SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING CUSTOMER ACQUISITION BY BUSINESSES

• US 20120245990A1
• Filed: 03/26/2011
• Published: 09/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RS Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: RS Software, Inc.
• Inventors: Agarwal, Shwetav
• Granted Patent: US 8,489,450 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.25
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for facilitating acquisition of customers for merchants through targeted offers to prospective customers; improving the precision of targeting by Prospect Profiling and Intent Prediction. In certain embodiments, the system supports monetizing sources of data which contribute to Prospect Profiling and Intent Prediction, such as purchase history, third-party SNP data. In other embodiments, a “Customer acquisition fee” serves as the underlying business model for the Service Provider of the Platform. The system provides cost-effective marketing where merchants pay only after conversion of prospect to customer. Customers get higher savings through Opportunity Auctioning amongst merchants with the value of Discount offer as part of Bid.

Claims

1. A method to acquire customers for merchants using a mobile application or a browser interface of a prospective buyer, comprising:

capturing attributes from the prospective buyer;

creating a prospect profile for the user based on data including purchase history, social networking data;

location data from location-sharing services, search history;

performing predictive analysis to extrapolate prospect profile with contextual data including at least geo-location, timing, and creating an intent prediction;

precisely targeting the prospective buyer by using the prospect profile and intent prediction;

locating candidate merchants and filtering merchants using the intent prediction for the prospective buyer;

initiating opportunity auctioning within the candidate merchants for an opportunity to send an offer to the prospect;

identifying a winning merchant; and

generating a coupon for the user on behalf of the winning merchant;

dispensing the advertisement or coupon to the mobile application or the browser interface.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising determining an affinity score indicative of a probability that the prospective buyer will visit a merchant.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising storing merchant identifier, branch location, geo-location, and category code.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising automatically bidding on behalf of merchants using one or more predefined rules.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the rules specify one or more of:

time range, affinity score range, potential revenue range, prospect discount offer - upper bound, lower bound and step up value, customer acquisition fee offer—

upper bound, lower bound and step up value

6. The method of claim 4, comprising validating the rules.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising bidding in real-time on behalf of a merchant.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising generating a coupon for the prospective buyer.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising dispensing the coupon.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising generating a bar-coded advertisement or a bar-coded coupon for the prospective buyer.

11. An advertisement system to acquire customers with a mobile device or a browser interface, comprising:

a mobile device, including computer readable code for capturing attributes from the prospective buyer; and

a server coupled to the mobile device, the server including computer readable code for creating prospect profile using customer data from a plurality of sources, for generating an intent prediction, for locating nearby merchants and filtering merchants with the intent prediction for the prospective buyer, for initiating opportunity auction within merchants for sending offer to prospective buyer, for identifying a winning merchant;

for generating coupon for the offer in the database and for dispensing the coupon for the winning merchant to the mobile device or the browser- interface.

12. The system of claim 11, comprising computer readable code for determining an affinity score indicative of a probability that the prospective buyer will visit a merchant.

13. The system of claim 11, comprising computer readable code for storing merchant identifier, branch location, geo-location, and category code.

14. The system of claim 11, comprising computer readable code for automatically bidding on behalf of merchants using one or more predefined rules.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the rules specify one or more of:

time range, affinity score range, potential revenue range, prospect discount range, customer acquisition cost range.

16. The system of claim 14, comprising validating the rules.

17. The system of claim 11, comprising computer readable code for bidding in real-time on behalf of a merchant.

18. The system of claim 11, comprising computer readable code for generating a bar coded coupon for the prospective buyer.

19. The system of claim 18, comprising computer readable code for dispensing the coupon.

20. A method to operate an advertisement eco-system, comprising:

enabling a platform service provider to receive an acquisition fee when prospects are converted into customers;

maximizing the acquisition fee by opportunity auctioning;

monetizing consumer data that contributes to the prospect profile including payment history data, social networking data;

enabling merchants to acquire new customer with targeted offers, wherein the merchants pay the acquisition fee only if a prospect is converted into a customer; and

offering end-users of the platform higher discounts and savings through the eco-system.