Patent Application
20220300996
This disclosure pertains to computer-implemented methods for generating customer credit for participation in a marketing activity at a merchant location, and more particularly, pertains to computer-implemented methods for accumulating micro-payments for customers that participate in marketing activities at merchant locations as recognized upon completing such activities, and arranging to transfer payment to customers when accumulated micro-payments exceed a predetermined threshold.
Merchants spend a significant amount of energy and costs on product and service marketing, both to stimulate purchase interest and to gather feedback for improving product and service offerings. These efforts often fall on deaf ears, as consumers perceive that marketing activities provide little direct benefit, or generate unwanted pressures to buy. In such cases, marketing activities are counter-productive. Annoyed consumers are turned off or away from purchasing associated products, and feedback gathered is either overly negative or superficial, and thus of little use.
Marketing activities have a much greater opportunity to stimulate product and service interest and useful feedback when participating consumers find some sort of perceived benefit or return on their investment. Perceived benefit may be highly correlated with consumers' personal interest in the products and services that are being marketed. For example, one might expect that a rock musician would have a stronger interest in participating in marketing activities surrounding guitar effects panels than garden hoses. Interest may also be correlated with the opportunity to receive a personalized reward for participation (for example, a money payment). Because an appropriate payment for participating in a several minute marketing activity might be on the order of a small fraction of a dollar (a micro-payment), it would be advantageous to accumulate earnings until a more substantial payment award can be made. For consumers who are just beginning to participate in these activities, it might be advantageous in addition to defer the burden of payment account activation for some time until a substantial payment is ready to be made.
By way of example, aspects of the present disclosure are directed to methods and systems for generating customer credit for participation in a marketing activity at a merchant physical location or store.
In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, the disclosed computer-implemented method includes the steps of: a) receiving device identification information for a mobile electronic device (UE) of a customer at a merchant server, indicating that the customer is present at or in the vicinity of the merchant location, b) transmitting information to the mobile electronic device by the merchant server inviting participation by the customer in a merchant location-based marketing activity, c) determining a customer completion of the merchant location-based marketing activity by the merchant server at the merchant location, d) issuing a request by the merchant server that a balance in an earnings account of the customer be updated to include a customer credit amount provided by the merchant for completion of the marketing activity; and e) determining whether the updated balance in the earnings account exceeds a predetermined threshold amount. When the threshold amount has been exceeded, the merchant server may proceed to deliver an enrollment request to the mobile electronic device requesting the user to elect a payer from which to receive all or a portion of the credit balance.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, the step of receiving device identification information at the merchant server includes the step of receiving a service request from the mobile electronic device of the customer at the merchant server, the service request made by the mobile electronic device enabled by a service code imaged by the mobile electronic device from signage displayed at the merchant location.
In accordance with further aspects of the disclosure, the step of receiving device identification information at the merchant server includes the step of receiving a detection broadcast signal from the mobile electronic device at the merchant server.
In accordance with further aspects of the disclosure, the step of receiving device identification information at the merchant server includes the step of receiving a proximity detection indication signal at the merchant server from a proximity server in communication with the merchant server and the mobile electronic device.
In accordance with other aspects of the disclosure, prior to inviting participation in the marketing activity, the merchant server may preferably query one of the mobile electronic device, an account server in communication with the merchant server or a network-accessible data store by the merchant server to obtain information indicating current interests of the customer; and then transmit the activity information to the mobile electronic device by the merchant server only upon determining that the current interests of the customer and the merchant location-based marketing activity are correlated.
In accordance with further aspects of the disclosure, one or more of the mobile electronic device, the merchant server or a network-accessible web server is configured as a marketing activity hosting node for one or more of monitoring user participation in the marketing activity or soliciting a user response to the marketing activity.
In accordance with further aspects of the disclosure, the completion indicator is generated by the marketing activity hosting node by determining that the mobile electronic device was in proximity to the merchant location for at least a predetermined time period.
In accordance with further aspects of the disclosure, the completion indicator is generated by the marketing activity hosting node upon receiving a user activity completion response from one of the mobile electronic device or a another terminal device at the merchant location. The completion response may, for example, include a completed user survey.
This SUMMARY is provided to briefly identify some aspects of the present disclosure that are further described below in the DESCRIPTION. This SUMMARY is not intended to identify key or essential features of the present disclosure nor is it intended to limit the scope of any claims.
A more complete understanding of the present disclosure may be realized by reference to the accompanying drawing in which:
The following merely illustrates the principles of the disclosure. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and are included within its spirit and scope.
Furthermore, all examples and conditional language recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the disclosure and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions.
Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the disclosure, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements later developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure.
Unless otherwise explicitly specified herein, the drawings are not drawn to scale.
Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to methods and systems for methods and systems for generating customer credit for participation in a marketing activity at a merchant physical location or store. Customers are identified as candidates for participation based on the sensing the presence, for example, of a customer mobile electronic device (also termed a “User Equipment Device,” or “UE device”), in proximity to a merchant store. Such devices may include, but are not limited to, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, tablet devices, and other devices capable of executing software application programs that may have been pre-installed on the device,
Also depicted is a mobile user device (UE 150) that has network connection means for at least connecting to the Merchant Server 110 wirelessly. The UE 150 and the Merchant Server 110 are shown in
The Proximity Server 140 has a main function to resolve temporary or pseudo-random identities of nodes into non-temporary, clear or global identities. Nodes like the Merchant Server 110 may announce their existence in their proximity towards other nodes, (e.g. the UE 150), and the Proximity Server 140 may authenticate the UE 150 to learn the merchant real name or unique ID, or authenticate the merchant to learn the identity of the UE 150 and/or and associated user. Also, the Proximity Server 140 may initiate a connection between two nodes which detected that they are in proximity of each other. The initiated connection may for example be a direct connection between the nodes using short-range communication means, or an indirect connection via the network infrastructure 100′ as illustrated in
The Method 300 is based on circumstances under which the UE 150 is configured to announce its existence in proximity of the Merchant Server 110 (or alternatively a proximity detection means of the Merchant Server 110 not separately shown in
The Merchant Server 110 may be enabled to receive such broadcasted detection signals from a UE 150 in its proximity. With reference to step 301 of
At step 303 of
The merchant may then invite the user of the UE 150, at step 304 via the Merchant Server 110, to participate in a marketing activity. The marketing activity may relate to the merchant and be conducted at a shop or another location of the merchant in proximity to the UE 150. Thus, the Merchant invites the customer to a location-based marketing activity. An Activity Invite message may for example be transmitted to the UE 150 by the Merchant Server 110 comprising information relating to the marketing activity at step 304.
Preferably, prior to the Merchant Server 110 transmitting the Activity Invite Message to the UE 150, the Merchant Server 110 may query one of UEs 150, an account server in communication with the Merchant Server or a network-accessible data store accessible to the Merchant Server 110 to obtain information indicating current interests of the customer. In this case, the Merchant Server 110 would then transmit the Activity Invite message only upon determining that the current interests of the customer and the merchant location-based marketing activity are correlated.
The information provided in the Activity Invite may comprise sufficient information so the UE 150 can offer to the customer the performance of the marketing activity autonomously. In one example, the information may comprise a form to be filled by the customer, e.g. with name, address, current interest of shopping and reason for being in or near the merchant's shop.
The information may alternatively comprise a link to a web site on which the customer can perform the marketing activity with the help of a browser app installed on the UE 150. This case is assumed, for example, for the Method 300 depicted in
The information in the Activity Invite may alternatively link the UE 150 to a marketing activity hosted on the Merchant Server 110, or alternatively on the UE 150, for example by an app performing such activities on request by the Merchant Server 110. Alternatively, the marketing activities may be carried out manually without the involvement of the UE 150 in the merchant's shop.
Block 305 of
After the marketing activity is completed by the customer (for example, after the last question is answered, and/or a video is watched completely or requested information is fully provided), the marketing activity hosting node (in this example the Web Server 130) indicates the finalization to the Merchant Server 110 in a Completion Indication message at step 306 of
At step 307, the Merchant Server 110 may then update an account of the user of the UE 150 on the Account Server 120 by informing the Account Server 120 in a Balance Update Request message. This message may include information about the account identification in form of the device identification (UE ID) indicative of an earnings amount received earlier and the customer credit amount to be awarded to the account.
At step 308, the Account Server 120 may, in response to receiving the Balance Update Request message, update the customer earnings account accordingly and confirms the update in a Balance Update Confirm message that is transmitted to the Message Server 110. The Account Server 120 may, after updating, verify whether the balance of the customer earning account exceeds a pre-defined threshold and include this verification result in the Balance Update Confirm message.
In the case that the balance of the customer earning account exceeds the pre-defined threshold, the Merchant Server 110 may at step 309 transmit to the UE 150 an Enrollment Request message to invite the customer to enroll with a payment service for redeeming proceeds from the balance of the earning account. The Enrollment Request message may contain information relating to the account balance. The Enrollment Request may also contain information relating to one or more payers associated with the payment service for providing earnings to the user of the UE 150.
The UE may then present to its customer information about the invitation to the enrollment at Block 310, including presentation of the current updated balance of the earnings account and an optional display of election means to elect one of multiple payers indicated in the Enrollment Request. The UE then requests input from the user as to accept the enrollment request and elect a payer and transmits an Enrollment Response message with the information about accepted enrollment and elected one or more payers back to the Merchant Server at step 311.
The Method 400 of
As illustrated by Blocks 403, 404 of
The Proximity Indication message at step 405 may further include location information (for example, geographical location information and/or a merchant shop identification such as the Merchant ID received by the UE 150 at step 401). The Merchant ID may thus identify the merchant as used by the Proximity Server for authorization verification, and it may additionally identify a specific location or shop out of multiple operated by the merchant.
The Proximity Indication message of step 405 may further comprise a UE address which allows the Merchant Server 110 to transmit messages to the UE 150. The UE address may be identical to the UE ID indicative of an earnings account (e.g. it may be an MSISDN, a telephone number, a URL, a SIP-address or the like).
At step 405, he Merchant Server 110 receives the Proximity Indication message as an indication for the presence of a UE 150 in or near its location, and in addition for reception of a UE ID indicative of an earnings account. The Merchant Server 110 can then, for example, follow the method described with reference to
Not shown in
The remaining elements of the Method 400 of
The Method 400′ of
At step 402′ of
As illustrated by Blocks 403, 404 of
Alternatively to steps 402′ and 403-405, the UE 150 may transmit the service request directly to one of the Merchant Server 110 or the Web Server 130. In this case, the Merchant Server 110 or Web Server 130 would determine the ID of the UE 150 and associated earnings account of the customer from the information transmitted in the service request and/or via additional queries directed to the UE 150.
The remaining elements of the Method 400′ of
The Methods 300, 400 respectively illustrated in
It will be understood that, while various aspects of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described by way of example, the invention claimed herein is not limited thereto, but may be otherwise variously embodied within the scope of the following claims. For example, it should be understood that while the completion indication 306, 408 of
The following table lists the reference characters and names of features and elements used herein: Reference characters assigned to method steps are not listed.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2020/074575 | 9/3/2020 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62895155 | Sep 2019 | US |
