [0028] FIG. 15 is a?ow diagram of a generic embodiment of optimizing a viral marketing program; and [0029] FIG. 16 is a block diagram of the micro-site layer, analytics layer and communications layer of one embodiment of a hosted Web based technology platform. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0030] For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the disclosure, reference Will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and described in the following Written speci?cation. It is understood that no limitation to the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. It is further understood that the present invention includes any alterations and modi?cations to the illustrated embodiments and includes further applications of the principles of the dis closure as Would normally occur to one skilled in the art to Which this invention pertains. [0031] The disclosed system and method preferably seek to achieve one or more of three fundamental business objec tives: l) maximizing the number of participants in a program; 2) maximizing the number and/ or amount of desired con sumer actions for the program; and 3) minimizing the outlay required for business objectives 1 and/or 2. In order to achieve these business objectives, the disclosed system and method expose users to trials, measure the virality of the trial and the rate of completion for desired consumer actions and, based on measurements and the cost of any motivators or incentives offered to induce actions, expose user groups to updated trials to increase or decrease virality [or increase or decrease the rate of consumers completing the desired actions]. [0032] In a preferred embodiment the disclosed viral mar keting optimization system 8 and method are implemented in an interne environment. As shown in FIG. 1, the system 8 includes a server 10 communicatively coupled to memory 12 Which may include a database 14. In one embodiment, server 10 is con?gured to act as a host Web-server for communica tions With Web clients. Seed users 16 Who may have a network connection 18 With the server 10 act to invite other users or invitees 20 to engage in trials of viral marketing processes hosted by the server 10. Data stored in memory 12 and/or

20 US 2013/ A1 Oct. 10,2013 database 14 is accessible by an analytical suite 23. An adver tiser, Who may be the party implementing the server 10 and controlling the viral marketing trials or a third party Wishing to gain exposure or increase sales, de?nes an objective for a viral marketing program. Third party advertisers may pay the party operating the server 10 and implementing the trials for their services. [0033] Although only one server 10 is shown in FIG. 1, it should be understood that viral marketing optimization sys tem 8 can include multiple server computers 10. The server computer 10 can include a personal computer, a computer terminal, a personal digital assistant (PDA) and/or other types of devices generally known to those of ordinary skill in the art. [0034] As illustrated, the viral marketing optimization sys tem 8 includes a processor 13, a clock 11 and memory 12. The viral marketing optimization system 8 can be located on a single server 10 or distributed over several servers. In one embodiment, the viral marketing optimization system 8 is incorporated into one or more Web servers. The processor 13 is used to control the operation of the viral marketing optimi Zation system 8. The processor 13 may be comprised of one or more components. For a multi component form of processor 13, one or more components may be located remotely relative to the others, or con?gured as a single unit. Furthermore, processor 13 can be embodied in a form having more than one processing unit, such as a multi-processor con?guration, and should be understood to collectively refer to such con?gura tions as Well as a single-processor-based arrangement. One or more components of the processor 13 may be of electronic variety de?ning digital circuitry, analog circuitry, or both. Processor 13 can be of a programmable variety responsive to software instructions, a hardwired state machine, or a com bination of these. [0035] The clock 11 is used to time events in the viral marketing optimization system 8. As should be appreciated, the clock 11 can be incorporated into the processor 13 or can be a stand-alone component. Further, the clock 11 can be hardware and/or software based. Among its many functions, the memory 12 in conjunction With the processor 13 is used to store data regarding the effectiveness of various trials of the viral marketing program. Memory 12 can include one or more types of solid state memory, magnetic memory, or optical memory, just to name a few. By Way of nonlimiting example, the memory 12 can include solid state electronic random access memory (RAM), sequential access memory (SAM), such as?rst-in,?rst-out (FIFO) variety or last-in,?rst-out (LIFO) variety, programmable read only memory (PROM), electronically programmable read only memory (EPROM), or electronically erasable programmable read only memory (BEPROM); an optical disc memory (such as a DVD or CD-ROM); a magnetically encoded hard disc,?oppy disc, tape, or cartridge media; or a combination of these memory types. In addition, the memory 12 may be volatile, non volatile, or a hybrid combination of volatile, non-volatile varieties. The memory 12 may further include removable memory Which can be in the form of a non-volatile electronic memory unit, optical memory disk (such as a DVD or CD ROM); a magnetically encoded hard disk,?oppy disk, tape, or cartridge media; or a combination of these or other remov able memory types. [0036] NetWork 22 can include the Internet, one or more other Wide area networks (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a proprietary network such as provided by America Online, Inc., an institutional network, a cable television net Work, a public switched telephone network (PSTN), a com bination of these, and/or other types of networks generally known to those skilled in the art. In one embodiment of the disclosed system 8, the network 22 includes the Internet. [0037] Seed users 16 and invitees 20, collectively referred to as users, access the viral marketing optimization system 8 through client devices 18. The clients 18 and the server 10 of the viral marketing optimization system 8 communicate With one another by sending signals across the network 22. In one form, these signals can include Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), HyperText Mark Up Language (HTML) pages, Extensible Mark Up Language (XML) Page, and other types transmission protocols. For example, the server 10 can send a signal corresponding to an With an embedded URL and a Web page form across the network 22 to the client 18. [0038] The user With client 18 can click on the URL and be presented With the associated Webpage Which may include a form,?ll out the form and send a signal corresponding to the?lled-out form across the network 22 to the server 10. By Way of non-limiting examples, the clients 18 can include personal computers, both?xed and portable; computer terminals; PDA s; cellular telephones, land line based telephones and the like; television systems, such as televisions, television based Web browsers, digital video recorders, analog video recorders, cable boxes, cable modems, direct broadcast sat ellite (DBS) boxes, digital versatile disc (DVD) players and video game systems; home entertainment systems, such as stereo equipment, MP3 players, and the like; sound produc tion equipment; video/movie production equipment; or a combination these components, to name a few examples. As shown, the clients 18 are operatively coupled to the server 10 over the network 22. It should be appreciated that the clients 18 can be operatively coupled to the server 10 through hard Wired and/or Wireless connections. The clients 18 are hard Wired and/ or have software that allows the clients 18 to com municate over the network 22. In one embodiment, the clients 18 are personal computers With software that can include applications, Web browsers, chat programs, and/or proprietary software. [0039] While the system 8 is described as being imple mented in a Web based environment, it is Within the scope of the disclosure for the system 8 and method of optimizing viral marketing to be implemented utilizing other media. For instance, other communication networks and media may be utilized in the trials including a telephone network. In such a system phone banks or automated operators may be utilized to collect the desired information from users and to process the actions and facilitate redemption of the motivators. Such systems may utilize menu driven DTMF recognition systems and voice prompt system to automate the interactions of the users With the system. Further a software program may be utilized to harvest information sent in a variety of manners by a user participating in a trial, for example, sent in a?ll-able form, or similar?le. [0040] Trials consist of a number of attributes that can be varied and include motivators, actions and an invitation pro cesses, Web process, and communication process. FIG. 2 illustrates the relationship of the attributes of six trials 201, 202, 203, 204, 205 and 206. In general, each trial is initiated by an invitation process 210 Which is the primary business process for exposing users to trials Illus tratively, the invitation process is initiated by one or more seed users. Each user (seed or other) is made an offer With

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