Patent ID: 7337133

Claim:
In a system in which a business entity provides at least one link to a merchant's web site, a computer-implemented method for providing feedback to the business entity on an effectiveness of the at least one link, comprising: tracking user referral events resulting from user selection of the at least one link, said link pointing to a page that corresponds to a purchasable item within an electronic catalog of the merchant's web site, wherein the at least one link is provided within a second electronic catalog that is disseminated by the business entity, said second electronic catalog describing, and providing respective links to the merchant's web site for purchasing, each of multiple items; for each user referral event, tracking a referred user's activity to determine whether the user completes a purchase transaction with the merchant; and generating and providing to the business entity an electronic report which indicates at least (a) a number of the user referral events which occurred over a selected period of time, and (b) a quantity of resulting purchase transactions, such that the business entity can evaluate the effectiveness of the link based on both a frequency with which the link is selected and a frequency with which users who select the link make purchases, whereby the electronic report enables the business entity to refine content of the second electronic catalog over time to improve performance; wherein the method is performed by a computer system under the control of software.