Offline location-based consumer metrics using online signals

Abstract

A business monitoring system is described herein that brings together the previously separate worlds of social media and offline secret shopper and similar programs. With the business monitoring system, owners of brands are able to monitor the local voice of the customer to detect local and regional trends in sentiment and activity, build benchmarks and goals for local storefronts, evaluate in-store operations and customer service trends, and measure the local impact of marketing and advertising initiatives. The system collects and analyzes signals from online sources, producing reports, analytics, benchmarks, and alerts regarding offline activity at the local/store-front level. The system normalizes the signals from various sources, analyzes the signals at the individual location level, aggregates the data across various dimensions, builds benchmarks for comparison, and fires triggers notifying appropriate people upon detecting a meaningful variance. Thus, the system provides a rich and timely set of information to business decision makers.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method comprising:
 capturing online signals indicative of each of one or more specific metrics during a first time period;   capturing online signals indicative of each of the one or more metrics during a second time period;   comparing the online signals captured during the first time period to the online signals captured during the second time period, the second time period, occurring after the first time period;   determining a change in a value of each of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period;   determining a difference between the change in value of at least one of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period against a predefined variance threshold;   determining that the difference between the change in value of at least one of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period and the predefined variance threshold meets the predefined variance threshold;   displaying, via the user interface, at least a first widget for displaying information indicative of a notification of the determination that the difference between the change in value of at least one of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period and the predefined variance threshold meets the predefined variance threshold.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 receiving, via the user interface, an indication of a particular merchant location, the particular merchant location located within a first geographic region; and   comparing a change in a value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to values of one or more historic benchmark metrics.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 receiving, via the user interface, an indication of a particular merchant location, the particular merchant location located within a first geographic region;   identifying one or more other merchant locations, each of the one or more other merchant locations each located within a different geographic region; and   comparing a change in the value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to values of the one or more metrics associated with the one or more other merchant locations; and   displaying, via the user interface, among the plurality of widgets, a second widget for displaying information indicative of the change in the value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to values of the one or more metrics associated with the one or more other merchant locations.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 comparing a change in a value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to changes in values of one or more concurrent benchmark metrics, the concurrent benchmark metrics identified in a geographic region running the same marketing campaign.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 identifying a trend in the one or more specific metrics from the first time period to the second time period for the first geographic region and the geographic regions of the one or more other merchant locations.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the first time period comprises a plurality of time periods before a start of a marketing campaign and the second time period comprises a plurality of time periods after the start of the marketing campaign. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 identifying a trend in the one or more specific metrics from the plurality of time periods before the start of the marketing campaign to the plurality of time periods after the start of the marketing campaign.   
     
     
         28 . An apparatus for monitoring an effectiveness of a marketing campaign, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 capture online signals indicative of each of one or more specific metrics during a first time period;   capture online signals indicative of each of the one or more specific metrics during a second time period;   compare the online signals captured during the first time period to the online signals captured during the second time period, the second time period, occurring after the first time period;   determine a change in a value of each of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period;   determine a difference between the change in value of at least one of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period against a predefined variance threshold;   determine that the difference between the change in value of at least one of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period and the predefined variance threshold meets the predefined variance threshold;   display, via the user interface, at least a first widget for displaying information indicative of a notification of the determination that the difference between the change in value of at least one of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period and the predefined variance threshold meets the predefined variance threshold.   
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 receive, via the user interface, an indication of a particular merchant location, the particular merchant location located within a first geographic region; and   compare a change in a value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to values of one or more historic benchmark metrics.   
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 receive, via the user interface, an indication of a particular merchant location, the particular merchant location located within a first geographic region;   identify one or more other merchant locations, each of the one or more other merchant locations each located within a different geographic region; and   compare a change in the value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to values of the one or more metrics associated with the one or more other merchant locations; and   display, via the user interface, among the plurality of widgets, a second widget for displaying information indicative of the change in the value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to values of the one or more metrics associated with the one or more other merchant locations.   
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 compare a change in a value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to changes in values of one or more concurrent benchmark metrics, the concurrent benchmark metrics identified in a geographic region running the same marketing campaign.   
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 identify a trend in the one or more specific metrics from the first time period to the second time period for the first geographic region and the geographic regions of the one or more other merchant locations.   
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the first time period comprises a plurality of time periods before a start of a marketing campaign and the second time period comprises a plurality of time periods after the start of the marketing campaign. 
     
     
         34 . The apparatus of  claim 33 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 identify a trend in the one or more specific metrics from the plurality of time periods before the start of the marketing campaign to the plurality of time periods after the start of the marketing campaign.   
     
     
         35 . A computer program product for monitoring an effectiveness of a marketing campaign, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions for:
 capturing online signals indicative of each of one or more specific metrics during a first time period;   capturing online signals indicative of each of the one or more specific metrics during a second time period;   comparing the online signals captured during the first time period to the online signals captured during the second time period, the second time period, occurring after the first time period;   determining a change in a value of each of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period;   determining a difference between the change in value of at least one of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period against a predefined variance threshold;   determining that the difference between the change in value of at least one of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period and the predefined variance threshold meets the predefined variance threshold;   displaying, via the user interface, at least a first widget for displaying information indicative of a notification of the determination that the difference between the change in value of at least one of the one or more specific metrics between the first time period and the second time period and the predefined variance threshold meets the predefined variance threshold.   
     
     
         36 . The computer program product of  claim 35 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 receiving, via the user interface, an indication of a particular merchant location, the particular merchant location located within a first geographic region; and   comparing a change in a value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to values of one or more historic benchmark metrics.   
     
     
         37 . The computer program product of  claim 35 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 receiving, via the user interface, an indication of a particular merchant location, the particular merchant location located within a first geographic region;   identifying one or more other merchant locations, each of the one or more other merchant locations each located within a different geographic region; and   comparing a change in the value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to values of the one or more metrics associated with the one or more other merchant locations; and   displaying, via the user interface, among the plurality of widgets, a second widget for displaying information indicative of the change in the value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to values of the one or more metrics associated with the one or more other merchant locations.   
     
     
         38 . The computer program product of  claim 35 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 comparing a change in a value of the one or more metrics for the particular merchant location to changes in values of one or more concurrent benchmark metrics, the concurrent benchmark metrics identified in a geographic region running the same marketing campaign.   
     
     
         39 . The computer program product of  claim 35 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 identifying a trend in the one or more specific metrics from the first time period to the second time period for the first geographic region and the geographic regions of the one or more other merchant locations.   
     
     
         40 . The computer program product of  claim 35 , wherein the first time period comprises a plurality of time periods before a start of a marketing campaign and the second time period comprises a plurality of time periods after the start of the marketing campaign. 
     
     
         41 . The computer program product of  claim 40 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 identifying a trend in the one or more specific metrics from the plurality of time periods before the start of the marketing campaign to the plurality of time periods after the start of the marketing campaign.