WO2000057976A1 - Interactive targeted marketing system and method - Google Patents

Interactive targeted marketing system and method Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2000057976A1
WO2000057976A1 PCT/US2000/008351 US0008351W WO0057976A1 WO 2000057976 A1 WO2000057976 A1 WO 2000057976A1 US 0008351 W US0008351 W US 0008351W WO 0057976 A1 WO0057976 A1 WO 0057976A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
survey
marketing
respondent
message
interactive
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2000/008351
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
John T. Jeter
Original Assignee
Scimarc Llc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Scimarc Llc filed Critical Scimarc Llc
Priority to AU40451/00A priority Critical patent/AU4045100A/en
Publication of WO2000057976A1 publication Critical patent/WO2000057976A1/en

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    • GPHYSICS
    • G09EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09FDISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
    • G09F27/00Combined visual and audible advertising or displaying, e.g. for public address
    • GPHYSICS
    • G06COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06QINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00Commerce
    • G06Q30/02Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to targeted marketing and feedback on an interactive basis, and more particularly, to a system and method for dynamic and automated targeted marketing and marketing measurement in the life sciences industry.
  • Detailing involves a brief oral presentation of information by the pharmaceutical company' s sales representative to a physician along with written information, samples and the like.
  • a detailing session will generally take place in the physician' s office during business hours and last from ten to twenty minutes. Because of the labor-intensive nature of detailing, the cost of this marketing mechanism is expensive.
  • the sales representatives must be thoroughly educated and trained with respect to the detail message intended to be delivered to the physician and, of course, must be provided with the necessary logistic support such as transportation, communications equipment and product literature. Even though detailing may be targeted to a specific group of physicians, it is generally not the practice to customize the detail message and effectively the same message is delivered to all the physicians.
  • the sales representatives must not make any claims or representations in person which would not be permitted on the labeling of the pharmaceutical product.
  • the message must contain the same sort of balance between the positive and negative attributes of the product as the label or other written advertising would contain. Obviously, since each detail session is a personal presentation to a physician, there is the risk that the message could contain a mistake or even an unauthorized "off label" claim.
  • Direct mail advertising can be targeted to specific physicians, but it is often viewed as ineffective because, unlike detailing, there is no assurance that the advertisement is receiving the attention of the physician. Because of the static visual nature of most direct mail advertising and the busy schedules of most physicians, direct mail advertising cannot be relied upon to convey important product information m the same manner as detailing. Direct mail advertising is also competing with the advertising of both competitive and unrelated products for the attention of a physician. In order to compete for what little attention the physician may give to direct mail advertising, the advertising must be designed to stand apart from other solicitations which obviously increases the expense.
  • the above-noted marketing methods also do not provide a mechanism for accurately and quickly assessing the effectiveness of a marketing project.
  • a company can correlate product purchases or prescriptions with the visit of its sales representative.
  • the company must rely on other market research techniques to attempt to assess the results of its efforts.
  • it is a common practice to survey the prescribing physicians.
  • the surveys are either in the form of a questionnaire delivered by mail to the physician or in the form of telephone interviews conducted by live operators.
  • the cooperation of the physicians may be secured by rewarding them for participating in the survey, for example, by paying the physicians an honorarium.
  • the company will typically engage in a number of marketing projects simultaneously, it is often not possible to accurately assess the effectiveness of a particular project and, in the case of mass marketing projects, there may be no assurance that the physician was exposed to the effects of the marketing project.
  • the newly developed automated marketing system of the present invention achieves these objectives.
  • the system conducts an automated survey of the intended recipient of the marketing message through a telecommunications link, e.g., via telephone or over a network such as the Internet, and delivers the marketing message to the respondent during or following the survey.
  • the system allows the marketing message to be targeted to specific sets or subsets of purchase decision- makers or purchase influencers such as physicians, scientists, technical directors, purchase agents, farmers or consumers in the life sciences industries.
  • the system selects the marketing message based on predetermined criteria such as a respondent's answer to particular survey questions to determine which message is the most appropriate to deliver.
  • the message can be carefully controlled to insure its integrity and compliance with government regulations.
  • the system of the present invention also provides for real-time feedback on the effectiveness of a marketing project and the purchase attitudes of the purchase decision-makers being surveyed.
  • Targeted respondent data for a client company project is input to a system server which is used to generate survey participation offers.
  • the system server transmits the participation offers having a project identifier and respondent identifier to the respondents on an automated basis such as by facsimile transmission.
  • the system server conducts an automated survey either by telephone or by electronic form using predetermined survey questions for the client company marketing project.
  • An audio or audiovisual marketing message is selected and played to the survey participant based on either the participant's responses to selected survey questions or other profile data of the participant.
  • the survey responses are recorded and the response data or processed statistical reports generated from the response data is transmitted to the client company.
  • the response data and statistical reports may be generated and accessed on a real-time basis by the client company via a telecommunications link to the system server.
  • the system server generates and transmits a reward to survey participants .
  • the message may be customized based on the profile data previously established for the individual or data established by the individual's responses to the survey questions.
  • the invention provides feedback mechanisms to the client company so that it can evaluate the effectiveness of the project or modify the marketing messages according to the results of the survey.
  • the present invention provides for delivery of the results data to the client company and for the generation of reports statistically correlating the survey results or other data.
  • the data and reports can be printed on paper, delivered on storage media such as magnetic or cd-rom disks, or accessed in real time via a telecommunications link.
  • FIG.l is a flowchart of the method according to the invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a diagram of the overall physical architecture of the interactive marketing system of the invention.
  • FIG. 3 depicts an overview of the flow of information in the interactive marketing system of the invention
  • FIG. 4A is an example of the log-on screen for accessing response data and statistical reports on response data via a telecommunications link;
  • FIG. 4B is an example of an on-screen statistical report generated by the system server cross-correlating responses to two questions from a survey accessible via a telecommunications link according to the invention
  • FIG. 5 is a block diagram representation of a configuration of the interactive marketing system of the present invention wherein multiple client company projects are simultaneously undertaken by the system server;
  • FIG. 6 illustrates a database structure for an exemplary target respondent database
  • FIG. 7 illustrates a database structure for project data, according to one embodiment
  • FIG. 8 illustrates a database structure for project data, according to one embodiment
  • FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary list of typical marketing survey question topics
  • FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary marketing survey.
  • FIGS. 1 through 5 the system and method of the present invention is disclosed.
  • An overview of the architecture and general method of tne invention is illustrated m FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.
  • the system uses a computer system server 10 connected via a telecommunications link 20 to telecommunication devices at a client company location 30 ana a respondent location 40.
  • a computer system server such as a personal computer, microcomputer or server as are well known in the art may be used.
  • the server 10 typically comprises one or more microprocessors, temporary storage media such as RAM memory, and other storage media such as magnetic hard drives or tape drives or optical drives such as cd-rom drives for storing digital data.
  • the server 10 may be a single computer or a plurality of computers that are networked, as is well known in the art.
  • the computer system server 10 has a means for connecting to the telecommunications link 20 and communicating with devices at the client company location 30 and the respondent locations 40.
  • the communications means may be any suitable computer telephony communications card.
  • Voice, data and fax processing cards are well known in the art and are available, for example, from Dialogic Corporation, 1515 Route Ten, Parsippany, New Jersey, USA. These cards are typically connected to the microprocessor via an interface and may be dedicated to the processing of a single type of communication, such as voice or data or fax. Alternatively, cards are available having combined processing capabilities.
  • the system server 10 may communicate with devices at the client location 30, such as personal computer 32 or with devices at respondent locations 40, such as fax machine 42, telephone 44 or personal computer 46.
  • the telecommunications link 20 may be established across any suitable network such as the Public Switched Network (PSN), the Internet, a proprietary network or combinations thereof.
  • PSN Public Switched Network
  • the Internet a proprietary network or combinations thereof.
  • project data is input into the system server 10.
  • the project data includes target respondent data.
  • the respondent data may include data such as the name, address, telephone number, facsimile machine number and the like for each target respondent.
  • This data may be stored in a relational database as is commonly known in the art.
  • the data is stored in an xbase format such as a Clipper-compatible database format.
  • the respondent data may also include additional profile information such as the target respondent's field of specialty or similar information concerning the nature of the respondent's medical practice or business.
  • the database structure for an exemplary target respondent database is shown in FIG. 6.
  • the target respondent database table includes the field RESPID to record a unique respondent identifier for each target respondent and the field STUDY to record a project identifier for current marketing project.
  • the respondent data may be transmitted from the personal computer 32 at the client company location 30 via telecommunications link 20 as shown by arrow 22 of FIG. 3.
  • the target respondent data may be input from another source or may be resident on the system server 10 from a previous marketing project.
  • Block 12 of the flowchart in FIG. 1 shows that other project data such as survey question data and marketing message data are input into the system server 10 shown by arrow 24 in FIG. 3.
  • This data may be transmitted via the telecommunications link 20 from the client company location 30 or they may be input from other sources.
  • the project data may include survey questions, marketing messages, question and message file identity and location, and data necessary for executing the marketing message selection.
  • the respondent database illustrated in FIG. 6 also includes fields QOl through Q99 for recording the respondent's responses to survey questions 1 through 99 respectively.
  • the response data is recorded in the same database table that contains the respondent contact data, but it will be recognized that response data could be recorded in a separate database table.
  • the respondent database also includes fields for recording communications with the target respondent such as the date the survey participation offer is sent to the target respondent, the date of the survey interview, the interview duration, and the amount and date of the reward sent to the respondent for completing the survey interview. Since it is contemplated in the illustrated embodiment that the system will determine which one of several marketing messages is the most appropriate for the respondent, the respondent database table includes field MSGPLAY to record which message was transmitted to the target respondent during or after the survey.
  • a survey participation offer is transmitted to each target respondent as shown in block 13 of FIG. 1 and arrows 26 in FIG. 3.
  • the participation offer may be printed by the system server 10 and sent by mail or courier to the target respondent.
  • the offer is sent by facsimile transmission to the facsimile machine 42 at the respondent location 40 using software for generating the participation offer from the target respondent data and for initiating and transmitting the offer to each respondent on an automated basis.
  • Software for this purpose is generally known in the art and is available, for example, from Parity Software Development Corporation, 3 Harbor Drive, Sausalito, California USA under the trademark VOS .
  • the software is used to program system server 10 to generate participation offers from the data in the target respondent database and to send the offers using the fax processing card via the telecommunications link 20 to the respondents.
  • the date of the offer is recorded in field DATE_F in the target respondent database.
  • the participation offer includes the project identifier, a unique respondent identifier for the targeted respondent, and any other pertinent information and terms, such as the study topic or the terms of the reward for survey participation.
  • the offer may be transmitted by other means such as via email or the like to respondent's personal computer 46. It is preferred that the offer is generated by the system server 10 on an automated basis.
  • the survey questions and messages are stored as digital audio files on the system storage media to be processed by the system server 10.
  • the respondent uses her personal computer or other electronic appliance having audiovisual capabilities
  • the survey questions are stored as digital text
  • audio or audiovisual files and the marketing messages are stored as audio or audiovisual files.
  • FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate the database structures for database tables for the project data.
  • the selection of the marketing message will be based on the responses during the survey interview of two of the survey questions.
  • the project data may include only one marketing message that is used for all respondents.
  • the selection may be based on survey responses to two or more survey questions or based on respondent profile criteria or a combination thereof.
  • the client project database illustrated in FIG. 7 includes field STUDY for the project identifier and fields for recording the file identities and locations for the audio or audiovisual messages which may be transmitted during the automated survey interview.
  • the system server 10 is programmed using computer telephony software such as the trademarked VOS software to conduct an automated telephone survey when a targeted respondent initiates a survey session m response to a participation offer.
  • the respondent initiates the survey session by telephoning the system server telephone number identified in the participation offer and, after a greeting message, inputting the project identifier and the respondent's unique respondent identifier as indicated by arrow 28 of FIG. 3. Thereafter, the system server 10 conducts the survey on a question-by-question basis using the question data established for the client company project specified by the respondent as shown on block 14 of FIG. 1.
  • the system server 10 uses audio or voice files to generate question messages and the respondent responds to question messages or response commands either by using touch tones of the telephone or voice commands.
  • the respondent's responses are recorded in the appropriate fields QOl through Q99 of the target respondent database.
  • the system server 10 is also programmed to track the last answered question in field LASTQ. In this manner, if the respondent terminates the survey session and re-mitiates a subsequent survey session, the system server 10 is programmed to resume the survey at the first unanswered question or at some previous point in the survey such as the beginning of the survey at the option of the respondent.
  • Data relating to the questions for the client company project are stored n the project-specific question database having a data structure, such as that shown m FIG. 8.
  • the project identifier is stored m field STUDY and the question identifier is stored in field QUEST.
  • the type of question e.g., whether the question response will require only one response command such as "Choose response from one through five.” or whether the question response may require multiple response commands such as "Enter the number of patients you have treated for this condition," is stored in field TYPE.
  • This example question database also has three indicator fields
  • PLAYTOP, PLAYPRO and ETAIL which the system server 10 is programmed to recognize. If the indicator is set to other than the default, the system server 10 will transmit the corresponding message after the question such as a topic message, a product-related message or a marketing message, respectively.
  • the field QVOX contains the name of the audio or voice file on the system server 10 for the question which the system server 10 processes when it is time to present the question.
  • the survey questions are directed to topics such as are known in the art for measuring awareness, attitudes and receptivity of the respondent to a product or therapy that is the subject of the marketing project.
  • topics such as are known in the art for measuring awareness, attitudes and receptivity of the respondent to a product or therapy that is the subject of the marketing project.
  • FIG. 9 a list of typical marketing survey question topics is set forth in FIG. 9.
  • FIG. 10 An example of an automated telephone interview script for an agricultural sciences marketing project is set forth in FIG. 10.
  • the project database table illustrated in FIG. 7 contains the file names of the set of pre-recorded marketing messages in fields MSG01 through MSG09. In a preferred embodiment, at least one of these audio or voice files is processed and transmitted by the system server 10 when the ETAIL field noted above for a particular question is set to other than default.
  • Fields MSGQ1, MSG1LOW, MSG1HIGH, MSG1VLU and MSGQ2, MSG2LOW, MSG2HIGH, MSG2VLU relate to data used by the system server 10 to determine which marketing message to transmit to the respondent and are discussed m greater detail below.
  • the automated survey is conducted by an electronic form, when the targeted respondent initiates the survey session using her personal computer.
  • electronic form such as over the Internet
  • the system server 10 is programmed to review and validate the survey question responses and, thereafter, to process and transmit an audio or audiovisual marketing message to the respondent based on predetermined logic as discussed below.
  • the respondent may access the system server 10 using widely available browser software such as trademarked Internet Explorer software available from Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, USA or trademarked Netscape Communicator software available from Netscape Communications Corporation, California, USA.
  • the audio or audiovisual messages may be heard or viewed, for example, using browser add-on software such as trademarked RealPlayer software available from RealNetworks, Inc.
  • a project may have only a single pre-recorded marketing message which is delivered after a designated question or validation of the survey questions responses.
  • the interactive marketing system selects a particular marketing message from a set of marketing messages based on pre-determmed factors and logic.
  • the selection of the desired marketing message may be determined from the respondent's response to one or more survey questions and a set of logical rules based on the substance of the questions.
  • the system may also be programmed to not deliver any marketing message at all based on the respondent's question responses. This might be an appropriate choice where the respondent has indicated in her response to survey questions that she is not receptive to listening or viewing a marketing message.
  • the message selection may also be based upon profile information about the respondent that is already known by the client company such as the geographic location of the respondent, the respondent's experience, the respondent's practice or business specialty.
  • the system may include multiple stored marketing messages and the delivered marketing message, that is the marketing message delivered to the respondent, may be a combination of the multiple stored marketing messages.
  • the system may include ten stored marketing messages for product A, and the respondents answers to the questions indicate that respondent should receive stored marketing messages 1, 3, 5 and 8.
  • the delivered marketing message will be a combination of stored marketing messages 1, 3, 5 and 8.
  • This embodiment allows each individually stored marketing message to be smaller, as it may be combined with other marketing messages, to create the delivered marketing message. As one skilled in the art would recognize, this embodiment adds flexibility to the system. The system allows marketing messages to be targeted to the individual respondent based on the respondents answers to survey questions.
  • the marketing message may include background data about the product to build up the respondents knowledge base.
  • the respondent knows about the product but believes in a misconception about the product
  • the marketing message may not include background data but instead include data relating to the misconception.
  • misconceptions may either relate to the product itself or to the competitors of the product.
  • a misconception about the product may be that the product causes headaches, when in fact the product only causes headaches if it is not taken with food.
  • a misconception about a competitor may be that the competitor offers a generic product that is much less costly, when in fact the generic drug is only marginally less costly and does not have the good will of your product.
  • the system server 10 is programmed to determine which marketing message to transmit by evaluating the respondent's responses to two questions.
  • the question identifier for the first question is stored in the
  • MSGQl field and a string defining the low and high values for a range of responses to the first question are stored in MSG1LOW and MSG1HIG respectively.
  • the system assigns a value from string MSG1VLU to a first variable.
  • a second question, ranges of responses, response values, value assigned to a second variable are established for a second question.
  • the system processes a selection computation based on the stored response values .
  • the system may be programmed to determine which marketing message to use based on questions Q13 (Frequency) and Q20 (Brand A awareness) .
  • question Q13 might be "How many prescriptions do you write for the topic product in an average month?" and have five response ranges such as “1 to 5", “6 to 10", “11 to 15", “16 to 20” and “21 or more”.
  • the system will assign one of the values in MSG1VLU to the first variable. For example, if the response is "17" which is in the fourth range in the set and the MSG1VLU string is "12345", the first question variable would be assigned a value of "4".
  • question Q20 may ask "Please indicate how familiar you are with prescription drug Brand A.
  • the second question variable would be assigned a value of "3".
  • the system server 10 is then programmed to compute a relationship between these two values such as "first question value plus second question value minus one equals message value.”
  • the range of marketing messages could be established to provide basic, overview information message in MSG01 for respondents who have little familiarity and no history of usage to more advanced, highly specific information about the product in MSG09 for respondents who are very familiar with and use the product frequently.
  • the system will preferably transmit follow-up survey questions to assess the impact of the marketing message or to gauge the receptivity of the respondent to the survey.
  • the follow-up survey questions may be asked immediately following the marketing message or at a later time. For example, in an interview with a prescribing physician about a particular drug, the respondent may be asked if she would be more likely or less likely to prescribe the drug after she has heard the marketing message. Similarly, the respondent may be asked to indicate how willing she may be to participate in a future survey.
  • the system server 10 Upon completion of the survey by the respondent, the system server 10 is programmed to send the reward to the respondent in accordance with the terms of the participation offer. This may be accomplished by printing a check or other draft in the name of the respondent and sending it by mail or courier to the respondent.
  • the system will include parameters for determining what portion of the survey and message the respondent is paid for. For example, the system may be designed to only pay the respondent for a maximum time for each session. This maximum payment would prevent respondents from simply signing onto the system to accrue time and thus payment. Moreover, the system could be designed to only pay the respondents for the time they take to answer the survey questions, and not pay them for listening to the marketing data.
  • This type of setup would most likely be the method of operation in the U.S., if the client was a pharmaceutical company and the respondent was a prescribing doctor.
  • This setup would satisfy the regulations of the American Medical Association (AMA) which does not allow doctors to be paid for listening to promotional messages.
  • AMA American Medical Association
  • the system could be implemented in numerous embodiments all of which are well within the scope of the current invention.
  • the survey response data and the marketing message delivery data are recorded by the system server 10.
  • the project results data is transmitted to the client company.
  • the raw data may be transmitted in electronic or printed format or the data may be processed by the system server 10, for example, to show statistical correlations between survey responses.
  • the results data may be accessed at the client company location 30 via the telecommunications link 20.
  • FIG. 4A shows a typical login screen for client company access to the results data on the system server 10.
  • the system server 10 is programmed to generate a reports from the results data such as is shown in FIG. 4B, which cross- correlates the responses to different questions in the survey project.
  • FIG. 4B shows a reports from the results data such as is shown in FIG. 4B, which cross- correlates the responses to different questions in the survey project.
  • banner question QOl is displayed in box 80 and is directed to the topic of the respondents' interest in the subject product.
  • Question Q02 is directed to the respondents' intent to use the product and is displayed in box 81.
  • the remaining questions may also be displayed in box 81 and the system server 10 would display the topic of the question in box 81.
  • Table 82 in FIG. 4B displays a cross reference of the survey responses to question QOl in top row 83 with the survey responses to question Q02 or other question displayed in box 81.
  • the possible responses to the question displayed in box 81 are displayed in column 84.
  • the total number of results for each response choice for the question displayed in box 81 are shown in column 85. As indicated the percentage of the overall response total for a question is indicated below the actual number of responses.
  • Personnel at the client company location 30 may access the results data on a real-time basis via the telecommunications link 20 thus permitting the client company to evaluate the marketing project while the project is in progress. Accordingly, the client company is able to modify or otherwise change parameters of the marketing project in midstream. For example, the client company could determine that a particular marketing message was not effective after initial results were obtained and could substitute another message for the balance of the project.
  • the interactive marketing system as described above has the advantage of being capable of marketing to a large number of targeted respondents relatively rapidly, since the system server 10 can process and transmit participation offers and conduct automated survey and marketing message delivery at volumes limited only by hardware considerations and telecommunications link bandwidth.
  • the system may also be programmed and configured to multiple client company marketing projects simultaneously.
  • the system may be programmed to avoid the transmission of too frequent participation offers to the same target respondent. This is accomplished, for example, by recording the date of the last survey participation of a respondent and establishing a logical rule such as a minimum number of days between survey participation and the transmission of a subsequent participation offer.
  • client companies can pay a yearly subscription fee for implementing the above described system as a method of marketing their products.
  • the yearly subscription fee could cover a predefined amount of service, whether the service is defined as hours or tasks.
  • client companies could pay a yearly subscription for the right to use the system and then pay the expenses associated with the marketing of a particular product.
  • the expenses could include the costs associated with preparing surveys and marketing messages, preparing and sending invitations to participate in the survey, processing the data, and other related expenses.
  • the client company may have a exclusive right to use the above described system for a particular product line if they are the first company producing that product line that pays the yearly maintenance fee. It would be obvious to those skilled in the art that the system could be implemented in numerous manners, including numerous fee arrangements and numerous incentives to those using the system, that would be well with the scope of the current invention.

Abstract

A system and method for interactive marketing in the life sciences industries is disclosed. Targeted respondent data for a client company project is input to a system server (10) which is used to generate survey participation offers. The system server (10) transmits the participation offers having a project identifier and respondent identifier to the respondents on an automated basis such as by facsimile transmission. When a survey participant responds, the system server (10) conducts an automated survey either by telephone or by electronic form using predetermined survey questions for the client company marketing project. An audio or audiovisual marketing message is selected and played to the survey participant based on either the participant's responses to the selected survey questions or other profile data of the participant. The survey responses are recorded and the response data, or processed statistical reports generated from the response data, are transmitted to the client company. The response data and statistical reports may be generated and accessed on a real-time basis by the client company via a telecommunications link (20) to the system server (10). Optionally, the system server (10) generates and transmits a reward to survey participants.

Description

INTERACTIVE TARGETED
MARKETING SYSTEM AND METHOD
Field Of The Invention The present invention relates to targeted marketing and feedback on an interactive basis, and more particularly, to a system and method for dynamic and automated targeted marketing and marketing measurement in the life sciences industry.
Background Of The Invention
Marketing programs and advertising delivery systems, particularly in the life sciences industries such as the pharmaceutical and agricultural science industries, tend to be expensive and inefficient. Often, it is also difficult, if not impossible, to measure the success or failure of a particular marketing program.
For example, pharmaceutical companies typically market their products through a network of sales representatives who provide detailed information about a product directly to a purchase decision-maker, such as a prescribing physician in a practice. This is known as "detailing." They also market products through direct mail advertising, through advertisements in scientific journals, or through general advertising to consumer-patients in general circulation periodicals or on television. Each of these means of marketing is expensive and, except for the detailing procedure and direct mail advertising, cannot be focused on specific purchase decision-makers.
Detailing involves a brief oral presentation of information by the pharmaceutical company' s sales representative to a physician along with written information, samples and the like. A detailing session will generally take place in the physician' s office during business hours and last from ten to twenty minutes. Because of the labor-intensive nature of detailing, the cost of this marketing mechanism is expensive. The sales representatives must be thoroughly educated and trained with respect to the detail message intended to be delivered to the physician and, of course, must be provided with the necessary logistic support such as transportation, communications equipment and product literature. Even though detailing may be targeted to a specific group of physicians, it is generally not the practice to customize the detail message and effectively the same message is delivered to all the physicians. Also, because of the limitations on maintaining a sales force of representatives, e.g., size and expense, each sales representative must visit a number of physicians. It may therefore take weeks or even months to deliver the detail message to all the physicians the pharmaceutical company wants to reach. Because of the expense of detailing, this marketing method is usually limited to use only m connection with the top-selling products of the company which may comprise two to five percent of the products in a company's product line. Another potential drawback to using the detailing mechanism is the requirement that the message delivered to the physician must generally comply with government regulations governing the message content. For example, many governments require that the message must be "balanced" and that the message does not include any "off label" claims. In other words, the sales representatives must not make any claims or representations in person which would not be permitted on the labeling of the pharmaceutical product. Also the message must contain the same sort of balance between the positive and negative attributes of the product as the label or other written advertising would contain. Obviously, since each detail session is a personal presentation to a physician, there is the risk that the message could contain a mistake or even an unauthorized "off label" claim.
Direct mail advertising can be targeted to specific physicians, but it is often viewed as ineffective because, unlike detailing, there is no assurance that the advertisement is receiving the attention of the physician. Because of the static visual nature of most direct mail advertising and the busy schedules of most physicians, direct mail advertising cannot be relied upon to convey important product information m the same manner as detailing. Direct mail advertising is also competing with the advertising of both competitive and unrelated products for the attention of a physician. In order to compete for what little attention the physician may give to direct mail advertising, the advertising must be designed to stand apart from other solicitations which obviously increases the expense.
Advertising in scientific journals, general circulation periodicals and on television is not very focused on a specific set of purchase decision-makers by its nature and is generally expensive. The message must be carefully developed and is often tested well in advance of publication in order to accommodate these mass market mechanisms. Generally, there are relatively long lead-time's required before the advertisement is published and, if it is determined that the message was ineffective in, or detrimental to, promoting sales, the company has little ability to halt or alter the mass marketing process. The publications of the message have been made and cannot be rescinded. Further, in the case of television, only relatively short, uncomplicated messages can be delivered.
The above-noted marketing methods also do not provide a mechanism for accurately and quickly assessing the effectiveness of a marketing project. In some instances, such as after the use of detailing, a company can correlate product purchases or prescriptions with the visit of its sales representative. However, generally speaking, the company must rely on other market research techniques to attempt to assess the results of its efforts. In the case of pharmaceutical companies, it is a common practice to survey the prescribing physicians. The surveys are either in the form of a questionnaire delivered by mail to the physician or in the form of telephone interviews conducted by live operators. The cooperation of the physicians may be secured by rewarding them for participating in the survey, for example, by paying the physicians an honorarium. However, since the company will typically engage in a number of marketing projects simultaneously, it is often not possible to accurately assess the effectiveness of a particular project and, in the case of mass marketing projects, there may be no assurance that the physician was exposed to the effects of the marketing project.
Summary Of The Invention
In view of the foregoing disadvantages of the prior art marketing systems, it is an object of this invention to provide a system and method for carrying out focused marketing in a cost-efficient manner and to provide a mechanism for accurately and swiftly assessing the efficacy of the marketing. The newly developed automated marketing system of the present invention achieves these objectives. The system conducts an automated survey of the intended recipient of the marketing message through a telecommunications link, e.g., via telephone or over a network such as the Internet, and delivers the marketing message to the respondent during or following the survey. The system allows the marketing message to be targeted to specific sets or subsets of purchase decision- makers or purchase influencers such as physicians, scientists, technical directors, purchase agents, farmers or consumers in the life sciences industries. The system selects the marketing message based on predetermined criteria such as a respondent's answer to particular survey questions to determine which message is the most appropriate to deliver. The message can be carefully controlled to insure its integrity and compliance with government regulations. The system of the present invention also provides for real-time feedback on the effectiveness of a marketing project and the purchase attitudes of the purchase decision-makers being surveyed. Targeted respondent data for a client company project is input to a system server which is used to generate survey participation offers. The system server transmits the participation offers having a project identifier and respondent identifier to the respondents on an automated basis such as by facsimile transmission. When a survey participant responds, the system server conducts an automated survey either by telephone or by electronic form using predetermined survey questions for the client company marketing project. An audio or audiovisual marketing message is selected and played to the survey participant based on either the participant's responses to selected survey questions or other profile data of the participant. The survey responses are recorded and the response data or processed statistical reports generated from the response data is transmitted to the client company. The response data and statistical reports may be generated and accessed on a real-time basis by the client company via a telecommunications link to the system server. Optionally, the system server generates and transmits a reward to survey participants .
In another aspect, it is an object of the system and method of the present invention to provide a means for refining and tailoring the marketing message to the profile of they intended recipient. The message may be customized based on the profile data previously established for the individual or data established by the individual's responses to the survey questions. In yet another aspect, the invention provides feedback mechanisms to the client company so that it can evaluate the effectiveness of the project or modify the marketing messages according to the results of the survey. The present invention provides for delivery of the results data to the client company and for the generation of reports statistically correlating the survey results or other data. The data and reports can be printed on paper, delivered on storage media such as magnetic or cd-rom disks, or accessed in real time via a telecommunications link. These and other features and objects of the invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which should be read in light of the accompanying drawings and appended claims.
Brief Description Of The Drawings
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, illustrate the embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
FIG.l is a flowchart of the method according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a diagram of the overall physical architecture of the interactive marketing system of the invention;
FIG. 3 depicts an overview of the flow of information in the interactive marketing system of the invention; FIG. 4A is an example of the log-on screen for accessing response data and statistical reports on response data via a telecommunications link;
FIG. 4B is an example of an on-screen statistical report generated by the system server cross-correlating responses to two questions from a survey accessible via a telecommunications link according to the invention; FIG. 5 is a block diagram representation of a configuration of the interactive marketing system of the present invention wherein multiple client company projects are simultaneously undertaken by the system server;
FIG. 6 illustrates a database structure for an exemplary target respondent database;
FIG. 7 illustrates a database structure for project data, according to one embodiment; FIG. 8 illustrates a database structure for project data, according to one embodiment; FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary list of typical marketing survey question topics; and
FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary marketing survey.
Detailed Description Of The Preferred Embodiment In describing a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology w ll be used for the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.
With reference to the drawings, in general, and FIGS. 1 through 5 in particular, the system and method of the present invention is disclosed. An overview of the architecture and general method of tne invention is illustrated m FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.
In a preferred embodiment, the system uses a computer system server 10 connected via a telecommunications link 20 to telecommunication devices at a client company location 30 ana a respondent location 40. Any suitable computer system server such as a personal computer, microcomputer or server as are well known in the art may be used. The server 10 typically comprises one or more microprocessors, temporary storage media such as RAM memory, and other storage media such as magnetic hard drives or tape drives or optical drives such as cd-rom drives for storing digital data. The server 10 may be a single computer or a plurality of computers that are networked, as is well known in the art.
The computer system server 10 has a means for connecting to the telecommunications link 20 and communicating with devices at the client company location 30 and the respondent locations 40. The communications means may be any suitable computer telephony communications card. Voice, data and fax processing cards are well known in the art and are available, for example, from Dialogic Corporation, 1515 Route Ten, Parsippany, New Jersey, USA. These cards are typically connected to the microprocessor via an interface and may be dedicated to the processing of a single type of communication, such as voice or data or fax. Alternatively, cards are available having combined processing capabilities.
The system server 10 may communicate with devices at the client location 30, such as personal computer 32 or with devices at respondent locations 40, such as fax machine 42, telephone 44 or personal computer 46. The telecommunications link 20 may be established across any suitable network such as the Public Switched Network (PSN), the Internet, a proprietary network or combinations thereof.
According to the system and method of the invention, project data is input into the system server 10. As shown in block 11 of the flowchart in FIG. 1, the project data includes target respondent data. The respondent data may include data such as the name, address, telephone number, facsimile machine number and the like for each target respondent. This data may be stored in a relational database as is commonly known in the art. In a preferred embodiment, the data is stored in an xbase format such as a Clipper-compatible database format. The respondent data may also include additional profile information such as the target respondent's field of specialty or similar information concerning the nature of the respondent's medical practice or business.
The database structure for an exemplary target respondent database is shown in FIG. 6. The target respondent database table includes the field RESPID to record a unique respondent identifier for each target respondent and the field STUDY to record a project identifier for current marketing project. The respondent data may be transmitted from the personal computer 32 at the client company location 30 via telecommunications link 20 as shown by arrow 22 of FIG. 3. Alternatively, the target respondent data may be input from another source or may be resident on the system server 10 from a previous marketing project.
Block 12 of the flowchart in FIG. 1 shows that other project data such as survey question data and marketing message data are input into the system server 10 shown by arrow 24 in FIG. 3. This data may be transmitted via the telecommunications link 20 from the client company location 30 or they may be input from other sources. The project data may include survey questions, marketing messages, question and message file identity and location, and data necessary for executing the marketing message selection. The respondent database illustrated in FIG. 6 also includes fields QOl through Q99 for recording the respondent's responses to survey questions 1 through 99 respectively. In this example, the response data is recorded in the same database table that contains the respondent contact data, but it will be recognized that response data could be recorded in a separate database table. The respondent database also includes fields for recording communications with the target respondent such as the date the survey participation offer is sent to the target respondent, the date of the survey interview, the interview duration, and the amount and date of the reward sent to the respondent for completing the survey interview. Since it is contemplated in the illustrated embodiment that the system will determine which one of several marketing messages is the most appropriate for the respondent, the respondent database table includes field MSGPLAY to record which message was transmitted to the target respondent during or after the survey.
In a preferred embodiment, a survey participation offer is transmitted to each target respondent as shown in block 13 of FIG. 1 and arrows 26 in FIG. 3. The participation offer may be printed by the system server 10 and sent by mail or courier to the target respondent. In a preferred embodiment, the offer is sent by facsimile transmission to the facsimile machine 42 at the respondent location 40 using software for generating the participation offer from the target respondent data and for initiating and transmitting the offer to each respondent on an automated basis. Software for this purpose is generally known in the art and is available, for example, from Parity Software Development Corporation, 3 Harbor Drive, Sausalito, California USA under the trademark VOS . The software is used to program system server 10 to generate participation offers from the data in the target respondent database and to send the offers using the fax processing card via the telecommunications link 20 to the respondents. Upon successful transmission of the offer, the date of the offer is recorded in field DATE_F in the target respondent database. The participation offer includes the project identifier, a unique respondent identifier for the targeted respondent, and any other pertinent information and terms, such as the study topic or the terms of the reward for survey participation. The offer may be transmitted by other means such as via email or the like to respondent's personal computer 46. It is preferred that the offer is generated by the system server 10 on an automated basis.
Where the survey is conducted as an automated telephone survey, the survey questions and messages are stored as digital audio files on the system storage media to be processed by the system server 10. When the respondent uses her personal computer or other electronic appliance having audiovisual capabilities, the survey questions are stored as digital text, audio or audiovisual files and the marketing messages are stored as audio or audiovisual files.
FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate the database structures for database tables for the project data. In this illustration, it is contemplated that the selection of the marketing message will be based on the responses during the survey interview of two of the survey questions. However, it should be understood that the project data may include only one marketing message that is used for all respondents. Where the project includes more than one marketing message, the selection may be based on survey responses to two or more survey questions or based on respondent profile criteria or a combination thereof. The client project database illustrated in FIG. 7 includes field STUDY for the project identifier and fields for recording the file identities and locations for the audio or audiovisual messages which may be transmitted during the automated survey interview.
In a preferred embodiment, the system server 10 is programmed using computer telephony software such as the trademarked VOS software to conduct an automated telephone survey when a targeted respondent initiates a survey session m response to a participation offer. The respondent initiates the survey session by telephoning the system server telephone number identified in the participation offer and, after a greeting message, inputting the project identifier and the respondent's unique respondent identifier as indicated by arrow 28 of FIG. 3. Thereafter, the system server 10 conducts the survey on a question-by-question basis using the question data established for the client company project specified by the respondent as shown on block 14 of FIG. 1. As is known m the art, the system server 10 uses audio or voice files to generate question messages and the respondent responds to question messages or response commands either by using touch tones of the telephone or voice commands. The respondent's responses are recorded in the appropriate fields QOl through Q99 of the target respondent database. The system server 10 is also programmed to track the last answered question in field LASTQ. In this manner, if the respondent terminates the survey session and re-mitiates a subsequent survey session, the system server 10 is programmed to resume the survey at the first unanswered question or at some previous point in the survey such as the beginning of the survey at the option of the respondent. Data relating to the questions for the client company project are stored n the project-specific question database having a data structure, such as that shown m FIG. 8. The project identifier is stored m field STUDY and the question identifier is stored in field QUEST. The type of question, e.g., whether the question response will require only one response command such as "Choose response from one through five." or whether the question response may require multiple response commands such as "Enter the number of patients you have treated for this condition," is stored in field TYPE. This example question database also has three indicator fields
PLAYTOP, PLAYPRO and ETAIL which the system server 10 is programmed to recognize. If the indicator is set to other than the default, the system server 10 will transmit the corresponding message after the question such as a topic message, a product-related message or a marketing message, respectively. The field QVOX contains the name of the audio or voice file on the system server 10 for the question which the system server 10 processes when it is time to present the question.
The survey questions are directed to topics such as are known in the art for measuring awareness, attitudes and receptivity of the respondent to a product or therapy that is the subject of the marketing project. By way of example, a list of typical marketing survey question topics is set forth in FIG. 9. An example of an automated telephone interview script for an agricultural sciences marketing project is set forth in FIG. 10.
The project database table illustrated in FIG. 7 contains the file names of the set of pre-recorded marketing messages in fields MSG01 through MSG09. In a preferred embodiment, at least one of these audio or voice files is processed and transmitted by the system server 10 when the ETAIL field noted above for a particular question is set to other than default. Fields MSGQ1, MSG1LOW, MSG1HIGH, MSG1VLU and MSGQ2, MSG2LOW, MSG2HIGH, MSG2VLU relate to data used by the system server 10 to determine which marketing message to transmit to the respondent and are discussed m greater detail below.
In an alternative embodiment, the automated survey is conducted by an electronic form, when the targeted respondent initiates the survey session using her personal computer. The use of such electronic forms is well known m the art. When the survey responses are submitted in electronic form such as over the Internet, the system server 10 is programmed to review and validate the survey question responses and, thereafter, to process and transmit an audio or audiovisual marketing message to the respondent based on predetermined logic as discussed below. The respondent may access the system server 10 using widely available browser software such as trademarked Internet Explorer software available from Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, USA or trademarked Netscape Communicator software available from Netscape Communications Corporation, California, USA. The audio or audiovisual messages may be heard or viewed, for example, using browser add-on software such as trademarked RealPlayer software available from RealNetworks, Inc.
In the system according to the present invention, a project may have only a single pre-recorded marketing message which is delivered after a designated question or validation of the survey questions responses. However, it is preferred that that the interactive marketing system selects a particular marketing message from a set of marketing messages based on pre-determmed factors and logic. The selection of the desired marketing message may be determined from the respondent's response to one or more survey questions and a set of logical rules based on the substance of the questions. Alternatively, the system may also be programmed to not deliver any marketing message at all based on the respondent's question responses. This might be an appropriate choice where the respondent has indicated in her response to survey questions that she is not receptive to listening or viewing a marketing message. The message selection may also be based upon profile information about the respondent that is already known by the client company such as the geographic location of the respondent, the respondent's experience, the respondent's practice or business specialty.
In another embodiment, the system may include multiple stored marketing messages and the delivered marketing message, that is the marketing message delivered to the respondent, may be a combination of the multiple stored marketing messages. For example the system may include ten stored marketing messages for product A, and the respondents answers to the questions indicate that respondent should receive stored marketing messages 1, 3, 5 and 8. In that case the delivered marketing message will be a combination of stored marketing messages 1, 3, 5 and 8. This embodiment allows each individually stored marketing message to be smaller, as it may be combined with other marketing messages, to create the delivered marketing message. As one skilled in the art would recognize, this embodiment adds flexibility to the system. The system allows marketing messages to be targeted to the individual respondent based on the respondents answers to survey questions. That is, if the survey indicates that the respondent is not knowledgeable about the product, the marketing message may include background data about the product to build up the respondents knowledge base. On the other hand, if the respondent knows about the product but believes in a misconception about the product, the marketing message may not include background data but instead include data relating to the misconception. As one skilled in the art would recognize, misconceptions may either relate to the product itself or to the competitors of the product. For example, a misconception about the product may be that the product causes headaches, when in fact the product only causes headaches if it is not taken with food. A misconception about a competitor may be that the competitor offers a generic product that is much less costly, when in fact the generic drug is only marginally less costly and does not have the good will of your product. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the use of question responses and pre-determined logical rules by the system to select a marketing message. The system server 10 is programmed to determine which marketing message to transmit by evaluating the respondent's responses to two questions. The question identifier for the first question is stored in the
MSGQl field and a string defining the low and high values for a range of responses to the first question are stored in MSG1LOW and MSG1HIG respectively. Depending on the respondent's response to the question identified in MSGQl, the system assigns a value from string MSG1VLU to a first variable. In a like manner, a second question, ranges of responses, response values, value assigned to a second variable are established for a second question. When it is time for the system to select and transmit the marketing message, the system processes a selection computation based on the stored response values . As an example, the system may be programmed to determine which marketing message to use based on questions Q13 (Frequency) and Q20 (Brand A awareness) . Thus, question Q13 might be "How many prescriptions do you write for the topic product in an average month?" and have five response ranges such as "1 to 5", "6 to 10", "11 to 15", "16 to 20" and "21 or more". Depending on the number the respondent inputs, the system will assign one of the values in MSG1VLU to the first variable. For example, if the response is "17" which is in the fourth range in the set and the MSG1VLU string is "12345", the first question variable would be assigned a value of "4". Similarly, question Q20 may ask "Please indicate how familiar you are with prescription drug Brand A. Press "1" for not familiar at all, etc." If the response is "3" for "somewhat familiar" and the MSG2VLU string is again "12345", the second question variable would be assigned a value of "3". The system server 10 is then programmed to compute a relationship between these two values such as "first question value plus second question value minus one equals message value." In the above example, the selection of the message would be message MSG06, i.e., (4+3-l)=6, and the system would process and transmit the audio or voice file identified in field MSG06 to the respondent. In this example, the range of marketing messages could be established to provide basic, overview information message in MSG01 for respondents who have little familiarity and no history of usage to more advanced, highly specific information about the product in MSG09 for respondents who are very familiar with and use the product frequently.
Following the primary marketing survey and delivery, the system will preferably transmit follow-up survey questions to assess the impact of the marketing message or to gauge the receptivity of the respondent to the survey. The follow-up survey questions may be asked immediately following the marketing message or at a later time. For example, in an interview with a prescribing physician about a particular drug, the respondent may be asked if she would be more likely or less likely to prescribe the drug after she has heard the marketing message. Similarly, the respondent may be asked to indicate how willing she may be to participate in a future survey. These type of follow-up surveys provide the client company with a clear and provable view of their return on investment.
Upon completion of the survey by the respondent, the system server 10 is programmed to send the reward to the respondent in accordance with the terms of the participation offer. This may be accomplished by printing a check or other draft in the name of the respondent and sending it by mail or courier to the respondent. In one embodiment, the system will include parameters for determining what portion of the survey and message the respondent is paid for. For example, the system may be designed to only pay the respondent for a maximum time for each session. This maximum payment would prevent respondents from simply signing onto the system to accrue time and thus payment. Moreover, the system could be designed to only pay the respondents for the time they take to answer the survey questions, and not pay them for listening to the marketing data. This type of setup would most likely be the method of operation in the U.S., if the client was a pharmaceutical company and the respondent was a prescribing doctor. This setup would satisfy the regulations of the American Medical Association (AMA) which does not allow doctors to be paid for listening to promotional messages. As one skilled in the art would recognize, the system could be implemented in numerous embodiments all of which are well within the scope of the current invention.
As previously noted, the survey response data and the marketing message delivery data are recorded by the system server 10. As shown by arrow 29 in FIG. 3, the project results data is transmitted to the client company. The raw data may be transmitted in electronic or printed format or the data may be processed by the system server 10, for example, to show statistical correlations between survey responses. In a preferred embodiment, the results data may be accessed at the client company location 30 via the telecommunications link 20. FIG. 4A shows a typical login screen for client company access to the results data on the system server 10. Preferably, the system server 10 is programmed to generate a reports from the results data such as is shown in FIG. 4B, which cross- correlates the responses to different questions in the survey project. In FIG. 4B, banner question QOl is displayed in box 80 and is directed to the topic of the respondents' interest in the subject product. Question Q02 is directed to the respondents' intent to use the product and is displayed in box 81. The remaining questions may also be displayed in box 81 and the system server 10 would display the topic of the question in box 81. Table 82 in FIG. 4B displays a cross reference of the survey responses to question QOl in top row 83 with the survey responses to question Q02 or other question displayed in box 81. The possible responses to the question displayed in box 81 are displayed in column 84. The total number of results for each response choice for the question displayed in box 81 are shown in column 85. As indicated the percentage of the overall response total for a question is indicated below the actual number of responses. Personnel at the client company location 30 may access the results data on a real-time basis via the telecommunications link 20 thus permitting the client company to evaluate the marketing project while the project is in progress. Accordingly, the client company is able to modify or otherwise change parameters of the marketing project in midstream. For example, the client company could determine that a particular marketing message was not effective after initial results were obtained and could substitute another message for the balance of the project.
The interactive marketing system as described above has the advantage of being capable of marketing to a large number of targeted respondents relatively rapidly, since the system server 10 can process and transmit participation offers and conduct automated survey and marketing message delivery at volumes limited only by hardware considerations and telecommunications link bandwidth. As shown in FIG. 5, the system may also be programmed and configured to multiple client company marketing projects simultaneously. When the system implements multiple marketing projects and there is the risk that several project may target the same or overlapping groups of intended respondents, the system may be programmed to avoid the transmission of too frequent participation offers to the same target respondent. This is accomplished, for example, by recording the date of the last survey participation of a respondent and establishing a logical rule such as a minimum number of days between survey participation and the transmission of a subsequent participation offer. In one embodiment, client companies can pay a yearly subscription fee for implementing the above described system as a method of marketing their products. The yearly subscription fee could cover a predefined amount of service, whether the service is defined as hours or tasks. In another embodiment, client companies could pay a yearly subscription for the right to use the system and then pay the expenses associated with the marketing of a particular product. The expenses could include the costs associated with preparing surveys and marketing messages, preparing and sending invitations to participate in the survey, processing the data, and other related expenses. In one embodiment, the client company may have a exclusive right to use the above described system for a particular product line if they are the first company producing that product line that pays the yearly maintenance fee. It would be obvious to those skilled in the art that the system could be implemented in numerous manners, including numerous fee arrangements and numerous incentives to those using the system, that would be well with the scope of the current invention.
Although this invention has been illustrated by reference to specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made which clearly fall within the scope of the invention. The invention is intended to be protected broadly within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

ClaimsWhat is claimed is:
1. An interactive marketing system for targeting a plurality of intended respondents, comprising: a computer processor; storage means for storing data on a storage medium; means for inputting marketing project data for at least one marketing project client; means for transmitting a survey participation offer to each of the plurality of intended respondents; means for establishing a survey session and conducting a survey of a respondent m response to the survey participation offer received by the respondent; means for recording the respondent's response to at least one question during the survey session; and means for transmitting a marketing message to the respondent .
2. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, wherein the marketing project data comprises contact data relating to the intended respondents.
3. The interactive marketing system of claim 2, wherein the marketing project data comprises profile data relating to the intended respondents.
4. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, wherein the marketing project data comprises survey question data.
5. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, wherein the marketing project data comprises marketing message data.
6. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, wherein the marketing message is transmitted during the survey session.
7. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, wherein the marketing message is selected from a plurality of stored messages based on profile data of the respondent.
8. The interactive marketing system of claim 7, wherein the marketing project data comprises the profile data.
9. The interactive marketing system of claim 7, wherein the profile data is determined from the recorded response of the respondent to at least one question transmitted during the survey session.
10. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, wherein the marketing message is an audio or audiovisual message.
11. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, further comprising means for transmitting the recorded response to the at least one marketing project client.
12. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, further comprising means for processing the recorded responses of a plurality of respondents
13. The interactive marketing system of claim 12, further comprising means for transmitting the processed responses to the at least one marketing project client.
14. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, further comprising means for transmitting a reward to the respondent.
15. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, wherein the means for transmitting a marketing message includes means for determining whether the marketing message has been transmitted to the respondent in its entirety.
16. The interactive marketing system of claim 15, further comprising means for transmitting a reward to the respondent only after the marketing message has oeen transmitted to the respondent m its entirety.
17. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, wherein the marketing project data comprises data for a plurality of marketing projects.
5 18. The interactive marketing system of claim 17, wherein the marketing project data comprises data for a plurality of marketing project clients.
19. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, further 0 comprising means for verifying the identity of the respondent.
20. The interactive marketing system of claim 19, wherein the verifying means comprises a means for comparing the voice of the respondent to a previously recorded voice 5 print.
21. The interactive marketing system of claim 19, wherein the verifying means comprises a means for comparing the response to questions during the survey session to pre- 0 existing profile data relating to the respondent.
22. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, further comprising means for verifying the participation of the respondent .
:5
23. The interactive marketing system of claim 22, wherein the means for verifying includes means for determining whether the response to questions during the survey session is random or inconsistent.
24. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, further comprising means for determining whether all of the questions of a market project survey have been responded to by the respondent .
25. The interactive marketing system of claim 24, further comprising means for establishing a second survey session with the respondent.
26. The interactive marketing system of claim 25, wherein the means for establishing a second survey session with the respondent includes means for determining the extent of the respondent's response during the prior session.
27. The interactive marketing system of claim 26, wherein the means for establishing a second survey session with the respondent further includes means for limiting the second survey session to the portion of the survey for which no prior response was recorded for the respondent.
28. A method for interactive marketing to a plurality of intended respondents, said method comprising: transmitting a survey participation offer to each of the plurality of intended respondents; establishing a survey session with a respondent and conducting a survey of the respondent; transmitting an audio or audiovisual marketing message to the respondent during the survey session; and recording the respondent's response to the survey.
29. The method of claim 28, wherein the marketing message is selected from a plurality of marketing messages and is selected based on predetermined criteria.
30. The method of claim 29, wherein the survey comprises a plurality of survey questions and the predetermined criteria for selecting the marketing message is based on the respondent's response to at least one of the survey questions.
31. The method of claim 30, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on the respondent's responses to more than one of the survey questions.
32. The method of claim 29, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on profile data of the respondent which is independent of the respondent's responses to the survey questions .
33. The method of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises recording which message was transmitted to the respondent .
34. The method of claim 28, wherein the method further comprises transmitting a reward to the respondent for participating in the survey.
35. The method of claim 28, wherein the method further comprises repeating said establishing a survey session, said transmitting an audio or audiovisual marketing message, and said recording the respondent's response for a plurality of respondents; and processing the recorded survey responses to generate a statistical report of the responses.
36. The method of claim 28, wherein the survey includes at least one survey question after the transmission of the marketing message and said survey question is directed to the subject matter of the marketing message.
37. The method of claim 28, wherein the survey includes at least one survey question directed to the respondent's attitude towards participation in the survey session.
38. The method of claim 28, further comprising performing a follow up survey after the survey session to measure the effectiveness of the marketing message.
39. The method of claim 38, wherein the survey session includes questions related to the current use of the product and the follow up survey includes questions related to use of the product after delivery of the marketing message.
40. The interactive marketing system of claim 1, wherein the transmitted marketing message includes at least one of a plurality of stored marketing messages.
41. The interactive marketing system of claim 40, wherein the transmitted marketing message is assembled based on the respondents responses to the questions included in the survey session.
42. An interactive marketing system comprising: a storage medium for storing data including marketing data for at least one product; means for determining an appropriate audience to be marketed based on the stored marketing data; means for transmitting a survey participation offer to the at least a subset of the appropriate audience; means for allowing a member of the appropriate audience to establish a survey session; means for conducting a survey of the member subsequent to the establishment of the survey session for the member; means for recording the member's responses to the survey; means for processing the member' s responses to determine an appropriate marketing message for the member; and means for transmitting the appropriate marketing message to the member.
43. A method for providing interactive marketing to an intended audience including a plurality of members, said method comprising: transmitting a survey participation offer to a member; establishing a survey session with the member; conducting a survey of the member subsequent to said establishing a survey session; recording the member's responses to the survey; determining an appropriate marketing message based on the recorded responses; and transmitting the appropriate marketing message to the member.
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Cited By (4)

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