FIELD

The subject matter described herein relates generally to systems and methods for dynamically modifying content of a website, and more particularly to systems and methods for a webpage of the website to dynamically modify certain numerical content.

BACKGROUND

Thousands of merchants offer products for sale via the Internet through stores that are presented to consumers on websites, mobile websites, mobile applications, and other electronically connected purchase environments. Many of these online stores, also known as electronic commerce platforms or e-commerce sites, offer discounts to consumers who enter a specific code into a form box while shopping and/or consumers who follow a specially formatted hyperlink or perform some other action(s) that activate a discount. These codes may be called “coupon codes,” “promotional codes,” “discount codes,” and many other terms. For the purpose of clarity, the term “codes” as used herein will include any action(s) taken by a consumer to access a different price for some or all of the items the consumer is considering purchasing.

Codes frequently offer perks such as free/discounted shipping or a lower price on an entire basket of products, a specific product category, a specific product, a certain number of products, products above or below a certain value, or even products that meet some combination of these and other criteria. In some cases, these codes are advertised to consumers during the online shopping experience; however, these codes are often hidden from many consumers and only known to those consumers who have been exposed to the codes through other channels (e.g., online advertisements, television advertisements, email correspondence).

Code Aggregators have created websites to help consumers locate available codes. More specifically, Code Aggregators aggregate codes and make the codes more readily searchable and discoverable by consumers by posting the codes to a website. These websites often provide search tools that allow consumers to filter codes by merchant, geographical location, etc. Several Code Aggregators have developed plug-in software components (also referred to as simply a “plug-in”) for web browsers that allow consumers to browse codes while shopping on merchant websites.

However, in order to use codes discovered by a Code Aggregator, a consumer must manually identify a promising code, copy the promising code into a form box presented on the merchant website (e.g., by typing a series of alphanumeric characters), and then submit the promising code (e.g., by clicking a form button labeled “Apply” or “Submit”) to discover a result.

While Code Aggregators may make their best effort to keep the list of codes posted to a website (as well as information describing the expected behavior/outcome of each code) accurate and up-to-date, consumers frequently and inadvertently attempt to use codes that no longer work, or simply do not work as described on the website of the Code Aggregator. To compound the problem, the total number of codes made available on the website of a Code Aggregator is often very high (e.g., on the order of hundreds or thousands), thereby making it difficult for a single consumer to identify working codes, much less the most relevant code that would result in the best outcome (i.e., the largest discount).

Consequently, most consumers do not comprehensively test all of the codes that are available for a given electronic commerce platform in order to identify the optimal outcome. For example, a consumer may try inputting codes for a leading domain name merchant that have been posted to the website of a leading Code Aggregator. However, the consumer is unlikely to continue inputting codes until reaching, for example the 18th code (which might not have any description on what the consumer should expect), which results in the largest savings, e.g., a price of $4.00 for a product that previously cost $8.00, a 50% savings. Although only as an example, this experience is not uncommon. In fact, such experiences are becoming more commonplace with the proliferation of Code Aggregators who seek to have the largest library of codes.

SUMMARY

Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce (“e-commerce”) that allows consumers to buy goods or services from a merchant over the Internet using a web browser, software program, mobile application, or over-the-top (“OTT”) application. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the merchant directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine (e.g., Amazon.com®, Jet®, or Alibaba®), which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different merchants. Consumers can shop online using a variety of different electronic computing devices, including mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, and desktop computers.

A typical online store enables consumers to browse a merchant's range of products and services, view photos or images of the products, and review information about the product specifications, features, and prices. Online stores generally enable consumers to use “search” features to discover specific models, brands, or items.

After selecting one or more products or services for purchase, a consumer can complete a transaction by providing a valid method of payment, such as a payment card (e.g., credit card or debit card) or a credentials for a payment service (e.g., PayPal®). Most merchants use shopping cart software to allow the consumer to accumulate items and/or adjust quantities. Accordingly, when the consumer elects to complete the checkout process, the consumer can access a checkout interface (also referred to as a “shopping cart”) and provide payment information and/or delivery information.

Some checkout interfaces include an interface element (e.g., a blank form feature) that allows the consumer to enter one or more codes associated with the merchant. Codes frequently offer perks such as free/discounted shipping or a lower price on an entire basket of products, a specific product category, a specific product, a certain number of products, products above or below a certain value, or even products that meet some combination of these and other criteria.

However, consumers often experience several issues when interacting with conventional checkout interfaces. For example, conventional checkout interfaces require that the consumer manually discover and enter each code. But consumers frequently and inadvertently attempt to use codes that no longer work, or simply do not work as described. As another example, codes are often hidden from many consumers and only known to those consumers who have been exposed to the codes through other channels (e.g., online advertisements, television advertisements, email correspondence). Consequently, many consumers never come into possession of the most valuable codes.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/403,036, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, disclosed computer-implemented techniques and systems for systematically identifying and applying codes on behalf of a consumer who has selected one or more items for purchase on an electronic commerce platform. Consumers shopping on the electronic commerce platform are shown a special interface element (e.g., a button) that is added to the shopping experience. Upon determining the special interface element has been selected (e.g., clicked), a computer-implemented system can automatically find and apply one or more codes to the electronic commerce platform. The special interface element may be generated by a client-side browser software, or browser extension that is authored for a particular web browser. A browser extension is a plug-in (i.e., software component that adds a specific feature to an existing computer program) that extends the functionality of the web browser in some way. Here, for example, the browser extension changes the user interface (e.g., the checkout interface) by displaying the special interface element without directly affecting the viewable content of the user interface. In some implementations, the consumers have to install the browser extension for the particular browser used by the consumers. However, in some instances certain consumers may not be able to install a browser extension for their browser. For example, some consumers may be blocked/prevented from installing extensions based on corporate policies governing their use of machines (e.g. work computers preventing extensions from being downloaded/installed. Additionally, some major browsers, including the dominant mobile browsers, do not allow client-side browser extensions to be installed.

Disclosed here, therefore, are computer-implemented techniques and systems for systematically identifying and applying codes on behalf of a consumer who has selected one or more items for purchase on an electronic commerce platform, with all the benefits above, but without the need to install a client-side browser software, or browser extension. More specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure allow the promotional code or discount code resulting in the largest reduction in price to be identified as the “best code,” which is then applied to the item(s) offered for sale by the electronic commerce platform. One primary benefit of this technology is to help consumers achieve the best price available without requiring the consumers to devote a large amount of time and effort to searching for codes, manually applying codes, tracking the impact of each code, etc., and without the consumers installing a client-side browser software, or browser extension.

In some embodiments, an online computer system that is coupled to a public network may directly interface with a webpage of a third-party website. Instructions, code or script (e.g. JavaScript) may be embedded or incorporated with the webpage. The instructions, code or script may cause a numerical value (e.g., the total price to be paid) displayed on the webpage to change in value when one or more digital codes (e.g., promotional codes and discount codes) are transmitted to the third-party website. The online computer system is configured to generate the one or more digital codes. When a user (or consumer) connects with the third-party website on a user's device, the online computer system may execute the program code; when the user opens the webpage, the online computer system may dynamically generate a graphical user interface (or special interface or user-selectable graphical trigger) to be presented on an electronic display of the user's device. The online computer system may identify a second interface (e.g., check-out interface) to input each of the one or more digital codes.

In some embodiments, responsive to detecting that the user selects the graphical user interface, the online computer system may automatically input each of the one or more digital codes into the second interface (e.g., into a data entry field in the webpage of the third party website that is configured to receive a digital code, such as a promotion/coupon/discount code field in the check-out interface) to invoke a function for each of the one or more digital codes without requiring the user to manually select each of the one or more digital codes, thereby causing the third-party website to receive the one or more digital codes and to return a response to each of the received one or more digital codes.

In some embodiments, the instructions or code may be provided to an operator of the third-party website, and the operator of that site would insert the code into a checkout page. It should also be noted that where a script is referred to in the present disclosure, it may also be any other types of instructions or code that can be embedded or incorporated with a webpage.

The online computer system may also monitor the returned response from the third-party website to determine and identify which of the one or more digital codes cause a change to the numerical value and determine the amount of change, store in memory the one or more digital codes along with data that shows the amount the one or more digital codes causes the numerical value to change, determine a digital code causing the greatest amount of change, and apply the digital code that causes the greatest change in the numerical value to obtain and display a resulting numerical value on the third-party website.

In one preferred embodiment, the present disclosure enables merchants to embed the automatic coupon functionality to their website by adding a script to their webpage. In some embodiments, the script may be a single line script. The script code may load additional code from one or more servers that contain the instructions required to systematically test coupon codes substantially similar to the way the client-side browser software version, as mentioned above, does.

In some embodiments, after the special interface element mentioned above has been selected, a computer-implemented system may begin systematically applying code(s) to the shopping cart on an electronic commerce platform. The electronic commerce platform may be, for example, accessible through a website or a mobile application of a particular merchant. In some embodiments, a list of possible codes corresponding to the electronic commerce platform and optionally related to the product(s) contained in the consumer's shopping cart may be retrieved from a remote server. In such embodiments, the remote server returns a prioritized ordering of the list that includes one or more codes to try, as well as configuration information in some instances that specifies how to apply the code(s) to the electronic commerce platform. In some embodiments, retrieval of the code(s) and the configuration information preferably occurs prior to the clicking of the special interface element in order to reduce latency experienced by the consumer.

After acquiring the list of code(s) and configuration information on how to apply them, the computer-implemented system may begin systematically applying the code(s) to the electronic commerce platform, either one at a time or more than one at a time (assuming the electronic commerce platform supports such an action). In a case where the electronic commerce platform supports the application of a single code at a time, the computer-implemented system adds a code to the blank form feature (also referred to as a “code box”) on the electronic commerce platform and simulates a click or other consumer interaction as though the consumer were entering the code. The computer-implemented system then listens for a response from the electronic commerce platform to understand whether the code was accepted and optionally to detect the impact of the code on the price to be paid for the item(s) selected for purchase by the consumer. The impact of the code may be measured by the reduction in price for the item(s) being offered for sale by the electronic commerce platform.

Results from applying the code(s) can optionally be recorded by the computer-implemented system. For example, the results may be recorded locally within a storage medium of the computer-implemented system or in a remote data storage that is accessible to the computer-implemented system. In one preferred embodiment, the results are stored in a remote data storage and are subsequently used to inform the creation of lists of code(s) for other consumers or for use in other applications.

The computer-implemented systems described herein use results from applying the code(s) to decide which additional codes, if any, should be tried with the primary objective being to reduce the total price to be paid by the consumer for the item(s) being offered for sale by the electronic commerce platform. A second objective of the computer-implemented systems could optionally be to reduce the amount of time required to return a final result. A third objective of the computer-implemented systems may be to adjust the price to meet a target threshold or target range for a particular consumer, which could be informed by a business relationship with the merchant or another reason why a specified price range is more desirable than simply the lowest price.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, it is noted that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described in the Detailed Description and/or other sections of this document. Such embodiments are presented herein for illustrative purposes only. Additional embodiments will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the teachings contained herein.

