WO2007036049A1 - Dynamic administration of customer loyalty programs - Google Patents
Dynamic administration of customer loyalty programs Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2007036049A1 WO2007036049A1 PCT/CA2006/001608 CA2006001608W WO2007036049A1 WO 2007036049 A1 WO2007036049 A1 WO 2007036049A1 CA 2006001608 W CA2006001608 W CA 2006001608W WO 2007036049 A1 WO2007036049 A1 WO 2007036049A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- loyalty
- partners
- tokens
- token
- members
- Prior art date
Links
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 63
- 238000004590 computer program Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 22
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 13
- 230000014759 maintenance of location Effects 0.000 claims description 22
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 claims description 12
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 claims description 8
- 230000001737 promoting effect Effects 0.000 claims description 4
- 238000012544 monitoring process Methods 0.000 claims description 3
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 claims description 2
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 claims description 2
- 230000036961 partial effect Effects 0.000 claims description 2
- 238000012790 confirmation Methods 0.000 claims 3
- 238000013475 authorization Methods 0.000 claims 2
- 238000009825 accumulation Methods 0.000 claims 1
- 238000001914 filtration Methods 0.000 claims 1
- 230000008901 benefit Effects 0.000 description 28
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 description 7
- 230000003993 interaction Effects 0.000 description 4
- 230000004913 activation Effects 0.000 description 3
- 230000003247 decreasing effect Effects 0.000 description 3
- 230000007246 mechanism Effects 0.000 description 3
- 238000012546 transfer Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000009877 rendering Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 description 2
- 235000006508 Nelumbo nucifera Nutrition 0.000 description 1
- 240000002853 Nelumbo nucifera Species 0.000 description 1
- 235000006510 Nelumbo pentapetala Nutrition 0.000 description 1
- 230000009471 action Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000006243 chemical reaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000002860 competitive effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001186 cumulative effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000011156 evaluation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000007717 exclusion Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000007726 management method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000012011 method of payment Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000036963 noncompetitive effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000008520 organization Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000011176 pooling Methods 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q30/00—Commerce
- G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
Definitions
- This invention relates to the creation and administration of automated loyalty reward and customer acquisition, retention and rescue programs This invention relates more particularly to Internet solutions for creating and administering loyalty reward and customer acquisition/ retention/ rescue programs
- U S Application No 10/068,469 (Published, Aug 29, 2002), assigned to International Business Machines Corporation relates to a "Method, Computer System, and Computer Program Product for Processing Customer Loyalty Data"
- the invention provides for front-end devices, such as front-end input terminals for inputting of transaction data, such as data specifying goods or services to be purchased by a customer
- the front-end devices can be distributed in the field, for example in retail shops, super market and pomt-of-sale terminals
- the front-end devices have a spreadsheet engine which comprises the data processing kernel of spreadsheet programs such as Lotus 1 -2-3 or Microsoft Excel
- the front-end device advantageously can be integrated with a point-of-sale terminal for processing of a customer's checkout and payment
- the invention is advantageous in that it allows the updating of loyalty rules without a need to separately reprogram each of the front-end devices in the field Changing of loyalty rules in the database of the back-end computer will cause updating of the loyalty rules of the front-end devices when
- This invention provides a transaction engine that enables a user to match and coordinate the use of credit accounts, debit accounts, loyalty (points) programs, affinity (points) programs, promotions, and currency exchanges, to enhance the purchase transaction of consumers and businesses.
- the enhancements may include financial, promotional, or other benefits for various purchases of goods and services, thereby enabling partners to target their incentives to consumers and businesses prior to or at the time of the purchase transactions.
- Prior loyalty solutions generally require a separate loyalty ID.
- Most customer loyalty programs require action from the user to associate the customer loyalty program with the consumer behaviour, for example, use of a special loyalty card, or provision of a loyalty card number. This complicates the deployment of the loyalty program, and also makes it less convenient for the customer to participate.
- One aspect of the present invention is a method for encouraging customers to patronize participating merchants for the purposes of loyalty reward, customer acquisition, retention, and/or rescue.
- Loyalty methods may include automated activities carried out by the system as set forth below, by the system administrator.
- the partners and members are participants within the loyalty system and obtain the benefit of increased business and other positive quantifiable results by utilizing the loyalty system.
- the loyalty engine encompasses the custom software and methods utilized by the system users.
- the system of the present invention is best understood as a "Loyalty System", which enables the practice of the method of the present invention.
- the system includes computer hardware and the computer program of the present invention, as particularized below.
- the users are the collection of devices or people that interact with the system. Interaction may occur in real-time or as a batched process but is not limited to same.
- a "member” is an entity that participates in the loyalty program and does not offer goods and services to the other entities of the loyalty program.
- a member's status and standing are governed by the rules as set forth by the loyalty system.
- Partners' status and conduct are governed by the rules as set forth by the loyalty system.
- rendering, tendering, reimbursing, remitting and remunerating can be collectively referred to as "payment”.
- Payment may occur between partners and/or members. Recognized payment types are defined as set out by an agreement between partners and the loyalty system. Payments may be traceable via the loyalty system by means of a "token”. Tokens may have variable value depending on value assignment by the loyalty system. Tokens are traceable when used within the loyalty system. Tokens can be incentives to carry out present and future commerce. Tokens do not reflect the methods of remuneration for goods/services in the course of commerce without the utilization of the invention's methods and benefits.
- the method of invention includes the following steps: (1 ) One or more partners defining loyalty methods, the program defining tokens associated with one or more activities; (2) Registering one or more members with the loyalty program whereby their registration includes the provision of a registered form of transaction data for one or more registered form(s) of remuneration of one or more members and the registration of a token issued by an initial partner; (3) Customers using the token to patronize one or more other partners in addition to the initial partner, thereby providing a new customer interaction for one or more other partners; (4) Collecting financial data corresponding to transactions of the one or more members associated with the one or more partners, and providing said financial data to a computer system for processing data associated with loyalty program; and (5) Providing access to the data associated with the loyalty program and to a loyalty engine linked to the system, thereby permitting the one or more partners: (a) To define the rules defining the customer partner relationships with respect to a loyalty program, including cross promotions, tokens, chances to win prizes, redemption of tokens issued by other partners and combined offers involving multiple participating partners
- the invention may offer tokens that: (a) relate to customer-selected benefit programs; (b) are part of joint promotional activities of partners; (c) enable monitoring of the effectiveness of the loyalty program; and/or (d) enable a partner to modify the loyalty program to enhance its effectiveness.
- the completion of a survey is linked to an opportunity to acquire tokens of varying values to be used with the participating partners using the loyalty system.
- members can make a reservation for special partner tokens through the loyalty system, and tokens can be collected from the partner by the member presenting the member token with an identifier of a location of the applicable partner.
- methods, computer systems, and computer programs and products are provided that enable a plurality of partners to co-operate to provide loyalty benefits jointly via the loyalty system described that enables partners to design and deploy shared loyalty methods.
- the focus of this invention is a unique business process that enhances customer loyalty methods that can be automated for participating partners.
- One of the advantages of the present invention is that it provides a loyalty method, system and computer program that enables participating businesses to acquire and retain consumers by providing tokens to members and provides quantifiable results to the participating businesses regarding effectiveness of such tokens whereby information regarding such results can be delivered automatically.
- the pooling of resources to capture market share increases the opportunities to increase their business.
- a business could work together with another business that is traditionally a competitor where both businesses, as partners in the loyalty system, pool resources and initiatives to increase customer acquisition within the loyalty system.
- Customers are offered membership in the loyalty system to receive rewards and to provide the system with important customer data.
- the partners provide the incentives in a combined effort to win new customers and retain existing ones.
- the Loyalty System relies upon the attractiveness of all of the cumulative partners' offers and tokens to the consumer. Partners support other partners by using the loyalty system as a portal offering many choices to the member customers of all the partners in the loyalty system in a cooperative environment.
- Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating one aspect of the method of the present invention, namely the "partner process";
- Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating another aspect of the method of present invention, namely the customer acquisition customer/member process, in one particular implementation of the present invention
- Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another aspect of the method of the present invention that promotes customer retention
- Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the participant of the loyalty program pertaining to customer rescue, in one particular implementation of the present invention.
- Fig. 5 is a program resource diagram illustrating the resources of the computer program of the present invention, which enables partners to make deposits for customer acquisition, retention and rescue of customers and to share the costs of the loyalty program.
- the method of invention includes the following steps: (1) one or more partners defining loyalty methods, the program defining tokens associated with one or more activities; (2) registering one or more members with the loyalty program whereby their registration includes the provision of a registered form of transaction data for one or more registered form(s) of remuneration of one or more members and the registration of a token issued by an initial partner; (3) customers using the token to patronize one or more other partners in addition to the initial partner, thereby providing a new customer interaction for one or more other partners; (4) collecting financial data corresponding to transactions of the one or more members associated with the one or more partners, and providing said financial data to a computer system for processing data associated with the loyalty program; and (5) providing access to the data associated with the loyalty program and to a loyalty engine linked to the system thereby permitting the one or more partners to establish the rules defining the customer partner relationships with respect to a loyalty program, including cross promotions, tokens, chances to win prizes, redemption of tokens issued by other partners and combined offers involving multiple participating partners
- the tokens of the present invention relate to customer-selected benefit programs; (b) are part of joint promotional activities of partners; (c) enable monitoring of the effectiveness of the loyalty program; and/or (d) enable a partner to modify the loyalty program to enhance its effectiveness.
- the present invention also enables a partner to rescue its customers who may consider utilizing goods/services from a non-participating business.
- a token may be given by a partner to a potentially disgruntled customer to restore goodwill and participation.
- the invention can assist in maintaining the business relationship, which might otherwise have been discontinued.
- the loyalty program of the present invention permits members to perceive immediate benefits from continuation of the business relationship with a partner.
- a token may be given by a partner to an existing customer.
- the token is a reward for business participation.
- the token is used by other partners as a replacement for currency in a plurality of transactions involving payment.
- rendering, tendering, reimbursing, remitting and remunerating can be collectively referred to as "payment".
- Payment may occur between partners and/or members. Recognized payment types are defined as set out by an agreement between partners and the loyalty system. Payments may be traceable via the loyalty system by means of a "token”. Tokens may have variable value depending on value assignment by the loyalty system. Tokens are traceable when used within the loyalty system.
- Tokens can be incentives to carry out present and future commerce. Tokens do not reflect the methods of remuneration for goods/services in the course of commerce without the utilization of the inventions methods and benefits. It should be understood that the token can also be stored on a stored value card, may constitute a bar code or can be stored on a financial card.
- Partners have the ability to alter the value of tokens offered and the value of a member's participation with another partner.
- the system of the present invention is best understood as the system described in the Co-Pending Patent Application, and is referred to as the "loyalty system" in this disclosure.
- the loyalty system includes the computer program of the present invention (not shown) such as a known web application that enables the functions described in this disclosure. Certain technical details of this type of computer program are described in the Co-Pending Patent Application.
- One particular aspect of the computer program of the present invention is a token administration utility, provided in a manner that is known, that enables participating partners to modify the attributes for one or more of their loyalty programs, wherein the token administration utility is operable to enable participating partners to perform one or more of the following functions: Definition of the activities required to continue or enhance customer loyalty methods by means of a token but not limited to, to help acquire retain/rescue members; Definition of the quantum of customer loyalty methods and loyalty tokens/cross-promotional tokens and/or prize opportunities assigned to particular activities; and Administration of token and possible token redemption rules by a participating partner.
- the loyalty system is operable to generate a plurality of electronic tokens.
- These electronic tokens are best understood as a file that includes information related to criteria for the token as described below, as well as information that identifies the particular loyalty program and/or partner(s), and/or class of members/customers with which the token is associated.
- the token and the loyalty system are preferably provided such that the token is interoperable with systems used by partners to process payments such as transaction systems, point-of-sale systems and the like.
- the generation of the token is linked to the use of a financial card in a transaction with a partner under the loyalty program, as described in the Co-Pending Patent Application.
- the redemption of a validated token is achieved by a function of one or more of the following: ( 1 ) presenting a coupon printed from within the web site presented by the loyalty system, as described in the Co-Pending Patent Application, (2) a stored value card that is operable to store information regarding one or more tokens then in effect and that is operable to permit the participating partners to redeem the tokens using the loyalty card, or (3) presentation of a financial card, which when swiped through the point-of-sale system or other system of the participating partner enables the participating partner to access information regarding one or more validated token(s) allocated to the member and associated with the participating partner, and processing the transaction of the member such that the transaction takes the token into account.
- a member utilizes the loyalty system to obtain a coupon for a particular partner's offer.
- Member makes a purchase at a partner's business.
- the partner accepts the coupon with the specific conditions associated with the coupon.
- the amount that the member owes the partner is decreased by the discount on the coupon.
- a member presents a stored value card to a partner and the partner gives the member a discount from the amount of the member's bill.
- the amount of the discount has been agreed to by the accepting partner by defining the acceptance parameters in the loyalty system.
- the partner adjusts the value of the stored value card to reflect the discount given to the member and the value of the loyalty card is decreased.
- Token use in certain cases, is only valid with the use of a registered financial card. Token acceptance may require the use of a financial card such as a credit card. A token presented without a financial card will not be an accepted form of payment for goods and services from partner.
- the tokens are interoperable with payment systems so that monies can flow within the loyalty system in regard to transactions involving tokens.
- a first participating partner provides an incentive of $50.00 by means of a token to a member that is redeemable with a second participating partner, as a discount of $10.00 per transaction between the member and the second participating partner.
- the first participating partner might pay $2.00 to the second participating partner in regard to such transaction.
- the token is operable to facilitate the flow of monies between accounts maintained within the loyalty system between participating partners in these and other similar situations.
- these tokens can be secured by a partner from the loyalty system in a "quantity" ( 10). Their value is determined and agreed upon between the partner and the loyalty system administrator.
- the loyalty system is operable to permit the partner to define and apply certain criteria of a certain class of tokens such as: (1) fees, discounts or odds for participation assigned to the token (12); (2) time related rules that determine activation of the tokens such as minimum/maximum time linked to the redemption of the token, special redemption rules related to time such as increased redemption value in off peak hours (14); (3) other partners opting into participation in the class of tokens (16); and (4) restrictions that apply to the redemption of tokens such as times/days/locations that the token can be redeemed, redeemable amount per visit (minimum, maximum) (18).
- the aforesaid criteria can be variable with time. All characteristics of tokens may be altered over time.
- Tokens may have an expiry date or have their value altered over time. Changes in token values are set forth by an agreement between the loyalty system administrator and the participating partners. Based on the foregoing, the attributes of the class of tokens to be made available to a defined class of members is established by the loyalty system (20). The number of tokens issued by the loyalty system is controlled by the loyalty system administrator. Effectively, by operation of the loyalty system, partners can opt in to one or more loyalty programs based on the tokens of the present invention and define the rules under which members can participate, and the manner in which they can use a token that is part of a particular class of tokens/loyalty program.
- the loyalty system is operable to permit a participating partner to post loyalty program benefits that it is willing to "exchange" for loyalty program benefits with other participating partners.
- This aspect of the loyalty system permits participating partners to assign corresponding value to their respective loyalty program benefits and thereby dynamically expanding the benefits available to their customers under their loyalty programs. For example, a partner makes a offer available to other partners' customers who are members.
- the partner uses the loyalty system to assign a value to the offer such as an amount, valid time periods and expiry dates of the offer.
- the offering partner makes goods/services available to the other partners as incentives to the other partners' customers to conduct commerce with both partners.
- tokens are associated to a partner through unique alphanumeric ranges (such as a bin range, as set out in Fig. 1) to uniquely identify and customize the effectiveness of the loyalty system.
- the components of the loyalty system can include an institution acting as a trustee, the loyalty system software, participating partners and customers that own and use electronic forms of payment.
- the trustee institution acts as a repository for funds which may be required for the use of tokens. A token's value may need to be paid for in advance as the value may not be able to be extracted unless funds are in place to guarantee any fund transfers between the token issuing and accepting partners.
- the tokens generated by the loyalty system are purchased by the partners for a fee and the loyalty system provides an automated system that enables the partners to follow the processing of specific tokens, and thereby derive valuable information regarding the purchase habits of their customers.
- the partner by operation of the loyalty system, the partner "commits" to the token (22), as illustrated in Fig. 1. This means committing the value that is associated with the particular class of tokens created by operation of the loyalty system.
- the integrity of the loyalty program overall requires that obligations that are part of the perceived value of the token are met, consequently the provision of step (22).
- the partner at the beginning of a promotion involving the tokens of the present invention, places value or money in trust with a trusted organization such as a financial institution (24). For example, this could include funds placed in trust to use in the loyalty program for a designated period.
- the combination of all the partners' value/monies creates a pool of assets for administering the loyalty programs in accordance with the present invention.
- the loyalty programs of the present invention leverage the collective strength of all participating partners' values or monies.
- One of the advantages of the present invention is that it permits participating partners who do not compete with one another to collaborate and share customers within the loyalty system so as to increase their respective customer bases by acquiring as new customers existing customers of other partners.
- the loyalty system of the present invention tends to increase commerce for all the partners who participate therein.
- the partner will give the token to the customer (26).
- the way in which the token is given to the customer depends entirely on the objectives of the partner.
- a partner can offer customers a token as a part of a transaction with the customer whereby the customer purchases a product or service from the partner.
- the customer will be required to register the token with the loyalty system for the token to have any value.
- the loyalty system can transfer value from the designated institution to the token by transferring value (e.g. money) to an account that is associated in the loyalty system with the particular class of tokens.
- value e.g. money
- the member is able to use the token with one or more partners participating business in the loyalty system.
- the value can be transferred from one partner to another partner if the token was used.
- the cost of the token redemption may be shared between the issuing and redeeming partners.
- the issuer has used the token for customer retention and the redeeming partner of the token has used the token for customer acquisition. Effectively both partners have shared acquisition costs and customer benefits and extended the customer's business experience within the combined partners.
- the rules for sharing the cost of the token redemption is defined by operation of the "exchange" described above.
- a token may only be used at participating partners within the loyalty system and there may be a limited time of use for the token.
- a token established in accordance with the loyalty system of the present invention may consist of a sole method of payment, or can be required to be used in conjunction with another form of payment.
- a group of participating partners agree to cooperate within the loyalty system.
- a first partner may offer a token to a customer in consideration of the customer having purchased product/services from the first partner.
- a token can be issued to the customer following the payment through the use of an agreed upon form of payment or remuneration
- the token can be activated by the customer simply by registering the token with the loyalty system (e g through a web site linked to the loyalty system) Value can be applied automatically to the token by operation of the loyalty system
- the token may be used at any of the other participating partners as a means of an incentives and/or reward for purchases at the discretion of the loyalty system and the redeeming partner
- a token may be used by a member as a form of payment in full or partial payment for goods or services offered by partners as outlined in the agreement with the loyalty system administrator Tokens may involve the transfer of funds between the partners who accept and issue tokens as set forth by the loyalty system
- the tokens contributed by the issuing partner can be used by other participating partners (the redeemer), which may help to reduce the costs of the shared loyalty program pursued in the interest, for example, of customer acquisition, retention and/or rescue
- the method, system and computer program of the present invention enables dynamic administration of loyalty programs including customer acquisition, retention and rescue based on a common pool of resources contributed by the partners collaborating within the loyalty system and thereby enabling the partners to maximize the impact of their customer acquisition, retention and rescue efforts
- the loyalty system of the present invention enables partners to obtain valuable feedback from their customers
- One form of this feedback is the survey referred to above that is linked to activation of a token as illustrated in (28) in Fig 1
- the survey feedback is provided as an anonymous electronic report delivered to the partner whose customer has provided the feedback
- the loyalty system is operable to provide information from member transactions from any/all of the partners
- the partner may access feedback of their own customers' survey information by various methods of the loyalty system text messaging, email or by logging into the system and retrieving the feedback information
- the loyalty system is operable to provide information regarding customer reactions to the transaction with a partner
- the loyalty system is operable to obtain from the customer/member valuable feedback such as an experience rating by providing incentives to the member to provide feedback survey data
- a member is notified by text messaging, email or by logging into the system that a feedback survey is available to be responded to.
- the member is also provided an incentive to participate in the feedback survey by means such as opportunities to win a prize offering.
- the member logs into the computer system and fills in the feedback survey and submits the results to be later viewed by the partner.
- the system notifies the member after a set time if they have won a prize.
- the member is offered incentives to provide feedback on transactions involving the loyalty system.
- One of the aspects of the loyalty system is that it is operable to permit a partner to alter attributes of a particular class of tokens, for example in response to customer feedback or evaluation of performance of a loyalty program conducted by operation of the loyalty system of the present invention based on reports provided by the loyalty system.
- the loyalty system is operable to permit partners to alter their incentives, tokens and other rewards.
- the partner collaborates with other participating partners to provide the particular loyalty program benefits associated with one or more tokens, then the agreement of the various participating partners may be required, or else less than all the participating partners might opt to cover the cost of the modifications to the loyalty program. It should be understood that this ability to modify the characteristics of the loyalty program enables the partner to tailor the loyalty program to the requirements of its members/customers, e.g. based on member/customer feedback.
- a customer and potential member or an existing member/customer makes a purchase from a partner (30).
- the member/customer is given. an active token for web- based registration and activation thereof, as described above (32).
- the token is typically loaded with a set amount of value based on the process described above and illustrated in Fig. 1.
- the token is activated only after it has been registered and remains activated in most cases for a set period of time after the partner gives the token to the member/customer.
- the loyalty system is operable to generate a survey linked to a particular class of tokens (38). For example, this can be accomplished by the loyalty system retrieving the bin range of the token, and looking up (e.g. from a table linked to the computer program of the present invention) the survey associated with the bin range.
- the loyalty system is also operable to present to the member the particulars of the rewards associated with the particular loyalty program.
- the member may be offered a special one time offer associated with registration such as bonus token or bonus attribute of a token, eligibility to participate in a draw for a larger prize, etc.
- the special one time offer can also be linked to visiting selected web pages of other participating partners and/or participating in a loyalty program of another partner, in which case the special one time offer may include contribution from such other participating partners of value, money, or to the costs of the particular loyalty program overall.
- the loyalty system is operable to adjust the value of a token depending on the particular area of the web site (not shown) linked to the loyalty system where the member registers their token. This way, specific aspects of a loyalty program can be targeted to particular members, for example, the benefits associated with tokens received in a special members' area vs. a new customer may differ. This will enable partners to define different "tiers" to loyalty programs deployed using the loyalty system of the present invention.
- the value of the token is adjusted and the amount left on the token is updated.
- the value of a token cannot be less than zero.
- Tokens have NO value outside the loyalty system of the present invention.
- the tokens are a component of the closed-loop relationship between the various partners, the member and the loyalty system whereby partners can offer loyalty features that are otherwise unavailable.
- the closed loop nature of the system is demonstrated by the exclusion of businesses that do not participate in the loyalty system.
- the partner issuing the token has taken the initiative to retain future business with his/her customer by offering a reward to his/her customer.
- the redeemer has either a new customer (acquisition) or rewarded an existing customer (retention). Both partners have increased loyalty to them and to each other, and the member has received a benefit from the partner(s) via the loyalty system.
- the loyalty system has increased its own customer retention by bringing together benefits for all partners and members in a collaborative environment. Partners benefit by decreasing the likelihood of transactions outside the loyalty system. Partners can create additional acquisition of new customers by having members choose any additional offer(s) that they offer. The loyalty system continues to operate as such with all of the rewards and incentives available to the new member, thereby effectively retaining members for the benefit of all of the partners. The loyalty system increases its membership by using the offers of all of the partners.
- the following steps provide an example of the present invention: (1 ) member registration of credit card; (2) merchants agree to cross-promote sharing the cost of member benefits to visit new partners and to provide rewards for past transactions or a single merchant using the "token" for customer acquisition; and (3) member is issued the card by past transactions with loyalty system businesses or may be given a "token” by a different merchant.
- the member must register the "token” is it is used as a "giveaway", so either way it is associated with a particular member and resisted financial card.
- This example could be a service company, for example, a "Windshield Replacement” company that wishes to reward customers for patronage and share the costs associated with the reward with other businesses (partners) within the loyalty system.
- the sharing may be via a "token" on a loadable medium such as "Stored Value Card”.
- the member takes the token to different business that agrees to accept the token and the accepting business may take a nominal value off of the token to validate the customer visitation to the loyalty system.
- the business that accepts the token also has agreed to provide an additional benefit such as a discount to the member. Note that the member must use the "token" and the registered form of payment to validate the transaction
- the loyalty system records the visitation and informs the issuing and recipient businesses of the transaction
- Fig 3 illustrates the operation of the present invention as to customer retention
- a frequent shopper is recognized by awarding them a token that may be based on a specified amount of visits, or specified amount of dollars spent, but not limited thereto
- a partner uses the token as an incentive for future commerce
- a token may act as a means to redirect members that may help prevent members conducting commerce outside the loyalty system
- the token may act as a reminder to the member that the partner values his/her business
- the loyalty system may act as an automated system to retain customers for the issuer and an acquisition tool for the redeemer where the redeemer is another participating partner
- Fig 4 illustrates the operation of the present invention as it relates to customer rescue
- a customer is rescued that may be dissatisfied based on a partner experience by operation of the present invention
- Tokens may be given to disgruntled customers or customers considering services of other competitors, thereby influencing their loyalty to a partner's business within the loyalty system, inviting them to come back and enjoy a possible future visit, but not limited to the foregoing
- the token may act as a mechanism to promote repeat business to a partner that may not otherwise occur
- the loyalty system provides a mechanism for the partner to rescue an existing customer who would otherwise not conduct business with him/her
- Fig 5 illustrates one aspect of the resources of the computer program of the present invention
- Participating partners have the ability to opt into the shared loyalty model tied to the loyalty system
- An institution acting as a trustee collects the token value from partners Partner(s) that choose to opt in can be tracked according to the attributes that they have defined for a particular class of tokens, restrictions that apply to the class of tokens, and redemption activity in connection with such tokens Partners can obtain customer feedback through every token data registered to the loyalty system, since members generally are required to provide feedback from the issuing partner to receive value for the token(s)
- the partner who issued the token may use the token as a retention tool to encourage future commerce by use of a gift or the use of the token at the issuer's business.
- the redeeming partner uses the token as a customer acquisition or retention tool depending if the member is an existing customer.
- the redeeming partner may be the same as the issuing partner. If the redeeming partner is different than the issuing partner, the issuer has given customer acquisition to the redeeming partner by the commercial activity of a new customer in a collaborative environment that is generally a non-competitive environment.
- the partners collectively increase their own market share by harnessing the strength of the collective consumer buying power by collectively working together and sharing the efforts and capital resources for the betterment of the loyalty system overall.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP06790772A EP1932108A4 (en) | 2005-09-30 | 2006-09-29 | Dynamic administration of customer loyalty programs |
AU2006296996A AU2006296996A1 (en) | 2005-09-30 | 2006-09-29 | Dynamic administration of customer loyalty programs |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
CA2,521,783 | 2005-09-30 | ||
CA2521783A CA2521783C (en) | 2004-11-23 | 2005-09-30 | Method, system and computer program for providing a loyalty system enabling dynamic administration of loyalty programs including customer acquisition/retention/rescue |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO2007036049A1 true WO2007036049A1 (en) | 2007-04-05 |
WO2007036049B1 WO2007036049B1 (en) | 2007-05-31 |
Family
ID=37899331
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/CA2006/001608 WO2007036049A1 (en) | 2005-09-30 | 2006-09-29 | Dynamic administration of customer loyalty programs |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP1932108A4 (en) |
AU (1) | AU2006296996A1 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2007036049A1 (en) |
Citations (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
CA2237109A1 (en) * | 1997-05-07 | 1998-11-07 | Pnc National Bank | Database marketing information and method and system using same |
WO2001004823A2 (en) * | 1999-07-13 | 2001-01-18 | Webmiles.Com | System and method for global generic mileage loyalty program |
WO2002017157A2 (en) * | 2000-08-22 | 2002-02-28 | Ernex Marketing Technologies, Inc. | Marketing systems and methods |
US20020120514A1 (en) * | 2001-02-06 | 2002-08-29 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method, computer system and computer program product for processing customer loyalty data |
US20040122735A1 (en) * | 2002-10-09 | 2004-06-24 | Bang Technologies, Llc | System, method and apparatus for an integrated marketing vehicle platform |
US20040193485A1 (en) * | 2003-03-28 | 2004-09-30 | Noel Ilberg | Small business/retailer/merchant loyalty program |
WO2004097561A2 (en) * | 2003-04-24 | 2004-11-11 | Mbna America Bank, N.A. | Membership token loyalty program |
US6885994B1 (en) * | 1995-12-26 | 2005-04-26 | Catalina Marketing International, Inc. | System and method for providing shopping aids and incentives to customers through a computer network |
CA2488272A1 (en) * | 2004-05-27 | 2005-11-27 | Edatanetworks Inc. | Method, system and computer program for providing loyalty engine enabling dynamic administration of loyalty programs |
-
2006
- 2006-09-29 WO PCT/CA2006/001608 patent/WO2007036049A1/en active Application Filing
- 2006-09-29 EP EP06790772A patent/EP1932108A4/en not_active Withdrawn
- 2006-09-29 AU AU2006296996A patent/AU2006296996A1/en not_active Abandoned
Patent Citations (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US6885994B1 (en) * | 1995-12-26 | 2005-04-26 | Catalina Marketing International, Inc. | System and method for providing shopping aids and incentives to customers through a computer network |
CA2237109A1 (en) * | 1997-05-07 | 1998-11-07 | Pnc National Bank | Database marketing information and method and system using same |
WO2001004823A2 (en) * | 1999-07-13 | 2001-01-18 | Webmiles.Com | System and method for global generic mileage loyalty program |
WO2002017157A2 (en) * | 2000-08-22 | 2002-02-28 | Ernex Marketing Technologies, Inc. | Marketing systems and methods |
US20020120514A1 (en) * | 2001-02-06 | 2002-08-29 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method, computer system and computer program product for processing customer loyalty data |
US20040122735A1 (en) * | 2002-10-09 | 2004-06-24 | Bang Technologies, Llc | System, method and apparatus for an integrated marketing vehicle platform |
US20040193485A1 (en) * | 2003-03-28 | 2004-09-30 | Noel Ilberg | Small business/retailer/merchant loyalty program |
WO2004097561A2 (en) * | 2003-04-24 | 2004-11-11 | Mbna America Bank, N.A. | Membership token loyalty program |
CA2488272A1 (en) * | 2004-05-27 | 2005-11-27 | Edatanetworks Inc. | Method, system and computer program for providing loyalty engine enabling dynamic administration of loyalty programs |
Non-Patent Citations (2)
Title |
---|
CAPIZZI ET AL.: "Loyalty Trends for the Twenty-First Century", JOURNAL OF CONSUMER MARKETING, vol. 22, no. 2, February 2005 (2005-02-01), pages 72 - 80, XP003011688 * |
See also references of EP1932108A4 * |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
EP1932108A4 (en) | 2011-04-27 |
EP1932108A1 (en) | 2008-06-18 |
AU2006296996A1 (en) | 2007-04-05 |
WO2007036049B1 (en) | 2007-05-31 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US11138627B2 (en) | Client acquisition and surveying | |
CA2627920C (en) | Merchant funded rewards network implementing cardholder loyalty rebate program | |
US7857210B2 (en) | Method, system and computer program for client acquisition | |
US9836759B2 (en) | Universal transaction associating identifier | |
US6330543B1 (en) | Method and system for distributing and reconciling electronic promotions | |
US20060111978A1 (en) | Method, system and computer program for providing a loyalty engine enabling dynamic administration of loyalty programs | |
US20080059306A1 (en) | Loyalty program incentive determination | |
US20070239523A1 (en) | Method and System for Advanced Reward Program | |
US20090012862A1 (en) | Instant zero inventory fulfillment redemption system and method | |
CA2439972A1 (en) | System and method for implementing a loyalty program incorporating on-line and off-line transactions | |
KR20000037128A (en) | Cyber money exchange system and banking system | |
EP1285377A1 (en) | Business-to-employee interactive reward and redemption system and method | |
JP2008529103A (en) | Computerized processing for differentiated incentives based on payment mode | |
CA2521783C (en) | Method, system and computer program for providing a loyalty system enabling dynamic administration of loyalty programs including customer acquisition/retention/rescue | |
WO2001031529A1 (en) | Incentive program associated with equity acquisition | |
EP1932108A1 (en) | Dynamic administration of customer loyalty programs | |
US11783362B2 (en) | Client acquisition and surveying | |
CA2717206C (en) | Merchant offer program | |
CA2488272C (en) | Method, system and computer program for providing loyalty engine enabling dynamic administration of loyalty programs | |
AU2001259433B2 (en) | Business-to-employee interactive reward and redemption system and method | |
AU2014200161A1 (en) | Method, System and Compter Program for Client Acquisition and Surveying | |
AU2001259433A1 (en) | Business-to-employee interactive reward and redemption system and method | |
CA2358084A1 (en) | Charity donation method |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
121 | Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application | ||
WWE | Wipo information: entry into national phase |
Ref document number: 2006790772 Country of ref document: EP |
|
NENP | Non-entry into the national phase |
Ref country code: DE |
|
WWE | Wipo information: entry into national phase |
Ref document number: 2006296996 Country of ref document: AU |
|
ENP | Entry into the national phase |
Ref document number: 2006296996 Country of ref document: AU Date of ref document: 20060929 Kind code of ref document: A |
|
WWP | Wipo information: published in national office |
Ref document number: 2006296996 Country of ref document: AU |
|
WWP | Wipo information: published in national office |
Ref document number: 2006790772 Country of ref document: EP |