System and method of intelligent call routing for cross sell offer selection based on optimization parameters or account-level data

• US 8,687,790 B2
• Filed: 02/07/2013
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Inventors: Ma, Lizhi, Pederson, Shane P., Khaemba, Wilson, Wang, Hui, Kurubarahalli, Guru, Ulrich, Gary, Shkreli, Djovana, Dhir, Nitin
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US13/761,462
• Publication Number:
  US 20130182835A1
• Time in Patent Office: 418 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.03, 379/265.04, 379/265.05, 379/265.06, 379/265.07, 379/265.08, 379/265.09, 379/265.1, 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/265.13, 379/265.14, 379/266.01, 379/266.02, 379/266.03, 379/266.04, 379/266.05, 379/266.06, 379/266.07, 379/266.08, 379/266.09, 379/266.1
• US Class Current: 379/265.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/407 Call center operated for multiple customers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/408 Customer-specific call routing plans
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5141 Details of processing calls and other types of contacts in an unified manner unified messaging in packet-switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems

Abstract

An apparatus and methods for a call routing system is disclosed whereby the call routing service provider is associated with a series of partners. By providing a system supporting not only the main user, but also the partners, efficiencies are gained through cost-spreading. Agents can be qualified to field calls for multiple business entities. Cross-selling and proactive servicing based on caller demographic and profile data can be effectuated. The system employs a centralized or global bank of shared Interactive Voice Response (IVR) units so that unnecessary post-routing and call site interflow are reduced. The system comprises a central server system that interfaces with a long distance provider so that route requests are received, caller data is retrieved from one or more databases, routing and handling strategies are developed, load balancing is effectuated, and calls are appropriately routed to one of a plurality of geographically separated call center systems with queues staffed by agents. Each call center system is designed to support various queues, and agents may be qualified or assigned to various queues based on their skill sets and skill levels.

Claims

1. A method of routing incoming customer telephony calls to presentations relating to products or services predicted to be of interest to a customer, the method comprising:

forming a call routing strategy for the customer, in anticipation of at least one incoming call from the customer, by performing the following steps;

accessing information relating to one or more products or services;

retrieving customer specific information associated with the customer or an account of the customer;

deciding, for each offer associated with the one or more products or services, based on an estimated likelihood that the customer will purchase the one or more products or services, whether to route the customer call to a cross-sell presentation relating to said each offer associated with the one or more products or services, the estimated likelihood based at least in part on the customer specific information;

pre-forming the call routing strategy for the customer consistent with said deciding; and

storing the call routing strategy in association with a central server system;

receiving information of a call at the central server system, the call information including identification data that identifies an origin of the call;

using the identification data to identify the caller as the customer for whom the call routing strategy has been pre-formed; and

generating a routing control signal for routing the call to one of a plurality of call sites based at least in part on the pre-formed call routing strategy associated with the customer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification data comprises data selected from the group consisting of a phone number, an IP address, a device identifier, and a program identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising deciding, based at least in part on a call probability derived from the customer specific information, whether the call will be routed to the cross-sell presentation.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising deciding based in part on an offer eligibility derived from the customer specific information whether the call will be routed to the cross-sell presentation.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming the call routing strategy by applying an optimization algorithm to determine whether the call be routed to the cross-sell presentation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said deciding comprises checking the customer specific information for an indication as to whether the customer has previously been exposed to information relating to the one or more products or services.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said deciding comprises deciding whether the customer is eligible to purchase the one or more products or services.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a call routing strategy to a customer service representative.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking the products for which said deciding is in the affirmative according to a probable value of each product.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically retrieving pre-stored customer specific information.

11. Instructions embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium capable of causing a computer to route incoming customer telephony calls to presentations relating to products or services predicted to be of interest to a customer, the instructions embodied in the non-transitory computer readable medium configured to cause the computer to:

access information relating to one or more products or services;

retrieve, for a plurality of customers, customer specific information, wherein the customer specific information of each customer is associated with the customer or an account of the customer;

decide, for each of the one or more products or services, for each customer, based on an estimated likelihood that the customer will purchase the one or more products or services, whether to route the customer call to a cross-sell presentation relating to said each offer associated with the one or more products or services, the estimated likelihood based at least in part on the customer specific information; and

pre-forma call routing strategy consistent with said deciding in anticipation of customer calls;

wherein the instructions embodied in the non-transitory computer readable medium cause a central server system to route customer calls according to the pre-formed call routing strategy by;

receiving information of a call placed by a caller at the central server system, the call information including identification data that identifies an origin of the call;

using the identification data to identify the caller as the customer for whom the call routing strategy has been pre-formed; and

generating a routing control signal for routing the call to one of a plurality of call sites based at least in part on the pre-formed call routing strategy associated with the customer.

12. A method for routing calls from customers to selected presentations using a routing system, the method comprising:

accessing customer information of each of a plurality of customers, the customer information comprising at least one of account specific information of each of the plurality of customers and behavioral information of each of the plurality of customers;

accessing information regarding a plurality of products or services;

evaluating the customer information and the information regarding the plurality of products and services to determine input to the routing system, the input including at least one of a call probability, an eligibility indicator, a customer response rate, and a financial parameter;

computing an expected value for each customer based on the input to the routing system, the expected value based at least in part on the financial parameter;

creating and prioritizing a list of products or services specific to each customer based on the computed expected value;

receiving information of a call placed by a caller at a central server system, the call information including identification data that identifies an origin of the call;

using the identification data to identify the caller as the customer for whom the list of products or services has been created and prioritized;

generating a routing control signal for routing the call to one of a plurality of call sites so as to present an offer to the customer in accordance with the created prioritized list.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein computing the expected value comprises calculating a weighted average using at least the call probability, the eligibility indicator, and the customer response rate.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the financial parameter comprises net present value to an offerer.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising calculating the call probability by determining a probability that the customer will call during a predetermined time period based on the customer specific information.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising calculating the response rate by determining a probability that the customer will accept a selected offer based on the customer specific information.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising setting an eligibility flag to a first value to indicate eligibility and to a second value to indicate ineligibility.