Method and system for automating the creation of customer-centric interfaces

• US 20020196277A1
• Filed: 08/13/2002
• Published: 12/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Properties, L.P.
• Inventors: Pasquale, Theodore B., Bushey, Robert R., Knott, Benjamin A., Martin, John M., Joseph, Kurt M., Mills, Scott H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,379,537 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP

Abstract

A method and system for automating the creation of customer-centric interfaces includes a customer-centric interface system automatically creating a customer-centric interface, a collection engine, a customer language engine, a task frequency engine, a customer structure engine, and a customer performance engine. The collection engine collects a plurality of customer intention information. The customer language engine utilizes the customer intention information to create customer-centric menu prompts using the customers own terminology and action specific object words. The task frequency engine determines a frequency of occurrence for the tasks for which the customers contact the customer-centric interface and orders the tasks within the customer-centric interface. The customer structure engine determines how the customers relate the tasks together and groups the tasks according to task relationships. The customer performance engine tests the customer-centric interface and modifies the customer-centric interface for optimal performance.

Claims

1. A method for the automated creation of a customer-centric interface, the method comprising:

collecting a plurality of customer opening statements;

creating a list of a plurality of tasks for which a plurality of customers access and use the customer-centric interface;

analyzing the customer opening statements to determine a plurality of customer terminology used by the customers;

eliciting a plurality of customer feedback regarding how each task relates to each of the other tasks;

determining a frequency of occurrence for each task based on the customer opening statements;

determining which tasks to include in the customer-centric interface system based on the frequency of occurrence for the tasks;

ordering the tasks within the customer-centric interface system based on the frequency of occurrence for the tasks;

combining the tasks into one or more groups of tasks based on a plurality of customer perceived task relationships and the frequency of occurrence for the tasks;

creating a plurality of menu prompts for the customer-centric interface using the customer terminology, one or more action specific objects, and the customer perceived task relationships;

testing the customer-centric interface with one or more test customers;

providing the test customers with one or more tasks to perform and accomplish using the customer-centric interface;

determining if each test customer accomplished the provided task;

determining a customer satisfaction value for each test customer;

calculating a response time for each provided task;

generating a performance matrix including the response times, the customer satisfaction values, and the task accomplishment;

automatically reconfiguring the customer-centric interface system based on the performance matrix;

implementing the customer-centric interface for access and use by the customers;

monitoring the performance of the customer-centric interface; and

modifying the customer-centric interface based on a plurality of post-implementation results.

2. A method for automating the creation of a customer-centric interface, the method comprising:

gathering a plurality of customer intention information;

automatically analyzing the customer intention information to determine a plurality of customer terminology, a frequency of occurrence for a plurality of tasks, and a plurality of customer perceived task relationships;

generating a plurality of menu prompts utilizing the customer terminology and the frequency of occurrence for the tasks;

ordering the menu prompts based on the frequency of occurrence for the tasks and the customer perceived task relationships;

testing the order and the terminology of the menu prompts; and

modifying the order and the terminology of the menu prompts based on the testing of the menu prompts.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein ordering the menu prompts based on the frequency of occurrence for the tasks and the customer perceived task relationships comprises grouping the tasks into one or more groups of related tasks.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein gathering a plurality of customer intention information comprises collecting a plurality of customer opening statements.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein gathering a plurality of customer intention information comprises creating a list of the tasks for which a plurality of customers access and use the customer-centric interface.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein gathering a plurality of customer intention information comprises eliciting a plurality of customer feedback regarding how each task relates to each of the other tasks.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein generating a plurality of menu prompts based on the customer terminology and the frequency of occurrence for the tasks comprises determining which tasks to create menu prompts for based on the frequency of occurrence for the tasks.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein testing the order and the terminology of the menu prompts comprises providing one or more test customers with one or more tasks to accomplish using the customer-centric interface.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein testing the order and the terminology of the menu prompts comprises:

determining a customer satisfaction value for each test customer;

calculating a response time for each provided task; and

determining if each test customer accomplishes the provided task.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein testing the order and the terminology of the menu prompts comprises generating a performance matrix including the response time, the customer satisfaction value, and the task accomplishment for each task.

11. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

implementing the menu prompts as the customer-centric interface for access and use by a plurality of customers;

monitoring the performance of the customer-centric interface; and

modifying the menu prompts based on a plurality of post-implementation results.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the customer structure engine is further operable to combine the tasks into one or more groups of tasks based on the customer perceived tasks relationships.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the customer intention information comprises a plurality of customer opening statements.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the customer language engine is further operable to:

automatically identify one or more action words and one or more specific object words used by a plurality of customers interfacing with the customer-centric interface; and

identify a relationship between the actions words and the specific object words as used by the customers.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the customer language engine is further operable to generate the customer-centric menu prompts utilizing one or more of the action words and one or more of the specific object words.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the customer performance engine is further operable to calculate a response time for each customer-centric menu prompt tested.

18. The system of claim 12 wherein the customer performance engine is further operable to generate a performance matrix including one or more test results from the testing of the customer-centric menu prompts.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein compiling a list of a plurality of tasks for which a plurality of customers access and use the customer-centric interface system comprises utilizing a task frequency of occurrence to determine the tasks that are included in the list of the tasks.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein eliciting a plurality of customer feedback comprises performing one or more customer exercises designed to reveal how the customers perceive one or more relationships between the tasks.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein automatically analyzing the aggregated customer feedback to determine one or more customer perceived task relationships comprises determining which of the tasks can be combined into one or more groups of tasks based on the customer perceived task relationships.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising eliciting customer feedback regarding one or more labels for each of the groups of tasks.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein automatically analyzing the aggregated customer feedback to determine one or more customer perceived task relationships comprises representing the customer perceived task relationships in a numerical data matrix.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising automatically generating a graphical representation of the customer perceived task relationships based on the numerical data matrix to enable the application of the customer perceived task relationships to the interface structure of the customer-centric interface.

26. The method of claim 19 wherein structuring the customer-centric interface in accordance with the customer perceived task relationships comprises organizing the tasks within the customer-centric interface in accordance with the customer perceived task relationships.

27. The method of claim 19 wherein structuring the customer-centric interface system in accordance with the customer perceived task relationships comprises combining the tasks into one or more groups of tasks based on the customer perceived task relationships.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein combining the tasks into one or more groups of tasks based on the customer perceived task relationships comprises:

ordering the groups of tasks; and

ordering the tasks within each group of tasks.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein automatically identifying one or more action words and one or more object words comprises locating one or more of the object words and one or more of the action words in a plurality of customer opening statements.

31. The method of claim 29 wherein storing the specific action words and the specific object words comprises storing the specific action words and the specific object words in accordance with the frequency of occurrence.

32. The method of claim 29 wherein storing the specific actions words and the specific object words in one or more databases comprises storing the specific action words in a specific action database.

33. The method of claim 29 wherein storing the specific actions words and the specific object words in one or more databases comprises storing the specific object words in a specific object database.

34. The method of claim 29 wherein storing the specific actions words and the specific object words in one or more databases comprises maintaining the relationship between the specific action words and the specific object words when storing the specific action words and the specific object words.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein maintaining the relationship between the action words and the object words comprises linking one or more of the specific action words in a specific action database to one or more related specific object words in a specific object database.

36. The method of claim 29 wherein generalizing the specific action words into one or more groups of specific action words and the specific object words into one or more groups of specific object words comprises:

determining one or more commonalties between the specific action words;

determining one or more commonalties between the specific object words;

grouping together the specific action words having the commonality; and

grouping together the specific object words having the commonality.

37. The method of claim 29 wherein automatically generalizing the specific action words into one or more groups of specific action words and the specific object words into one or more groups of specific object words comprises determining a particular general object word for each group of specific object words and a particular general action word for each group of specific action words.

38. The method of claim 37 further comprising:

storing the general object words in a general object database; and

storing the general action words in a general action database.

39. The method of claim 29 wherein identifying a relationship between the actions words and the object words comprises tracking how the customers use the actions words and the object words together.

40. The method of claim 29 further comprising creating a plurality of customer-centric menu prompts using one or more of the specific action words and one or more of the specific object words.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein creating the customer-centric menu prompts comprises automatically retrieving one or more of the specific action words and one or more of the specific object words from one or more of the databases.

12. A system for the automated creation of a customer-centric interface, the method comprising:

a collection engine operable to gather a plurality of customer intention information;

a customer language engine associated with the collection engine, the customer language engine operable to determine a plurality of customer terminology and generate a plurality of customer-centric menu prompts for a plurality of tasks using the customer terminology;

a task frequency engine associated with the collection engine, the task frequency engine operable to calculate a frequency of occurrence for each task and order the customer-centric menu prompts based on the frequency of occurrence;

a customer structure engine associated with the task frequency engine, the customer engine operable to elicit a plurality of customer feedback regarding how each task relates to each of the other tasks and generate a plurality of customer perceived task relationships; and

a customer performance engine associated with the customer language engine, the task frequency engine, and the customer structure engine, the customer performance engine operable to test the customer-centric menu prompts and modify the customer-centric menu prompts.

19. A method for automatically creating and integrating interface structure into a customer-centric interface, the method comprising:

compiling a list of a plurality of tasks for which a plurality of customers access and use the customer-centric interface;

eliciting a plurality of customer feedback regarding how each task in the list relates to each of the other tasks in the list;

aggregating the customer feedback;

automatically analyzing the aggregated customer feedback to determine one or more customer perceived task relationships; and

structuring the customer-centric interface in accordance with the customer perceived task relationships.

29. A method for automatically developing customer-centric menu prompts for a customer-centric interface, the method comprising:

automatically identifying one or more action words and one or more object words used by a plurality of customers interfacing with the customer-centric interface;

determining which of the action words are specific and which of the object words are specific;

identifying a relationship between the actions words and the object words as used by the customers;

determining a frequency of occurrence for each of the object words and each of the action words;

storing the specific actions words and the specific object words in one or more databases; and

automatically generalizing the specific action words into one or more general groups of specific action words and the specific object words into one or more general groups of specific object words.

42. Software for automating the creation of a customer-centric interface, the software embodied in a computer-readable medium and operable to:

gather a plurality of customer intention information;

automatically analyze the customer intention information to determine a plurality of customer terminology, a frequency of occurrence for a plurality of tasks, and a plurality of customer perceived task relationships;

generate a plurality of menu prompts utilizing the customer terminology and the frequency of occurrence for the tasks;

order the menu prompts based on the frequency of occurrence for the tasks and the customer perceived task relationships;

test the menu prompts; and

modify the menu prompts based on the testing of the menu prompts.

43. The software of claim 42 wherein ordering the menu prompts based on the frequency of occurrence for the tasks and the customer perceived task relationships comprises grouping the tasks into one or more groups of related tasks.

44. The software of claim 42 wherein generating a plurality of menu prompts based on the customer terminology and the frequency of occurrence for the tasks comprises determining which tasks to create menu prompts for based on the frequency of occurrence for the tasks.

45. The software of claim 42 wherein testing the menu prompts comprises:

determining a customer satisfaction value;

calculating a response time for each task; and

determining a task accomplishment for each task.

46. The software of claim 45 wherein testing the menu prompts comprises generating a performance matrix including the response time, the customer satisfaction value, and the task accomplishment for each task.

47. The software of claim 42 further operable to:

implement the menu prompts as the customer-centric interface for access and use by a plurality of customers;

monitor the performance of the customer-centric interface; and

modify the menu prompts based on a plurality of post-implementation results.