Systems and methods to generate leads to connect people for real time communications
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatuses to connect people for services delivered via real time communications and to optionally generate leads to new customers for the services. One embodiment includes: providing a communication reference to an entity for distribution to customers; establishing connections for real time communications between the entity and the customers in response to requests made via the communication reference; charging the customers on behalf of the entity using a process to establish the connections for a service of the entity provided to the customers over the connections; presenting the service of the entity to customers on behalf of the entity; charging the entity a first fee according to what the entity charges a customer for the service; and charging the entity a second fee according to a bid price specified by the entity in response to a determination that the presenting of the service leads to the customer.
1. A method comprising:
generating, by a server system, a first version of a first advertisement associated with a detected geographical area corresponding to a detected location of a customer of an end-user device, the first advertisement comprising visible content of a first listing that is associated with a first entity, the generating the first version of the first advertisement comprising:
retrieving from a data store of the server system listing information associated with the first entity and including the listing information in the first version of the first advertisement;
selecting a tracking mechanism from a plurality of tracking mechanisms, the tracking mechanism generated by the server system or maintained by the server system in the data store and embedding the tracking mechanism in the first version of the first advertisement with the listing information; and
associating the first version of the first advertisement and the tracking mechanism with a first media channel of a plurality of media channels so that the first advertisement and the tracking mechanism facilitate tracking performance specific to the first media channel;
transmitting, by the server system via a communication network, to the end-user device of the customer a plurality of advertisements that corresponds to a plurality of listings, each listing of the plurality of listings being associated with a respective entity of a plurality of entities, a respective communication reference of a plurality of communication references and a respective media channel of the plurality of media channels, wherein the plurality of advertisements comprises the visible content of the first version of the first advertisement, which is provided to a user interface of a display device of the end-user device of the customer;
processing a first transmission received via the communication network by the server system, the first transmission indicative of interaction, via the user interface, by the customer with the first advertisement, and storing preference information associated with the customer in the data store of the server system;
processing a second transmission received via the communication network by the server system, the second transmission indicative of a request for information from the customer, and, responsive to the request, retrieving the preference information stored from the data store, and sorting, via the server system, the plurality of listings into a sort order based on a respective value of each listing of the plurality of listings, the respective value of each listing of the plurality of listings to rate the respective listing at least partially based on the preference information associated with the customer and the respective media channel of the plurality of media channels associated with the respective listing;
transmitting, by the server system via the communication network, a representation of the plurality of listings in the sort order to the end-user device associated with the customer;
processing a third transmission received via the communication network by the server system, the third transmission indicative of a selection, via the user interface, by the customer of one listing of the plurality of listings;
establishing a real-time communication connection by routing, via the server system over the communication network, in part by at least one voice over Internet protocol using a Session Initiation Protocol connection, a telephone call between the end-user device of the customer and an end-user device of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing in response to detecting a selection, via the user interface, of the respective communication reference of the plurality of communication references associated with the one listing from the visible content of the first advertisement displayed via the display device of the end-user device of the customer;
tracking, by the server system, leads facilitated by the server system to the respective entity, the tracking the leads comprising updating an attribute stored by the server system based at least in part on the real-time communication connection between the end-user device associated with the customer and the end-user device associated with the respective entity, and comparing the attribute to a threshold specified for the respective entity;
charging, by the server system, a first account maintained by the server system and associated with the customer on behalf of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings for establishing the real-time communication connection;
transmitting content to facilitate presentation, to the user interface of the display device, via the communication network, of a service of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings to the customer via the real-time communication connection;
charging, by the server system, a second account maintained by the server system and associated with the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings a first fee according to what the respective entity charges the customer for the service;
charging, by the server system, the second account associated with the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings a second fee according to a bid price specified by the respective entity for establishing the real-time communication connection.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first fee is a predetermined percent of what the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings charges the customer for the service.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first fee is based on a time duration of real-time communications over the real-time communication connection between the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings and the customer.
4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining, by the server system, the second fee based on the bid price specified by the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings and a bid price of a competitor of the respective entity.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein both the first fee and the second fee are based on a time duration of real-time communications over the real-time communication connection between the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings and the customer.
6. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
monitoring, by the server system, the real-time communication connection to determine a duration of a telephonic conversation related to the service to charge the customer on behalf of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication reference comprises a link selectable to request a connection server to call back the customer for the real-time communication connection between the customer and the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
responsive to the link being selected, determining, by the server system, whether the link is embedded in a presentation of the service of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings provided on behalf of the entity to determine whether to charge the respective entity the second fee.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, via the communication network, a separate communication reference in a presentation of the service of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings; and
determining, by the server system, whether to charge the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings the second fee based on whether the customer is connected to the respective entity using the separate communication reference.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the separate communication reference comprises one of a telephone number of a connection server without an extension, a telephone number of a connection server with an extension, a session initiation
protocol uniform resource identifier, a voice over Internet protocol user identifier, and a user identifier in an instant messaging network.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
establishing, via the communication network, a first connection with the customer via the communication reference;
establishing, via the communication network, a second connection with the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings; and
bridging, by the server system, the first and second connections to connect the customer and the respective entity for real-time communications.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
prompting the customer over the first connection to receive an input from the customer; and
determining, by the server system, establishing of the first connection based on the input from the customer.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
prompting the customer over the first connection to receive an identifier assigned to the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings; and determining, by the server system, a communication reference of the respective entity based on the identifier to establish the second connection.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the server system, an identifier of the customer; and
determining, by the server system, based on the identifier of the customer, whether the customer is a new customer led to the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings within a predetermined period of time via the presenting of the service of the respective entity.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the identifier of the customer comprises one of a telephone number of the customer, an email address of the customer, an Internet address of the customer, and a member account of the customer.
16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a server system to perform:
generating a first version of a first advertisement associated with a detected geographical area corresponding to a detected location of a customer of an end-user device, the first advertisement comprising visible content of a first listing that is associated with a first entity, the generating the first version of the first advertisement comprising:
retrieving from a data store of the server system listing information associated with the first entity and including the listing information in the first version of the first advertisement;
selecting a tracking mechanism from a plurality of tracking mechanisms, the tracking mechanism generated by the server system or maintained by the server system in the data store and embedding the tracking mechanism in the first version of the first advertisement with the listing information; and
associating the first version of the first advertisement and the tracking mechanism with a first media channel of a plurality of media channels so that the first advertisement and the tracking mechanism facilitate tracking performance specific to the first media channel;
transmitting, via a communication network, to the end-user device of the customer a plurality of advertisements that corresponds to a plurality of listings, each listing of the plurality of listings being associated with a respective entity of a plurality of entities, a respective communication reference of a plurality of communication references and a respective media channel of the plurality of media channels, wherein the plurality of advertisements comprises the visible content of the first version of the first advertisement, which is provided to a user interface of a display device of the end-user device of the customer;
processing a first transmission received via the communication network by the server system, the first transmission indicative of interaction, via the user interface, by the customer with the first advertisement, and storing preference information associated with the customer in the data store of the server system;
processing a second transmission received via the communication network by the server system, the second transmission indicative of a request for information from the customer, and, responsive to the request, retrieving the preference information stored from the data store, and sorting the plurality of listings into a sort order based on a respective value of each listing of the plurality of listings, the respective value of each listing of the plurality of listings to rate the respective listing at least partially based on the preference information associated with the customer and the respective media channel of the plurality of media channels associated with the respective listing;
transmitting, via the communication network, a representation of the plurality of listings in the sort order to the end-user device associated with the customer;
processing a third transmission received via the communication network by the server system, the third transmission indicative of a selection, via the user interface, by the customer of one listing of the plurality of listings;
establishing a real-time communication connection by routing, via the server system over the communication network, in part by at least one voice over Internet protocol using a Session Initiation Protocol connection, a telephone call between the end-user device of the customer and an end-user device of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the respective listing in response to detecting a selection, via the user interface, of the respective communication reference of the plurality of communication references associated with the one listing from the visible content of the first advertisement displayed via the display device of the end-user device of the customer;
tracking leads facilitated by the server system to the respective entity, the tracking the leads comprising updating an attribute stored by the server system based at least in part on the real-time communication connection between the end-user device associated with the customer and the end-user device associated with the respective entity, and comparing the attribute to a threshold specified for the respective entity;
charging a first account maintained by the server system and associated with the customer on behalf of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings for establishing the real-time communication connection;
transmitting content to facilitate presentation, to the user interface of the display device, via the communication network, of a service of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings to the customer via the real-time communication connection;
charging a second account maintained by the server system and associated with the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings a first fee according to what the respective entity charges the customer for the service; and
charging the second account associated with the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings a second fee according to a bid price specified by the respective entity for establishing the real-time communication connection.
17. A server system comprising:
one or more servers coupled to one or more network interfaces to facilitate access to a communication network, and one or more storage media to retain instructions, the server system to execute the instructions to:
generate a first version of a first advertisement associated with a detected geographical area corresponding to a detected location of a customer of an end-user device, the first advertisement comprising visible content of a first listing that is associated with a first entity, the generating the first version of the first advertisement comprising:
retrieving from a data store of the server system listing information associated with the first entity and including the listing information in the first version of the first advertisement;
selecting a tracking mechanism from a plurality of tracking mechanisms, the tracking mechanism generated by the server system or maintained by the server system in the data store and embedding the tracking mechanism in the first version of the first advertisement with the listing information; and
associating the first version of the first advertisement and the tracking mechanism with a first media channel of a plurality of media channels so that the first advertisement and the tracking mechanism facilitate tracking performance specific to the first media channel;
transmit, via a communication network, to the end-user device of the customer a plurality of advertisements that corresponds to a plurality of listings, each listing of the plurality of listings being associated with a respective entity of a plurality of entities, a respective communication reference of a plurality of communication references and a respective media channel of the plurality of media channels, wherein the plurality of advertisements comprises the visible content of the first version of the first advertisement, which is provided to a user interface of a display device of the end-user device of the customer;
process a first transmission received via the communication network by the server system, the first transmission indicative of interaction, via the user interface, by the customer with the first advertisement, and storing preference information associated with the customer in the data store of the server system;
processing a second transmission received via the communication network by the server system, the second transmission indicative of a request for information from the customer, and, responsive to the request, retrieving the preference information stored from the data store, and sort the plurality of listings into a sort order based on a respective value of each listing of the plurality of listings, the respective value of each listing of the plurality of listings to rate the respective listing at least partially based on the preference information associated with the customer and the respective media channel of the plurality of media channels associated with the respective listing;
transmit, via the communication network, a representation of the plurality of listings in the sort order to the end-user device associated with the customer;
process a third transmission received via the communication network by the server system, the third transmission indicative of a selection, via the user interface, by the customer of one listing of the plurality of listings;
establish a real-time communication connection by routing, via the server system over the communication network, in part by at least one voice over Internet protocol using a Session Initiation Protocol connection, a telephone call between the end-user device of the customer and an end-user device of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the respective listing in response to detecting a selection, via the user interface, of the respective communication reference of the plurality of communication references associated with the one listing from the visible content of the first advertisement displayed via the display device of the end-user device of the customer;
track leads facilitated by the server system to the respective entity, the tracking the leads comprising updating an attribute stored by the server system based at least in part on the real-time communication connection between the end-user device associated with the customer and the end-user device associated with the respective entity, and comparing the attribute to a threshold specified for the respective entity;
charge a first account maintained by the server system and associated with the customer on behalf of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings for establishing the real-time communication connection;
transmit content to facilitate presentation to the user interface of the display device, via the communication network, a service of the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings to the customer via the real-time communication connection;
charge a second account maintained by the server system and associated with the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings a first fee according to what the respective entity charges the customer for the service; and
charge the second account associated with the respective entity of the plurality of entities associated with the one listing of the plurality of listings a second fee according to a bid price specified by the respective entity for establishing the real-time communication connection.