APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A MARKETING SERVICE
Apparatus and method for providing a marketing service are described. In one embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium includes: (1) a preferences module that is configured to collect a set of preferences of a user; (2) a monitoring module that is configured to monitor a web site based on the set of preferences so as to identify relevant content; and (3) a notification module that is configured to generate a message alerting the user of the relevant content.
1 . A computer implemented method comprising:
tracking, by a first computer system operated by a first entity, a pool of recommendations for a user based on analysis of interaction by the user operating a second computer system with a website provided by a third computer system operated by a third entity; and
updating, by the first computer system, the pool of recommendations based on collection of preferences of the user and based on selected timing criteria.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the collection of preferences of the user is based on sign ups requesting notifications for the user.
3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising initially creating the pool of recommendations based on a collaborative filtering technique.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the updating includes determining expiration of a recommended product.
5 . The method of claim 4 wherein the recommended product is on sale and the selected timing criteria is based on a time period during which the product is on sale.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the updating includes determining staleness of a recommended product.
7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the recommended product is a new product and the selected timing criteria is based on a time period of availability of the new product.
8 . The method of claim 1 further comprising alerting the user to a selected subset of the pool of recommendations.
9 . The method of claim 8 further comprising determining the selected subset of the pool of recommendations based on the preferences of the user.
10 . The method of claim 8 further comprising determining the selected subset of the pool of recommendations based on priorities determined by configurable rules.
11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the priorities determined by configurable rules include at least one of: a higher priority for products similarly priced as those previously purchased by the user; a higher priority for products that are on sale if previous behavior of the user indicates price sensitivity; a higher priority for new products if previous behavior of the user indicates a preference for new arrivals; and a higher priority for cross-selling products if indicated by previous behavior of the user.
12 . The method of claim 8 further comprising determining a number of recommendations to include in an alert based on at least one of preferences of the user and configurable rules.
13 . The method of claim 8 further comprising providing a set of options to mark recommendations as at least one of undesirable and already purchased.
14 . The method of claim 13 wherein the updating is based on a response to the set of options.
15 . The method of claim 1 wherein the first entity is a consumer marketing service, the user is a consumer, and the third entity is a merchant.
16 . A non-transitory computer storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computer system to perform a computer implemented method comprising:
tracking a pool of recommendations for a user based on analysis of interaction by the user operating a second computer system with a website provided by a third computer system operated by a third entity; and
updating the pool of recommendations based on collection of preferences of the user and based on selected timing criteria.
17 . The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16 wherein the collection of preferences of the user is based on sign ups requesting notifications for the user.
18 . The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16 further comprising alerting the user to a selected subset of the pool of recommendations.
19 . A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to perform:
tracking a pool of recommendations for a user based on analysis of interaction by the user operating a second computer system with a website provided by a third computer system operated by a third entity; and
updating the pool of recommendations based on collection of preferences of the user and based on selected timing criteria.
20 . The system of claim 19 wherein the collection of preferences of the user is based on sign ups requesting notifications for the user.