Managing customer communications among a plurality of channels

A computer program product for managing communications sent to a plurality of customers, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium;
• program code, stored on the computer readable storage medium, for identifying a set of features of a customer in the plurality of customers and a plurality of channels for communicating with the customer;
• program code, stored on the computer readable storage medium, for identifying a number of times to test the plurality of channels based on a number of customers in the plurality of customers;
• program code, stored on the computer readable storage medium, for identifying, responsive to determining that the plurality of channels have been tested the number of times, a weighting for the set of features of the customer from results of testing a channel in the plurality of channels;
• program code, stored on the computer readable storage medium, for identifying a probability of success in using the channel to communicate with the customer based on the weighting and the set of features;
• and
• program code, stored on the computer readable storage medium, for determining whether to use the channel to communicate with the customer based on the probability of success.

A data processing system for managing communications sent to a plurality of customers, the data processing system comprising:

• a bus system;
• a storage device connected to the bus system, wherein the storage device includes program code;
• and
• a processor unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processor unit is configured to execute the program code to identify a set of features of a customer in the plurality of customers and a plurality of channels for communicating with the customer;
• identify a number of times to test the plurality of channels based on a number of customers in the plurality of customers;
• identify a weighting for the set of features of the customer from results of testing a channel in the plurality of channels in response to determining that the plurality of channels have been tested the number of times;
• identify a probability of success in using the channel to communicate with the customer based on the weighting and the set of features;
• and determine whether to use the channel to communicate with the customer based on the probability of success.

A system for managing communications, the system comprising:

• an analysis system comprising a processor unit, the analysis system configured to analyze a plurality of results from sending a plurality of communications to a plurality of customers using one or more channels in a plurality of channels and identify a relationship between a set of features of a customer and a probability of success in using a channel in the plurality of channels to communicate with the customer, wherein the probability of success in using the channel is a probability that the customer will respond to a communication sent using the channel;
• a policy system configured to create a policy for selecting a channel in the plurality of channels to communicate with the customer based on the set of features of the customer;
• and
• a communication system configured to send future communications to future customers using a channel in the plurality of channels selected according to the policy, wherein the channel selected according to the policy is a channel having a probability of success that is greater than a probability of success for other channels in the plurality of channels given the set of features of the customer, wherein the analysis system includes results from sending the future communications in identify the relationship.