Gathering in-store employee ratings using triggered feedback solicitations

• US 9,824,323 B1
• Filed: 08/11/2014
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Inventors: Weiss, Benjamin, McCauley, Tim, Eby, Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Coupe, Anita
• Assistant Examiner(s): Turner, Shelby
• Application Number:
  US14/456,713
• Time in Patent Office: 1,198 Days
• Field of Search: 705 739
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3274 using a pictured code, e.g. barcode or QR-code, being displayed on the M-device
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Embodiments are disclosed to detect whether an interaction has occurred between a customer and one or more store employees. By analyzing a how long a communication device used by the customer was within a threshold range of one or more devices worn by store employees, an interaction between the customer and one or more store employees may be identified. Employees whom the customer interacted with may be identified by processing transmission parameters broadcasted by the devices worn by the store employees. Thus, all employees in which a customer interacted with while visiting a store may be identified. The customer may be asked for feedback via the communication device upon detection that a customer has completed a transaction and/or left the store. Using the solicited feedback provided by the customer, various types of reports may be generated.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by a mobile computing device, whether an in person interaction has occurred between a customer and a store employee, the customer and the store employee being associated with the mobile computing device and a wireless communication device, respectively, based on whether the mobile computing device is within a threshold range of the wireless communication device for a threshold period of time;

receiving, by the mobile computing device, transmission parameters transmitted from the wireless communication device uniquely identifying the store employee;

detecting, by the mobile computing device, a triggering event indicating that the customer has finished shopping at a physical store location staffed by the store employee by detecting the presence of laser light in conjunction with a barcode displayed on the mobile computing device being scanned;

displaying, by the mobile computing device in response to the detection of the triggering event, a feedback prompt requesting feedback from the customer regarding the customer'"'"'s shopping experience while shopping at the physical store location, the customer'"'"'s shopping experience including the determined interaction between the customer and the store employee;

receiving, by the mobile computing device, feedback entered by the customer in response to the feedback prompt being displayed; and

sending, by the mobile computing device, the feedback entered by the customer and the transmission parameters uniquely identifying the store employee to one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device is configured to detect the presence of the laser light by detecting changes in a red value in the RGB spectrum using a camera integrated as part of the mobile computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of determining the interaction between the customer and the store employee comprises:

determining a power level of a signal transmitted by the wireless communication device in accordance with a personal area network (PAN) communication protocol; and

tracking the power level of the signal to verify that the power level of the signal does not fall below a threshold power level during the threshold period of time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback entered by the customer includes one or more of:

a numeric feedback rating; and

text.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining, by the mobile computing device, a time of day associated with the interaction and an interaction time indicative of how long the signal was above the threshold power level; and

sending, by the mobile computing device, the time of day and the interaction time to the one or more computing devices.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the barcode corresponds to a rewards program and includes information identifying the customer.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the mobile computing device detects that the laser has scanned the barcode, communicating with the one or more computing devices to indicate the customer has finished shopping at the physical store location.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the customer is from among a plurality of customers,

the store employee is from among a plurality of store employees, and

the acts of determining whether an in person interaction has occurred, receiving transmission parameters from the wireless communication device, detecting the triggering event, displaying the feedback prompt, receiving the feedback, and sending the feedback and the transmission parameters to one or more computing devices are repeated for each of the plurality of customers and the plurality of employees.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

correlating each of the plurality of store employees to individual feedback based upon each store employee'"'"'s respective transmission parameters.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the barcode corresponds to a rewards program and includes information identifying each respective customer from among the plurality of customers, and further comprising:

correlating the feedback provided from each of the plurality of customers to individual customers based upon the information identifying each respective customer.

6. A non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium storing machine readable instructions for soliciting feedback from a customer that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

determine whether an in person interaction has occurred between a customer and a store employee, the customer and the store employee being associated with a mobile computing device and a wireless communication device, respectively, based on whether the mobile computing device is within a threshold range of the wireless communication device for a threshold period of time;

receive transmission parameters transmitted from the wireless communication device uniquely identifying the store employee;

detect a triggering event indicating that the customer has finished shopping at a physical store location staffed by the store employee by detecting the presence of laser light in conjunction with a barcode displayed on the mobile computing device being scanned;

in response to the detection of the triggering event, display a feedback prompt requesting feedback from the customer regarding the customer'"'"'s shopping experience while shopping at the physical store location, the customer'"'"'s shopping experience including the determined interaction between the customer and the store employee;

receive feedback from the customer in response to the feedback prompt being displayed; and

send the feedback entered by the customer and the transmission parameters uniquely identifying the store employee to one or more computing devices.

7. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions to detect the triggering event include instructions that cause the processor to:

detect the presence of laser light by detecting changes in a red value in the RGB spectrum using a camera integrated as part of the mobile computing device.

8. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the instructions to determine whether the interaction between the customer and the store employee has occurred include instructions that cause the processor to:

determine a power level of a signal transmitted by the wireless communication device in accordance with a personal area network (PAN) communication protocol; and

track the power level of the signal to verify that the power level of the signal does not fall below a threshold power level during the threshold period of time.

9. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the feedback entered by the customer includes one or more of:

a numeric rating; and

text.

10. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 8, further including instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine a time of day associated with the interaction and an interaction time indicative of how long the signal was above the threshold power level; and

send the time of day and the interaction time to the one or more computing devices.

16. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 6,

wherein the barcode corresponds to a rewards program and includes information identifying the customer.

17. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 6, further including instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

when the mobile computing device detects that the laser has scanned the barcode, communicate with the one or more computing devices to indicate the customer has finished shopping at the physical store location.

18. The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein:

the customer is from among a plurality of customers,

the store employee is from among a plurality of store employees, and further including instructions, that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

repeat the acts of determining whether an in person interaction has occurred, receiving transmission parameters from the wireless communication device, detecting the triggering event, displaying the feedback prompt, receiving the feedback, and sending the feedback and the transmission parameters to one or more computing devices are repeated for each of the plurality of customers and the plurality of employees.