How to handle user inquiries to a company

Abstract

We provide a method to smoothly transition from user inquiries to business negotiations. [Solution] In a system in which a server terminal, multiple user terminals, and multiple corporate terminals are connected via a network, a method to support the promotion of business negotiations with users who have made inquiries about products or services provided by a company is as follows: The control unit of the server terminal receives detailed user information from the user's terminal via an inquiry form for products or services on a web page provided by the company, sends data to the user terminal to identify the user's access to the web page, obtains web behavior data regarding the user's access to the web page based on the data to identify the access to the web page, determines the services of interest to the user based on the web behavior data, and sends a message to the user terminal informing the user that business negotiations will be held regarding the services of interest to the user.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for processing user inquiries to a company.

Background Art

[0002] Recently, users (including companies) interested in products, services, etc. provided by a company approach the company by inputting inquiry details through an inquiry form or the like set up on the company's web page.

[0003] In order to efficiently respond to such inquiries, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses an inquiry support method for automatically generating a response sentence based on an inquiry.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, although the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 discloses a method for improving the efficiency of responses to inquiries, usually, after a user makes an inquiry, there are few cases leading to business negotiations. The person in charge of the company receiving the inquiry obtains the information of the user who made the inquiry through web search or the like, and approaches the user based on the information retrieved manually in such a manner.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method that can smoothly transition to business negotiations in response to an inquiry from a user.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] A method for supporting business negotiations with a user who has made an inquiry about a product or service provided by a company, in one aspect of the present invention, wherein the control unit of a server terminal receives detailed information of the user from the user's terminal via an inquiry form for the product or service on a web page provided by the company, transmits data to the user terminal to identify the user's access to the web page, obtains web behavior data of the user's access to the web page based on the data to identify the access to the web page, determines the services of interest to the user based on the web behavior data, and transmits a message to the user terminal indicating that business negotiations will be held regarding the services of interest to the user. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a method for smoothly transitioning from user inquiries to business negotiations. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing an inquiry response system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 1 is a functional block diagram showing the server terminal 100. [Figure 3] Figure 1 is a functional block diagram showing the user terminal 200. [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of user data stored in server 100. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of corporate data stored on server 100. [Figure 6] This figure shows an example of meeting data stored on server 100. [Figure 7] This flowchart shows an example of a method for obtaining information of a user who has made an inquiry to a company, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8]This flowchart shows an example of a method for supporting the promotion of business negotiations with users who have made inquiries to a company, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] This is a diagram illustrating user web behavior data according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below are not intended to unduly limit the scope of the present invention as described in the claims. Furthermore, not all components shown in the embodiments are necessarily essential components of the present invention.

[0011] <Structure> Figure 1 shows a method for processing user inquiries to a company according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This is a block diagram showing a system that executes the above. System 1 includes, for example, a server terminal 100 that receives information contained in inquiries entered by inquiry users (including companies with a predetermined number of employees) via an inquiry form included in a web page provided by a company that conducts sales activities, user terminals 200A and 200B managed by the inquiry users, and corporate terminals 300A and 300B managed by the company that conducts sales activities that provide the web page containing the inquiry form to user terminals 200A and 200B. In addition, although not shown in the diagram, System 1 may include one or more corporate terminals that are executed by the server terminal 100 and manage information referenced when assigning sales representatives and scheduling meetings, and the server terminal 100 can also cooperate with applications provided by these corporate terminals (e.g., calendar applications, customer management applications, etc.) via APIs. Furthermore, the server terminal 100 can also cooperate with an external server that implements a large-scale language model (e.g., an LLM such as Chat GPT) to search for detailed information about inquiry users and / or companies to which inquiry users belong, as described later, via APIs. For the sake of explanation, each terminal is described as a single unit or a specific number, but there is no limit to the number of each.

[0012] Server terminal 100, user terminals 200A and 200B, and corporate terminals 300A and 300B are each connected via network NW1. Network NW consists of the Internet, intranet, wireless LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), etc.

[0013] The server terminal 100 and the enterprise terminals 300A and 300B may be general-purpose computers such as workstations or personal computers, or they may be logically implemented through cloud computing.

[0014] The user terminals 200A and 200B are information processing devices such as personal computers and tablet terminals, for example, but may also be configured by smartphones, mobile phones, PDAs, etc.

[0015] In the present embodiment, the system 1 includes a server terminal 100, user terminals 200A and 200B, and enterprise terminals 300A and 300B. It will be described as a configuration in which users of each terminal use their respective terminals to operate on the server terminal 100. However, the server terminal 100 may be configured as a stand-alone device and may have a function for each user to directly perform operations on the server terminal itself. Hereinafter, the user terminals 200A and 200B will be collectively referred to as the user terminal 200 and the enterprise terminals 300A and 300B will be collectively referred to as the enterprise terminal 300 as necessary.

[0016] FIG. 2 is a functional block configuration diagram of the server terminal 100 in FIG. 1. The server terminal 100 includes a communication unit 110, a storage unit 120, and a control unit 130.

[0017] The communication unit 110 is a communication interface for communicating with the user terminal 200 and the enterprise terminal 300 via the network NW1, and communication is performed according to a communication protocol such as TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol), for example.

[0018] The storage unit 120 stores programs for executing various control processes and each function in the control unit 130, input data, etc., and is composed of a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. Further, the storage unit 120 has a user data storage unit 121 that stores various data related to the inquiring user, an enterprise data storage unit 122 that stores various data related to the enterprise conducting business activities, and a negotiation data storage unit 123 that stores various information necessary for negotiation for the negotiation between the above enterprise and the inquiring user. Note that a database (not shown) storing various data may be constructed outside the storage unit 120 or the server terminal 100.

[0019] The control unit 130 controls the overall operation of the server terminal 100 by executing the program stored in the storage unit 120, and is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), etc. As functions of the control unit 130, there are an information reception unit 131 that receives information from each terminal, a user information processing unit 132 that refers to and processes various data related to the inquiring user, a company information processing unit 133 that refers to and processes various data related to the company conducting business activities, and a negotiation processing unit 134 that refers to and processes various data related to the negotiation for the negotiation between the above company and the inquiring user. The information reception unit 131, the user information processing unit 132, the company information processing unit 133, and the negotiation processing unit 134 are activated by the program stored in the storage unit 120 and executed by the server terminal 100 which is a computer (electronic computer).

[0020] The information reception unit 131 receives information from the user terminal 200 and / or the company terminal 300 via the communication unit 110. For example, from the user terminal 200, information related to an inquiry about a company input by the inquiring user, etc. is received via an inquiry form or the like.

[0021] The user information processing unit 132 refers to various data related to the user received from the user terminal 200 (for example, user data 1000 described later, etc.) and performs predetermined processing.

[0022] The company information processing unit 133 refers to various data related to the company received from the company terminal 300 (for example, company data 2000 described later) and performs predetermined processing.

[0023] The negotiation processing unit 134 performs processing such as adjusting the negotiation based on the information related to the inquiry received from the user and the information related to the company.

[0024] Furthermore, the control unit 130 may also have a screen generation unit (not shown) that generates screen information to be displayed via the user interface of the user terminal 200 as needed. For example, using image and text data (not shown) stored in the storage unit 120 as material, the user interface is generated by arranging various images and text in predetermined areas of the user interface according to predetermined layout rules. Processing related to the image generation unit can also be performed by a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).

[0025] Figure 3 is a functional block diagram showing the user terminal 200 in Figure 1. The user terminal 200 comprises a communication unit 210, a display operation unit 220, a storage unit 230, and a control unit 240.

[0026] The communication unit 210 is a communication interface for communicating with the server terminal 100 via the network NW, and communication is performed using a communication protocol such as TCP / IP.

[0027] The display operation unit 220 is a user interface used to display text, images, etc., in response to input data from the control unit 240, based on instructions from the provider. If the user terminal 200 is a personal computer, it consists of a display and a keyboard or mouse; if the user terminal 200 is a smartphone or tablet, it consists of a touch panel, etc. This display operation unit 220 is activated by a control program stored in the storage unit 230 and executed by the user terminal 200, which is a computer (electronic calculator).

[0028] The memory unit 230 stores programs for executing various control processes and functions within the control unit 240, input data, etc., and is composed of RAM, ROM, etc. The memory unit 230 also temporarily stores the contents of communications with the server terminal 100.

[0029] The control unit 240 controls the overall operation of the user terminal 200 by executing programs stored in the memory unit 230, and is composed of a CPU, GPU, and the like.

[0030] Figure 4 shows an example of user data stored in server 100.

[0031] The user data 1000 shown in Figure 4 stores various data related to the inquiring user. In Figure 4, for the sake of explanation, an example of one user (a user identified by user ID "10001") is shown, but information for multiple users can be stored. Various data related to the user may include, but are not limited to, basic information about the user (e.g., company name (name), industry, number of employees, place of residence (address), name of person in charge, department name, job title, contact information (email address, telephone number)), inquiry information (e.g., information about the content of the inquiry (e.g., inquiry about the content of the product / service, inquiry about the price, etc.)), information about the intention to use the product / service, etc.), and web behavior data (e.g., history of visits to the company's web pages via cookies, etc.).

[0032] Figure 5 shows an example of corporate data stored on server 100.

[0033] Corporate Data 2000 stores various data related to companies that conduct business activities. In Figure 5, for the sake of explanation, an example of one company (a point identified by corporate ID "20001") is shown, but it can store information related to multiple companies. Various data related to companies include, for example, basic company information (e.g., company name (name), industry, number of employees, address), sales representative information (e.g., representative name, department name, job title, contact information (e.g., email address, phone number, video conference URL, messaging app ID, name of business partner, etc.), schedule information (calendar information, meeting conditions (length of meeting, buffer time before and after, meeting method, etc.), shift time (information to define times when meetings cannot be conducted, such as nights, lunch breaks, holidays, etc.)), customer information (e.g., customer company name (name), industry, number of employees, address, etc.) This may include, but is not limited to, the following: address, name of person in charge, department name, job title, contact information (email address, phone number), details of past inquiries / responses, etc.), business card information (company name, name, department name, job title, company address, contact information (email address, phone number, etc.), additional information (name of product or service of interest to the business partner, name of business meeting (exhibition name)), inquiry form information, and web content data (for example, content provided by the company via a web page (service description, service materials (presentation files), images, etc.) and their corresponding URLs, etc.).

[0034] Figure 6 shows an example of meeting data stored in server 100.

[0035] Meeting data 3000 may include, but is not limited to, various data related to meetings between a company conducting sales activities and an inquiring user for business negotiations, such as schedule information (e.g., date, time, and location of the meeting between the company and the inquiring user), meeting content information (e.g., agenda, minutes, etc.), attendee information (e.g., information about the attendees at the meeting), and search information (e.g., prompt messages that instruct users to search for detailed information about the inquiring user and / or the company to which the user belongs).

[0036] <Processing flow> Referring to Figure 7, the processing flow of a method for supporting business negotiations with an inquiry user who has made an inquiry about a company's products or services, as executed by System 1 of this embodiment, will be described. Figure 7 is a flowchart of an example of a method for obtaining information of a user who has made an inquiry to a company, according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] First, as a preliminary step to step S101, the user in charge of the company conducting sales activities uses the web browser or application on the company terminal 300 to retrieve basic company information (e.g., company name (name), industry, number of employees, address), sales representative information (e.g., representative name, department name, job title, contact information (email address, phone number, video conferencing URL, messaging app ID, etc.), schedule information (meeting conditions (meeting length, buffer time before and after, meeting method, etc.), shift time (information to define times when meetings cannot be conducted, such as nights, lunch breaks, holidays, etc.)), customer information (e.g., customer company name (name), industry, number of employees, address, representative name, department name, job title, contact information (email address, phone number), past inquiries / contacts). The user enters information such as the content of the response. The information receiving unit 131 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 receives information about the company entered by the user in charge of the company conducting sales activities via the communication unit 110. The company information processing unit 133 of the control unit 130 stores the received information about the company as company data 2000 in the company data storage unit 122 of the storage unit 120. Here, all or part of the information included in the company information (for example, sales representative information (schedule information, etc.), customer information, etc.) can also be obtained via applications provided by other service providers (for example, calendar applications, customer management applications, etc.) (through API linkage, etc.). Subsequently, the process to support the company's business negotiations with the inquiry user is described below.

[0038] First, as part of step S101, the inquiring user accesses the corporate terminal 300 using a web browser or application on their user terminal, displays a web page for entering inquiries, such as an inquiry form included on the web page of the company conducting sales activities, and enters the inquiry details. Here, the inquiry details include, but are not limited to, detailed information about the inquiring user, such as basic information (e.g., company name (name), industry, number of employees, address, contact person's name, department name, job title, the inquiring user's personal contact information (email address, phone number)) and inquiry information (e.g., information regarding the content of the inquiry (e.g., inquiry about product / service details, inquiry about price), information regarding intention to use the product / service (e.g., want to consider the product / service immediately, want materials first)). Once the inquiring user has finished entering the inquiry details and presses the send button, the information regarding the inquiry is sent to the corporate terminal 300. Furthermore, the server terminal 100 provides the corporate terminal 300 with tag information (for example, JavaScript tags) to be embedded in the web pages provided by the corporate terminal 300. The corporate terminal 300 then embeds the JavaScript tags into the inquiry form and the inquiry form completion page (the so-called "Thanks page") of the web page. Upon completion of the inquiry form, predetermined information from the information entered into the inquiry form by the user is sent to the server terminal 100. Subsequently, as part of the processing in step S102, the user information processing unit 132 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 stores basic information about the user, etc., based on the received inquiry information, in the user data storage unit 121 of the storage unit 120.

[0039] Next, as part of step S103, the user information processing unit 132 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 sends cookie data to the user terminal 200 of the inquiring user via the communication unit 110, as data to identify the company's web pages that the user is accessing. First-party cookies are used as the cookie data, and cookie data is generated and sent to track which of the company's web pages each inquiring user has viewed. This allows the company to confirm which of its web pages the inquiring user has viewed via the cookie data.

[0040] Here, when the information receiving unit 131 of the server terminal 100 receives a request to download materials along with input into the inquiry form, it can also send link information (URL, etc.) to the user terminal 100 that allows the inquiry user to access materials stored in the network drive beforehand, so that the inquiry user can confirm it. This makes it possible to confirm whether the materials have been viewed, and if the materials consist of multiple pages in a presentation format, it is possible to identify which pages the inquiry user viewed based on the email address received from the user terminal 100. Specifically, this can be done by having the user enter an email address when they open the materials, or by adding a parameter to identify the user to the end of the URL.

[0041] Figure 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for supporting the promotion of business negotiations with users who have made inquiries to a company, according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0042] First, as part of step S201, the information receiving unit 131 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 receives web behavior data from the user terminal 100 via the communication unit 110. For example, as described above, the server terminal 100 can receive cookie data sent from the server terminal 100 to the user terminal 200, and through the cookie data, it can confirm which pages of the company's web pages the user viewed as web behavior data. Also, as described above, when an inquiring user requests to download materials, the server terminal 100 can confirm which pages of the materials stored on the network drive were viewed based on the cookie data received from the user terminal 100. In Figure 9, an example of web behavior data is shown, which includes information to identify the company's web page URL and time spent on the page, identified through the cookie data obtained from each user.

[0043] Next, as part of step S202, the corporate information processing unit 133 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 determines the services of interest to the user by determining the content (e.g., service details) corresponding to the URL of the web page accessed by the inquiring user, based on the received web behavior data and the web content data stored as corporate data 2000. Here, the company can also set a reference period for the web behavior data to determine the services of interest, such as one week or two weeks. The server terminal 100 can infer the services viewed by the user based on the cookie data received from the user by pre-storing the content corresponding to the web page URL as web content data in the corporate data storage unit 122 of the storage unit 120.

[0044] Here, as a method for measuring user interest, the server terminal 100 can determine the level of interest based on the length of time spent viewing the services viewed by the inquiring user, which are included in the web behavior data, as well as the time spent viewing those services, and then determine the level of interest based on the length of time spent viewing them. In the example shown in Figure 9, the inquiring user identified by user ID "1001" is presumed to have spent more time viewing the web pages introducing "DX" services than the "Accounting" services provided by the company, based on the information of their arrival and departure times. Therefore, it can be inferred that this user has a high level of interest in "DX" services. Also, in the example shown in Figure 9, the server terminal 100 can check which pages of the presentation materials provided by the company the inquiring user viewed, along with the time spent on each page, and thus can identify the content corresponding to those pages in the presentation materials (for example, a page introducing the plan overview of "DX" services, a page explaining the pricing structure, etc.).

[0045] Next, as part of step S203, the meeting processing unit 134 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 determines a company's meeting representative (service representative) for scheduling a business meeting, based on the services of high interest to the inquiring user as determined above. In addition, the meeting processing unit 133 can also determine a representative (enterprise representative, small and medium-sized enterprise representative, etc.) that matches the company's industry, business scale, etc., based on the basic information of the inquiring user's company obtained in advance. Furthermore, based on which content (for example, introduction of plan overview, explanation of pricing structure, etc.) the inquiring user viewed, the meeting processing unit 134 can also present the determined meeting representative with the relevant content and / or information related to the relevant content by transmitting it to the representative's company terminal 300.

[0046] Next, as part of step S204, the meeting processing unit 133 of the control unit 130 of the server terminal 100 sends a message to the inquiring user encouraging them to proceed with negotiations regarding the services that the inquiring user has been determined to be of high interest to them. Here, the meeting processing unit 133 may also send candidate meeting dates and times along with the message, based on the information about the availability of the meeting person's calendar information that has been determined in advance. It may also send information about the content of the services of interest, such as an overview of the plan or pricing structure.

[0047] As described above, according to this embodiment, by inferring the degree of interest of an inquiring user in the services provided by a company and the specific content of those services through the user's web behavior data, it is possible to provide a highly accurate approach toward closing a deal.

[0048] Although embodiments of the invention have been described above, these can be implemented in various other forms, and can be carried out by various omissions, substitutions, and modifications. These embodiments and variations, as well as those with omissions, substitutions, and modifications, are included within the technical scope of the claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0049] 1 System: 100 Server terminals, 110 Communication unit, 120 Storage unit, 130 Control unit, 200 User terminals, 300 Enterprise terminals, NW1 Network

Claims

1. A method to support the promotion of business negotiations with users who have made inquiries about products or services offered by a company, The control unit of the server terminal is: From the user's terminal, the company receives the user's detailed information via an inquiry form for the product or service on a web page provided by the company. To the user terminal, data is transmitted to identify the user's access to the web page. Based on the data used to identify access to the aforementioned web page, the user's web behavior data regarding access to the aforementioned web page is obtained. Based on the aforementioned web behavior data, the services of interest to the user are determined. A method for sending a message to the user terminal informing the user that a business meeting will be held regarding a service of interest to the user.

2. The method according to claim 1, A method that includes detailed information about the user, including detailed information about the company to which the user belongs.

3. The method according to claim 1, The method wherein the data used to identify access to the aforementioned web page is cookie data.

4. The method according to claim 1, The Web behavior data includes the web pages of the company viewed by the user, and the control unit determines the services of interest to the user based on the content relating to the company's services on the web pages of the company viewed by the user.

5. The method according to claim 1, The aforementioned web page includes presentation materials relating to the aforementioned product or service.

6. The method according to claim 1, The method wherein the data used to identify access to presentation materials relating to the aforementioned product or service is the user's email address.

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