METHOD AND SYSTEM OF MEASURING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH PURCHASED VEHICLE

• US 20100036709A1
• Filed: 08/05/2008
• Published: 02/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Original Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Inventors: Liou, Shuh-Yuan, Hodges, Peter H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,710,816 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls

Abstract

A method of measuring customer satisfaction with a product. The method may assess customer satisfaction from information collected after purchasing the product. This post-purchase information may be collected, for example, by monitoring customer expressions made while interacting with the product. Optionally, the settings and operating conditions of the product may be separately monitored and cross-referenced with the customer expressions to tie the expressions with specific characteristics of the product.

Claims

1. A method of measuring customer satisfaction with a vehicle comprising:

collecting state information for a number of vehicle systems while a customer rides in the vehicle;

recording expressions of the customer while the state information is being collected; and

correlating the customer expressions with the state information to determine a customer satisfaction rating that indicates customer satisfaction with the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the recorded expressions include audible expressions.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the recorded expressions include visual perceived expressions.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the collected state information and recorded expressions from the vehicle prior to determining the customer satisfaction rating.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising wireless transmitting the collected state information and recorded expressions to a processing unit that determines the customer satisfaction rating.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising transmitting the collected state information and recorded expressions prior to adjusting operations of the vehicle systems relative to the customer satisfaction rating.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a number of customer satisfaction ratings for a corresponding number of vehicle systems.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising determining at least one of the number of customer satisfaction ratings without collecting state information that reflects a customer controlled setting for the corresponding vehicle system.

9. A method of measuring customer satisfaction with a vehicle comprising:

recording a video of a customer riding in the vehicle with a video camera included within the vehicle;

recording settings for a number of vehicle systems with a controller included within the vehicle;

automatically screening the video with voice and body recognition modules that categorize audible and inaudible expressions of the customer as being positive or negative; and

determining customer satisfaction with one or more of the settings based on whether the audible and inaudible expressions were positive or negative.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising determining customer satisfaction based on at least one audible and one inaudible expression.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising determining customer satisfaction based on at least one of the inaudible expressions being a gesture made by the customer that requires moving an extremity.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising determining customer satisfaction based on at least one of the inaudible expressions being a facial expression.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising transmitting the video from the vehicle before the video is screened.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising deleting the video from a memory on the vehicle after the video is transmitting from the vehicle and before the video is screened.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising deleting the video before adjusting operations of the vehicle systems relative to the customer satisfaction rating.

16. The method of claim 9 further comprising transmitting an inquiry to the customer to confirm whether the audible and inaudible expressions were positive or negative.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising adjusting one or more customer satisfaction ratings based on a response of the customer to the inquiry.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising limiting the inquiry to new audible or inaudible expressions.

19. The method of claim 16 further comprising inputting the customer ratings in a customer survey and transmitting the survey as the inquiry to the customer.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising transmitting the inquiry via display in the vehicle.