CONSUMER DATABASE LOYALTY PROGRAM FOR A MONEY TRANSFER SYSTEM

• US 20090063261A1
• Filed: 08/28/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MoneyGram International Incorporated
• Original Assignee: MoneyGram International Incorporated
• Inventors: Carter, Brent, Shellenbarger, Todd, Kalweit, Tani, Scribner, Chrismar, Jandris, Ryan
• Granted Patent: US 8,788,278 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.690
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0233 Method of redeeming a frequent usage reward
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising

Abstract

A money transfer system provided in connection with a loyalty program where the loyalty program members are assigned a loyalty identifier. The system includes point of entry ports to communicate transaction information with points of entry; a promotion database, a customer database, a pricing database, an analytics port to communicate marketing information with a marketing analytics system and a transaction processing system. The transaction processing system updates the promotion database as a function of the marketing information, receives money transfer transaction requests including loyalty identifiers, determines whether the requested transactions are entitled to loyalty program promotions, prices the transactions as a function of base transaction pricing and promotions pricing of any promotions to which the transaction is entitled, provides the transaction pricing information, updates the customer database as a function of transaction information and periodically provides transaction information to the analytics port.

Claims

1. A money transfer system including:

point of entry ports to communicate transaction information with points of entry;

a promotion database including information representative of promotions and promotions pricing;

a customer database including information representative of customers'"'"' transaction histories;

a pricing database including base transaction pricing;

an analytics port to communicate marketing information with a marketing analytics system; and

a transaction processing system connected to the point of entry ports, promotion database, customer database, pricing database and analytics port, to;

update the promotion database as a function of the marketing information;

receive money transfer transaction requests;

determine whether requested transactions are entitled to promotions;

price the transactions as a function of the base transaction pricing and the promotions pricing of any promotions to which the transaction is entitled;

provide transaction pricing information;

update the customer database as a function of transaction information; and

provide transaction information to the analytics port.

2. The money transfer system of claim 1 and further including a marketing analytics system coupled to the analytics port.

3. The money transfer system of claim 1 wherein the promotion database includes information representative of one or more promotions of the type including frequency and recurrence promotions, value tiered promotions, volume tiered promotions, and volume plus value tiered promotions.

4. The money transfer system of claim 1 wherein at least some users of the system are members of a loyalty program and have a loyalty identifier, and wherein:

the promotion database includes information representative of promotions available only to loyalty program members; and

the transaction processing system is configured to;

receive money transfer requests including loyalty identifiers;

determine whether the received loyalty identifier is valid;

determine whether the requested transaction is entitled to any loyalty program promotions; and

update the customer database as a function of whether the transaction was entitled to a loyalty program promotion.

5. The money transfer system of claim 4 wherein:

the system further includes a commission database including information representative of base commissions paid to operators of the points of entry;

the promotion database includes information representative of the point of entry operator promotion commission share burdens;

the transaction processing system is configured to compute the point of entry operator'"'"'s commission as a function of the base commission and the promotion commission share burden.

6. The money transfer system of claim 1 wherein:

the system further includes a commission database including information representative of base commissions paid to operators of the points of entry;

the promotion database includes information representative of the point of entry operator promotion commission share burdens;

the transaction processing system is configured to compute the point of entry operator'"'"'s commission as a function of the base commission and the promotion commission share burden.

7. The money transfer system if claim 1 wherein the promotion information includes promotion rules.

8. The money transfer system of claim 1 wherein updating the promotion database includes identifying individual and/or groups of customers entitled to promotions.

9. The money transfer system of claim 1 wherein providing transaction pricing includes providing the base fee, the discount amount and the fee.

10. The money transfer system of claim 1 wherein updating the customer database includes identifying one or more of the type of transaction, point of entry location, send location, transaction amount, currency type and time of transaction.

11. The money transfer system of claim 1 wherein providing transaction information to the analytics port includes providing transaction history information.

12. The money transfer system of claim 1 and further including providing transaction text messages relating to promotions.

13. The money transfer system of claim 1 and further including providing transaction text messages relating to future discounts.

14. The money transfer system of claim 1 wherein updating the customer database includes maintaining customer transaction tallies.

15. A money transfer system used in connection with a loyalty program where loyalty program members are assigned a loyalty identifier, including:

point of entry ports to communicate transaction information with points of entry;

a promotion database storing promotion information for loyalty program promotions and non-loyalty program promotions, the promotion information including one or more of promotion rules, promotion discounts and point of entry operator promotion commission share burdens;

a customer database storing customer identify information and customer transaction history information, the customer identify information including any loyalty identifier and the transaction history information including an identification of the transaction as a loyalty program transaction or a non-loyalty program transaction and one or more of transaction send location, transaction point of entry location, transaction type, transaction currency and time of transaction;

a pricing database storing base transaction pricing information;

a commission database storing point of entry operator base commission information;

a marketing analytics system for processing the customer identity information and/or the customer transaction history information to provide marketing information relating to promotions; and

a transaction processing system connected to the point of entry ports, promotion database, customer database, pricing database, commission database and marketing analytics system, to;

modify the promotion information in the promotion database as a function of the marketing information received from the marketing analytics system;

receive money transfer transaction requests, including loyalty identifiers;

determine whether any received loyalty identifier is valid;

determine whether the requested transaction is entitled to a loyalty program promotion and/or a non-loyalty program promotion as a function of the promotion rules and any received and valid loyalty identifier;

price the transaction as a function of the base transaction pricing information and the promotion discounts of any promotions to which the transaction is entitled;

provide transaction pricing information, including the base transaction fee and the promotion discount and fee if the transaction is entitled to a promotion;

determining the point of entry operator commission as a function of the point of entry operator base commission information and the promotion commission share burden information if the transaction is entitled to a promotion;

updating the customer transaction history information in the customer database as a function of transaction information, including tallying the transaction as a loyalty program transaction if the transaction was entitled to a loyalty program promotion;

provide transaction information to the analytics port; and

periodically provide the marketing analytics system with the customer transaction history information.

16. The money transfer system of claim 15 wherein the promotion database includes promotion information representative of one or more promotions of the type including frequency and recurrence promotions, value tiered promotions, volume tiered promotions, and volume plus value tiered promotions.

17. The money transfer system of claim 16 wherein the marketing information received from the marketing analytics system includes identification of individual and/or groups of customers entitled to promotions.

18. The money transfer system of claim 17 and further including providing transaction text messages relating to promotions.

19. The money transfer system of claim 18 and further including providing transaction text messages relating to future discounts.

20. A method for performing a money transfer transaction, comprising:

receiving a send amount and a customer identifier from an agent terminal;

determining whether a customer associated with the customer identifier is eligible for a promotional discount;

calculating a transaction fee based on the send amount;

determining, if the customer is eligible for a promotional discount, a discount amount and calculating a discounted fee as a function of the discount amount and the transaction fee based on the send amount; and

returning to the agent terminal the discounted fee and a promotional message.

21. The method of claim 20 and further comprising determining the agent'"'"'s fee as a function of the discounted fee.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein determining whether a customer is eligible for a promotional discount includes identifying a location of the agent terminal and determining whether the customer is entitled to a location-based promotional discount

23. The method of claim 20 wherein determining whether a customer is eligible for a promotional discount includes determining a number of previous transactions credited to the customer and determining whether the customer is entitled to promotional discount based on the number of previous transactions.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein:

the method further includes receiving a promotional code from the agent terminal; and

determining whether a customer is eligible for a promotional discount includes determining a promotional discount as a function of the promotional code.