Method and system of measuring customer satisfaction with purchased vehicle

• US 9,710,816 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2008
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Original Assignee: Ford Motor Company
• Inventors: Hodges, Peter H., Liou, Shuh-Yuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Allen, Akiba
• Application Number:
  US12/185,870
• Publication Number:
  US 20100036709A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,269 Days
• Field of Search: 701300, 704270, 7042701, 704275, 165298
• 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 comprising:

a programmed vehicle controller collecting state information for vehicle systems while a customer rides in a vehicle;

a recognition module determining expressions of the customer recorded at the time of state information collection to be one of positive and negative; and

a customer satisfaction module correlating each expression with the state information to determine a customer satisfaction rating for the corresponding vehicle system and wirelessly transmitting instructions to the corresponding vehicle system to adjust a setting thereof according to the expression.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the recognition module determining one of the positive and negative expressions from an audible expression.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the recognition module determining one of the positive and negative expressions from a visual perceived expression.

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

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the programmed vehicle controller wirelessly transmitting the collected state information and recorded expressions to the customer satisfaction module that determines the customer satisfaction rating.

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

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

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the state information identifies settings for each of the vehicle systems, and wherein at least one of the customer ratings corresponds with at least one vehicle system having settings that are unknown to the customers such that the corresponding customer rating reflects customer satisfaction with the unknown settings.

8. A method comprising:

a video camera recording a video of a customer riding in a vehicle;

a programmed vehicle controller recording settings for a number of vehicle systems, wherein the customer is unaware of the settings for the number of vehicle systems;

a recognition module automatically screening the video to categorize audible and inaudible expressions of the customer as being positive or negative; and

a customer satisfaction module determining customer satisfaction with one or more of the settings based on whether the audible and inaudible expressions were positive or negative and wirelessly transmitting instructions to the corresponding vehicle system to adjust a setting thereof according to the expression.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the recognition module determining customer satisfaction based on at least one audible and one inaudible expression.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising the recognition module determining customer satisfaction based on at least one of the inaudible expressions being a gesture made by the customer that requires moving an extremity.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising the customer satisfaction module determining customer satisfaction based on at least one of the inaudible expressions being a facial expression.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising the programmed vehicle controller transmitting the video from the vehicle to a controller operable to issue instructions sufficient to adjust operations of the vehicle systems based on the video before the video is screened.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the programmed vehicle controller deleting the video from a memory on the vehicle after the video is transmitted from the vehicle and before the video is screened.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the programmed vehicle controller deleting the video before adjusting operations of the vehicle systems relative to the customer satisfaction rating.

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

a video camera recording a video of a customer riding in a vehicle;

a programmed vehicle controller recording settings for a number of vehicle systems;

a recognition module automatically screening the video to categorize audible and inaudible expressions of the customer as being positive or negative; and

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

the customer satisfaction module transmitting an inquiry to the customer to confirm whether the audible and inaudible expressions were positive or negative, and

the customer satisfaction module wirelessly transmitting instructions to the corresponding vehicle system to adjust a setting thereof according to the expression.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the customer satisfaction module adjusting one or more customer satisfaction ratings based on a response of the customer to the inquiry.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising the customer satisfaction module limiting the inquiry to new audible or inaudible expressions.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising the customer satisfaction module inputting the customer ratings in a customer survey and transmitting the survey as the inquiry to the customer.

19. The method of claim 15 further comprising the customer satisfaction module transmitting the inquiry via display in the vehicle proximate in time to occurrence of the audible and inaudible expressions.