Targeted distribution of electronic coupons

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product is described that matches commercial incentives to consumers based on targeting data associated with the commercial incentive and user data associated with consumers in a manner that advantageously allows for highly-targeted delivery of commercial incentives to the consumers that are most likely to use them. Because both the targeting data and the user data may include spatial, temporal, social and topical data, matching may be performed based on any or all of these data types, as well as based on any combination of these data types.

1 . A method, comprising:
 providing a consumer with access to a network-accessible user interface to an electronic coupon distribution system via a Web browser;   enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to indicate whether or not the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons and to specify one or more parameters relating to an amount, frequency, origin or type of electronic coupons to be received; and   providing information obtained from the interaction between the consumer and the user interface via the Web browser to the electronic coupon distribution system.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify that electronic coupons relating to a certain type of product or service should or should not be received.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify that electronic coupons originating from a particular company or companies should or should not be received.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify that electronic coupons should be received from persons within a particular social network of the consumer.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify that electronic coupons should be received from persons within a certain social distance of the consumer within the particular social network.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify a time period during which the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify a location at which the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify areas of interest that are useable by the electronic coupon distribution system to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify a geographic region that is useable by the electronic coupon distribution system to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify one or more of an age, a gender, a marital status, a home ownership status, a socioeconomic status or life cycle status and wherein one or more of the age, the gender, the marital status, the home ownership status, the socioeconomic status or the life cycle status specified by the consumer via the user interface is useable by the electronic coupon distribution system to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user.