Customer satisfaction system and method

• US 7,778,862 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2005
• Issued: 08/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Vaccarelli, Vincent P., von Bergman, Barbara
• Primary Examiner(s): Kramer; James A
• Assistant Examiner(s): WONG, ERIC TAK WAI
• Application Number:
  US11/034,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20050216363A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,043 Days
• Field of Search: 705/9, 705/10
• US Class Current: 705/7.32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls

Abstract

A customer satisfaction system, includes a query module for automatically sending queries to customers as to problems with goods or services provided by a provider according to a predetermined schedule and for receiving responses from customers to the queries; an analysis module for analyzing responses from customers and for sending responses indicating a problem to a problem solver for resolution; and at least one problem solver for responding to customer problems, for generating solutions to customer problems and for transmitting solutions to customers; wherein, upon transmission of a solution to a customer problem to a customer, the query module sends a query to the customer requesting verification that the problem has been solved.

Claims

1. A customer satisfaction system for allowing a provider of goods or services to discover problems reported by a plurality of customers of a provider and transform the problems into suggested solutions, comprising:

a storage database contained within a computer operable memory; and

a computer processor configured to;

automatically send to customers, over a communications network, according to a predetermined query schedule, open-ended queries asking if customers have any problems with goods or services provided by the provider, wherein the query schedule comprises weekly queries for new clients, and monthly queries for established accounts;

receive responses, from customers to the queries via the communications network;

analyze responses from customers in order to identify customer problems,

commit to a particular date for presenting a solution to the customer problem;

send responses with identified customer problems, over the communications network, to a problem solver for resolution,

receive solutions from problem solvers via the communications network,

upon receipt of a solution to an identified problem from a problem solver, send, via the communications network, a request for verification that the identified problem has been solved;

maintain a status for the identified customer problem as unsolved until receipt of verification from the customer that indicates the identified customer problem has been solved;

change the status to resolved when the customer verifies that the customer problem has been resolved; and

store, in the storage database, queries sent to customers, responses received from customers and solutions generated by problem solvers wherein the provider can access the storage database to identify problems identified by customers and solutions provided by problem solvers.

2. The customer satisfaction system of claim 1, further comprising a report generator module, wherein the report generator module is generates a report containing at least one of queries sent, responses received, problems identified and solutions generated.

3. The customer satisfaction system of claim 1, wherein a query sent to a customer from the query module includes a survey having an interactive icon comprised of an unhappy face for problems and an interactive icon comprised of a happy face for no problems.

4. The customer satisfaction system of claim 3, wherein responsive to a customer interaction with the interactive icon for problems, the query module sends a customer survey to the customer, wherein the customer survey includes spaces for the customer to type or write by hand text characters which describe a problem.

5. The customer satisfaction system of claim 1, wherein the analysis module includes a pattern recognition system for analyzing customer problems and for providing input from which at least one employee bonuses may be calculated.

6. The customer satisfaction system of claim 1, wherein an identified problem sent to a problem solver from the analysis module includes information describing the identified problem and information which indicates the priority with which the problem should be addressed.

7. The customer satisfaction system of claim 1, further comprising a problem solver module, wherein the problem solver module is configured to display, for each assigned problem solver, a problem solver list comprising a listing of all identified problems, the priority with which the problem should be solved, and their status to the assigned problem solver.

8. The customer satisfaction system of claim 7, wherein the problem solver module is further configured to display a problem ticket update page, wherein the update page includes spaces for the problem solver to input solution information.

9. A method for allowing a provider of goods or services to sense and respond to problems from a plurality of customers of the provider over a communications network, comprising:

automatically sending to customers, over a communications network, according to a predetermined schedule, open-ended queries asking if customers have any problems with goods or services provided by the provider;

receiving responses from customers, via the communications network, to the queries;

analyzing responses from customers using a computer processor to identify customer problems;

committing to a date by which the problem may be resolved based on similar responses from previous customers currently stored in a computer operable database memory;

sending responses with identified customer problems, over the communications network, to problem solvers for resolution;

receiving solutions from problem solvers via the communications network;

upon receipt of a solution to an identified problem from a problem solver, sending to the customer, via the communications network, a request for verification that the identified problem has been solved;

maintaining the status for the identified customer problem as unsolved until receipt of verification from the customer that the identified customer problem has been solved; and

storing queries sent to customers, responses received from customers and solutions generated by problem solvers in a storage database contained within a computer memory wherein the provider can access the storage database to identify problems identified by customers and solutions provided by problem solvers.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating a report of queries sent, responses received, problems identified and solutions generated.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein a query sent to a customer includes an interactive icon for problems and an interactive icon for no problems.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein responsive to a customer interaction with the interactive icon for problems, sending a customer survey to the customer, wherein the customer survey includes spaces for the customer to describe a problem.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the analysis step includes using a pattern recognition system for analyzing customer problems.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein an identified problem sent to a problem solver includes information describing the identified problem and priority information.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying, for each assigned problem solver, a problem solver docket comprising a listing of all identified problems and their status to the assigned problem solver.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising displaying, for the assigned problem solver, a problem ticket update page, wherein the update page includes spaces for the problem solver to input solution information.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the communications network comprises the Internet.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the communications network comprises an intranet.

19. The method of claim 9, further comprising a summary index of problems compared by at least one of problem type, by account, by entity, by product, by percentage of problems solved, and by problem characteristics.

20. A computer operable method for allowing a provider of goods or services to detect problems from a plurality of customers of the provider over a communications network and transform the problems into problem solutions based on a similarity to previously encountered customer problems, comprising:

automatically sending, over a computer operable communications network, according to a predetermined schedule, open-ended queries to customers asking if customers have any problems with goods or services provided by the provider, wherein the schedule comprises weekly queries for new clients, and monthly queries for established accounts;

receiving responses, via the communications network, from customers to the queries;

analyzing responses from customers using a computer processor to identify customer problems, wherein the analysis includes analyzing a response from a customer which includes interaction with an interactive computer displayed graphical user interface icon of an unhappy face for problems and an interactive icon of a happy face for no problems;

committing to a particular date for presenting a solution to the customer problem by sending the date to the customer;

sending responses with identified customer problems, over the communications network, to problem solvers for resolution;

receiving solutions from problem solvers via the communications network;

upon receipt of a solution to an identified problem from a problem solver, sending to the customer, via the communications network, a request for verification that the identified problem has been solved, and maintaining the status for the identified customer problem as unsolved until receipt of verification from the customer that the identified customer problem has been solved; and

storing queries sent to customers which includes an interactive icon for problems and an interactive icon for no problems, responses received from customers and solutions generated by problem solvers in a storage database residing in a computer memory, wherein the responses received from customers contain descriptions of problems, wherein a description of a problem is obtained from a customer by sending a survey to the customer in response to the customer interacting with the icon for problems, wherein the survey includes space for the customer to describe the problem.