Billing statement customer acquistion system

• US 6,898,570 B1
• Filed: 06/19/1998
• Issued: 05/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walker Digital LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Inventors: Walker, Jay S., Jorasch, James A, Tedesco, Daniel E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Myhre, James W.
• Application Number:
  US09/100,684
• Time in Patent Office: 2,531 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/40, 705/10, 235/379, 235/380, 235/381
• US Class Current: 705/14.36
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 15/00 Printed matter of special format or style not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A customer acquisition system is disclosed that allows an offeror service provider to acquire new customers by making acquisition offers to customers through the billing statements of other businesses (“billing statement issuers”). An “acquisition offer” is an offer by the offeror service provider to pay an amount owed by the customer to the billing statement issuer, or a portion thereof, provided the customer agrees to become a customer of the offeror service provider. Predetermined criteria are used to automatically include an acquisition offer for eligible potential new customers of the offeror service provider with a billing statement or on associated promotional materials, and allows the customer to accept the acquisition offer using the billing statement. The customer acquisition system optionally ensures that the customer is not an existing customer of the offeror service provider before extending an acquisition offer. The acquisition offers can be tailored to the amount owed by the customer, and targeted to customers based on financial, geographic or historical data.

Claims

1. A computerized customer acquisition method comprising the steps of:

selecting a customer account record from an electronic customer account database of a first entity, said customer account record including a customer identifier;

determining if an individual indicated by said customer identifier is a customer of a second entity;

sending a billing statement from the first entity to said individual;

providing with the billing statement an offer to said individual to pay at least a portion of an amount due on said billing statement if said individual becomes a customer of said second entity;

receiving acceptance of said offer from said individual; and

acquiring the individual as a customer by transferring said at least a portion of said amount to the first entity by the second entity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining whether said individual satisfies predefined criteria for receiving said offer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said predefined criteria includes geographic conditions.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said predefined criteria includes demographic conditions.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said predefined criteria includes financial conditions.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said customer account record further indicates an amount due and said method further comprises the step of determining whether said amount due satisfies predefined criteria for receiving said acquisition offer.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said amount due is less than or equal to a maximum amount specified by said second entity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said individual must agree to remain a customer of said second entity for a predefined minimum period of time.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said billing statement is a billing statement of said first entity and said offer is provided to said individual in said billing statement of said first entity.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining if said customer has accepted said offer.

11. A customer acquisition system comprising:

a memory for storing a customer account record of a first entity, said customer account record including a customer identifier;

a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to;

select a customer account record;

determine if an individual indicated by said customer identifier is a customer of a second entity;

generate a billing statement from the first entity for said individual; and

provide with the billing statement an offer to said individual to pay at least a portion of an account due on said billing statement if said individual becomes a customer of said second entity;

receive acceptance of said offer from said individual; and

acquire the individual as a customer by transferring said at least a portion of said amount to the first entity by the second entity.

12. A computerized customer acquisition system comprising:

means for selecting a customer account record from an electronic customer account database of a first entity, said customer account record including a customer identifier;

means for determining if an individual indicated by said customer identifier is a customer of a second entity;

means for sending a billing statement from the first entity to said individual;

means for providing with the billing statement an offer to said individual to pay at least a portion of an amount due on said billing statement if said individual becomes a customer of said second entity;

means for receiving acceptance of said offer from said individual; and

means for acquiring the individual as a customer by transferring said at least a portion of said amount to the first entity by the second entity.

13. An article of manufacture comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable code means embodied thereon, said computer readable program code means comprising;

a step to select a customer account record of a first entity, said customer account record including a customer identifier;

a step to determine if an individual indicated by said customer identifier is a customer of a second entity;

a step to generate a billing statement from the first entity for said individual; and

a step to provide with the billing statement an offer to said individual to pay at least a portion of an amount due on said billing statement if said individual becomes a customer of said second entity.