Online marketing method
The disclosed systems and methods aid advertisers in improving the calculation of the return on investment (ROI) for online marketing. The systems and methods allow advertisers to calculate the ROI of the online marketing of one or a plurality of advertisements by tracking the user identifier of the user devices used to interact with online marketing materials (e.g., online advertisement) and then, once a purchase is made, reconciling which marketing materials the customer interacted leading up to the purchase.
1. A system comprising:
a controller;
a memory coupled to the controller, wherein the memory is configured to store program instructions executable by the controller;
wherein in response to executing the program instructions, the controller is configured to:
receive purchase information from a business, wherein the purchase information includes a purchaser identifier and a business identifier;
communicate the purchase information to a tracking system, wherein the tracking system includes a tracking database including at least one user identifier associated with user activity data associated with a selected advertisement, wherein the selected advertisement is associated with the business identifier;
receive a user identifier associated with a post-purchase marketing solicitation associated with the business associated with the purchase information;
communicate the user identifier to the tracking system, wherein the tracking system matches the user identifier with the purchase identifier stored in the tracking database, wherein the tracking system identifies the selected advertisement associated with the user identifier, wherein the selected advertisement is associated with the business identifier;
receive user activity data associated with the selected advertisement, wherein the tracking system calculates a weighted score associated with the user activity associated with the selected advertisement, wherein the weighted score is based on cumulative user action, wherein the weighted score associated with user action including interaction with a website associated with the business identifier is greater than the weighted score associated with user action including interaction with an email advertisement associated with the business identifier;
wherein the tracking system calculates a return of investment of the selected advertisement based on the selected advertisement, the weighted score, and the purchase information associated with the selected advertisement, wherein the return on investment of a selected advertisement indicates a portion of a purchase price attributable to the selected advertisement, wherein the purchase price is associated with a purchased product associated with the business identifier; and
communicates the return on investment data to the business associated with the business identifier.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the post-purchase marketing solicitation includes a consumer satisfaction survey.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user activity includes viewing the website of the business associated with the selected advertisement.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user activity includes requesting a price quote from the website of the business associated with the selected advertisement.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user activity includes interacting with a sales representative of the business associated with the selected advertisement.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user identifier includes user contact information.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the purchase identifier includes purchaser contact information.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the purchase information includes a gross profit associated with a purchased product associated with the business identifier, wherein the tracking system calculates the return on investment data based on the gross profit.