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. This method of allocating and presenting numbers with all numbers ultimately being tied to the same business ensures that even if a consumer calls a number much later after it has been re-allocated, that the number will still ring to the correct business.
1. A method for tracking call activity of a plurality of businesses, comprising the steps of:
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;
receiving an indication that a consumer has viewed a Web site associated with the one business;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number associated with the one business in the business-specific pool, the at least one tracking telephone number having an expiration date;
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has been found:
sending the at least one tracking telephone number to the Web site; and
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has not been found:
determining if the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded;
when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has not been exceeded:
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
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;
when there are no unallocated tracking telephone numbers in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers:
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
when there are unallocated tracking telephone numbers in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers:
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.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of, when the at least one tracking telephone number is found and the expiration date has passed:
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer;
associating the consumer with the at least one tracking telephone number;
assigning a new expiration date to the at least one tracking telephone number;
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the steps of:
re-allocating the at least one tracking telephone number to a second consumer for the one business after the new expiration date has expired;
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer,
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number whose expiration date has passed is the tracking telephone number associated with the one business with the oldest expiration date among a list of tracking telephone numbers, whose expiration dates have expired.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the expiration date is calculated based on impression volume and a business-specific coefficient.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number is de-allocated from the business-specific pool for the one business after a predetermined amount of time.
7. A method for tracking call activity of a plurality of businesses, comprising the steps of:
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;
receiving an indication that a consumer has viewed a Web site associated with the one business;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number associated with the one business in the business-specific pool, the at least one tracking telephone number having an expiration date;
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has been found:
sending the at least one tracking telephone number to the Web site; and
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has not been found:
determining if the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded;
when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has not been exceeded:
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
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;
when an additional number from a third party telephone provider cannot be purchased:
showing the fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
when an additional number from a third party telephone provider can be purchased:
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.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising the steps of, when the at least one tracking telephone number is found and the expiration date has passed:
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer;
associating the consumer with the at least one tracking telephone number;
assigning a new expiration date to the at least one tracking telephone number;
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising the steps of:
re-allocating the at least one tracking telephone number to a second consumer for the one business after the new expiration date has expired;
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer, forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number whose expiration date has passed is the tracking telephone number associated with the one business with the oldest expiration date among a list of tracking telephone numbers, whose expiration dates have expired.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the expiration date is calculated based on impression volume and a business-specific coefficient.
12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number is de-allocated from the business-specific pool for the one business after a predetermined amount of time.
13. 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:
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, the business-specific pool and the global pool being stored in the data storage device;
receiving an indication that a consumer has viewed a Web site associated with the one business;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number associated with the one business in the business-specific pool, the at least one tracking telephone number having an expiration date;
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has been found:
sending the at least one tracking telephone number to the Web site; and
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has not been found:
determining if the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded;
when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has not been exceeded:
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
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;
when there are no unallocated tracking telephone numbers in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers:
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
when there are unallocated tracking telephone numbers in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers:
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.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of software modules is further configured for, when the at least one tracking telephone number is found and the expiration date has passed in the data storage device:
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer;
associating the consumer with the at least one tracking telephone number;
assigning a new expiration date to the at least one tracking telephone number;
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of software modules is further configured for:
re-allocating the at least one tracking telephone number to a second consumer for the one business after the new expiration date has expired;
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer;
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number whose expiration date has passed is the tracking telephone number associated with the one business with the oldest expiration date among a list of tracking telephone numbers whose expiration dates have expired.
17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the expiration date is calculated based on impression volume and a business-specific coefficient.
18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number is de-allocated from the business-specific pool for the one business after a predetermined amount of time and returned to the global pool of tracking telephone numbers.
19. 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:
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, the business-specific pool and the global pool being stored in the data storage device;
receiving an indication that a consumer has viewed a Web site associated with the one business;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number associated with the one business in the business-specific pool, the at least one tracking telephone number having an expiration date;
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has been found:
sending the at least one tracking telephone number to the Web site; and
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has not been found:
determining if the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded;
when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has not been exceeded:
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
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;
when an additional number from a third party telephone provider cannot be purchased:
showing the fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
when an additional number from a third party telephone provider can be purchased:
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.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the plurality of software modules is further configured for, when the at least one tracking telephone number is found and the expiration date has passed in the data storage device:
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer;
associating the consumer with the at least one tracking telephone number;
assigning a new expiration date to the at least one tracking telephone number;
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the plurality of software modules is further configured for:
re-allocating the at least one tracking telephone number to a second consumer for the one business after the new expiration date has expired;
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer;
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
22. The system of claim 19 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number whose expiration date has passed is the tracking telephone number associated with the one business with the oldest expiration date among a list of tracking telephone numbers whose expiration dates have expired.
23. The system of claim 19 , wherein the expiration date is calculated based on impression volume and a business-specific coefficient.
24. The system of claim 19 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number is de-allocated from the business-specific pool for the one business after a predetermined amount of time and returned to the global pool of tracking telephone numbers.
25. 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 the steps of:
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;
receiving an indication that a consumer has viewed a Web site associated with the one business;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number associated with the one business in the business-specific pool, the at least one tracking telephone number having an expiration date;
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has been found:
sending the at least one tracking telephone number to the Web site; and
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has not been found:
determining if the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded;
when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has not been exceeded:
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
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;
when there are no unallocated tracking telephone numbers in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers:
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
when there are unallocated tracking telephone numbers in the global pool of tracking telephone numbers:
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.
26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 , further comprising the steps of, when the at least one tracking telephone number is found and the expiration date has passed:
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer;
associating the consumer with the a least one tracking telephone number;
assigning a new expiration date to the at least one tracking telephone number;
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 26 , further comprising the steps of:
re-allocating the at least one tracking telephone number to a second consumer for the one business after the new expiration date has expired;
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer;
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number whose expiration date has passed is the tracking telephone number associated with the one business with the oldest expiration date among a list of tracking telephone numbers, whose expiration dates have expired.
29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the expiration date is calculated based on impression volume and a business-specific coefficient.
30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number is de-allocated from the business-specific pool for the one business after a predetermined amount of time.
31. 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 the steps of:
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;
receiving an indication that a consumer has viewed a Web site associated with the one business;
searching for at least one tracking telephone number associated with the one business in the business-specific pool, the at least one tracking telephone number having an expiration date;
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has been found:
sending the at least one tracking telephone number to the Web site; and
when the at least one tracking telephone number that has an expiration date that has passed has not been found:
determining if the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has been exceeded;
when the maximum number of allowed tracking telephone numbers in the business-specific pool for the one business has not been exceeded:
showing a fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
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;
when an additional number from a third party telephone provider cannot be purchased:
showing the fallback tracking telephone number to the consumer; and
when an additional number from a third party telephone provider can be purchased:
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.
32. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31 , further comprising the steps of, when the at least one tracking telephone number is found and the expiration date has passed:
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer;
associating the consumer with the a least one tracking telephone number;
assigning a new expiration date to the at least one tracking telephone number;
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 32 , further comprising the steps of:
re-allocating the at least one tracking telephone number to a second consumer for the one business after the new expiration date has expired;
receiving a call using the at least one tracking telephone number from the consumer;
forwarding the call to the one business; and
crediting the one business for the call.
34. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number whose expiration date has passed is the tracking telephone number associated with the one business with the oldest expiration date among a list of tracking telephone numbers, whose expiration dates have expired.
35. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31 , wherein the expiration date is calculated based on impression volume and a business-specific coefficient.
36. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 31 , wherein the at least one tracking telephone number is de-allocated from the business-specific pool for the one business after a predetermined amount of time.