Personalized Interactive Network for Delivery of Information Including Targetted Offers for Goods and Services

Abstract

Systems and methods personalize interaction between a central server system, a plurality of consumers, and a plurality of providers of information regarding products and services of potential interest. For each consumer, a plurality potential offers may be generated for various products and/or services. The system may generate a list of personalized offers for each consumer corresponding to various products and/or services to promote to that consumer. When a consumer interacts with the central server system, a response results in the delivery of responsive content as well as personalized offer content. Consumers can interact with the system over a variety of communication channels and user devices, including ATMs, PDAs, cell phones, computers accessing web sites or other Web Devices, Voice Response Units (VRUs), and others.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers in a system including a plurality of customers, a central server system, and a plurality of merchants, comprising:
 storing in at least one non-transitory computer memory, data and instructions pertaining to at least one of products and services to be offered;   accessing the at least one computer memory using a computer processor at a central server system to execute instructions and to perform operations including:   storing data in said at least one computer memory including financial account information for a plurality of customer financial accountholders,   storing, by the central server system, data in said at least one computer memory including customer profile data for a plurality of customer financial accountholders,   delivering content to client applications providing customer accountholder access to (a) customer financial account information and (b) personalized offers for goods or services,   receiving at said central server system an electronically transmitted request from a customer financial accountholder for information regarding specific financial services,   selecting, by the central server system, at least one personalized offer for goods or services for the requesting customer accountholder based on customer profile data; and   delivering a response to said request including (a) information content regarding the specific financial services and (b) personalized offer content corresponding to the selected at least one personalized offer.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , wherein the (a) information content regarding the specific financial services and (b) personalized offer content corresponding to the selected at least one personalized offer, are electronically transmitted together. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , wherein the (a) information content regarding the specific financial services and (b) personalized offer content corresponding to the selected at least one personalized offer, are electronically transmitted together for display together on a web page. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , wherein personalized offers made by the central server system are delivered over multiple different communication channels. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , wherein at least some personalized offers made by the central server system are delivered over a communication channel different than the communication channel used for the request. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 5 , further wherein at least some personalized offers are delivered over communication channels selected based on customer profile data. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 selecting at least one offer for goods or services using a decision engine at the central server system;   wherein the decision engine applies personalization rules to make the selection.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , wherein multiple personalized offers are selected and delivered to the requesting user. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing, in said at least one computer memory, tag lists of offers to make to customers for a plurality of different campaigns.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing, in said at least one computer memory, a plurality of potential offers to make to a customer corresponding to a plurality of different campaigns.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of potential offers is scored or weighted by the central server system to enable selecting a specific offer in response to the request. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , wherein personalized offers made by the central server system include information regarding credit cards, loans, and investments. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , wherein the request from a customer financial accountholder is from a customer access computer. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 13 , wherein the customer access computer is a web device or a handheld device. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , wherein the central server system services customer requests from a plurality of different customer access computers including (a) Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) or kiosks, (b) web devices or handheld devices, and (c) Voice Response Units (VRUs). 
     
     
         16 . A computer-implemented method for delivering personalized offers according to  claim 1 , wherein at least some of said personalized offers are generated dynamically while a 
     
     
         17 . A computer-based system for delivering personalized offers for at least one of products and services, comprising:
 a central server system, comprising an inbound channel server and an outbound channel server, communicating through at least one computer network with a plurality of merchants and a plurality of consumer access devices;   a database coupled to the central server system storing consumer financial account information and information regarding products and services to be offered to said consumers;   the database further including consumer profile data for a plurality of consumer financial accountholders,   the outbound channel server delivering content to client applications providing consumer accountholder access to (a) consumer financial account information and (b) personalized offers for goods or services,   the inbound channel server for receiving an electronically transmitted request from a consumer financial accountholder for information regarding specific financial services,   a personalization engine at the central server system selecting at least one personalized offer for goods or services for the requesting consumer accountholder based on consumer profile data;   wherein the outbound channel server delivers a response to said request including (a) information content regarding the specific financial services and (b) personalized offer content corresponding to the selected at least one personalized offer.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-based system of  claim 17 , wherein the inbound server and outbound server are the same. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-based system of  claim 17 , wherein at least one of the inbound server and outbound server is a web server. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-based system of  claim 17 , wherein the outbound server at least in some cases delivers responses over a communication channel different than the communication channel used for the request. 
     
     
         21 . A computer-based system for delivering personalized offers for at least one of products and services, comprising:
 a central server system, comprising an inbound channel server and an outbound channel server, communicating through at least one computer network with a plurality of merchants and a plurality of consumer access devices;   a database coupled to the central server system storing (i) consumer financial account information for a plurality of consumer financial accountholders, (ii) a plurality of advertising campaigns regarding products and services to be offered to at least some of said consumer accountholders, and (ii) consumer profile data for said consumer financial accountholders,   the outbound channel server delivering content to client applications providing consumer accountholder access to (a) consumer financial account information and (b) personalized offers for goods or services,   the inbound channel server for receiving an electronically transmitted request from a consumer financial accountholder for information regarding specific financial services,   a personalization engine at the central server system selecting at least one personalized offer for goods or services for the requesting consumer accountholder based on consumer profile data;   wherein the outbound channel server delivers a response to said request including (a) information content regarding the specific financial services and (b) personalized offer content corresponding to the selected at least one personalized offer;   wherein the (a) information content regarding the specific financial services and the (b) personalized are delivered together on a web page.