Availability-Based Contact Routing and Scheduling System

Abstract

A contact routing and scheduling system is provided allowing users to define various contact routing and scheduling contexts to direct a contact to a calendar of appointment availability representing the availability of a set of representatives pre-qualified to have times available for an appropriate appointment and to book an appointment as an integral part of the contact routing function. The system utilizes multiple visual user interfaces to allow users, contacts, and administrators to interact with the contact routing and appointment scheduling system. The system allows for user selection of contact routing and scheduling rules, association of scheduling activities to the contact routing process, and association of representatives who will ultimately accept appointments with contacts. The system also utilizes various techniques to associate contacts with particular contact routing and scheduling contexts received by the contact through email and/or other correspondence means.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 at one or more server computers forming a part of a web-based contact routing and appointment scheduling system, receiving information to define a contact routing and scheduling context to be offered to a person for contacting and scheduling an appointment with a representative;   storing data representing the contact routing and scheduling context;   receiving an email address for a recipient;   generating a web link with a web token representing the contact routing and scheduling context, the web token being uniquely associated to the email address for the recipient;   sending an email message containing the web link to the email address for the recipient;   serving a landing web page in response to an invitee selecting the web link in the email message; and   retrieving contact routing and scheduling rules associated with the contact routing and scheduling context for the web token and based on an identity of the invitee derived from the web link in the email message.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving information comprises receiving information to define a plurality of contact routing and scheduling contexts, wherein storing comprises storing data for the plurality of the contact routing and scheduling contexts. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , and further comprising receiving from a user a selection of one of the plurality of contact routing and scheduling contexts, and wherein sending comprises sending the email message with a selected one of the plurality of contact routing and scheduling contexts. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving information comprises receiving information to define names and parameters associated with one or more data collection fields to be presented to a contact to collect response information from the contact used to schedule an appointment for the contact with a representative, and receiving information to define one or more routing rules used for selecting among a plurality of representatives for the appointment for the contact. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , and further comprising receiving information to define one or more informational and data collection fields on a scheduling web page to be presented to a contact upon selection of the web link. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , and further comprising receiving image, video or textual information that is contextually-relevant to a call-to-action invitation be presented in proximity to a further web link included in the scheduling web page. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , and further comprising presenting one or more data collection fields to the invitee associated with the contact routing and scheduling context, receiving responses from the invitee in the data collection fields, and applying the contact routing and scheduling rules based on the information received in the data collection fields. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , and further comprising selecting one or more representatives from a set of qualified representatives based on responses received from the invitee that match a routing rule. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , and further comprising determining whether priority is to be given to one or more representatives with a specified minimum number of available times for an activity requested in the invitation for the contact routing and scheduling context, and if so, selecting comprises selecting from only those one or more representatives with the specified minimum number of available times. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , and further comprising retrieving available appointment times for one or more representatives according to the contact routing and scheduling context, and presenting the available appointment times to the invitee. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , and further comprising determining whether there is a representative allocation rule for the contact routing and scheduling context to be used in assigning a representative for the appointment with the invitee, and assigning a representative depending on whether there is a representative allocation rule for the contact routing and scheduling context. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , and further comprising printing the web link on printed material. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , and comprising presenting one or more data collection fields to the invitee associated with the contact routing and scheduling context, and receiving responses from the invitee in the data collection fields, and applying the contact routing and scheduling rules based on the information received in the data collection fields. 
     
     
         14 . A method comprising:
 at one or more server computers forming a part of a web-based contact routing and appointment scheduling system, storing data for a plurality of contact routing and scheduling contexts each associated with a corresponding web link;   serving a landing web page in response to a request from a particular web link;   retrieving particular contact routing and scheduling rules associated with a contact routing and scheduling context for the particular web link;   presenting one or more data collection fields associated with the particular contact routing and scheduling context;   receiving responses from a user entered into the data collection fields;   applying the contact routing and scheduling rules based on the information received in the data collection fields;   selecting one or more representatives from a set of qualified representatives based on responses received that match a routing rule; and   determining whether priority is to be given to one or more representatives with a specified minimum number of available times for an activity requested in the invitation for the contact routing and scheduling context, and if so, selecting comprises selecting from only those one or more representatives with the specified minimum number of available times.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , and further comprising retrieving available appointment times for one or more representatives according to the contact routing and scheduling context, and presenting the available appointment times to the invitee. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein applying comprises applying the contact routing and scheduling rules to select a qualified representative based on availability of one or more qualified representatives and storing data to book an appointment between the invitee and the selected qualified representative. 
     
     
         17 . A computer readable memory device storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, are operable to:
 at one or more server computers forming a part of a web-based contact routing and appointment scheduling system, receive information to define a contact routing and scheduling context to be offered to a person for contacting and scheduling an appointment with a representative;   store data representing the contact routing and scheduling context;   receive an email address for a recipient;   generate a web link with a web token representing the contact routing and scheduling context, the web token being uniquely associated to the email address for the recipient;   send an email message containing the web link to the email address for the recipient;   serve a landing web page in response to an invitee selecting the web link in the email message; and   retrieve contact routing and scheduling rules associated with the contact routing and scheduling context for the web token and based on an identity of the invitee derived from the web link in the email message.   
     
     
         18 . The computer readable memory device of  claim 17 , and further comprising instructions that are operable to receive information to define a plurality of contact routing and scheduling contexts, and wherein the instructions that are operable to store comprise instructions operable to store data for the plurality of the contact routing and scheduling contexts. 
     
     
         19 . The computer readable memory device of  claim 18 , and further comprising instructions operable to receive from a user a selection of one of the plurality of contact routing and scheduling contexts, and wherein the instructions that are operable to send comprise instructions operable to send the email message with a selected one of the plurality of contact routing and scheduling contexts. 
     
     
         20 . The computer readable memory device of  claim 17 , further comprising instructions operable to present one or more data collection fields to the invitee associated with the contact routing and scheduling context, receive responses from the invitee in the data collection fields, and apply the contact routing and scheduling rules based on the information received in the data collection fields. 
     
     
         21 . The computer readable memory device of  claim 20 , further comprising instructions operable to select one or more representatives from a set of qualified representatives based on responses received from the invitee that match a routing rule. 
     
     
         22 . The computer readable memory device of  claim 21 , further comprising instructions operable to determine whether priority is to be given to one or more representatives with a specified minimum number of available times for an activity requested in the invitation for the contact routing and scheduling context, and if so, select from only those one or more representatives with the specified minimum number of available times.