GLOBAL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SYSTEM

• US 20070214000A1
• Filed: 03/02/2007
• Published: 09/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Global Customer Satisfaction System LLC
• Original Assignee: Global Customer Satisfaction System LLC
• Inventors: Pasta, Poorya, Shahrabi, Abdolhamid
• Granted Patent: US 7,996,252 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0229 Multi-merchant loyalty card systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0237 at kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0245 Surveys
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products

Abstract

A global customer satisfaction system includes point-of-sale customer feedback terminals for receiving in-store customer feedback including satisfaction ratings and other customer feedback regarding participating vendors as the customer pays for purchases. The system also includes post-sale customer feedback terminals for receiving more detailed customer feedback regarding the vendors from members after the sales have been completed. The system also includes an aggregation and dissemination system for combining the ratings received form customers into global customer satisfaction ratings for participating vendors, and disseminating the customer satisfaction information through customer satisfaction qualified directories, which are organized or searchable by geographical, type of product or service offered by the participating vendors, and other factors.

Claims

1. A customer satisfaction system, comprising:

a plurality of customer satisfaction rating terminals operable for receiving customer satisfaction feedback from customers related to vendors;

a customer satisfaction aggregation system operable for receiving the customer satisfaction feedback from the customer satisfaction rating terminals and consolidating the customer satisfaction feedback to provide a customer satisfaction rating associated with each vendor;

a customer satisfaction dissemination system operable for providing access to a customer satisfaction qualified vendor directory containing a plurality of vendor entries, wherein each vendor entry contains contact information and the customer satisfaction rating determined by the customer satisfaction aggregation system for the associated vendor; and

wherein the customer satisfaction qualified vendor directory is organized or searchable by geographic location of the vendors, and for each geographic location contains vendor entries organized or searchable by category of product or service offered by the vendors.

2. The customer satisfaction system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of customer satisfaction rating terminals comprise a plurality of point-of-sale terminals, wherein each point-of-sale terminal is associated with a particular vendor, located on the premises of the vendor in association with a purchase check out station where customers pay for purchased items, and operable to receive customer satisfaction feedback while the customers are located at the check out station.

3. The customer satisfaction system of claim 2, wherein the point-of-sale terminals comprise financial card reader stations that are operable for reading financial cards and for receiving customer satisfaction feedback.

4. The customer satisfaction system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of customer satisfaction rating terminals further comprise a plurality of post-sale terminals, wherein each post-sale terminal is configured to provide post-sale customer feedback through online communication with the customer satisfaction aggregation system.

5. The customer satisfaction system of claim 1, further comprising a member reward system configured to issue rewards to customers who have registered as members of the customer satisfaction system, and who enter customer feedback into the customer satisfaction rating terminals.

6. The customer satisfaction system of claim 5, wherein the rewards comprise purchase price discounts, rebates, deposits to savings accounts, or points in a points-based rewards program.

7. The customer satisfaction system of claim 1, wherein the customer satisfaction dissemination system comprises an online server providing registered members of the customer satisfaction system with electronic access to the customer satisfaction qualified vendor directory.

8. The customer satisfaction system of claim 1, wherein the customer satisfaction qualified vendor directory comprises vendor entries organized through a hierarchy of product and service categories that are organized through a hierarchy of geographic areas.

9. The customer satisfaction system of claim 8, wherein the vendor entries comprises hypertext links to additional information.

10. The customer satisfaction system of claim 9, wherein the hypertext links comprise links to maps, customer reviews. advertisements.