Patent ID: 8140376

Claim:
A computer implemented method of improving the performance of a viral marketing program comprising: developing a plurality of trials of a viral marketing program wherein each of the plurality of trials has a plurality of attributes at least one of which differs from an attribute of the other of the plurality of trials and wherein the viral marketing program has a business objective; exposing a first plurality of users to a first trial of the plurality of trials and a second plurality of users to a second trial of the plurality of trials wherein the first trial comprises: sending, via a computer network, a first invitation to the first plurality of users; exposing, via the computer network, the first plurality of users to a first landing page that presents a first offer and a first action that must be completed to receive the first offer; and exposing, via the computer network, the first plurality of users who complete the first action to (a) a first invite page that presents a first plurality of invitation process facilitation tools and (b) a first status page; and wherein the second trial comprises: sending, via the computer network, a second invitation to the second plurality of users; exposing, via the computer network, the second plurality of users to a second landing page that presents a second offer and a second action that must be completed to receive the second offer; and exposing, via the computer network, the second plurality of users who complete the second action to (c) a second invite page that presents a second plurality of invitation process facilitation tools and (d) a second status page; and collecting, via the computer network, first data indicative of the first plurality of users' responses to exposure to the first trial which collected first data provides the likelihood of the first trial obtaining the business objective and second data indicative of the second plurality of users' responses to exposure to the second trial which collected second data provides the likelihood of the second trial obtaining the business objective; comparing, utilizing a processor, the collected data using a metric to identify a trial of the plurality of trials of the viral marketing program that is more likely to obtain the business objective than a non-identified trial; and continuing to utilize the identified trial in the viral marketing program while ceasing use of a non-identified trial.