Method and System for Creating Virtual Focus Group Campaigns

Abstract

Customers are able to create campaigns that consist of either polls, ads, or coupons and will receive direct feedback from the consumer(s) they inquire with. Campaigns are delivered by a software platform where the campaign is delivered to participating consumers without the consumers having to physically travel somewhere. Consumers will receive push notifications on their smartphones through a mobile app letting them know that they have an inquiry. The consumers will then read the poll/ad/coupon, provide their feedback, and get paid. Feedback is provided in a couple different ways, depending on the type of campaign. In polls and ads, feedback comes in the form of a choice of either yes or no answers or an answer from a multiple choice question. With coupons, members provide their feedback by choosing to either save the coupon to their coupon wallet in the mobile app, or discard it if they are not interested.

Claims

1. A method for creating virtual focus group campaigns capable of execution by a computer, the method comprising the steps of: a member signs up through a mobile website and downloads a mobile application to their mobile device; the member creates and account and signs in to the system through the mobile application; the member selects certain settings and provides personal information about which products or services they would be interested in evaluating or which goods or services they frequently use in their day to day lives; a member is matched or selected to participate in a new survey such as a poll, advertisement, or coupon, they will receive a notification on their mobile device through the mobile application; a member wishing to participate in the survey, will select or click on the notification and be taken to the queue, where they can see and select from one or more notifications that they have received. the member clicks or selected an on screen button to be shown the next poll, ad, or coupon in their queue; the member provides feedback to the survey; and members are compensated for each response they provide and their earnings accumulate in their account until they decide to cash them out by way of a third party processor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein members provide feedback to polls by choosing yes or no or an answer from a multiple choice question, typically by selecting one of four possible answers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein members provide feedback to ads by choosing yes or no or an answer from a multiple choice question, typically by selecting one of four possible answers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein an image may also be shown as well as part of the question presented.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein members provide feedback to coupons by choosing to either save the coupon to their coupon wallet or to discard the coupon because they have no interest in it.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein members can earn significantly more money simply by referring others to sign up; members gain access to more levels of compensation by referring more people that result in actual sign ups; and members get paid extra anytime any of their personal referrals provides feedback, and also get paid extra whenever anyone that's within their referral network provides feedback.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: an Advertiser, after setting up an account, would search the member database; the Advertiser chooses the desired search area(s); providing a total number of qualified members based on the search criteria; choosing the number of desired responses; choosing what type of campaign to create; inserting the content for the campaign; choosing the duration of the campaign; choosing when campaign should be sent out; and sending the campaign to all qualified members in the designated search area.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the cost of the campaign is directly related to the number of desired responses.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein The types of campaigns include a poll, ad, or coupon.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein polls consist of one question.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein ads consist of some copy and an image.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein coupons consist of the coupon details and an optional image.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein once the campaign is deployed, members will submit their feedback through the mobile app., which the advertiser will receive.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein feedback from members is provided in a couple different ways, depending on the type of campaign.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein in polls and ads, feedback comes in the form of a choice of either yes or no answers or an answer from a multiple choice question.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein with coupons, members provide their feedback by choosing to either save the coupon to their coupon wallet in the mobile app, or discard it if they are not interested in it.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein form a part of the specification, illustrate the present invention and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the invention and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the invention.

[0038] FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating the member process of the present invention.

[0039] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the business/advertiser process of the present invention.

[0040] FIG. 3 is a spreadsheet illustrating the member compensation plan of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0041] In the following detailed description of the invention of exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings (where like numbers represent like elements), which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific exemplary embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, but other embodiments may be utilized and logical, mechanical, electrical, and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

[0042] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it is understood that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and techniques known to one of ordinary skill in the art have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the invention. Referring to the figures, it is possible to see the various major elements constituting the apparatus of the present invention.

[0043] The method and system of the present invention teaches where customers are able to create campaigns that consist of either polls, ads, or coupons and will receive direct feedback from the consumer(s) they inquire with. The reason customers are guaranteed to receive that feedback is because, just like traditional focus groups, these consumer will get paid real money for providing their feedback.

[0044] The present invention teaches a platform where the campaign is delivered to participating consumers without the consumers having to physically travel somewhere to physically sit with a bunch of strangers to discuss a product or receive a product for use and review in a limited time period and setting. The present invention is inherently comprehensive because it allows a company to conduct all of its market research before deploying its marketing campaigns, which are also done from within the platform.

[0045] With the present invention, the consumers will receive push notifications on their smartphones through a mobile app letting them know that they have an inquiry. The consumers will then read the poll/ad/coupon, provide their feedback, and get paid, all on the go.

[0046] Now referring to FIG. 1, the member process is illustrated. In a first step, the member signed up through a mobile website and downloads a mobile application to their mobile device. Next the member creates and account and signs in to the system through the mobile application. The member may select certain settings and provide personal information about which products or services they would be interested in evaluating or which goods or services they frequently use in their day to day lives. This will assist the application and system in targeting the best members in the database and matching and selecting them for new surveys as they become available.

[0047] Advertisers will have limited demographic information to use to identify the members they would like to send their polls/ads/coupons to. When members sign up, they provide the following required identifying information: First name, last name, male/female, email, and zip code. Advertisers will start out with this info already available to them when they create their campaigns and will be the info they use to search the database for the members they want to send their campaigns to. Advertisers will not have access to members' personal identifying information. They will search the database with that information, but they will never have access to any member's mobile number and will never be able to match mobile numbers with personal preferences to identify anyone.

[0048] Regarding member selection ability for advertisers, in one scenario, a small business owner who really has no clue who his target market is uses the method of the present invention. If this is the case, it doesn't matter if they know exactly which age range to target because the feedback they would receive would let them know whether or not that group were potential customers or if they were even interested in what the business offers.

[0049] In another embodiment, the present invention can provide a truly educational assistance experience to those advertisers who aren't savvy marketers by combining the system with marketing experts/consultants that advertisers have access to.

[0050] In the first embodiment of the present invention, advertisers will have to create new pools of customers for themselves using the system. Even if it takes them ten campaigns asking various questions to create a pool of people they know are interested in their product, it will still be significantly less expensive than if they had to try to acquire that info through traditional means. It would also take them significantly less time to acquire that info with the present invention.

[0051] In another embodiment, affiliates will be trained and will be able to assist their advertiser customers with setting up campaigns, creating content for their campaigns, etc., and although they may not be certified marketing specialists, they will have enough general knowledge to point advertisers in the right direction so that a situation where the advertiser receives no positive feedback or results from using the present invention will not occur.

[0052] When a member is matched or selected to participate in a new survey such as a poll, advertisement, or coupon, they will receive a notification on their mobile device through the mobile application. A member wishing to participate in the survey, will select or click on the notification and be taken to the queue, where they can see and select from one or more notifications that they have received.

[0053] Next, the member clicks or selected an on screen button to be shown the next poll, ad, or coupon in their queue. Members provide feedback to polls by choosing yes or no or an answer from a multiple choice question, typically by selecting one of four possible answers. Members provide feedback to ads by choosing yes or no or an answer from a multiple choice question, typically by selecting one of four possible answers. With respect to ads, an image may also be shown as well as part of the question presented. Members provide feedback to coupons by choosing to either save the coupon to their coupon wallet or to discard the coupon because they have no interest in it. Members are compensated for each response they provide and their earnings accumulate in their account until they decide to cash them out by way of a third party processor such as PAYPAL.

[0054] Members are highly incentivized to share the present invention with other people, as they can earn significantly more money simply by referring others to sign up as shown by the member compensation plan of FIG. 3. Members gain access to more levels of compensation by referring more people that result in actual sign ups. Members get paid extra anytime any of their personal referrals provides feedback, and also get paid extra whenever anyone that's within their referral network provides feedback.

[0055] Now referring to FIG. 2, the method and steps for Advertisers to create virtual focus group campaigns using the present invention are illustrated.

[0056] First, an Advertiser, after setting up an account, would search the member database by age range, sex (male, female, or both), and area (which can be one zip code, multiple zip codes, county, multiple counties, city, multiple cities, state, multiple states, or nationwide. The Advertiser chooses the desired search area(s) and the software application executing the method of the present invention provides a total number of qualified members based on the search criteria.

[0057] Next, an Advertiser chooses how many responses they want, not how many members they want to advertise to. This is unique because it gives the advertiser full control of their costs, unlike traditional advertising. The software executing the method of the present invention will send the poll/ad/coupon to all qualified members in the designated search area, which creates a sense of urgency for members to respond because the members that will get paid for their feedback in this campaign is limited to the number of responses the advertiser chooses. The rest will miss out on the opportunity to get paid if they do not respond soon enough.

[0058] The Advertiser chooses what type of campaign they want to createpoll, ad, or coupon. Polls consist of one question. Ads consist of some copy and an image. Coupons consist of the coupon details and an optional image. The Advertiser inserts the content for the poll, ad, or coupon. The Advertiser chooses the duration of the campaign, which can be up to a maximum of seven days. The Advertiser chooses when campaign should be sent out, which can be immediately or at a future time, whether that is 15 minutes from then or in 3 days at 4 pm. The Advertiser starts campaign.

[0059] Once campaign is deployed, members will submit their feedback through the present invention's mobile app., which the advertiser will receive. The present invention provides a full spectrum marketing solution because it allows a business to conduct in depth market research up front and then create campaigns to market to those that are shown to be their target market.

[0060] Feedback from members is provided in a couple different ways, depending on the type of campaign. In polls and ads, feedback comes in the form of a choice of either yes or no answers or an answer from a multiple choice question. With coupons, members provide their feedback by choosing to either save the coupon to their coupon wallet in the mobile app, or discard it if they are not interested in it.

[0061] The system is set to run on a computing device or mobile electronic device. A computing device or mobile electronic device on which the present invention can run would be comprised of a CPU, Hard Disk Drive, Keyboard, Monitor, CPU Main Memory and a portion of main memory where the system resides and executes. Any general-purpose computer, smartphone, or other mobile electronic device with an appropriate amount of storage space is suitable for this purpose. Computer and mobile electronic devices like these are well known in the art and are not pertinent to the invention. The system can also be written in a number of different languages and run on a number of different operating systems and platforms.

[0062] Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions are possible. Therefore, the point and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.

[0063] As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided.

[0064] Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.