System and method for providing a customer survey

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for providing a follow-up survey for purchases made at a merchant entity. A customer can make a purchase at a merchant entity, such as a restaurant, and a system can coordinate and store data about the customer using a purchasing account. When the customer visits a website or application associated with the merchant entity, the system can determine if an offer to take a survey exists for the customer. If an offer exists, the system can prompt the customer to take the survey to receive a discount on future purchases made at the merchant entity. Once the customer completes the survey, the system monitors future purchases by the customer and applies the discount appropriately the next time the customer uses the purchasing account at the merchant entity.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving first data about a purchase by a user at a first time at a merchant, the purchase performed using a purchasing account which existed prior to the first time and is an open loop purchasing account of the user;   receiving second data from a representative of the merchant, the second data being associated with the purchase by the user;   receiving information that the user has interacted with one of a website and an application associated with the merchant at a second time later than the first time;   determining, based on the information, that the first data indicates that there is an offer for the user associated with an incentive to have the user make a second purchase at the merchant if the user performs an action;   presenting an interactive interface to the user via the one of the website and the application about the offer, the interactive communication comprising the second data from the representative and asking the user to perform the action;   receiving third data from the user via the interactive interface indicating that the user performed the action;   based on the third data, completing the offer by establishing a policy in which purchases using the purchasing account are monitored; and   when the purchasing account is used at the merchant to perform the second purchase, applying a discount to the second purchase according to the offer.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the merchant is a restaurant and the representative is one of a waiter and a waitress. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first data comprises information identifying one of the user, the purchasing account, a date and time of the purchase, and a location of the purchase. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the action is one of taking a survey, sending a tweet, posting a comment, sending a gift to a recipient, and “liking” the merchant. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the interactive interface is a social media network. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second data from the representative comprises one of a comment, a picture and a video. 
     
     
         7 . A system comprising:
 a processor; and   a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
 receiving first data about a purchase by a user at a first time at a merchant, the purchase performed using a purchasing account which existed prior to the first time and is an open loop purchasing account of the user; 
 receiving second data from a representative of the merchant, the second data being associated with the purchase by the user; 
 receiving information that the user has interacted with one of a website and an application associated with the merchant at a second time later than the first time; 
 determining, based on the information, that the first data indicates that there is an offer for the user associated with an incentive to have the user make a second purchase at the merchant if the user performs an action; 
 presenting an interactive interface to the user via the one of the website and the application about the offer, the interactive communication comprising the second data from the representative and asking the user to perform the action; 
 receiving third data from the user via the interactive interface indicating that the user performed the action; 
 based on the third data, completing the offer by establishing a policy in which purchases using the purchasing account are monitored; and 
 when the purchasing account is used at the merchant to perform the second purchase, applying a discount to the second purchase according to the offer. 
   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the merchant is a restaurant and the representative is one of a waiter and a waitress. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the first data comprises information identifying one of the user, the purchasing account, a date and time of the purchase, and a location of the purchase. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the action is one of taking a survey, sending a tweet, posting a comment, sending a gift to a third party, and “liking” the merchant. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the interactive interface is a social media network. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the second data from the representative comprises one of a comment, a picture and a video. 
     
     
         13 . A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
 receiving first data about a purchase by a user at a first time at a merchant, the purchase performed using a purchasing account which existed prior to the first time and is an open loop purchasing account of the user;   receiving second data from a representative of the merchant, the second data being associated with the purchase by the user;   receiving information that the user has interacted with one of a website and an application associated with the merchant at a second time later than the first time;   determining, based on the information, that the first data indicates that there is an offer for the user associated with an incentive to have the user make a second purchase at the merchant if the user performs an action;   presenting an interactive interface to the user via the one of the website and the application about the offer, the interactive communication comprising the second data from the representative and asking the user to perform the action;   receiving third data from the user via the interactive interface indicating that the user performed the action;   based on the third data, completing the offer by establishing a policy in which purchases using the purchasing account are monitored; and   when the purchasing account is used at the merchant to perform the second purchase, applying a discount to the second purchase according to the offer.   
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the merchant is a restaurant and the representative is one of a waiter and a waitress. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the first data comprises information identifying one of the user, the purchasing account, a date and time of the purchase, and a location of the purchase. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the action is one of taking a survey, sending a tweet, posting a comment, choosing a recipient and sending a gift to the recipient, and “liking” the merchant. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the interactive interface is a social media network. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the second data from the representative comprises one of a comment, a picture and a video.