U.S. patent application number 14/278628 was filed with the patent office on 2014-09-04 for system and method for providing a customer survey.
This patent application is currently assigned to GiftYa LLC. The applicant listed for this patent is GiftYa LLC. Invention is credited to Ryan C. DURHAM, Thomas M. Isaacson, Patrick LEDBETTER, Adam LUDWIG.
Application Number | 20140249902 14/278628 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 51421443 |
Filed Date | 2014-09-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140249902 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Isaacson; Thomas M. ; et
al. |
September 4, 2014 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A CUSTOMER SURVEY
Abstract
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable
storage media for providing a follow-up survey for purchases made
at a merchant entity. A customer can make a purchase at a merchant
entity, such as a restaurant, and a system can coordinate and store
data about the customer using a purchasing account. When the
customer visits a website or application associated with the
merchant entity, the system can determine if an offer to take a
survey exists for the customer. If an offer exists, the system can
prompt the customer to take the survey to receive a discount on
future purchases made at the merchant entity. Once the customer
completes the survey, the system monitors future purchases by the
customer and applies the discount appropriately the next time the
customer uses the purchasing account at the merchant entity.
Inventors: |
Isaacson; Thomas M.;
(Huntingtown, MD) ; DURHAM; Ryan C.; (Dunkirk,
MD) ; LUDWIG; Adam; (San Francisco, CA) ;
LEDBETTER; Patrick; (Arlington, VA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
GiftYa LLC |
Pittsburgh |
PA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
GiftYa LLC
Pittsburgh
PA
|
Family ID: |
51421443 |
Appl. No.: |
14/278628 |
Filed: |
May 15, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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14193068 |
Feb 28, 2014 |
8751392 |
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14278628 |
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|
12075655 |
Mar 13, 2008 |
8676704 |
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14193068 |
|
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|
12475122 |
May 29, 2009 |
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12075655 |
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61057106 |
May 29, 2008 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.19 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0217 20130101;
G06Q 20/10 20130101; G06Q 50/01 20130101; G06Q 40/02 20130101; G06Q
20/24 20130101; G06Q 20/105 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/14.19 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20060101
G06Q030/02; G06Q 50/00 20060101 G06Q050/00 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: receiving first data about a purchase by a
user at a first time at a merchant, the purchase performed using a
purchasing account which existed prior to the first time and is an
open loop purchasing account of the user; receiving second data
from a representative of the merchant, the second data being
associated with the purchase by the user; receiving information
that the user has interacted with one of a website and an
application associated with the merchant at a second time later
than the first time; determining, based on the information, that
the first data indicates that there is an offer for the user
associated with an incentive to have the user make a second
purchase at the merchant if the user performs an action; presenting
an interactive interface to the user via the one of the website and
the application about the offer, the interactive communication
comprising the second data from the representative and asking the
user to perform the action; receiving third data from the user via
the interactive interface indicating that the user performed the
action; based on the third data, completing the offer by
establishing a policy in which purchases using the purchasing
account are monitored; and when the purchasing account is used at
the merchant to perform the second purchase, applying a discount to
the second purchase according to the offer.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the merchant is a restaurant and
the representative is one of a waiter and a waitress.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data comprises
information identifying one of the user, the purchasing account, a
date and time of the purchase, and a location of the purchase.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the action is one of taking a
survey, sending a tweet, posting a comment, sending a gift to a
recipient, and "liking" the merchant.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive interface is a
social media network.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second data from the
representative comprises one of a comment, a picture and a
video.
7. A system comprising: a processor; and a computer-readable
storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the
processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
receiving first data about a purchase by a user at a first time at
a merchant, the purchase performed using a purchasing account which
existed prior to the first time and is an open loop purchasing
account of the user; receiving second data from a representative of
the merchant, the second data being associated with the purchase by
the user; receiving information that the user has interacted with
one of a website and an application associated with the merchant at
a second time later than the first time; determining, based on the
information, that the first data indicates that there is an offer
for the user associated with an incentive to have the user make a
second purchase at the merchant if the user performs an action;
presenting an interactive interface to the user via the one of the
website and the application about the offer, the interactive
communication comprising the second data from the representative
and asking the user to perform the action; receiving third data
from the user via the interactive interface indicating that the
user performed the action; based on the third data, completing the
offer by establishing a policy in which purchases using the
purchasing account are monitored; and when the purchasing account
is used at the merchant to perform the second purchase, applying a
discount to the second purchase according to the offer.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the merchant is a restaurant and
the representative is one of a waiter and a waitress.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein the first data comprises
information identifying one of the user, the purchasing account, a
date and time of the purchase, and a location of the purchase.
10. The system of claim 7, wherein the action is one of taking a
survey, sending a tweet, posting a comment, sending a gift to a
third party, and "liking" the merchant.
11. The system of claim 7, wherein the interactive interface is a
social media network.
12. The system of claim 7, wherein the second data from the
representative comprises one of a comment, a picture and a
video.
13. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which,
when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to
perform operations comprising: receiving first data about a
purchase by a user at a first time at a merchant, the purchase
performed using a purchasing account which existed prior to the
first time and is an open loop purchasing account of the user;
receiving second data from a representative of the merchant, the
second data being associated with the purchase by the user;
receiving information that the user has interacted with one of a
website and an application associated with the merchant at a second
time later than the first time; determining, based on the
information, that the first data indicates that there is an offer
for the user associated with an incentive to have the user make a
second purchase at the merchant if the user performs an action;
presenting an interactive interface to the user via the one of the
website and the application about the offer, the interactive
communication comprising the second data from the representative
and asking the user to perform the action; receiving third data
from the user via the interactive interface indicating that the
user performed the action; based on the third data, completing the
offer by establishing a policy in which purchases using the
purchasing account are monitored; and when the purchasing account
is used at the merchant to perform the second purchase, applying a
discount to the second purchase according to the offer.
14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the
merchant is a restaurant and the representative is one of a waiter
and a waitress.
15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the
first data comprises information identifying one of the user, the
purchasing account, a date and time of the purchase, and a location
of the purchase.
16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the
action is one of taking a survey, sending a tweet, posting a
comment, choosing a recipient and sending a gift to the recipient,
and "liking" the merchant.
17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the
interactive interface is a social media network.
18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the
second data from the representative comprises one of a comment, a
picture and a video.
Description
PRIORITY
[0001] This continuation-in-part application claims priority to
U.S. Nonprovisional Application 14/193,068 (Attorney Docket
080-0050-Con), filed Feb. 28, 2014, which is a continuation of
12/075,655 (Attorney Docket 080-0050), filed Mar. 13, 2008 now U.S.
Pat. No.: 8,676,704 issued on Mar. 18, 2014, and to U.S.
Nonprovisional Application 12/475,122 (Attorney Docket 080-0051),
filed May 29, 2009, which claims priority to Provisional
Application 61/057,106, filed May 29, 2008 (Attorney Docket
080-0051-Prov), the content of which applications is incorporated
by reference in their entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Technical Field
[0003] The present disclosure relates to providing a customer
survey for services rendered and more specifically to automating
customer surveys based on previously purchases by a user and
related discounts via a website or mobile application such that
card-linked offers are provided which are redeemable using a
payment account associated with the offer after the customer
completes a survey or other interaction.
[0004] 2. Introduction
[0005] Businesses such as restaurants and stores often provide
customers the opportunity to take surveys relating to services
rendered to the customer. As an incentive for taking the time to
complete the survey, businesses often give discounts toward future
services or purchases. Traditionally, comment cards and paper
surveys are supplied to patrons at businesses to receive input from
the patrons about the service they received from the business. More
recently, businesses have been utilizing the internet by giving a
receipt to the customer with instructions to visit a particular
website and enter in a unique code associated with a transaction
between the business and the customer. The discount is challenging
to redeem due to frequent misplacement of the discount code and the
customer forgetting that a discount exists during a subsequent
visit to the business.
SUMMARY
[0006] Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be
set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be
obvious from the description, or can be learned by practice of the
herein disclosed principles. The features and advantages of the
disclosure can be realized and obtained by means of the instruments
and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
These and other features of the disclosure will become more fully
apparent from the following description and appended claims, or can
be learned by the practice of the principles set forth herein.
[0007] Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory
computer-readable storage media for providing a customer survey. A
system enables a user to make a purchase at a restaurant or any
merchant entity such as a clothing store or a restaurant. Based on
data associated with that purchase, ie, gleaned from a payment
account and including optional personalized data from a person
associated with the merchant like a waiter, the system links that
information to a later interaction with the user via the internet
or an application. The system provides the user a customer survey
automatically through a website or other application, such as a
smartphone application. When the user goes to an entity website,
such as www.olivegarden.com they can complete a survey about their
experience at the entity and receive a discount for a future
purchase. The survey can include such comments as "it was great to
see you Friday night at the Olive Garden, Mary, here is a short
survey for your next discount." The system can coordinate
communication between its database storing the purchase information
with the website/application to extend an offer to the user to take
the survey. The offer is linked to the person's payment account.
The next time the user visits the entity, the discount is
automatically applied as it is connected to the user's payment
account such as a visa or debit account. In this manner, a purchase
by the user in the first instance triggers and drives the later
survey/interaction and then the second purchase with the offer
linked to it. The offer can also be shared with friends. For
example, it may say--you will get a 10% discount next time and 5%
each for two friends who you refer this offer to. Thus, the offer
can be shared or tied to other people in your social network as
well.
[0008] The system can receive data about a purchase made at a
merchant which was performed using an open loop purchasing account
that existed prior to the purchase, such as a purchase made at a
restaurant using a debit/credit/Paypal.RTM./Google Wallet.RTM. or
other payment account, even a closed loop account. The system can
receive data associated with the purchase made by the user from a
representative of the merchant, such as a waitress or a waiter.
Then, the system can receive information that the user has
interacted with either a website or an application associated with
the merchant, such as a mobile application. The system determines
based on the information that the data indicates there is an offer
for the user associated with an incentive to have the user make a
second purchase at the merchant if the user performs an action,
such as take a survey. The offer is linked to the user's payment
account such that the monitoring and processing all occurs "in the
cloud" and the user just continues to shop as usual. Data is
received from the user via the interactive interface indicating
that the user performed the action. Based on the received data, the
system completes the offer by establishing a policy such that
purchases made using the purchasing account are monitored. When the
purchasing account is used at the merchant to perform the second
purchase, a discount is automatically applied to the purchase
according to the offer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] FIG. 1 illustrates an example system embodiment;
[0010] FIG. 2 illustrates an example system embodiment;
[0011] FIG. 3 illustrates an example smartphone application system
embodiment;
[0012] FIG. 4 illustrates an example method embodiment; and
[0013] FIG. 5 illustrates another method embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0014] A system, method and computer-readable media are disclosed
which provide a customer survey and associated discount
automatically for subsequent purchases at a merchant entity by the
customer.
[0015] Various embodiments of the disclosure are described in
detail below. While specific implementations are described, it
should be understood that this is done for illustration purposes
only. Other components and configurations may be used without
parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
[0016] The present disclosure addresses providing a customer
survey. A system, method and computer-readable media are disclosed
which provides a customer survey based on interaction between a
user and a computer program such as a website or smartphone
application. A brief introductory description of a basic general
purpose system or computing device in FIG. 1 which can be employed
to practice the concepts is disclosed herein. A more detailed
description of providing a customer survey will then follow.
[0017] A system enables a user to make a purchase at a restaurant
or any merchant entity such as a clothing store via a payment
account, and provides the user a customer survey automatically
through a website or other application, such as a smartphone
application. The system coordinates and stores data about the user
by virtue of the credit card/debit card number (or any payment
mechanism) used to pay for goods or services, or other payment
mechanism such as an electronic wallet. An electronic wallet is an
account the user previously and typically uses to make purchases.
For example, data that can be stored can include, for a restaurant,
the user name, user account (either identified directly or via a
code to preserve privacy), server name, product purchased, date,
time, historical data, etc. Any combination of this data can be
stored. When the user goes to an entity website, such as
www.olivegarden.com or www.pfchangs.com, they can complete a survey
about their experience at the entity and receive a discount. The
system can coordinate communication between its database storing
the purchase information with the website/application to extend an
offer, linked to their payment account, to the user to take the
survey. After the user takes the survey, a discount can
automatically be applied to a subsequent purchase by the user at
the merchant entity. In essence, the card-linked offer or payment
account linked offer is triggered by the use of the payment account
by the user. A relationship with the business entity is already
established in that a purchase is made at that place. The effort in
this disclosure is to enhance that business relationship and enable
people to connect with people associated with the merchant such as
waiters and waitresses.
[0018] These variations shall be described herein as the various
embodiments are set forth. The disclosure now turns to FIG. 1.
[0019] With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system 100 includes a
general-purpose computing device 100, including a processing unit
(CPU or processor) 120 and a system bus 110 that couples various
system components including the system memory 130 such as read only
memory (ROM) 140 and random access memory (RAM) 150 to the
processor 120. The system 100 can include a cache 122 of high speed
memory connected directly with, in close proximity to, or
integrated as part of the processor 120. The system 100 copies data
from the memory 130 and/or the storage device 160 to the cache 122
for quick access by the processor 120. In this way, the cache
provides a performance boost that avoids processor 120 delays while
waiting for data. These and other modules can control or be
configured to control the processor 120 to perform various actions.
Other system memory 130 may be available for use as well. The
memory 130 can include multiple different types of memory with
different performance characteristics. It can be appreciated that
the disclosure may operate on a computing device 100 with more than
one processor 120 or on a group or cluster of computing devices
networked together to provide greater processing capability. The
processor 120 can include any general purpose processor and a
hardware module or software module, such as module 1 162, module 2
164, and module 3 166 stored in storage device 160, configured to
control the processor 120 as well as a special-purpose processor
where software instructions are incorporated into the actual
processor design. The processor 120 may essentially be a completely
self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores or
processors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core
processor may be symmetric or asymmetric.
[0020] The system bus 110 may be any of several types of bus
structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a
peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus
architectures. A basic input/output (BIOS) stored in ROM 140 or the
like, may provide the basic routine that helps to transfer
information between elements within the computing device 100, such
as during start-up. The computing device 100 further includes
storage devices 160 such as a hard disk drive, a magnetic disk
drive, an optical disk drive, tape drive or the like. The storage
device 160 can include software modules 162, 164, 166 for
controlling the processor 120. Other hardware or software modules
are contemplated. The storage device 160 is connected to the system
bus 110 by a drive interface. The drives and the associated
computer-readable storage media provide nonvolatile storage of
computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules
and other data for the computing device 100. In one aspect, a
hardware module that performs a particular function includes the
software component stored in a tangible computer-readable storage
medium in connection with the necessary hardware components, such
as the processor 120, bus 110, display 170, and so forth, to carry
out the function. In another aspect, the system can use a processor
and computer-readable storage medium to store instructions which,
when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a
method or other specific actions. The basic components and
appropriate variations are contemplated depending on the type of
device, such as whether the device 100 is a small, handheld
computing device, a desktop computer, or a computer server.
[0021] Although the exemplary embodiment described herein employs
the hard disk 160, other types of computer-readable media which can
store data that are accessible by a computer, such as magnetic
cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks, cartridges,
random access memories (RAMs) 150, read only memory (ROM) 140, a
cable or wireless signal containing a bit stream and the like, may
also be used in the exemplary operating environment. Tangible
computer-readable storage media, computer-readable storage devices,
or computer-readable memory devices, expressly exclude media such
as transitory waves, energy, carrier signals, electromagnetic
waves, and signals per se.
[0022] To enable user interaction with the computing device 100, an
input device 190 represents any number of input mechanisms, such as
a microphone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or
graphical input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so
forth. An output device 170 can also be one or more of a number of
output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. In some
instances, multimodal systems enable a user to provide multiple
types of input to communicate with the computing device 100. The
communications interface 180 generally governs and manages the user
input and system output. There is no restriction on operating on
any particular hardware arrangement and therefore the basic
features here may easily be substituted for improved hardware or
firmware arrangements as they are developed.
[0023] For clarity of explanation, the illustrative system
embodiment is presented as including individual functional blocks
including functional blocks labeled as a "processor" or processor
120. The functions these blocks represent may be provided through
the use of either shared or dedicated hardware, including, but not
limited to, hardware capable of executing software and hardware,
such as a processor 120, that is purpose-built to operate as an
equivalent to software executing on a general purpose processor.
For example the functions of one or more processors presented in
FIG. 1 may be provided by a single shared processor or multiple
processors. (Use of the term "processor" should not be construed to
refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software.)
Illustrative embodiments may include microprocessor and/or digital
signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) 140 for
storing software performing the operations described below, and
random access memory (RAM) 150 for storing results. Very large
scale integration (VLSI) hardware embodiments, as well as custom
VLSI circuitry in combination with a general purpose DSP circuit,
may also be provided.
[0024] The logical operations of the various embodiments are
implemented as: (1) a sequence of computer implemented steps,
operations, or procedures running on a programmable circuit within
a general use computer, (2) a sequence of computer implemented
steps, operations, or procedures running on a specific-use
programmable circuit; and/or (3) interconnected machine modules or
program engines within the programmable circuits. The system 100
shown in FIG. 1 can practice all or part of the recited methods,
can be a part of the recited systems, and/or can operate according
to instructions in the recited tangible computer-readable storage
media. Such logical operations can be implemented as modules
configured to control the processor 120 to perform particular
functions according to the programming of the module. For example,
FIG. 1 illustrates three modules Mod1 162, Mod2 164 and Mod3166
which are modules configured to control the processor 120. These
modules may be stored on the storage device 160 and loaded into RAM
150 or memory 130 at runtime or may be stored in other
computer-readable memory locations.
[0025] Having disclosed some components of a computing system, the
disclosure now turns to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates an example
system 200 that implements providing a survey to a customer 202
associated with a merchant entity such as a restaurant 204. A
computer server 206 can receive data about a purchase at a first
time by a user 202 at a merchant entity 204 using an existing open
loop purchasing account of the user. (A closed loop account could
apply as well). An open loop purchasing account is an account that
can be used anywhere such as a credit card account or debit card
account. Purchase data can be stored securely on the server using
encryption, for example.
[0026] At a second time later than the first time, the user can use
an application or browser on a device 208 (such as a smartphone,
laptop, tablet, desktop, etc.) related to the merchant entity.
Accessing the website or application can cause a process to occur
in which the user is identified and data is sent from the device to
the server. The server receives an indication from the website or
application of the user and can receive information associated with
their purchasing account. The server confirms that the user made a
purchase using their purchasing account at the merchant entity such
that a survey and associated discount can be offered to the user at
a later time. Once the server confirms that the user made a
purchase at the merchant entity, it can provide personalized
information to the website/application to initiate an offer to
complete a survey or interact with the website/application in
another way. For example, the website can display, "Mary, `like`
Bob's restaurant and receive a 5% discount next time you make a
purchase at the restaurant using your VISA card." The offer is
associated with the user's VISA card such that the user simply
needs to complete the survey to automatically receive the 5%
discount the next time the user pays with his or her VISA card at
Bob's restaurant. The interaction after the initial purchase can
include personalized data such as a picture of the family taken by
the waiter, or a text, or some personalized message from a person
associated with the merchant that can be connected to the survey
and interaction that the user would engage in later after the
initial purchase.
[0027] When the merchant is a restaurant, the waiter can include
optional information in purchase data when processing payment for a
meal such as photo of the waiter, or a message such as, "I hope you
enjoyed your ice cream for dessert!" for a more personalized
experience. The waiter can instruct the user to visit the merchant
website, and after logging into the website, a survey will pop up
with a message from the waiter. In the network, the fact that the
user made a purchase will be connected to that user's account, and
any personalized data from that visit will be encapsulated and
prepared so that when they log into the website, the personalized
information is presented to them, and pre-linked to their payment
account for a future offer redemption. Once the user completes the
survey (or other interaction), a 5% discount is rewarded for the
next purchase at the restaurant. The optional information can
include a field indicating reward amount that can be set by the
waiter, for example 3% or 5% discount. An exemplary message from
the waiter is, "You were great customers, I have input the maximum
discount for your next visit."
[0028] Allowing the waiter to input optional information provides
an opportunity for a more expansive and enjoyable personalized
interaction between a representative of the merchant and the
customer. This type of interaction can occur between any person in
a company interacting with a customer and is not limited to the
restaurant scenario. For example, the interaction can occur for any
person completing a sale with a customer such as a grocery store
clerk or a hair stylist. The grocery store clerk can input
information such as the length of line at his register and the
amount of time it took him to complete the sale. The hair stylist
can input a message such as, "That bob cut makes you look so much
younger!" The ability for the representative of the merchant to
insert a message, photo or video enables a more personalized
approach and extends the personal experience with the merchant to
an online experience that can strengthen the relationship between
the user and the merchant, resulting in subsequent customer
visits.
[0029] The interaction between the user and the merchant entity is
not limiting and can occur using Facebook, Instagram or any other
social media network. After a user makes a purchase at a merchant
entity, a Facebook post can be presented on their newsfeed
including a photo of the waitress, a personalized message and an
offer for the user to input data via a survey or comment to receive
a discount towards a future purchase. The discount can already be
associated with the user's purchasing account such that the user
does not need a code, physical gift card, coupon, etc. to redeem
the earned discount. In one embodiment, when the social media post
appears on the social network, the system can require the user to
"like" the post or otherwise interact with the post to activate the
offer or to link the card to the offer. The offer can be pre-linked
with the user's payment account, and then activated based on the
user interacting with the post, such as a "like", a comment, a
reply, a share, and so forth. The system can require some personal
interaction with the waiter or waitress prior to posting on the
social network of the user on behalf of the merchant. The
pre-linking can include a pre-arranged communication with the
waiter, so the user can send a reply post to the waiter's Facebook
page, the restaurant's page, or to the Facebook page of that
location of the restaurant.
[0030] In one embodiment, the system can track user transaction
with a merchant over time, and when a specific set of conditions
are triggered over a set of multiple transactions, the system can
pre-link an offer with the user's payment account. A policy of
monitoring the user's purchases can also span multiple merchants.
For example, a restaurant in a mall can coordinate with a movie
theater and together offer a discount on dinner and a movie upon
receiving the data that the user of a payment account within a six
hour span went to dinner at the restaurant and purchase movie
tickets at the theater. The offer can be a 15% discount off a
future transaction or transactions with the restaurant or the movie
theater or both together. The notice of the card linked offer can
automatically provide a discount and reimbursement of the
transaction that already occurred. For example, the notification
can say "We are crediting you 10% off this transaction, and you
will get 15% off your next purchase."
[0031] Other companies can receive or track purchase data and send
card-linked offers to users based on that purchase data. For
example, an ice cream parlor may wish to attract customers on date
nights, and can send time-sensitive card linked offers to people
that have gone to dinner and movie, so they will get a 20% discount
off a purchase of ice cream after the movie. Or, a competitor
restaurant may track that a user goes to Olive Garden frequently,
and after 3 dinners at Olive Garden, the competitor restaurant can
send the user notice of a card-linked offer inviting him or her to
try eating there instead.
[0032] The system can select the timing of notices of card-linked
offers based on transaction data and other personal profile
information. For example, the system can determine that the user
has an anniversary coming in two weeks, and can send a customized
card-linked offer to the user for dinner at a restaurant the user
frequently patronizes, or to a restaurant that the user habitually
patronizes around the time of the anniversary. The system can time
these personalized, customized card linked offers based on
holidays, birthdays, wedding dates, anniversaries or other life
events, travel, and so forth. The system can use all the
transaction data and other personal profile data to determine when
to trigger an advertisement or notification of a card-linked
offer.
[0033] Transactions being returns, refunds, partial credit
back,
[0034] FIG. 3 illustrates an example smartphone providing a survey
to a customer with screenshots 300. The user may be logged into a
browser or other application 302 that enables data associated with
the user session in their browser or other application to be
coordinated with another networked computer that stores purchase
data 206. When the user 202 having a registered account visits a
website such as olivegarden.com, the local computer can ping the
network database 206 for a match to see if the logged in user
recently made a purchase and is able to or authorized to perform a
survey for a discount. The user can be using the application 302
for any reason, such as searching for restaurant locations, reading
an updated menu or downloading favorite recipes. The registered
account can include name and payment account information. If there
is a match, the webpage or application can be customized to present
an offer to perform a survey 304. One example is, "Mary, we hope
you enjoyed your meal at the Olive Garden and Paul your waiter. Get
a 5% discount on your next meal." The user can follow a hyperlink
to the survey or can click a "Take Survey" button, for example to
access the survey. The user then completes the survey 306 and
provides data about their experience. Data can be collected in any
number of ways from the user such as point and click using graphics
such as stars to rate the overall experience, slider bars, radio
buttons, text boxes, voice recordings, pictures, etc.
[0035] When the system determines that the user has completed the
survey, the system can create a policy in which a discount, such as
5%, is provided to the user on the next purchase at the restaurant.
Because the survey and data are associated with the user's payment
account, there is no need to use a coupon or code when making a
purchase. For example, the user simply goes to eat again at the
same restaurant according to the policy and the system 206 monitors
for a purchase. When the system detects a qualifying purchase 204,
the system implements the discount associated with taking the
survey for the user. Other interactions such as social networking
experiences and interactions are possible as the system is tracking
the purchases of the user. For example, the system can post on the
user's Facebook wall that the user has completed a survey for the
Olive Garden and can post the overall experience of the user in
hopes of attracting more customers. The discount awarded to the
customer for completing the survey can vary based on how detailed a
survey the user provides. For example, if there are 10 questions
available, each question could be a 1% discount. Alternately, the
discount can be associated with the amount of time the user spends
completing the survey such as 5% for two minutes, 6% for four
minutes, etc.
[0036] Having disclosed some basic system components and concepts,
the disclosure now turns to the exemplary method embodiment shown
in FIG. 4. For the sake of clarity, the method is described in
terms of an exemplary system 100 as shown in FIG. 1 configured to
practice the method. The steps outlined herein are exemplary and
can be implemented in any combination thereof, including
combinations that exclude, add, or modify certain steps. The system
receives first data about a purchase by a user at a first time at a
merchant, the purchase performed using a purchasing account which
existed prior to the first time and is an open loop purchasing
account of the user (402). First data can include information
identifying the user, the purchasing account, a date and time of
the purchase, and a location of the purchase. Then the system
receives second data from a representative of the merchant, the
second data being associated with the purchase by the user (404).
The merchant can be a restaurant and the representative can be a
waiter or waitress. The second data from the representative can
include a comment, a picture or a video. Next the system receives
information that the user has interacted with one of a website and
an application associated with the merchant at a second time later
than the first time (406). Then the system determines, based on the
information that the first data indicates that there is an offer
for the user associated with an incentive to have the user make a
second purchase at the merchant if the user performs an action,
such as take a survey (408). The system presents an interactive
interface to the user via one of the website and the application
about the offer, the interactive communication including the second
data from the representative and asking the user to perform the
action (410). The interactive interface can be a social media
network, website or other application. The action can be one of
taking a survey, sending a tweet, posting a comment and "liking"
the merchant via a social media network. The system receives third
data from the user via the interactive interface indicating that
the user performed the action (412) and based on the third data,
completing the offer by establishing a policy in which purchases
using the purchasing account are monitored (414). When the
purchasing account is used at the merchant to perform the second
purchase, the system applies a discount to the second purchase
according to the offer (416).
[0037] In another embodiment shown in FIG. 5, other real-time
features can occur while a user or person is at a business entity,
such as a restaurant. The method includes receiving a reservation
or an identification of an event associated with a business entity
(502). This is an optional feature and generally covers receiving
some kind of interaction associated with the merchant. However,
automated systems can apply as well and it is not necessary for the
main part of the process in this embodiment for there to be a
reservation or advanced interaction between the user and the
merchant. In one example of having an interaction, a user may go
and make a reservation with a restaurant. When the user (or the
user's device identified by geo-fencing or any other identification
system) is then at the business entity, a system can send a
notification (text, email, social networking post from the business
entity social entity presence to the user's social entity presence)
urging them to buy a gift such as a gift card (virtual gift card,
or offer) for another person of their choice (504). If they do
that, then the notification to the user can enable a discount off
of their bill which they may be about getting ready to pay (506).
The benefit provided if the user takes the action can be quite
flexible. It might be a discount connected to their payment account
so when they pay the bill, the discount is applied. It might be a
series of discounts over several visits. The business may also
partner with another business to offer a multiple business,
time-based benefit such as a dinner and then a movie next door at
the theater. For example, the notice to the user may be: "Mary,
send a $10 gift to our restaurant to a friend of your choice and
we'll treat you to a $15 discount on this meal and 1/2 movie
tickets next door at the theater." It could be a hybrid kind of set
of benefits such as 10,000 airline miles and a movie or $10 off the
meal plus a gas discount. The gift that the customer gives to a
friend at that time could also be very flexible. It might be a free
dessert at the restaurant (paid for by the customer or the
restaurant may offer to pay). The gift is tied to the friend's
payment account so if the friend receives the gift, they too just
have to come and eat and make a purchase and pay as they normally
would pay.
[0038] The benefit also could be tied to whether the recipient
accepts or interacts with the purchase or takes an action as well.
For example, Mary may receive a notice that says "send a friend a
free dessert on us and if they answer two questions about our
restaurant when they get the gift, we'll let them know that they
just doubled your discount!" Thus, the steps in this case include a
step of modifying the discount/benefit to the customer if the
friend who received a gift from the customer interacts in some way
or takes some action based on the notice/offer/gift that they
received.
[0039] In this manner, the business entity can engage in a real
time interaction with the user and present in real-time a discount
for that action. An example follows. Enabling the discount occurs
because the notice/offer is linked to the user payment account and
if the user takes the action, the system can be triggered to start
monitoring their purchases such that their purchase at the
merchant, even almost in real time right after they may have taken
the appropriate action, can cause the discount to be applied. The
discount can be directly applied such that the price of the meal is
reduced when the user pays or the user may pay and be reimbursed
the discount amount. Thus the benefit received by the user can be
applied in any number of different ways and even could extend to
their next meal as well. For example, the discount may be $5 now
and automatically $5 for their next meal. The "policy" that could
follow that discount would then apply the first $5 to the current
meal and continue to monitor for later purchases and apply the
second half of the discount.
[0040] Assume that Mary makes a reservation to go to the Olive
Garden to eat on Tuesday at 7PM. She may add to that reservation
other data such as friends that are coming with her. Data
associated with that experience then can include other user profile
and social networking data such as birthdays, friends, friends who
like to eat at the Olive Garden, past history, location-based data,
etc. When Mary arrives at the Olive Garden with her smartphone or
other device, the system can be monitoring her movement after the
reservation to insure or identify when she has arrived. The system
may even be able to monitor down to a specific table or location
and either automatically, or with assistance from an employee of
the restaurant, the purchased meals of the person. At some point
during the meal, the system identifies an "offer" and transmits it
to Mary's device. The offer could be chosen based on any data
disclosed herein, such as who she is currently with (nor not with),
her social network, historical data, other reservations that are
made by friends within her social network, etc. The offer can be
structured to have her do something to receive a discount on the
meal she is about to pay for. The offer could be: Mary, if you give
a virtual gift to a friend for a meal at the Olive Garden for $10,
we'll double it and give you a $5 discount today. The offer could
be: Mary, choose a friend to receive a $5 discount on their next
meal at Olive Garden. Your friend John Smith has a reservation next
week, so he is pre-chosen for you. We'll fund the discount and give
you a $5 discount on your current meal when you pay using your
credit card.
[0041] The offer therefore can be funded by the customer, funded by
the restaurant, or a combination of both. The offer is linked to
both the customer's payment account, as well as their friend's
payment account when the friend is identified and chosen by the
customer. The offer will present an interface that enables the
customer to choose from their social network of friends, or add a
friend as would normally be done. Enrollment or registration
procedures can be performed in the normal fashion so that the
customer and the friends can give and receive benefits or
discounts. The benefits here can also be anything, in addition to
money. The offer could say: "Mary, we'll enable you to give 10,000
bonus points to the friend of your choice, and if you choose a
friend, we'll give you a $10 discount on your meal today.
[0042] Thus, the above embodiment involves receiving a notification
or an offer from a business entity, person, or other entity that
includes a conditional step of doing something which when the
condition is satisfied, provides a benefit which is pre-connected
or linked to the recipient's payment account or points account. The
"something" could be anything such as posting a selfie picture
mentioning the restaurant on your Instagram or Facebook account.
The benefit to the person taking the action could be points or a
discount. The benefit could t tied to results of the action. For
example, when Mary walks into the restaurant, they could have an
offering to her that if she posts a picture of her and her friends,
by the time they pay for the mail, they will get a discount based
on the number of "likes", comments, views and/or other interaction
with the posting. Each "like" may be 50 cents off the meal up to
$10. In one aspect, the triggering event for enabling the offer
could be a pre-reservation by the person but it could also be
initiated by the person where they could just check in with an app
associated with the business entity to see if there are any offers
they desire to use. Then they could take the action and benefit
from the offer. This approach is quite powerful in the sense that
it causes an "advertisement" for the business entity to come from a
customer and not directly from the business entity. It provides a
benefit to the customer by way of a linked discount which they
redeem just using their existing payment account in the same normal
fashion that they would otherwise pay, and connects both the
customer and their friend who gets the "gift" to the business
entity in a unique way in that it bring the business into the
social network with the company and the friend.
[0043] The notification could present the customer with options
too. The notification could present the customer with the chance to
pay $10 out of their own pocket for a gift to their friend, for a
$15 discount, or an offer to have the business pay for the gift to
their friend of $10 for a current $5 discount for the customer's
meal. Plus the customer could alter the amounts and see the changes
in the overall gift and discount before it gets sent. Therefore,
the notification or "offer" that is linked to their payment account
or other account (miles account, points, etc.) can be interactive
with a number of parameter that can be chosen or manipulated to
define what the task is for the customer to earn or receive their
discount or benefit.
[0044] An application could be used that handles all of the above
interactions on a portable device settle the transaction. The
application could store the customer's credit card/payment
account/other account information as well which could alleviate the
need to even give a waiter or waitress a payment card for
processing. For example, a waiter could trigger via an interface a
notice that the meal is done or the user, when they are ready to
go, could have the application automatically or manually initiated
such that it pops up for them to process payment. The amount of the
meal could be prepared such that when the application starts, it
just says "Thanks Mary for coming here, give a gift of $5 to a
friend right now and receive $10 off your meal. Otherwise, click
here to pay and go." The tip could be automatic or the user could
interact to provide the tip amount on the app. The user could set
in a profile a tip percentage for all meals or input it manually.
The app could include a notification component where based on
location based-services, the store/business could know that they
entered and perhaps even identify which table they are at. The app
could include a picture of the person as well. So a user interface
used by the store could include a graphic that shows where a person
is and a picture of that person. The data would be transmitted
locally from a customer's device to a reception device at the
merchant and presented on graphic. Thus, as a waiter/waitress were
to approach a table, he could have seen a picture of Mary with her
name and perhaps other information (came here last Tuesday), and
say "Hi Mary welcome back." As the order was taken, an employee can
enter the amount purchased on a system such that Mary is enabled to
interact with her application to simply pay, get the discount,
invite a friend, take a picture of video, send a gift, etc. through
this simple app that automatically has the dinner amount for easy
payment. The system could reward consumers with discounts if they
used the app for their payments. This approach enhances the ability
of a business to improve relationships with people and educates
their employees regarding who is in the store for improved customer
relations and easier payment processes.
[0045] The above approach could also help to coordinate a group
payment situation. Assume 5 friends come in to eat a meal. They are
each in their seats in positions 1-5 at the table. The
waiter/waitress could take everyone's order. Usually, they will
generally know which order goes with which seat. If the
location-based services are good enough to pinpoint which person is
sitting in which position, then the waiter could enter in their
order price via an application or an interface that will be
attached to each individual person. Each person gets their meal in
the normal fashion but the cost for each meal is automatically
processed and each person can easily and accurately have an
opportunity to interact and pay for their individual meal with a
convenience application, and without the need to pass around one
total bill with each meal on it trying to figure out what each
person owes. Since the application is already connected to each
person's payment account, and perhaps a user profile that
preselects a tip percentage or amount, each person to pay for their
meal may only need to do a single click because the system could
present "Mary, your meal was $18.50 and your standard tip is 15%
for $2.76 which plus tax equals: $22.39, click here to pay." All
Mary had to do was to order with the waiter/waitress and all the
other processing was handled "in the cloud." This approach will
greatly simplify meal purchases and further enable more enjoyable
social experiences with friends where no one person is
treating.
[0046] In addition, those at the table could simple tell a waiter
that Mary has a birthday and everyone else is treating. With only
that amount of data, the waiter/waitress could then input the costs
of everyone's meals and spread the cost of Mary's meal to everyone
else. The notice to any individual person could then be something
like: "John, your meal, standard tip and tax totaled $23.45, plus
you owed $6.50 of Mary's meal, tax and tip, for a total of: $29.95.
Click here to pay." These and other variations could also occur
such as enabling one person to just pay the tip and someone else to
take care of the meal. Such options could just be told to the
waiter/waitress. For example, the 5 friends could be at dinner and
they could tell the waiter/waitress that John is treating but Mary
is taking care of the tip. The interface that the waiter/waitress
uses could then receive the data from the waiter/waitress which
enables the employee to just choose the right person for which
payment. Since everyone has the application and their mobile
devices, the interface that the employee sees could be based on
seat position or could show faces and menus of options to make the
interaction which and easy and thus establish the "policy" for
managing the payment and distribution of costs of the meal.
[0047] Of course these principles can apply to any group gift,
group giving, service gift, travel plans, or any other purchasing
decision in which more than one person is involved.
[0048] Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure may
also include tangible and/or non-transitory computer-readable
storage media for carrying or having computer-executable
instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such tangible
computer-readable storage media can be any available media that can
be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer,
including the functional design of any special purpose processor as
described above. By way of example, and not limitation, such
tangible computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM,
CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or
other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be
used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of
computer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor
chip design. When information is transferred or provided over a
network or another communications connection (either hardwired,
wireless, or combination thereof) to a computer, the computer
properly views the connection as a computer-readable medium. Thus,
any such connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium.
Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope
of the computer-readable media.
[0049] Computer-executable instructions include, for example,
instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer,
special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to
perform a certain function or group of functions.
Computer-executable instructions also include program modules that
are executed by computers in stand-alone or network environments.
Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components,
data structures, objects, and the functions inherent in the design
of special-purpose processors, etc. that perform particular tasks
or implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executable
instructions, associated data structures, and program modules
represent examples of the program code means for executing steps of
the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such
executable instructions or associated data structures represents
examples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions
described in such steps.
[0050] Other embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced in
network computing environments with many types of computer system
configurations, including personal computers, hand-held devices,
multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable
consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe
computers, and the like. Embodiments may also be practiced in
distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by
local and remote processing devices that are linked (either by
hardwired links, wireless links, or by a combination thereof)
through a communications network. In a distributed computing
environment, program modules may be located in both local and
remote memory storage devices.
[0051] The various embodiments described above are provided by way
of illustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope
of the disclosure. For example, the principles herein can apply to
any merchant entity such as a store, movie theatre, salon, etc.
Various modifications and changes may be made to the principles
described herein without following the example embodiments and
applications illustrated and described herein, and without
departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
* * * * *
References