A method of characterizing the quality of traffic received by a first network site based on multiple agent actions, the method comprising:
- generating, by a computer, a global rule set comprising a plurality of rules, wherein each of the plurality of rules comprises an expression for evaluating one or more parameters associated with an agent session;
- selecting, by the computer, a traffic data set representative of traffic at a second network site, wherein the traffic at the second network site comprises similar characteristics as traffic of the first network site;
- obtaining supplemental external data from an advertiser for determining whether the agent session results in a desired agent action;
- enhancing the traffic data set using the supplemental external data to obtain an enhanced traffic data set identifying a plurality of agent sessions resulting in the desired agent action;
- analyzing, by the computer, the global rule set based on the enhanced traffic data set to generate an environment rule set for characterizing interactions with the first network site;
- selecting, by the computer, a plurality of actions that the agent may take during an interaction with the first network site, wherein each of the plurality of actions may result in the desired agent action;
- evaluating, by the computer, whether two or more of the plurality of actions occurred during the agent's interaction with the first network site;
- and
- using, by the computer, the environment rule set to characterize the quality of the agent's interaction with the first network site based on whether the two or more of the plurality of actions occurred during the agent's interaction with the first network site, wherein the quality of the agent's interaction having the two or more of the plurality of actions is characterized as more valuable than an agent's interaction having only one action;
- classifying, by the computer, as statistically significant one or more agent interactions with the first network site that have been demonstrated to be meaningful indicators of traffic that is valuable to the first network site;
- classifying, by the computer, as not statistically significant one or more agent interactions with the first network site that have not been demonstrated to be meaningful indicators of traffic that is valuable to the first network site;
- applying, by the computer, a first algorithm to the one or more agent interactions classified as statistically significant;
- applying, by the computer, a second algorithm to the one or more agent interactions classified as not statistically significant;
- using, by the computer, the environment rule set to characterize the quality of the traffic received by the first network site based on the application of the first and second algorithms;
- calculating a first non-binary score for the one or more agent interactions classified as statistically significant, wherein the first non-binary score is calculated based on the result generated by applying the first algorithm;
- and
- calculating a second non-binary score for the one or more agent interactions classified as not statistically significant, wherein the second non-binary score is calculated based on the result generated by applying the second algorithm;
- and
- evaluating a plurality of non-binary score results for both the agent interactions that are statistically significant and that are not statistically significant to determine which combinations of parameters are predictors of a desired quality of agent interactions with the first network site;
- and
- generating a session non-binary score for one or more agent interaction sessions based on the combinations of parameters associated with the one or more sessions that were determined to be predictors of the desired quality of agent interaction with the first network site.