Patent ID: 7318056

Claim:
A method for analyzing a click stream, comprising: processing a Web log to reconstruct a visit to a single Web site by a user in order to ascertain actions occurring prior to or subsequent to a commerce event, the Web log containing records representing actions in the click stream performed by the user during the visit including any actions that are designated a commerce event; assigning a sequential identification to each record, the sequential identification corresponding to a chronological ordering of the record in relation to other records in the click stream, and storing the sequential identification with the associated record in a database; identifying any records representing actions performed by the user that are designated as a commerce event, wherein an action is designated as a commerce event if the user performed at least one action during a visit to the Web site of: (i) interacted with an advertisement, (ii) added an item to a basket, (iii) completed a transaction; or (iv) arrived at the Web site through an e-mail advertisement; querying the database for a certain quantity of records representing actions performed by the user at least one of prior to or subsequent to the commerce event, based on the sequential identification assigned to each record, whereby the query facilitates outputting the certain quantity of records to an analyst; enabling modification, by the analyst, of the certain quantity of records to be reported relative to the commerce event; and enabling the analyst to determine which actions performed by the user are to be designated commerce events and to designate alternative actions as commerce events.