Patent ID: 6993493

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for optimizing a cross-selling marketing campaign that includes j=1 to M promotions, targeting i=1 to N customers, said method calculating an N×M solicitation matrix A=(a ij ), where each a ij is to be set to a first value when said specific promotion j is to be offered to said specific customer i, or otherwise is to be set to a second value, and comprising the steps of: (a) accessing a customer database and randomly selecting a statistically significant sample of n customer records from N customer records; (b) calculating an n×M response matrix R=(r ij ), where each r ij is the probability that a specific customer i within said n customers will respond to a specific promotion j; (c) calculating an n×M profitability matrix P=(p ij ), where each p ij is the profitability of said specific customer i when they positively respond to said specific promotion j; (d) selecting a utility function that is a function of at least said response, profitability and solicitation matrices, said utility function being linear with respect to a ij ; (e) defining a set of N×K customer constraint inequalities, C ik (A)≦0, wherein K is the total number of customer constraints; C ik are linear functions with respect to a ij ; and each of k=1 to K constraints is reflective of a constraint selected from the group consisting of: an eligibility condition constraint, a peer group logic constraint and a maximum number of offers constraint; (f) defining a set of Q economic constraint inequalities, G q (A, R, P)≦0, wherein Q is the total number of economic constraints; G q are linear functions with respect to a ij ; and each of q=1 to Q constraints is reflective of an economic goal of the cross-selling marketing campaign, and thus formulating an integer optimization problem with n×M variables; (g) deriving a non-linear problem that is mathematically equivalent to said integer optimization problem having Q dimensions; (h) iteratively solving said non-linear problem on said sample of n customer records within a pre-defined tolerance; and (i) accessing said customer database and using the solution of the said non-linear problem to calculate each a ij of said N×M solicitation matrix A, wherein the values set for each a ij within said solicitation matrix A is a solution to said integer optimization problem; wherein at least one of steps (a) through (i) is performed by a computer.