System and methods for delivering targeted marketing offers to consumers via an online portal

Abstract

A system and methods for delivering targeted marketing offers to consumers during a session with an online (web-based) Internet portal, particularly suitable for online banking portals of financial institutions. An offer management system receives information corresponding to an advertising campaign of an advertiser corresponding to terms of a targeted marketing offer to be provided to a consumer accessing the online portal, and provides advertising campaign data corresponding to the targeted marketing offer and to an offer-triggering event to an offer placement system. An offer placement system receives the advertising campaign data, determines the occurrence of the offer-triggering event by a consumer during an online session with the online portal, and delivers information corresponding to the targeted marketing offer to the consumer. In response to the offer-triggering event, such as display of a list of transactions, the predetermined targeted marketing offer is delivered to the consumer during the online session.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A targeted marketing system operative to deliver a targeted marketing offer from an advertiser to a consumer of a financial institution in the form of a targeted marketing offer display on an electronic display of a client machine operated by the consumer, the electronic display generated by an online portal provided by a financial institution computer system, the online portal operative to provide an electronic display of the targeted marketing offer to the consumer in association with the display of information corresponding to a predetermined financial transaction of the consumer an online session, comprising:
 an offer placement computer system coupled for secure communications with the financial institution computer system, receiving de-identified transaction data provided by the financial institution computer system that was derived from financial transaction data of the financial institution including a plurality of financial transactions of the consumer, and storing the de-identified transaction data in a database associated with the offer placement system;   an offer management computer system providing a campaign generation process for the advertiser, the campaign generation process receiving input from an advertiser corresponding to at least one campaign, at least one segment associated with the at least one campaign, and the terms of a targeted marketing offer to be provided to the consumer, the targeted marketing offer associated with the at least one segment, the campaign generation process further providing campaign data for delivery to the offer placement computer system, the campaign data comprising at least one targeted marketing offer for delivery to consumers who are identified at the offer placement computer system as belonging to the at least one segment as indicated by the predetermined financial transaction;   in response to receipt of the campaign data from the offer management computer system, the offer placement system conducting a matching process to determine a set of matches comprising at least one identified predetermined transaction of the consumer in the at least one segment as reflected in the de-identified transaction data, and storing the at least one identified predetermined transaction in a matched offer table in association with at least one targeted marketing offer at the database associated with the offer placement system;   in response to the consumer's access to the online portal of financial institution computer system, the financial institution computer system providing a display of one or more financial transactions of the consumer via the online portal, the display including the identified predetermined financial transaction, and providing information corresponding to the displayed financial transactions to the offer placement computer system;   at the offer placement computer system, receiving information from the financial institution computer system corresponding to financial transactions of the consumer displayed on the electronic display within the online portal including the identified predetermined financial transaction;   in response to receiving the identified predetermined financial transaction, retrieving a selected targeted marketing offer from the matched offer table at the offer placement computer system, and providing the selected targeted marketing offer to the financial institution computer system; and   in response to receiving the targeted marketing offer, the financial institution computer system modifies the electronic display by inserting the targeted marketing offer into the display of the financial transactions within the online portal.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer placement computer system determines that the identified predetermined financial transaction is being displayed by identifying an offer triggering event corresponding to an offer qualifying transaction conducted by the consumer, as reflected in transaction data maintained by the financial institution computer system. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the campaign data includes information corresponding to an offer qualifying transaction, and wherein the offer placement computer system compares the offer qualifying transaction information in the campaign data to transaction data of the financial institution corresponding to transactions conducted by the consumer to identify a particular offer qualifying transaction conducted by the consumer. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the offer placement computer system provides information to the financial institution computer system that enables displaying selected targeted marketing offer information to the consumer in association with the display of information corresponding to the particular offer qualifying transaction provided by the online portal. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the offer triggering event is an online session by the consumer for viewing the consumer's financial transactions including the identified predetermined financial transaction via the online portal. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the offer placement computer system selects predetermined targeted marketing offer information for a particular consumer, and provides offer placement information to the financial institution computer system that enables display of the predetermined targeted marketing offer information to the consumer in a predetermined placement in the online portal. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer management computer system comprises:
 a database for storing targeted marketing campaign data, the targeted marketing campaign data comprising advertiser campaign data associated with a particular advertiser, segment data corresponding to at least one market segment defining properties of transactions that qualify for receiving a targeted marketing offer of the advertiser, and offer data corresponding to at least one targeted marketing offer;   a component for providing a marketing campaign interface for the advertiser, the marketing campaign interface allowing the advertiser to define campaign data corresponding to a predetermined marketing campaign by (a) display of information indicating potential market segments definable by the advertiser, (b) advertiser entry of information for defining a predetermined market segment, and (c) advertiser entry of information for defining a predetermined targeted marketing offer for delivery to the predetermined market segment; and   a component for outputting the campaign data to the offer placement computer system to enable delivery of the predetermined targeted marketing offer to consumers of the financial institution within the predetermined market segment,   whereby consumers in the predetermined market segment are provided with a display of the predetermined targeted marketing offer during an online session comprising a display of transactions of consumers via the online portal of the financial institution.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the marketing campaign interface is hosted on a web-accessible server, and comprises a web-based user interface accessible by a plurality of advertisers that define and manage a plurality of marketing campaigns. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer management computer system is remotely located from the financial institution computer system. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer management computer system is remotely located from the offer placement computer system. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer management computer system comprises:
 a processor;   an interface connected for secure communications with the offer placement computer system;   a web interface for online user interaction with advertisers, operative for displaying information to advertisers for use in creating targeted marketing campaigns and receiving information from advertisers for use in creating targeted marketing campaigns; and   a database for storing campaign data corresponding to targeted marketing campaigns created by advertisers.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer placement computer system comprises:
 a database for storing targeted marketing campaign data and transaction data records, the targeted marketing campaign data including one or more targeted marketing offers;   a component for receiving campaign data associated with an advertiser and storing the campaign data in the database;   a component for receiving transaction data from the financial institution corresponding to financial transactions conducted by the consumer and storing the transaction data in the database;   a component for matching the transaction data in the database with the campaign data to identify an offer triggering event of a particular consumer and for storing information associated with the offer triggering event as matched offer data, the matched offer data including an identifier of a predetermined targeted marketing offer;   a component for delivering the targeted marketing offer to the financial institution computer system for delivery via the online banking portal to the particular consumer in response to access by the particular consumer of information corresponding to the consumer's financial transactions, via the display of a targeted marketing offer via the online banking portal.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer placement computer system is physically co-located with the financial institution computer system associated with the financial institution and utilizes network security protections of the financial institution, and receives de-identified transaction data from a transaction system associated with the financial institution computer system. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the offer management computer system is in a different physical location than the offer placement computer system and the financial institution computer system and is operatively connected to the offer placement computer system and the financial institution computer system via a reverse proxy. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the offer placement computer system comprises:
 a processor;   an interface connected for secure communications with the financial institution computer system, to receive data corresponding to transactions conducted by consumers;   an interface connected for secure communications with the offer management computer system;   a database for storing campaign data received from the offer management computer system;   a database for storing targeted marketing offer information;   a database for storing offer triggering event information; and   a program component operative to access said databases to carry out the functions of the offer placement computer system in response to receipt of information from the financial institution computer system.   
     
     
         16 . A computer-implemented method for delivering a targeted marketing offer from an advertiser to a consumer of a financial institution in the form of an targeted marketing offer display on an electronic display of a client machine operated by the consumer, the electronic display generated by an online portal provided by a financial institution computer system, the online portal operative to provide an electronic display of the targeted marketing offer to the consumer in association with the display of information corresponding to a predetermined financial transaction of the consumer during an online viewing session, comprising the steps of:
 at an offer placement computer system coupled for secure communications with the financial institution computer system, receiving de-identified transaction data provided by the financial institution computer system that was derived from financial transaction data of the financial institution including a plurality of financial transactions of the consumer, and storing the de-identified transaction data in a database associated with the offer placement system;   at an offer management computer system, providing a campaign generation process for the advertiser, the campaign generation process receiving input from an advertiser corresponding to at least one campaign, at least one segment associated with the at least one campaign, and the terms of a targeted marketing offer to be provided to the consumer, the targeted marketing offer associated with the at least one segment, the campaign generation process further providing campaign data for delivery to the offer placement computer system, the campaign data comprising at least one targeted marketing offer for delivery to consumers who are identified at the offer placement computer system as belonging to the at least one segment as indicated by the predetermined financial transaction;   at the offer placement system, in response to receipt of the campaign data from the offer management computer system, conducting a matching process to determine a set of matches comprising at least one identified predetermined transaction of the consumer in the at least one segment as reflected in the de-identified transaction data, and storing the at least one identified predetermined transaction in a matched offer table in association with at least one targeted marketing offer;   in response to receipt of the campaign data from the offer management computer system, the offer placement system conducting a matching process to determine a set of matches comprising at least one identified predetermined transaction of the consumer in the at least one segment as reflected in the de-identified transaction data, and storing the at least one identified predetermined transaction in a matched offer table in association with at least one targeted marketing offer at the database associated with the offer placement system;   in response to the consumer's access to the online portal of financial institution computer system, the financial institution computer system providing a display of one or more financial transactions of the consumer via the online portal, the display including the identified predetermined financial transaction, and providing information corresponding to the displayed financial transactions to the offer placement computer system;   at the offer placement computer system, receiving information from the financial institution computer system corresponding to financial transactions of the consumer displayed on the electronic display within the online portal including the identified predetermined financial transaction;   in response to receiving the identified predetermined financial transaction, retrieving a selected targeted marketing offer from the matched offer table at the offer placement computer system, and providing the selected targeted marketing offer to the financial institution computer system; and   in response to receiving the targeted marketing offer, the financial institution computer system modifies the electronic display by inserting the targeted marketing offer into the display of the financial transactions within the online portal.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the determining that the identified predetermined financial transaction is being displayed comprises identifying an offer triggering event corresponding to an offer qualifying transaction conducted by the consumer, as reflected in transaction data maintained by the financial institution. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the campaign data includes information corresponding to an offer qualifying transaction, and further comprising the step of comparing the offer qualifying transaction information in the campaign data to transaction data of the financial institution corresponding to transactions conducted by the consumer to identify a particular offer qualifying transaction conducted by the consumer. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the offer placement computer system provides information to the financial institution computer system that enables displaying the selected targeted marketing offer information to the consumer in association with the display of information corresponding to the particular offer qualifying transaction provided by the online portal. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the offer triggering event is an online session by the consumer for viewing the consumer's financial transactions including the identified predetermined financial transaction via the online portal. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising the steps of selecting predetermined targeted marketing offer information for a particular consumer, and
 providing offer placement information to the financial institution computer system that enables displaying the predetermined targeted marketing offer information to the particular consumer in a predetermined placement in the online portal.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the offer management computer system comprises:
 a processor;   a web interface for online user interaction with advertisers, operative for displaying information to advertisers for use in creating targeted marketing campaigns and receiving information from advertisers for use in creating targeted marketing campaigns; and   a database for storing campaign data corresponding to targeted marketing campaigns created by advertisers.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the offer management computer system comprises a database for storing campaign data, the campaign data comprising advertiser campaign data associated with a particular advertiser, segment data corresponding to at least one market segment defining properties of transactions that qualify for receiving a targeted marketing offer of the advertiser, and offer data corresponding to at least one targeted marketing offer, and further comprising the steps of:
 receiving aggregated consumer transaction data from the financial institution;   providing a marketing campaign interface for an advertiser, the marketing campaign interface allowing the advertiser to define campaign data corresponding to a predetermined marketing campaign by (a) display of information derived from the aggregated consumer transaction data indicating potential market segments definable by the advertiser, (b) advertiser entry of information for defining a predetermined market segment, and (c) advertiser entry of information for defining a predetermined targeted marketing offer for delivery to the predetermined market segment; and   outputting the campaign data to the offer placement computer system to enable delivery of the predetermined targeted marketing offer to consumers of the financial institution within the predetermined market segment,   whereby consumers in the predetermined market segment are provided with a display of the predetermined targeted marketing offer during an online session comprising a display of transactions of consumers via the online portal of the financial institution.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the marketing campaign interface is hosted on a web-accessible server, and comprises a web-based user interface accessible by a plurality of advertisers that define and manage a plurality of marketing campaigns. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the offer management computer system is remotely located from the financial institution computer system that provides the online portal. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the step of delivering information corresponding to the targeted marketing offer is carried out by an offer placement computer system, wherein the step comprises providing the targeted marketing offer information for insertion by the online portal into a display of the consumer's financial transactions. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the offer placement computer system is physically co-located with a financial institution computer system associated with the financial institution and utilizes network security protections of the financial institution, and receives de-identified transaction data from a transaction system associated with the financial institution computer system. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the offer management computer system is in a different physical location than the offer placement computer system and the financial institution computer system and is operatively connected to the offer placement computer system and the financial institution computer system via a reverse proxy. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the offer placement computer system comprises:
 a processor;   an interface connected for secure communications with a financial institution computer system, to receive data corresponding to transactions conducted by consumers;   an interface connected for secure communications with an offer management computer system that provides campaign data;   a database for storing campaign data received from the offer management computer system;   a database for storing targeted marketing offer information;   a database for storing offer triggering event information; and   a program component operative to access said databases to carry out the functions of the offer placement computer system in response to receipt of information from the financial institution computer system.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the offer placement computer system comprises a database for storing campaign data and transaction data records, the campaign data including one or more targeted marketing offers, and further comprising the steps of:
 receiving campaign data associated with an advertiser and storing the campaign data in the database;   receiving transaction data from the financial institution corresponding to financial transactions conducted by the consumer;   storing the transaction data in the database;   matching the transaction data in the database with the campaign data to identify an offer triggering event of a particular consumer;   storing information associated with the offer triggering event as matched offer data, the matched offer data including an identifier of a predetermined targeted marketing offer; and   delivering the targeted marketing offer to the financial institution computer system for delivery via the online portal associated with the financial institution to the particular consumer in response to access by the particular consumer of information corresponding to the consumer's financial transactions, via the display of a targeted marketing offer via the online portal.