Method, system, and program product for increasing the effectiveness of customer contact strategies

1. A method of increasing the effectiveness of a customer contact strategy, the method comprising:

employing at least one computing device for:

compiling data related to a plurality of customers;

compiling data related to a plurality of promotion events;

transforming the customer data and promotion event data into data representing a plurality of customer events;

assigning a value to each of the plurality of customer events;

assigning each of the plurality of customer events to a bucket having a predefined range of values, based on the assigned value of each customer event; and

selecting a customer event from the bucket having the highest range of values.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

employing the at least one computing device for:

sorting each of the plurality of customer events in a bucket based on the value of each customer event.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning includes calculating a payoff ratio comprising a payback value of the customer event divided by a cost of the customer event.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

employing the at least one computing device for:

applying a saturation effect to at least one unselected customer event.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

employing the at least one computing device for:

validating the assignment of at least one customer event; and

in the case that the assignment of the at least one customer event is invalid, rebucketing the at least one customer event.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the steps is repeated until a target is reached, the target being selected from a group consisting of: selection of a predetermined number of customer events, accrual of a predetermined cost for all selected customer events, and achievement of a predetermined cumulative payoff ratio for all selected customer events.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

employing the at least one computing device for:

transferring the selected customer event to a bucket of selected customer events.

8. A system for increasing the effectiveness of a customer contact strategy, the system comprising:

at least one computing device;

a system for assigning a value to each of a plurality of customer events;

a system for assigning each of the plurality of customer events to a bucket having a predefined range of values, based on the assigned value of each customer event; and

a system for selecting a customer event from the bucket having the highest range of values.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

a system for sorting each of the plurality of customer events in a bucket based on the value of each customer event.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the system for assigning a value includes means for calculating a payoff ratio comprising a payback value of the customer event divided by a cost of the customer event.

11. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

a system for compiling data related to a plurality of customers;

a system for compiling data related to a plurality of promotion events; and

a system for assigning a value to each of the plurality of promotion events.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:

a system for determining a cannibalistic effect of at least one promotion event on at least one other promotion event.

13. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

a system for validating the assignment of at least one customer event, and, in the case that the assignment of the at least one customer event is invalid, rebucketing the at least one customer event.

14. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

a system for transferring the selected customer event to a bucket of selected customer events.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including a program product, which when executed, increases the efficiency of a customer contact strategy, the program product comprising:

program code for assigning a value to each of a plurality of customer events;

program code for assigning each of a plurality of customer events to a bucket having a predefined range of values based on a value of each customer event; and

program code for selecting a customer event from the bucket having the highest range of values.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising:

program code for sorting each of the plurality of customer events in a bucket based on the value of each customer event.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the program code for assigning a value includes program code for calculating a payoff ratio comprising a payback value of the customer event divided by a cost of the customer event.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising:

program code for validating the assignment of at least one customer event, and, in the case that the assignment of the at least one customer event is invalid, rebucketing the at least one customer event.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising:

program code for compiling data related to a plurality of customers;

program code for compiling data related to a plurality of promotion events, including program code for determining a cannibalistic effect of at least one promotion event on at least one other promotion event; and

program code for assigning a value to each of the plurality of promotion events.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising:

program code for transferring the selected customer event to a bucket of selected customer events.

21. A method for deploying an application for increasing the effectiveness of a customer contact strategy, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure including at least one computing device, the at least one computing device being configured to:

assign a value to each of a plurality of customer events;

assign each of the plurality of customer events to a bucket having a predefined range of values based on a value of each customer event; and

select a customer event from the bucket having the highest range of values.