Patent ID: 8185608
Filing Date: 2012-05-22
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: establishing a control group of users and a test group of users who access an online merchant website hosting a collection of items for acquisition via user computing devices, each user having a unique identifier and each user computing device having a respective unique identifier that is different from the respective unique identifier of the user, wherein each item in the collection of items is associated with at least one category of multiple categories represented in the collection of items; randomly assigning, at a server, each of the users who access the online merchant website to one of the control group of users or the test group of users upon each of the users first accessing the online merchant website during a continuous trial, the randomly assigning being based at least in part on the unique identifier of the respective user by employing the unique identifier of the respective user to determine a unique trial identifier for the respective user, the unique trial identifier operating to recognize the respective user as assigned to the control group of users or the test group of users regardless of a computing device from which the respective user accesses the online merchant website; serving, during subsequent access of the online merchant website, a first set of one or more web pages of the online merchant website to the control group of users and a second set of one or more web pages of the online merchant website to the test group of users based at least in part on the unique trial identifier for each respective user; tracking user interactions of the control group of users with the first set of one or more web pages and of the test group of users with the second set of one or more web pages; and modifying, on multiple occasions over time and concurrently with tracking the user interactions of the control group of users and the test group of users, at least one web page of the second set of one or more web pages of the online merchant website to evaluate whether the user interactions change in response thereto.