System and method for tracking call activity to a set of advertised businesses
A system and method for tracking call activity of a plurality of businesses is disclosed. A global pool of phone numbers is allocated from which to draw numbers. A business-specific pool of numbers is established for business locations involved in advertisements using the Internet via Web pages. As a consumer begins viewing an advertisement for a business, a number is temporarily allocated from the business's pool of available numbers. As the business's pool of unallocated numbers is exhausted, a metric is used to determine whether or not to grow the pool of numbers, to show an untracked ‘fallback’ number for the business, or to reuse a previously allocated number. When one of the temporarily allocated numbers is called, the online consumer it was associated with is credited for making the call and the business is credited and charged for receiving the call.
1. A method for tracking call activity of a plurality of businesses, comprising:
storing a pool of tracking telephone numbers;
receiving an indication that a first consumer has viewed a Web site;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number belonging to a business whose reallocation date has expired in the pool to identify a first of the tracking telephone numbers that is available for allocation;
sending the first tracking telephone number to the Web site that is viewed by the first consumer;
updating a first date field of the first tracking telephone number in the pool to indicate that the first tracking telephone number is available;
receiving an indication that a second consumer has viewed a web site;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number in the pool to identify a second of the tracking telephone numbers that is available due to the unavailability of the first tracking telephone number;
sending the second tracking telephone number to the web site that is viewed by the second consumer;
updating a second date field of the second tracking telephone number in the pool to indicate that a second tracking telephone number is unavailable;
receiving an indication that a third consumer has viewed a web site;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number in the pool to identify the first tracking telephone number as having become available;
sending the first tracking telephone number to the web site that is being viewed by the third consumer; and
updating a first date field of the first tracking telephone number in the pool to indicate that the first tracking telephone number is unavailable.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, when the first tracking telephone number is found to be available for the first consumer:
receiving a call using the first tracking telephone number from the first consumer;
associating the first consumer with the first tracking telephone number;
updating a first date field of the first tracking telephone number in the pool to indicated that the first tracking telephone number has become available;
forwarding the call to business associated with the web site that is viewed by the first consumer; and
crediting the business associated with the web site that is viewed by the first consumer for the call.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first tracking telephone number is updated with an expiration date before which the first tracking telephone number is unavailable and after which the first tracking telephone number has become available due to passing of the expiration date.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first tracking telephone number whose expiration date has passed is the tracking telephone number associated in the pool with the oldest expiration date among a list of tracking telephone numbers in the pool whose expiration dates have expired.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
deriving a business-specific pool of tracking telephone numbers from a global pool of tracking telephone numbers associated with the plurality of businesses, the business-specific pool being associated with one business of the plurality of businesses, wherein the pool is the business-specific pool.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising, when no tracking telephone number associated with the one business has been found to be available:
determining if the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded; and
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the respective consumer when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers has been exceeded.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising, when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded:
searching for an unallocated tracking telephone number in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers;
showing the fallback tracking telephone number to the respective consumer when there are no unallocated tracking telephone numbers in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers; otherwise
inserting a new tracking telephone number to the business-specific pool of tracking telephone numbers for the one business from the global pool;
associating the consumer with the new tracking telephone number;
assigning a new expiration date to the new tracking telephone number; and
sending the new tracking telephone number to the Web site being viewed by the respective consumer.
8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising, when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded:
searching for an unallocated tracking telephone number in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers;
attempting to purchase an additional number from a third party telephone provider;
showing the fallback tracking telephone number to the respective consumer when an additional number from a third party telephone provider cannot be purchased; otherwise
purchasing an additional number from a third party telephone provider;
incrementing a maximum number of tracking telephone numbers that are allocated to the one business;
inserting a new tracking telephone number to the business-specific pool of tracking telephone numbers for the one business from the global pool;
associating the consumer with the new tracking telephone number;
assigning a new expiration date to the new tracking telephone number; and
sending the new tracking telephone number to the Web site being viewed by the respective consumer.
9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising, when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded:
searching for an unallocated tracking telephone number in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers;
determining if a toll-free number can be allocated to the one business;
showing the fallback tracking telephone number to the respective consumer when a toll-free number cannot be allocated to the one business; otherwise
sending the toll-free number to the Web site being viewed by the respective consumer.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining if a toll-free number can be allocated to the one business is based on a calculation involving impression volume and a business-specific coefficient.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number is de-allocated from the pool after a predetermined amount of time.
12. A system for tracking call activity of a plurality of businesses, comprising:
a data storage device;
at least one processor communicatively connected to the data storage device and executing a plurality of software modules, the software modules being configured for:
storing a pool of tracking telephone numbers;
receiving an indication that a first consumer has viewed a Web site;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number belonging to a business whose reallocation date has expired in the pool to identify a first of the tracking telephone numbers that is available for allocation;
sending the first tracking telephone number to the Web site that is viewed by the first consumer;
updating a first date field of the first tracking telephone number in the pool to indicate that the first tracking telephone number is available;
receiving an indication that a second consumer has viewed a web site;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number in the pool to identify a second of the tracking telephone numbers that is available due to the unavailability of the first tracking telephone number;
sending the second tracking telephone number to the web site that is viewed by the second consumer;
updating a second date field of the second tracking telephone number in the pool to indicate that a second tracking telephone number is unavailable;
receiving an indication that a third consumer has viewed a web site;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number in the pool to identify the first tracking telephone number as having become available;
sending the first tracking telephone number to the web site that is being viewed by the third consumer; and
updating a first date field of the first tracking telephone number in the pool to indicate that the first tracking telephone number is unavailable.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of software modules are further configured for, when the first tracking telephone number is found to be available for the first consumer in the data storage device:
receiving a call using the first tracking telephone number from the first consumer;
associating the first consumer with the first tracking telephone number;
updating the first date field of the first tracking telephone number in the pool to indicated that the first tracking telephone number has become available;
forwarding the call to business associated with the web site that is viewed by the first consumer; and
crediting the business associated with the web site that is viewed by the first consumer for the call.
14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first tracking telephone number is updated with an expiration date before which the first tracking telephone number is unavailable and after which the first tracking telephone number has become available due to passing of the expiration date.
15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first tracking telephone number whose expiration date has passed is the tracking telephone number associated in the pool with the oldest expiration date among a list of tracking telephone numbers in the pool whose expiration dates have expired.
16. The system of claim 12 , further comprising:
deriving a business-specific pool of tracking telephone numbers from a global pool of tracking telephone numbers associated with the plurality of businesses, the business-specific pool being associated with one business of the plurality of businesses, wherein the pool is the business-specific pool.
17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of software modules are further configured for, when no tracking telephone number associated with the one business has been found to be available:
determining if the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded; and
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the respective consumer when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers has been exceeded.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of software modules are further configured for, when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded:
searching for an unallocated tracking telephone number in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers;
showing the fallback tracking telephone number to the respective consumer when there are no unallocated tracking telephone numbers in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers; otherwise
inserting a new tracking telephone number to the business-specific pool of tracking telephone numbers for the one business from the global pool;
associating the consumer with the new tracking telephone number;
assigning a new expiration date to the new tracking telephone number; and
sending the new tracking telephone number to the Web site being viewed by the respective consumer.
19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of software modules are further configured for, when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded:
searching for an unallocated tracking telephone number in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers;
attempting to purchase an additional number from a third party telephone provider;
showing the fallback tracking telephone number to the respective consumer when an additional number from a third party telephone provider cannot be purchased; otherwise purchasing an additional number from a third party telephone provider; incrementing a maximum number of tracking telephone numbers that are allocated to the one business;
inserting a new tracking telephone number to the business-specific pool of tracking telephone numbers for the one business from the global pool;
associating the consumer with the new tracking telephone number;
assigning a new expiration date to the new tracking telephone number; and
sending the new tracking telephone number to the Web site being viewed by the respective consumer.
20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of software modules are further configured for, when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded:
searching for an unallocated tracking telephone number in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers;
determining if a toll-free number can be allocated to the one business;
showing the fallback tracking telephone number to the respective consumer when a toll-free number cannot be allocated to the one business; otherwise
sending the toll-free number to the Web site being viewed by the respective consumer.
21. The system of claim 20 , wherein determining if a toll-free number can be allocated to the one business is based on a calculation involving impression volume and a business-specific coefficient.
22. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number is de-allocated from the pool after a predetermined amount of time and returned to the global pool of tracking telephone numbers.
23. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for tracking call activity of a plurality of businesses, wherein execution of the one of more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform:
storing a pool of tracking telephone numbers;
receiving an indication that a first consumer has viewed a Web site;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number belonging to a business whose reallocation date has expired in the pool to identify a first of the tracking telephone numbers that is available for allocation;
sending the first tracking telephone number to the Web site that is viewed by the first consumer;
updating a first date field of the first tracking telephone number in the pool to indicate that the first tracking telephone number is available;
receiving an indication that a second consumer has viewed a web site;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number in the pool to identify a second of the tracking telephone numbers that is available due to the unavailability of the first tracking telephone number;
sending the second tracking telephone number to the web site that is viewed by the second consumer;
updating a second date field of the second tracking telephone number in the pool to indicate that a second tracking telephone number is unavailable;
receiving an indication that a third consumer has viewed a web site;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number in the pool to identify the first tracking telephone number as having become available;
sending the first tracking telephone number to the web site that is being viewed by the third consumer; and
updating the first date field of the first tracking telephone number in the pool to indicate that the first tracking telephone number is unavailable.
24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 , further comprising, when the first tracking telephone number is found to be available for the first consumer:
receiving a call using the first tracking telephone number from the first consumer;
associating the first consumer with the first tracking telephone number;
updating the first date field of the first tracking telephone number in the pool to indicated that the first tracking telephone number has become available;
forwarding the call business associated with the web site that is viewed by the first consumer; and
crediting the business for the call associated with the web site that is viewed by the first consumer.
25. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 , wherein the first tracking telephone number is updated with an expiration date before which the first tracking telephone number is unavailable and after which the first tracking telephone number has become available due to passing of the expiration date.