Building customer loyalty in a mobile environment

Abstract

A customer loyalty and gifting service may reward customers who show or are expected to show frequent patronage to a provider of a good or service. A vendor of a good or service may create and provide an offer to one or more existing customers who may choose to purchase, redeem, and/or recommend the offer to other users in the network. The customer may also gift the purchased offer. A reward, such as loyalty points or stars, may then be awarded to the customer to encourage the customer for continued support and patronage. A reward may be redeemed for one or more prizes including gift cards, discounts, or other promotions and deals.

1 . A method for building customer loyalty, comprising:
 receiving a parameter from a computing device associated with a user from a plurality of users over a network;   executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by a processor:
 matches the parameter with an offer associated with a good or service offered by a vendor, and 
 transmits the offer to the computing device, 
   receiving user acceptance of the offer over the network, wherein acceptance includes a purchase of the offer; and   transmitting a reward to the computing device based on the acceptance.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting a second reward to the user following redemption of the offer by the user. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein acceptance of the offer further includes gifting the purchased offer to another user in the network. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising transmitting a second reward to the user following the gifting of the offer by the user. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein acceptance of the offer further includes recommending the offer to another user in the network. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising transmitting a second reward to the user following the recommendation by the user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reward is further based on a purchase price of the offer. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reward is one or more loyalty points that are redeemable with the vendor for a good or service. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reward is one or more loyalty points that are redeemable with a second vendor for a good or service. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reward is a second offer redeemable for a good or service offered by the vendor. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reward is a second offer redeemable for a good or service by a second vendor. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein acceptance of the offer further includes receiving payment for the offer. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the parameter is a real-time location of the computing device. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the parameter is information stored in a user profile previously created by the user and stored in memory, the information indicating a preference by the user for the good or service offered by the vendor. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the parameter is information stored in a user profile previously created by the user and stored in memory, the information indicating a preference by the user for the vendor. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the parameter is indicia of an offer previously redeemed by the user. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the parameter is indicia of a purchase or transaction previously completed with the vendor. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the offer is a coupon. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the offer is a scratch card. 
     
     
         20 . A system for building customer loyalty, comprising:
 memory that stores a user parameter and an offer associated with a good or service offered by a vendor; and   an application server that:
 receives a parameter from a computing device associated with a user from a plurality of users over a network 
 matches the parameter with the offer, 
 transmits the offer to the computing device, 
 receives user acceptance of the offer over the network, wherein user acceptance includes a purchase of the offer, and 
 transmits a reward to the computing device based on the acceptance. 
   
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein the memory further stores user profile information. 
     
     
         22 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for building customer loyalty, the method comprising:
 receiving a parameter associated with a user of a plurality of users;   matching the parameter with an offer associated with a good or service offered by a vendor,   transmitting the offer;   receiving user acceptance of the offer, wherein acceptance includes a purchase of the offer; and   transmitting a reward to the user based on the acceptance.