System and method for administering marketing programs

• US 9,569,789 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2012
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Durvasula, Sastry, Gebb, Luke, Koul, Priyadarshini, Morris, Michael, Newhouse, Sherree, Puranik, Manjushri, Roen, Scott, Russo, Jennifer, Tiku, Sripriya, Wilmes, Robert, Wolf, David, Muthukrishnan, Sathish
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Luis A
• Application Number:
  US13/477,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20120232982A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,729 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.34, 705/14.38, 705/14.36, 705/14.3, 705/14.17, 705/14.1, 705/39, 705/26.1, 705/14.71
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements

Abstract

A system and method provide rewards or loyalty incentives to transaction account customers. The system includes a computing platform comprising application programming interfaces that enable users to define marketing programs. The system thus enables an efficient, automated and extensible platform for creating, managing and executing rewards and other marketing related programs.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a payment processing computer and via an offer setup API, partner access preferences for an external partner system,

wherein the offer setup API is from a plurality of APIs;

authorizing, by the payment processing computer and via the Offer Setup API, the external partner system based on the partner access preferences in response to information from the external partner system conforming with predefined business rules,

wherein partner access preferences define that the external user is authorized to initiate an offer setup request in accordance with a business rule associated with the external partner system;

creating, by the payment processing computer and via the offer setup API, an offer setup tool;

determining, by the payment processing computer, user access preferences in response to an input from the external partner system via a partner registration API;

granting, by the payment processing computer, access to the offer setup tool for the external partner system in response to the authorizing;

receiving, by the payment processing computer, an offer setup request via the offer setup tool;

parsing, by the payment processing computer, the offer setup request into a plurality of first offer parameters;

validating, by the payment processing computer, the first offer parameter based on the predefined business rules associated with the external user for creating an offer;

approving, by the payment processing computer, the offer setup request in response to the validating;

creating, by the payment processing computer, a first offer comprising the first offer parameter,

wherein the first offer is associated with a reward program and wherein the first offer comprises a reward;

registering, by the payment processing computer and in response to the creating, a transaction account with a rewards program system;

linking, by the payment processing computer, the transaction account to a reward program identifier that indicates that the transaction account is associated with the rewards program system, in response to the registering the transaction account with the rewards program system,

wherein the transaction account is accessed by the reward program that is configured to distribute offers from an offer database to the transaction account;

authorizing, by an authorization server of the payment processing computer, a transaction with a merchant system in response to a consumer system initiating the transaction with the merchant system using the transaction account,

wherein the authorization is based on a first amount of credit associated with the transaction account;

reducing, by the payment processing computer, an amount of available credit for the transaction account by a transaction amount included with the authorization;

receiving, by the payment processing computer and in response to the authorizing, transaction information for the transaction from the merchant system for the transaction between the merchant system and the consumer system;

identifying, by the payment processing computer and in response to the authorizing, the merchant system as an identified merchant system based on the transaction originating with the merchant system;

accessing, by the payment processing computer and in response to the authorizing, a plurality of offers associated with a plurality of merchants;

selecting, by the payment processing computer and in response to the accessing, a subset of the plurality of offers associated with the identified merchant system;

analyzing, by the payment processing computer and in response to the selecting, the transaction amount and a transaction date to determine that the transaction information qualifies for a reward in accordance with the first offer of the subset of offers;

determining, by the payment processing computer and in response to the selecting, the reward based on the offer parameters, an attribute of the transaction account, the transaction information, a type of the offer, and a rule;

applying, by the payment processing computer, the reward as a credit to the transaction in the transaction account during a settlement operation;

adjusting, by the payment processing computer, the amount of the available credit for the transaction account, in response to the applying the reward;

linking, by the payment processing computer, the reward with the transaction information associated with the transaction and based on the registering the transaction account with the rewards program system;

generating, by the payment processing computer, a record of the reward associated with the transaction account used to conduct the transaction, wherein the record of the reward is associated with a charge associated with the transaction information corresponding to the transaction; and

displaying, by the payment processing computer, an indicator of an amount of the reward on a statement in connection with the charge corresponding to the transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the payment processing computer and via an enrollment API, and from a plurality of APIs, an enrollment setup request, wherein the enrollment setup request comprises an enrollment parameter for enrollment of at least one of a transaction account and a population.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the population is enrolled in response to the population satisfying the enrollment parameter, wherein the enrollment parameter is a spending behavior, and wherein the population is defined by a spending behavior.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the transaction account is enrolled in response to the transaction account information satisfying the enrollment parameter and wherein the enrollment parameter is a spend behavior.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the spending behavior is defined by an offering merchant.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating, by the payment processing computer and via an enrollment API, an enrollment page and a referral link for the rewards program system,

wherein the referral link is configured to be communicated electronically to potential reward program participants, and

wherein the enrollment page is linked to a reward program engine that is configured to analyze offers, transactions and credit rewards;

selecting, by the payment processing computer and in response to inputs from the offer setup tool and via the offer setup API, a group of transaction accounts; and

transmitting, by the payment processing computer and via the enrollment API, the referral link to a group of users associated with the group of transaction accounts.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

approving, by the payment processing computer, the enrollment setup request;

parsing, by the payment processing computer, the enrollment setup request into the enrollment parameter; and

associating, by the payment processing computer, at least one of the transaction account and the population with at least one of the first offer and the second offer in response to the approval and based on the first enrollment parameter.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting, by the payment processing computer, a notification associated with at least one of the first offer and the second offer to at least one of an owner of the transaction account and the population, in response to the associating at least one of the transaction account and the population.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the payment processing computer, a population comprising a plurality of transaction accounts that comply with first offer criteria, wherein the first offer parameter comprise the first offer criteria.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first offer criteria comprise at least one of a customer identifier, a customer demographic, a customer location, spend frequency, a spend threshold, a spend history, an award cap, a tiered reward requirement, a product identifier, a product category, a stock-keeping unit (SKU), a universal product code (UPC), a QR code, a merchant, a merchant type, an industry, a merchant location.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the payment processing computer, a reporting request defining reporting parameters for reports based upon at least one of program metrics, offer metrics, average spend, discounts awarded, cumulative discount percentage, enrollment metrics, report format, report frequency, report delivery method and a number of qualifying transactions via a reporting API; and

generating, by the payment processing computer, a report based upon the reporting parameters.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting, by the payment processing computer, the report to at least one of a merchant system and the rewards program system.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, by the payment processing computer, a first population based on parameters associated with the first offer, wherein the first population comprises a plurality of transactions accounts, and wherein the plurality of transaction accounts includes the transaction account;

associating, by the payment processing computer, the population with the first offer based on the first offer parameter.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first population is defined by real time spend data, wherein the plurality of transaction accounts are associated with the population based on the real time spend, and wherein the real time spend data is at least one of requests for authorization and posted transactions associated with the transaction account during a first billing cycle.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting, by the payment processing computer, the first offer to each of the plurality of transaction accounts; and

associating, by the payment processing computer, the reward with the transaction account in response to receiving the transaction information, wherein the transaction information qualified for the first offer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the reward has a monetary value, and an indicator of the monetary value is displayed on a statement associated with the transaction account.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

analyzing, by the payment processing computer, the plurality of transaction accounts associated with the first population during a second billing cycle;

associating, by the payment processing computer, at least a portion of the plurality of transactions accounts to a second population based on the requests for authorization and posted transactions associated with each account in the portion of the plurality of transactions accounts during the second billing cycle.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising removing, by the payment processing computer, the portion of the plurality of transaction accounts from the first population, in response to associating the portion of the plurality of transaction accounts with the second population.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameters associated with the first offer include at least one of spend data associated with a targeted merchant and spend data associated with a class of products.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein a notification of the reward is transmitted in response to receiving an authorization request associated with the transaction, and wherein the reward is credited to the transaction account in response to receiving settlement information associated with the transaction.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying, by the payment processing computer, the reward to the transaction at a point of sale; and

determining, by the payment processing computer, authorization of the transaction in response to the applying the reward, wherein the reward has a monetary value.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the payment processing computer, authorization of the transaction; and

applying, by the payment processing computer, the reward to the transaction.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the credit is a statement credit.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the credit is a POS credit.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining, by the payment processing computer and via a trigger API, an alert associated with the first offer, wherein the alert is associated with a user from the group of users associated with the group of transaction accounts.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer criteria associated with the offer being defined by the external partner includes an award cap for the external partner.

27. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a payment processing computer, causes the computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving, by the payment processing computer and via an offer setup API, partner access preferences for an external partner system,

wherein the offer setup API is from a plurality of APIs;

authorizing, by the payment processing computer and via the Offer Setup API, the external partner system based on the partner access preferences in response to information from the external partner system conforming with predefined business rules,

wherein partner access preferences define that the external user is authorized to initiate an offer setup request in accordance with a business rule associated with the external partner system;

creating, by the payment processing computer and via the offer setup API, an offer setup tool;

determining, by the payment processing computer, user access preferences in response to an input from the external partner system via a partner registration API;

granting, by the payment processing computer, access to the offer setup tool for the external partner system in response to the authorizing;

receiving, by the payment processing computer, an offer setup request via the offer setup tool;

parsing, by the payment processing computer, the offer setup request into a plurality of first offer parameters;

validating, by the payment processing computer, the first offer parameter based on the predefined business rules associated with the external user for creating an offer;

approving, by the payment processing computer, the offer setup request in response to the validating;

creating, by the payment processing computer, a first offer comprising the first offer parameter,

wherein the first offer is associated with a reward program and wherein the first offer comprises a reward;

registering, by the payment processing computer and in response to the creating, a transaction account with a rewards program system;

linking, by the payment processing computer, the transaction account to a reward program identifier that indicates that the transaction account is associated with the rewards program system, in response to the registering the transaction account with the rewards program system,

wherein the transaction account is accessed by the reward program that is configured to distribute offers from an offer database to the transaction account;

authorizing, by an authorization server of the payment processing computer, a transaction with a merchant system in response to a consumer system initiating the transaction with the merchant system using the transaction account,

wherein the authorization is based on a first amount of credit associated with the transaction account;

reducing, by the payment processing computer, an amount of available credit for the transaction account by a transaction amount included with the authorization;

receiving, by the payment processing computer and in response to the authorizing, transaction information for the transaction from the merchant system for the transaction between the merchant system and the consumer system;

identifying, by the payment processing computer and in response to the authorizing, the merchant system as an identified merchant system based on the transaction originating with the merchant system;

accessing, by the payment processing computer and in response to the authorizing, a plurality of offers associated with a plurality of merchants;

selecting, by the payment processing computer and in response to the accessing, a subset of the plurality of offers associated with the identified merchant system;

analyzing, by the payment processing computer and in response to the selecting, the transaction amount and a transaction date to determine that the transaction information qualifies for a reward in accordance with the first offer of the subset of offers;

determining, by the payment processing computer and in response to the selecting, the reward based on the offer parameters, an attribute of the transaction account, the transaction information, a type of the offer, and a rule;

applying, by the payment processing computer, the reward as a credit to the transaction in the transaction account during a settlement operation;

adjusting, by the payment processing computer, the amount of the available credit for the transaction account, in response to the applying the reward;

linking, by the payment processing computer, the reward with the transaction information associated with the transaction and based on the registering the transaction account with the rewards program system;

generating, by the payment processing computer, a record of the reward associated with the transaction account used to conduct the transaction, wherein the record of the reward is associated with a charge associated with the transaction information corresponding to the transaction; and

displaying, by the payment processing computer, an indicator of an amount of the reward on a statement in connection with the charge corresponding to the transaction.

28. A system comprising:

a payment processing processor;

a tangible, non-transitory memory communicating with the processor; and

the processor, when executing a computer program, is capable of performing operation comprising;

receiving, by the payment processing processor and via an offer setup API, partner access preferences for an external partner system,

wherein the offer setup API is from a plurality of APIs;

authorizing, by the payment processing processor and via the Offer Setup API, the external partner system based on the partner access preferences in response to information from the external partner system conforming with predefined business rules,

wherein partner access preferences define that the external user is authorized to initiate an offer setup request in accordance with a business rule associated with the external partner system;

creating, by the payment processing processor and via the offer setup API, an offer setup tool;

determining, by the payment processing processor, user access preferences in response to an input from the external partner system via a partner registration API;

granting, by the payment processing processor, access to the offer setup tool for the external partner system in response to the authorizing;

receiving, by the payment processing processor, an offer setup request via the offer setup tool;

parsing, by the payment processing processor, the offer setup request into a plurality of first offer parameters;

validating, by the payment processing processor, the first offer parameter based on the predefined business rules associated with the external user for creating an offer;

approving, by the payment processing processor, the offer setup request in response to the validating;

creating, by the payment processing processor, a first offer comprising the first offer parameter,

wherein the first offer is associated with a reward program and wherein the first offer comprises a reward;

registering, by the payment processing processor and in response to the creating, a transaction account with a rewards program system;

linking, by the payment processing processor, the transaction account to a reward program identifier that indicates that the transaction account is associated with the rewards program system, in response to the registering the transaction account with the rewards program system,

wherein the transaction account is accessed by the reward program that is configured to distribute offers from an offer database to the transaction account;

authorizing, by an authorization server of the payment processing processor, a transaction with a merchant system in response to a consumer system initiating the transaction with the merchant system using the transaction account,

wherein the authorization is based on a first amount of credit associated with the transaction account;

reducing, by the payment processing processor, an amount of available credit for the transaction account by a transaction amount included with the authorization;

receiving, by the payment processing processor and in response to the authorizing, transaction information for the transaction from the merchant system for the transaction between the merchant system and the consumer system;

identifying, by the payment processing processor and in response to the authorizing, the merchant system as an identified merchant system based on the transaction originating with the merchant system;

accessing, by the payment processing processor and in response to the authorizing, a plurality of offers associated with a plurality of merchants;

selecting, by the payment processing processor and in response to the accessing, a subset of the plurality of offers associated with the identified merchant system;

analyzing, by the payment processing processor and in response to the selecting, the transaction amount and a transaction date to determine that the transaction information qualifies for a reward in accordance with the first offer of the subset of offers;

determining, by the payment processing processor and in response to the selecting, the reward based on the offer parameters, an attribute of the transaction account, the transaction information, a type of the offer, and a rule;

applying, by the payment processing processor, the reward as a credit to the transaction in the transaction account during a settlement operation;

adjusting, by the payment processing processor, the amount of the available credit for the transaction account, in response to the applying the reward;

linking, by the payment processing processor, the reward with the transaction information associated with the transaction and based on the registering the transaction account with the rewards program system;

generating, by the payment processing processor, a record of the reward associated with the transaction account used to conduct the transaction, wherein the record of the reward is associated with a charge associated with the transaction information corresponding to the transaction; and

displaying, by the payment processing processor, an indicator of an amount of the reward on a statement in connection with the charge corresponding to the transaction.