System, method and computer program product for tracking and correlating online user activities with sales of physical goods

A system, comprising:

• a website server hosting a website on the Internet;
• and
• a server computer communicatively connected to the website server, the server computer comprising a processor, a non-transitory computer readable medium, and stored instructions translatable by the processor for:
• receiving user-provided customer data from a user device through the website on the Internet;
• communicating the user-provided customer data from the server computer to a validation sever;
• receiving a response from the validation sever;
• based on the response from the validation sever, determining, in real time and while the user is browsing the website, whether the user-provided customer data is valid customer data;
• responsive to the user-provided customer data being determined as valid customer data, generating appended data associated with the user;
• subsequent to generating the appended data associated with the user, generating customer lead data associated with the user, the customer lead data including the valid customer data determined by the server computer, the appended data generated by the server computer, and a desired product, service, or vehicle configuration that the user has selected through the website;
• based at least in part on the customer lead data associated with the user, selecting at least one dealer from a plurality of dealers affiliated with the website;
• presenting the at least one dealer within the website on the user device while the user is still browsing the website;
• automatically tracking and storing, in a database, user activities relating to vehicle research by the user on the website while the at least one dealer is presented within the website on the user device, the user activities stored in the database including at least one of:
• at least one search query submitted by the user to the website, navigation of the website by the user, a product or service selected or viewed by the user, or any changes in desired vehicle attributes made by the user;
• communicating the customer lead data associated with the user from the server computer to a computing device associated with the at least one dealer;
• receiving sales data from the at least one dealer, the sales data including information on sales of vehicles by the at least one dealer;
• matching, by applying a matching rule, the sales of vehicles by the at least one dealer and the user activities stored in the database relating to the vehicle research by the user on the website while the at least one dealer is presented within the website on the user device;
• and
• responsive to a match being found between a vehicle sale by a dealer of the at least one dealer and the user activities stored in the database relating to the vehicle research by the user on the website while the at least one dealer is presented within the website on the user device, generating an output linking the customer lead data, which is associated with the user and which is generated by the server computer, with the vehicle sale by the dealer.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions translatable by a server computer for:

• receiving user-provided customer data from a user device through a website on the Internet;
• communicating the user-provided customer data from the server computer to a validation sever;
• receiving a response from the validation sever;
• based on the response from the validation sever, determining, in real time and while the user is browsing the website, whether the user-provided customer data is valid customer data;
• responsive to the user-provided customer data being determined as valid customer data, generating appended data associated with the user;
• subsequent to generating the appended data associated with the user, generating customer lead data associated with the user, the customer lead data including the valid customer data determined by the server computer, the appended data generated by the server computer, and a desired product, service, or vehicle configuration that the user has selected through the website;
• based at least in part on the customer lead data associated with the user, selecting at least one dealer from a plurality of dealers affiliated with the website;
• presenting the at least one dealer within the website on the user device while the user is still browsing the website;
• automatically tracking and storing, in a database, user activities relating to vehicle research by the user on the website while the at least one dealer is presented within the website on the user device, the user activities stored in the database including at least one of:
• at least one search query submitted by the user to the website, navigation of the website by the user, a product or service selected or viewed by the user, or any changes in desired vehicle attributes made by the user;
• communicating the customer lead data associated with the user from the server computer to a computing device associated with the at least one dealer;
• receiving sales data from the at least one dealer, the sales data including information on sales of vehicles by the at least one dealer;
• matching, by applying a matching rule, the sales of vehicles by the at least one dealer and the user activities stored in the database relating to the vehicle research by the user on the website while the at least one dealer is presented within the website on the user device;
• and
• responsive to a match being found between a vehicle sale by a dealer of the at least one dealer and the user activities stored in the database relating to the vehicle research by the user on the website while the at least one dealer is presented within the website on the user device, generating an output linking the customer lead data, which is associated with the user and which is generated by the server computer, with the vehicle sale by the dealer.