Communication system and method for narrowcasting

Abstract

A communication system with client devices in communication with at least one communication network. User data stores are also in communication with the communications network and store user data of users using respective ones of the client devices. Offer data stores also in communication with the communications network store offers from merchants. A narrowcasting engine includes an active data gathering module to collect the user data, and an active learning module to generate a user profile based on the user data. The communication engine selects dynamically offers from the offer data store based on the profile, and communicates the selected offers in the offer data store to the users.

1 . A communication system, comprising:
 (a) one or more client devices in communication with at least one communication network;   (b) one or more user data stores in communication with the communications network and being to store user data of one or more users using respective ones of the client devices;   (c) one or more offer data stores in communication with the communications network and being to store one or more offers from one or more merchants; and   (d) a narrowcasting engine including
 (i) an active data gathering module to collect the user data, and 
 (ii) an active learning module to generate a user profile based on the user data, the user profile including inferred preference of the one or more users, 
   
       wherein the narrowcasting engine is to select dynamically one or more offers from the offer data store based on the user profile, and communicate the selected one or more offers in the offer data store to the one or more users. 
     
     
         2 . The communication system of  claim 1 , wherein the user data collected by the active data gathering module includes demographic, behavioral, and preference data. 
     
     
         3 . The communication system of  claim 2 , wherein the preference data includes a request for future reminders of past lost opportunities. 
     
     
         4 . The communication system of  claim 2 , wherein the behavioral data includes at least one of click-throughs, hovers, and search terms of offers presented on the one or more client devices. 
     
     
         5 . The communication system of  claim 1 , wherein the active data gathering module includes a preference game for obtaining preference data of the one or more users. 
     
     
         6 . The communication system of  claim 1 , wherein the profile generated by the active learning module includes a persona type, selected from a predetermined set of personas, for the one or more users. 
     
     
         7 . The communication system of  claim 1 , wherein the profile generated by the active learning module includes an indication of a life stage of the one or more users. 
     
     
         8 . The communication system of  claim 1 , wherein an initial set of user data of the one or more users is received from a sponsor of a loyalty or rewards program. 
     
     
         9 . A communication system, comprising:
 (a) one or more client devices in communication with at least one communication network;   (b) one or more offer data stores in communication with the communications network to store one or more offers from one or more merchants; and   (c) an offer ranking module to rank the offers in the one or more offer data stores based on popularity.   
     
     
         10 . A communication system, comprising:
 (a) one or more client devices in communication with at least one communication network;   (b) one or more offer data stores in communication with the communications network to store one or more offers from one or more merchants; and   (c) an offer bidding module useable by the one or more merchants via the one or more client devices to modify the merchant's offer based on a rank of the merchant's offer.   
     
     
         11 . A method for communication, comprising:
 (a) collecting user data of one or more users in a user data store;   (b) storing one or more merchant offers in an offer data store;   (c) generating a persona of one or more users based on the user data;   (d) storing the persona in a persona data store;   (e) segmenting the one or more offers in the offer data store based on the persona stored in the persona data store;   (f) segmenting the one or more users into one or more segmentation cells;   (g) matching the one or more offer mixes with the one or more user segmentation cells based on rules associated with each cell; and   (h) transmitting the offer mix to the one or more users.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the rules include at least one of suppression rules, designation rules, and offer mix integration rules. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the offer mix integration rules determine which offers are to be combined to form the offer mix. 
     
     
         14 . A system for creating a merchant offer, comprising:
 (a) one or more client devices in communication with a communication network;   (b) an enrollment module to solicit and receive merchant information and an offer information;   (c) a heat map module to display on the one or more client devices consumer activity on the communication network; and   (d) a data store to store the merchant information and the offer information.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the display of the consumer activity generated by the heat map module includes a graphical representation depicting varying levels of activity over a period of time based on at least one of product, product type, and merchant. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the graphical representation includes at least one of varying shapes, sizes, or color in proportion to the varying levels of activity. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 14 , further comprising an offer ranking module to rank the offers in the data store based on popularity. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , further comprising an offer bidding module accessible by the one or more merchants to modify the merchant's offer based on the rank of the merchant's offer from the offer ranking module. 
     
     
         19 . A system, comprising:
 (a) a card transaction processing module to generate purchase transaction data associated with a payment card;   (b) an offer data store including one or more offers from one or more merchants; and   (c) a transaction matching module to receive the purchase transaction data associated with the payment card and match the purchase transaction with the one or more merchants in the offer data store.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , further comprising a rewards module to determine an incentive to be applied to the payment card based on any offer associated with the matched merchant and to generate a qualified transaction data to be transmitted to an issuer of the payment card. 
     
     
         21 . A system, comprising:
 (a) an offer data store including one or more offers from one or more merchants;   (b) a registered card module to register one or more payment cards to be used for a purchase transaction;   (c) a transaction matching module to match purchase transaction data resulting from the purchase transaction with the one or more merchants in the offer data store; and   (d) a rewards module to determine an incentive to be applied to the one or more payment cards based on any offer associated with the matched merchant and to generate a qualified transaction data to be transmitted to an issuer of the one or more payment cards.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , further comprising a card processing module to determine the amount to be credited back to the one or more payment cards identified in the qualified transaction data. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 22 , further comprising a statement generator to generate a card statement including an itemized listing of the purchase transaction and the amount credited back to the one or more payment cards. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 21 , further comprising a points module to convert a designated number of points into a monetary value and apply the converted monetary value to the purchase transaction. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 21 , further comprising a points module to convert a designated number of points into a monetary value and apply the converted monetary value to a saving account. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 21 , further comprising a points module to convert a designated number of points into a monetary value and apply the converted monetary value to a charity account. 
     
     
         27 . A method for testing a market segmentation, comprising:
 segmenting users into one or more user segmentation cells, the user segmentation cells being associated with one or more market segments;   generating one or more messages for the one or more user segmentation cells associated with the users, the one or more messages including an offer mix;   sending the one or more messages to a subset of the users associated with the one or more user segmentation cells;   analyzing one or more responses by the users receiving the one or more messages to identify a type of message eliciting a high response rate;   refining the messages based on the identified type of message; and   sending the refined messages to all of the users of the one or more segmentation cells.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein generating includes generating one or more first messages for a first subset of the users, and one or more second messages for a second subset of the users, wherein the first and second messages are different. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the generating, sending and analyzing are repeated for a predetermine number of times. 
     
     
         30 . A method for preference building, comprising:
 presenting one or more questions and one or more offers available to a user on a user interface, wherein the one or more questions and one or more offers are dynamically created for the user based on initial user data;   receiving answers to the questions through the user interface;   processing the answers to generate preference data of the user;   dynamically changing offers presented on the user interface in near real-time based on the preference data.   
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the initial user data is supplied by a network to which the user belongs. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the network is a sponsor of a loyalty/rewards program. 
     
     
         33 . A method for preference building, comprising:
 presenting a calendar interface to a user, the calendar interface including indicia indicative of one or more past offers from one or more merchants; and   presenting a selection interface to the user, the selection interface including an input field to designate past offers that the user wishes to be reminded of in future offerings.   
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 10  further comprising:
 (e) an offer ranking module to rank the merchant's offer to other offers in the one or more offer data stores based on popularity. 
 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 10  further comprising:
 (e) a heat map module to display on the one or more client devices consumer activity on the communication network. 
 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the purchase transaction data is included in a partially qualified transaction (PQT) issued by the card transaction processing module. 
     
     
         37 . The system  claim 36 , wherein the purchase transaction data includes stock keeping unit (SKU) level data. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein the qualified transaction data is included in a fully qualified transaction (FQT) issued by the rewards module 
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the purchase transaction data is included in a partially qualified transaction (PQT) issued by the card transaction processing module. 
     
     
         40 . The system  claim 39 , wherein the purchase transaction data includes stock keeping unit (SKU) level data. 
     
     
         41 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the qualified transaction data is included in a fully qualified transaction (FQT) issued by the rewards module