ALLOCATING REBATE POINTS
The claimed subject matter can provide a mechanism for issuing advertising rebates to the advertisers in the form of advertiser points. In one aspect the points can be issued as a function of a points ratio that can be determined and/or updated periodically based upon customer ratings. In another aspect, the customer ratings can be employed in order to calculate a points credit/debit balance that can be awarded to the merchant at the end of a period.
1 . A computer-implemented system that employs customer ratings to affect advertising budget rebates without affecting an advertiser's quality ranking, comprising:
an evaluation component that periodically updates a points ratio, ρ, of an advertiser based at least in part upon a feedback rating associated with the advertiser; and
a distribution component that issues advertiser rebate points to the advertiser as a function of the points ratio.
2 . The system of claim 1 , the distribution component issues advertiser purchase points to the advertiser as a function of a global ratio, n a , where n a characterizes a number of points per advertiser dollar.
3 . The system of claim 1 , the distribution component converts advertiser points into customer rebate points as the advertiser awards points to a customer.
4 . The system of claim 3 , the distribution component voids the advertiser purchase points that are not converted to customer points within a first limited time period.
5 . The system of claim 3 , the distribution component converts the advertiser points into customer rebate points as a function of the points ratio.
6 . The system of claim 3 , the customer rebate points entitle the customer to rate the advertiser by providing a feedback rating to the evaluation component.
7 . The system of claim 6 , the evaluation component converts customer rebate points into customer purchase points when the customer does not provide the feedback rating within a second limited time period, customer purchase points do not entitle the customer to rate the advertiser.
8 . The system of claim 1 , the distribution component issues customer purchase points to a customer as a function of a global ratio, n c , where n c determines a number of points per customer dollar.
9 . The system of claim 1 , the distribution component issues n a /ρ advertiser rebate points to the advertiser for each dollar the advertiser spends on advertising, where n a is a predetermined positive number that applies to advertisers globally and ρ is the points ratio of the advertiser for a current time period.
10 . The system of claim 1 , the evaluation component determines an amount of bonus advertiser points to be awarded to the advertiser based upon the difference between credit points and debit points.
11 . The system of claim 10 , the evaluation component assigns the advertiser αn pos credit points for a positive feedback rating, where α is a predetermined global credit ratio and n pos is a number of customer rebate points associated with the positive feedback rating.
12 . The system of claim 10 , the evaluation component assigns the advertiser βn neg debits points for a negative feedback rating, where β is a predetermined global debit ratio and n neg is a number of customer rebate points associated with the negative feedback rating.
13 . The system of claim 10 , the distribution component issues bonus advertiser points at the end of a current time period if the bonus advertiser points>0.
14 . The system of claim 1 , the evaluation component updates a current points ratio, ρ t , with a next points ratio, ρ t+1 , at the beginning of a next time period in accordance with the following equation:
ρ
t
+
1
=
A
k
(
t
)
A
k
(
t
)
-
E
(
t
)
-
D
(
t
)
+
C
(
t
)
,
where A k (t) is a number of advertiser rebate points issued during a current time period, t, E(t) is a number of advertiser rebate points that expired during the current time period, D(t) is a number of advertiser points debited due to negative feedback ratings during the current time period, and C(t) is a number of advertiser points credited due to positive feedback ratings during the current time period.
15 . The system of claim 1 , the points ratio does not affect an ad ranking associated with the advertiser.
16 . A computer-implemented method for awarding advertiser points to a merchant receiving positive feedback ratings relative to negative feedback ratings, comprising:
receiving a feedback rating from a customer of a merchant that advertises with a host;
crediting advertiser points to the merchant for positive feedback ratings as a function of a credit ratio, α; and
debiting advertiser points away from the merchant for negative feedback ratings as a function of a debit ratio, β.
17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising at least one of the following acts:
computing a credit balance based on a total number of points credited due to positive feedback ratings less a total number of points debited due to negative feedback ratings;
issuing advertiser points to the merchant when the value is positive; and
logging an advertiser points debit for the merchant when the value is negative.
18 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising modifying at least one of α or β based upon one or more of a profile of the customer, a profile of the merchant, a product class, or information available to the host.
19 . A computer-implemented method for employing customer ratings for determining a merchant's current points ratio, comprising:
receiving a feedback rating from a customer of a merchant that advertises with a host;
calculating a points ratio for the merchant, the calculating being based on feedback ratings associated with the merchant and occurring during a previous time period; and
allocating advertiser points to the merchant that advertises with the host as a function of the points ratio.
20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising at least one of the following acts:
distributing the allocated advertiser points to the merchant;
converting the advertiser points to customer rebate points based upon the points ratio when a transaction involving the merchant and the customer of the merchant occurs;
invalidating advertiser rebate points that are not converted into customer rebate points within a predetermined conversion period;
converting customer rebate points, which grant a right to provide feedback ratings, into customer purchase points, which have no feedback rating rights, after the expiration of a feedback period.