Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02735538 2011-03-30
Attorney Docket: 1685-4/AMK
AFFILIATE CONSUMER REFERRAL MARKETING
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[00011 This invention relates to commissioned sales incentives. In particular,
the
invention relates to providing incentives for purchasing and referring others
to a sales
platform.
100021 This invention relates to affiliate website referral fee incentives. In
particular,
the invention relates to providing incentives for users to join a website,
recruit other
users to join the website, and to undertake activities that will cause
merchant websites
to pay referral fees to the affiliate website and users.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[00031 There currently exist incentive programs referred to as Affiliate
Programs
whereby Merchant Websites enter into agreements with Affiliate Websites that
may
be other websites, e-newsletters and/or web blogs, whereby the Merchant
Websites
pay fees to the Affiliate Website in respect of various activities on the
Merchant
Website of people that clicked through to it from the Affiliate Website.
Examples of
payments made from the Merchant Website to the Affiliate Website include (a)
payments to the Affiliate Website by the Merchant Website for stipulated
quantities of
people that click through to the Merchant Website from the Affiliate Website,
(b)
sales commissions paid to the Affiliate Website by the Merchant Website on
purchases made by people that click through to the Merchant Website from the
Affiliate Website, and (c) payments to the Affiliate Website by the Merchant
Website
for completion by people that click through to the Merchant Website of
information
requested on the Merchant Website. A Fee Paying Activity typically occurs when
a
person browses the Affiliate Website, clicks through from the Affiliate
Website to a
Merchant Website, and conducts any activities on the Merchant Website which
cause
the Merchant Website to pay Referral Fees to the Affiliate Website.
100041 In some systems, Sub-Affiliate Websites are utilized. A Sub-Affiliate
Website
is typically a webpage(s) embedded within or linked to an Affiliate Website.
By way
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of example, a person's user-generated Facebook page(s) on www.facebook.com
could
be a Sub-Affiliate Website to the Facebook Affiliate Website. With the Sub-
Affiliate
Website system, a Merchant Website may pay the Affiliate Website and/or the
Sub-
Affiliate Website, or alternatively, the Affiliate Website will receive all of
the Referral
Fees and remit a portion to the Sub-Affiliate Website. Because the principles
are
similar, references to Sub-Affiliate Website and Affiliate Website may be used
interchangeably in most contexts.
Deficiencies Of Existing Affiliate Programs: Lack Of Consumer Income
Participation
[00051 There are multiple deficiencies and failings associated with current
Website
Affiliate programs. First, while each of the Merchant Website and Affiliate
Website
typically derive economic gain via the Fee Paying Activities of consumers, the
consumer rarely if ever receives an overt cash share of the Referral Fees,
even though
it is the consumer's Fee Paying Activities (including, primarily, consumer
purchases)
that fund the Referral Fees paid by the Merchant Website to its Affiliate
Website.
Sometimes a consumer is provided with other incentives, such as product or
service
discounts or other non-monetary rewards from a Merchant Website, but such
incentives are not income, and are typically outside of the Merchant Website /
Affiliate Website Referral Fee system.
Deficiencies Of Existing Affiliate Programs: Affiliate Websites Require
Desirable
Content To Attract Traffic
100061 Another deficiency of existing website Affiliate Programs, is that in
order for
an Affiliate Website to generate Referral Fee income, the Affiliate Website
needs to
generate website traffic for itself and have that traffic link to the Merchant
Website
and undertake Fee Paying Activities. Generally there is a relation between the
number
of visitors to an Affiliate Website and the number of such visitors that will
click
through to a Merchant Website and undertake Fee Paying Activities. For
example, an
Affiliate Website with one million visitors per day could reasonably be
expected to
generate more user click-throughs to Merchant Websites and therefore, more
Referral
Fees, than an Affiliate Website with ten visitors per day.
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[00071 Generating consumer traffic to an Affiliate Website is therefore a
common
goal of Affiliate Websites. Consumer traffic is also typically linked to the
quantity of
content, and the amount of interest in the content, on the Affiliate Website.
The less
quantity of content, or interest in the content on an Affiliate Website, the
fewer the
number of people that will visit that Affiliate Website. This will typically
result in
less Fee Paying Activities and Referral Fees paid to that Affiliate Website.
Unfortunately, acquiring and/or developing content for any website is a
creatively and
financially challenging endeavor.
Deficiencies Of Existing Affiliate Programs: The Limiting Effect Of The Nature
Of
Website Content On Potential Referral Fees
[00081 Another deficiency of existing website Affiliate Programs, arises from
the
relationship between the subject matter of the Affiliate Website and the
subject matter
of the Merchant Website. The number of people clicking through from an
Affiliate
Website to a Merchant Website is typically related to the relevance of the
Merchant
Website's goods and/or services to the person browsing the Affiliate Website's
content. By way of example, an Affiliate Website focused on renovation and
home
improvement would reasonably be expected to generate more click-throughs to,
and
therefore more Referral Fees from, Merchant Websites for hardware and tool
suppliers, than would an Affiliate Website whose content focuses on travel
adventure.
Since it is typically preferred that Affiliate Websites be relevant to the
consumers,
products and services targeted by the Merchant Websites in order to instigate
click
throughs to those Merchant Websites, such Affiliate Websites will consequently
have
a more narrowly focused target market than a website targeted at the general
population. As a further example, consumers on a medical health website are
more
likely to click through to health-related Merchant Websites than to industrial
equipment Merchant Websites. This target market characteristic of Affiliate
Websites
has a limiting factor on the potential number of people browsing the Affiliate
Website
and therefore the number of click-throughs from that Affiliate Website to
Merchant
Websites.
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Deficiencies Of Existing Affiliate Programs: Entities Without a Web Presence
Do
Not Earn Referral Fees
100091 A further deficiency of website Affiliate Programs, is that a person or
entity
that does not wish, or does not have the resources, to develop an Affiliate
Website,
from which another person can click through to a Merchant Website, will not be
able
to earn any Referral Fees. A consumer without their own Affiliate Website will
not
be able to participate and earn money in any website Affiliate Programs. If
such a
person or entity nonetheless is in contact with a large network of people
and/or other
entities and is otherwise capable of referring other people for the purchase
of goods
and/or services, an opportunity for a share of Referral Fees is not realized
by such
person or entity.
100101 In addition to website Affiliate Programs, there currently exist
marketing
programs referred to generally as Network Marketing. Network Marketing refers
to a
marketing program which sells products or services via a network of persons or
other
entities. The fundamental characteristic of a Network Marketing program is
that a
person selling the program's goods or services, usually called a Sales
Representative,
can earn income as Sales Commissions on both (i) their sale of the program's
goods
and/or services, and (ii) from the sale of goods and services by persons which
that
Sales Representative has recruited to the program, termed Recruits, and from
the sale
of goods and/or services by persons that those Recruits recruit to the
program, and so
on. Sales Commissions generated by Recruits networked under a Sales
Representative are generally referred to as Shared Commissions. In some
Network
Marketing programs, Sales Representatives are also paid a fee for each of
their
Recruits. The calculation of the Sales Commissions and the Shared Commissions,
including the breadth and depth of Recruits permitted for inclusion in such
calculation, varies by the Network Marketing program.
100111 There a multiple deficiencies associated with existing Network
Marketing
programs. In order for a Sales Representative to earn income via the program,
that
Sales Representative must: (i) sell the Network Marketing programs' goods
and/or
services; (ii) secure Recruits; and/or (iii) have Recruits sell the Network
Marketing
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programs' goods and/or services. In addition to that burden of selling and
recruiting,
Sales Representatives are customarily required to: (a) purchase an inventory
of goods
from the program for resale; (b) to pay for membership fees for joining the
program;
and/or (c) to pay for sales training and/or paraphernalia for the program.
There is
therefore, the risk that if a Sales Representative fails to resell sufficient
goods and/or
secure a sufficient number of Recruits, they will suffer a financial loss in
the program.
The burdens of selling, securing recruits, and risk of financial loss on
inventories and
other required expenses, make Network Market programs unacceptable to many
people.
100121 There is a need for a system that provides for an Affiliate Website
which
provides a user with incentives to earn income by sharing in Referral Fees
paid in
relation to Fee Paying Activities that he/she would in any event be conducting
on the
internet but not otherwise earning income on, by merely registering with the
Affiliate
Website and clicking through to Merchant Websites to undertake those Fee
Paying
Activities on the Merchant Website(s). In such a system a Registrant would not
have
to build an Affiliate Website in order to so earn a share of Referrals Fees
paid.
100131 There is a further need for a system that through combination of
Referral Fees
and a Registrant network, the income potentially earned by a Registrant, from
the
sharing of Referral Fees paid to the Affiliate Website can grow exponentially
via the
Fee Paying Activities that layers of people and entities in his/her Registrant
network
(i.e. his/her Recruits) would in any event be undertaking on the internet, but
that
would not otherwise earn income for the Registrant. In such a system, the fees
paid
can be earned regardless of whether the Registrant himself or herself
undertakes any
Fee Payable Activities.
[00141 There is also a need for a system that through the invention's
combination of
sharing Referral Fees with the Registrant network, a Registrant will have
incentives to
earn income for the other people and entities in the Registrant network
between the
registrant and the Affiliate Website, which is generally referred to as
his/her Upline,
by causing Referral Fees to be paid and shared with his/her Upline, on the
Registrant's
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Fee Paying Activities which he/she would in any event be conducting on the
internet,
but on which he/she would not otherwise earn income for his/her Upline.
[ooi51 There is a need for a system that provides benefits to all Registrants
without
them incurring any expense other than their own elected consumption of goods
or
services though Merchant Websites, such as purchasing resalable inventories,
incurring expenses in relation to building their own Affiliate Website, or
themselves
having to sell any goods or services. In other words, Registrants may obtain
the
benefits of the affiliate program through activities many people customarily
perform
economic activities, such as shopping, on the internet. A person would be able
to earn
income for themselves, earn income for other people they are connected to, and
earn
income from other people they are connected to, merely by such group of
connected
people registering with and conducting their online shopping, through the
Affiliate
Website.
[00161 There is a further need for a system that permits the Affiliate Website
to be
able to earn a share of Referral Fees without incurring much, if any, expense
in
relation to developing or acquiring creative or factual content or itself
acquiring,
manufacturing, marketing, distributing or selling any goods or services. By
being able
to generate income from Referral Fees while not having to develop or acquire
creative
or factual content aimed at a particular target market (i.e. home renovation,
health
care, etc.) or acquire, manufacture, market, distribute or offer for sale its
or any other
party's goods or services (i.e. home renovation goods and services, medicines,
etc.),
the scope of public appeal of the Affiliate Website would not be narrowed by
targeting
of any one market. This would permit the Affiliate Website to appeal to any
and all
persons and entities that may browse and conduct Fee Paying Activities on the
internet.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[00171 In drawings which illustrate by way of example only a preferred
embodiment
of the invention,
[00181 Figure t is a schematic diagram of an example of an embodiment of the
invention.
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10019[ Figure 2 is a representation of an example website of an embodiment of
the
invention.
10020[ Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the
invention.
[00211 Figure 4 is a block diagram of a system embodying the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[00221 In the preferred embodiment an alpha affiliate website 10; is linked to
one or
more merchant websites. The alpha affiliate website 10 is registered as an
affiliate for
each of the linked merchant websites 20a, 20b...20n (collectively 20) and
receives
referral fees for fee paying activities performed at the merchant website 20
by people
arriving at the merchant website from the alpha affiliate website.
100231 Alpha affiliate website 10 registers as an affiliate with each of the
linked
merchant websites 20 by entering in to an agreement or contact with each of
the
merchant websites 20. The links between the alpha affiliate website 10 and the
merchant websites 20 can be done by any means allowed under the agreement,
including hyperlinks, banner ads, pop-up windows and other advertisements. The
alpha affiliate website 10 may include a listed index, directory or, search
listings to
locate links to the merchant websites 20.
100241 The alpha affiliate website 10 has registered any number of registrants
40.
Registrants may be individuals or other entities, such as organizations,
fundraising
bodies or other groups. They become registrants by entering into an agreement
with
the alpha affiliate website 10 and receiving a unique identifier. This unique
identifier
is used to identify which registrant 40 visits the alpha affiliate website 10
and links to
which merchant website 20.
[00251 The affiliate agreements between the merchant websites 20 and the alpha
affiliate website 10 provide that the merchants pay a referral fee to the
alpha affiliate
website 10 for fee paying activities performed by registrants 40 when they
link to the
merchant websites 40 from the alpha affiliate website 10. The referral fees
obtained
by the alpha affiliate website 10 can be associated with the registrant 40
that
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performed the specific fee paying activity that resulted in the referral fee.
One way to
associate fee paying activity to specific registrants is by tracking which
registrant
follows which link to the merchant website 40. This may be done by requiring
registrants to log-in to the alpha affiliate website 40 using an identifier
such as a
username/password or automated tracking means such as a web browser `cookie'
that
is saved on registrant's computer.
[00261 The alpha affiliate website 10 preferable allows for recruits 50,
individuals or
organizations recruited by a registrant 40. Each recruit 50 is associated with
the
registrant 40 that recruited the recruit 50. In addition, each recruit 50 may
recruit
additional recruits 50 which are associated with the recruit 50 that recruited
them. A
recruit 50 may be recruited through any means allowed by the alpha affiliate
website
such as by email, social networking websites, in person, or through other
websites.
The collection of recruits, their recruits, their recruits, and so on is
referred to as a
registrant's network. As an example, in Figure 3, registrant 40a may recruit
registrant
40a1 and registrant 40a2. Registrant 40a1 may in turn recruit registrant 40al
i and
registrant 40alii. The network for registrant 40a includes registrant 40al,
registrant
40a2, registrant 40a1 i and registrant 40a1 ii and any other registrant
recruited by one of
these registrants. A registrant's `upline' includes all registrants in the
lineage between
the registrant and the registrants that recruited the registrant. Again, using
the
example shown in Figure 3, the `upline' for registrant 40ali is registrant
40al and
registrant 40a.
[00271 Since recruits and registrants use the alpha affiliate website 10 in
similar ways,
in many contexts recruit and registrant will be used interchangeable.
[00281 The alpha affiliate website 10 retains a portion of the referral fees
obtained
from the merchants 20. The remaining portion is paid to the registrant that
performed
the fee paying activity. In a preferred embodiment, a portion of the referral
fee is also
paid to the upline of the registrant that performed the fee paying activity.
In this way a
registrant may receive a portion of the referral fee for fee paying activity
performed by
anyone in the registrant's network.
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100291 The alpha affiliate website 10 may allow registrants to accumulate the
referral
fees at the alpha affiliate website 10 as part of their account or pay the
fees to
registrant. Either accumulated fees or each fee may be paid to registrants
using an
electronic money service such as electronic funds transfer, PayPal or by non-
electronic
means, such as a cheque or cash.
(00301 The division of the referral fee between the alpha affiliate website
10, the
registrant and the registrant's upline can be determined by the alpha
affiliate website
10.
(00311 The alpha affiliate website 10 may be built from one or more webservers
1, the
webserver I being a combination of hardware, such as computer and software,
web
server software. The webserver 1 may be connected to one or more databases 2
on the
same or separate computer. The databases 2 may be used to track which
registrant or
recruit follows which link to the merchant websites 4 and the composition of a
registrant's network of recruits. The registrant or recruit may link to the
websites from
a registrant's workstation 6, such any suitable data processing device (for
example a
PC or mobile communications device), or an interactive television system, by
way of
example. The registrant's workstation 6 may communicate with the webserver 1
and
merchant websites 4 over a computer network such as the Global Computer
Network
(Internet) using a convention IP protocol or other suitable protocol, as
illustrated in
Figure 4.
(00321 In operation, the alpha affiliate website 10 will establish links to a
number of
merchant websites 20 and try to increase the number of registrants and
recruits
registered and using the alpha affiliate website 10. Since the alpha affiliate
website 10
keeps a portion of each referral fee paid by the merchant, the alpha affiliate
website 10
obtains money for its operating costs and preferable a profit. Since the
registrants
have an incentive to locate and recruit other registrants, the alpha affiliate
website 10
is relieved of some of the advertising and marketing that may otherwise be
required.
[00331 Registrants have an incentive to use the alpha affiliate website 10.
Registrants
obtain a portion of each referral fee when they use the alpha affiliate
website 10 to
link to merchant websites 20 and purchase product or services or perform other
fee
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paying activity. They may obtain a portion of a referral fee using the alpha
affiliate
website for activity that they normally perform on the Internet, but not
otherwise
obtain income. Registrants also have an incentive to recruit others to use the
alpha
affiliate website 10 as part of their network since they obtain a portion of
any referral
fees obtained by recruits, preferably including recruits of recruits. In this
way, a
registrant can obtain fees for themselves and obtain fees for people they are
connected
to in their upline by doing their online shopping through the alpha affiliate
website 10.
Example
100341 Figure 1 shows one example of an embodiment of the invention. On the
Alpha Affiliate Website 10 there would be links to various Merchant Websites
20.
An agreement 22 between each of the Merchant Websites 20 and the Alpha
Affiliate
Website 10 would stipulate the payment of Referral Fees by the Merchant
Websites
20.
[00351 When a user that is not yet a Registrant 40 browses onto the Alpha
Affiliate
Website 10, they would be invited to register by, among other things, creating
a
username and password. Each such user, once registered, would thereby become a
Registrant 40 and would automatically be assigned a unique identifier. Once
assigned this unique identifier, a Registrant 40 would either be prompted to
log in
whenever visiting the Alpha Affiliate Website 10 or be automatically logged in
via
recognition and tracking technology.
[00361 In this chosen example, Registrants 40a, 40b, 40c register with the
Alpha
Affiliate Website 10, without being recruited by an existing Registrant (i.e.
registration of Registrants 40a, 40b and 40c was of their own volition).
Registrant
40b, for example, then recruits Registrant 40b 1, 40b2 and 40b3. The
recruiting
networks of Registrants 40a and 40c are also depicted on Figure 1. In the
example,
Registrant 40b3 recruits Registrant 40b3i, 40b3ii, and 40b3iii. In the
example,
Registrant 40b3ii recruits Registrant 40b3iiA, 40b3iiB, 40b3iiC and 40b3iiD.
Any of
the Registrants could continue to recruit additional Registrants for their own
Registrant networks, to the extent permitted by the Alpha Affiliate Website 10
rules of
recruitment.
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(00371 In the example shown in Figure 1, the Upline for Registrant 40b3iiC,
consists
of Registrant 40b3ii, 40b3, 40b.
(00381 As one example of the use of the Alpha Affiliate Website 10, Registrant
40b3iiC could log into the Alpha Affiliate Website 10 before he shops for
goods on
one of the merchant websites 20, for example Amazon.com. He clicks through to
the
merchant website 20 a link on the Alpha Affiliate Website 10. When Registrant
40b3iiC undertakes a Fee Paying Activity on Amazon.com, Amazon.com will pay a
Referral Fee to the Alpha Affiliate Website 10 in accordance with the
affiliate
agreement 22. The Alpha Affiliate Website 10 will retain a portion of that
Referral
Fee received and will share the remainder with Registrant 30b3iiC and the
members
of Registrant 40b3iiC's Upline, which consists of Registrant 40b3ii,
Registrant 40b3
and 40b. In this way, the Referral Fees payable as a result of a Registrant's
Fee
Paying Activities are shared among (i) the Registrant 40; (ii) its Upline; and
(iii) the
Alpha Affiliate Website 10.
(00391 Further reference is made to Figure 2, visually depicting a sample
presentation
of the Alpha Affiliate Website 10. In a preferred embodiment, the website
includes a
title 100 and a link 105 for new users to register as registrants. Registrants
are able to
log in to the Alpha Affiliate Website 10 using the username and password
fields of the
Registrant user login portion 110 of the website. The Alpha Affiliate Website
10 also
preferable includes a list of links to merchant websites 20. This list may be
arranged
alphabetically or by categories as suggested in the `Merchants' section 115 of
the
website. Figure 2 also shows a set of preferred merchants 120 with direct
links to the
merchant websites 20. This preferred list of merchants may be selected by the
Alpha
Affiliate Website 10 based on popularity, by the amount of referral fees paid
or some
other criteria. The Alpha Affiliate Website 10 may also include advertising
125 and
links to more information 130 about the Alpha Affiliate Website 10.
[0040] Various embodiments of the present invention having been thus described
in
detail by way of example, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that
variations
and modifications may be made without departing from the invention.
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