Systems and methods for distributing targeted incentives to financial institution customers

• US 7,580,856 B1
• Filed: 06/13/2001
• Issued: 08/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Robert K. Pliha
• Original Assignee: Robert K. Pliha
• Inventors: Pliha, Robert Kenneth
• Primary Examiner(s): Janvier; Jean D.
• Application Number:
  US09/880,430
• Time in Patent Office: 2,995 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/26, 705/27, 705/1, 705/10, 705/30, 705/34, 705/35, 705/38, 705/39, 705/40, 705/41, 235/380, 235/381, 235/382
• US Class Current: 705/14.26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• 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 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

An incentive distribution system is used in distributing, tracking and redeeming product incentives offered by manufacturers and distributors of consumer goods through a financial institution. A financial institution distributes an incentives list to each of its customers, based on information relating to the customers, containing the incentives relating to the category for which the customer qualifies. Qualifying criteria includes transactional activity within the account held with the financial institution distributing the incentives, demographic data relating to the customer, and various account data. The system tracks purchases made by a customer at a participating retailer or dealership and updates the customer'"'"'s qualifications based on these purchases. Further, the financial institution acts as a redemption warehouse by debiting the accounts of the manufacturers and distributors offering the incentives and crediting the accounts held by the retailers and dealerships honoring the incentives.

Claims

1. A method for targeting at least one incentive from at least one participant to at least one financial institution customer, the method being implemented on an incentive distribution system, the method comprising:

receiving incentive information from the at least one participant, the incentive information specifying at least one incentive matching a financial range limit associated with at least one of a plurality of decile levels;

receiving account transaction activity of a plurality of financial institution customers, the account transaction activity comprising account transaction data representing daily, monthly, and yearly account transaction activity associated with accounts of the plurality of financial institution customers at a financial institution;

analyzing by a computer the account transaction data representing daily, monthly, and yearly account transaction activity associated with accounts of the plurality of financial institution customers at the financial institution, wherein analyzing the account transaction data comprises;

determining a plurality of variations in the account transaction data;

associating each of the plurality of variations with one of the plurality of financial institution customers;

deriving an upper financial range from the plurality of variations in the account transaction data;

deriving a lower financial range from the plurality of variations in the account transaction data;

establishing a decile ranking dataset partitioned into the plurality of decile levels based on the upper financial range and the lower financial range, each of the plurality of decile levels being associated with the financial range limit determined from at least one of the upper financial range and the lower financial range;

categorizing each of the plurality of variations in the account transaction data into at least one of the plurality of decile levels; and

generating a financial range ranking for each of the plurality of financial institution customers associated with each of the plurality of decile levels based on the plurality of variations;

matching by the computer to at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers based on the financial range ranking for each of the plurality of financial institution customers associated with the at least one of the plurality of decile levels matched to the at least one incentive; and

distributing the at least one incentive to the at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers matched to the at least one incentive.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the account transaction data comprises data representing a plurality of transactions in at least one demand deposit account associated with at one of the plurality of financial institution customers, the at least one demand deposit account being managed by the financial institution.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the account transaction data comprises data representing a plurality of transactions in at least one interest bearing account associated with at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers, the at least one interest bearing account being managed by the financial institution.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the account transaction data comprises data representing a plurality of transactions in at least one loan account associated with at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers, the at least one loan account being managed by the financial institution.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the account transaction data comprises data representing a plurality of secondary transaction types in at least one account associated with at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers, the account being managed by a financial institution.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of decile levels is associated with demographic information,

wherein matching the at least one incentive to at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers is based on matching at least one demographic parameter to the demographic information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one demographic parameter comprises at least one of:

financial institution customer income;

financial institution customer age;

financial institution customer gender;

financial institution customer occupation;

financial institution customer education level;

financial institution customer residence location;

or

financial institution customer family size.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving incentive information from the at least one participant comprises receiving incentive information from a plurality of participants, the incentive information specifying a plurality of incentives matching the financial range limit associated with at least one of the plurality of decile levels, the method further comprising:

selecting at least one of the plurality of incentives for each of the plurality of decile levels.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

establishing a plurality of incentive redemption fee accounts, each of plurality of incentive redemption fee accounts being associated with one of the plurality of participants.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the incentive information from the at least one participant comprises an identification code for each incentive specified by the incentive information.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a redemption log from the at least one participant, the redemption log comprising redemption history data representing if the at least one financial institution customer redeemed the incentive,

wherein the redemption log is received at least one of daily, weekly, or monthly.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

associating the redemption history data with at least one of the plurality of decile levels.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

adjusting the at least one incentive matched to at least one of the plurality of decile levels based on the redemption history data.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein distributing the at least one incentive to the at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers matched to the at least one incentive comprises distributing the at least one incentive through at least one of:

an automated teller network;

a teller system;

a monthly account statement;

direct mail system;

customer service system;

telephone system;

or

internet banking system.

15. A system for targeting at least one incentive from at least one participant to at least one financial institution customer, the system comprising:

a computer system having a customer application database for storing account transaction activity of each of a plurality of financial institution customers, the account transaction activity comprising account transaction data representing daily, monthly, and yearly account transaction activity associated with accounts of the plurality of financial institution customers at a financial institution;

the computer system having a transaction decile ranking database for analyzing the account transaction data representing daily, monthly, and yearly account transaction activity associated with accounts of the plurality of financial institution customers at the financial institution, wherein the transaction decile ranking database is configured to analyze the account transaction data by;

determining a plurality of variations in the account transaction data;

associating each of the plurality of variations with one of the plurality of financial institution customers;

deriving an upper financial range from the plurality of variations in the account transaction data;

deriving a lower financial range from the plurality of variations in the account transaction data;

establishing a decile ranking dataset partitioned into a plurality of decile levels based on the upper financial range and the lower financial range, each of the plurality of decile levels being associated with a financial range limit determined from at least one of the upper financial range and the lower financial range;

categorizing each of the plurality of variations in the account transaction data into at least one of the plurality of decile levels; and

generating a financial range ranking for each of the plurality of financial institution customers associated with each of the plurality of decile levels based on the plurality of variations;

the computer system having a discount/incentive database for storing incentive information from the at least one participant, the incentive information specifying at least one incentive matching the financial range limit associated with at least one of the plurality of decile levels; and

the computer system having a decile discount distribution model for matching the at least one incentive to at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers based on the financial range ranking for each of the plurality of financial institution customers associated with the at least one of the plurality of decile levels matched to the at least one incentive, wherein the decile discount distribution model is configured to distribute the at least one incentive to the at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers matched to the at least one incentive.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the decile discount distribution model is a computer server.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein each of the discount/incentive database, the transaction decile ranking database, the customer application database, are the decile discount distribution model are components of a computer system managed by the financial institution.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the decile discount distribution model is configured to distribute the at least one incentive to the at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers matched to the at least one incentive through at least one of:

an automated teller network;

a teller system;

a monthly account statement;

direct mail system;

customer service system;

telephone system;

or

internet banking system.

19. A method for targeting at least one incentive from at least one participant to at least one financial institution customer, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system account transaction activity of each of a plurality of financial institution customers, the account transaction activity comprising account transaction data representing daily, monthly, and yearly account transaction activity associated with accounts of the plurality of financial institution customers at a financial institution;

analyzing by the computer system the account transaction data representing daily, monthly, and yearly account transaction activity associated with accounts of the plurality of financial institution customers at the financial institution, wherein analyzing the account transaction data by the computer system comprises;

determining a plurality of variations in the account transaction data;

associating each of the plurality of variations with one of the plurality of financial institution customers;

deriving an upper financial range from the plurality of variations in the account transaction data;

deriving a lower financial range from the plurality of variations in the account transaction data;

establishing a decile ranking dataset partitioned into a plurality of decile levels based on the upper financial range and the lower financial range, each of the plurality of decile levels being associated with a financial range limit determined from at least one of the upper financial range and the lower financial range;

categorizing each of the plurality of variations in the account transaction data into at least one of the plurality of decile levels; and

generating a financial range ranking for each of the plurality of financial institution customers associated with each of the plurality of decile levels based on the plurality of variations;

receiving by the computer system incentive information from the at least one participant, the incentive information specifying at least one incentive matching the financial range limit associated with at least one of the plurality of decile levels;

matching by the computer system the at least one incentive to at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers based on the financial range ranking for each of the plurality of financial institution customers associated with the at least one of the plurality of decile levels matched to the at least one incentive; and

distributing by the computer system the at least one incentive to the at least one of the plurality of financial institution customers matched to the at least one incentive.