System and methods for a micro-engagement platform

Abstract

A micro-engagement platform system and method for creating and launching micro-engagements is disclosed. The platform enables creation of a set of one or more micro-engagements, which are short snippets of information exchanged as part of an overall goal of customer engagement; couples micro-engagements to intended customers on their mobile device via messaging; collects responses that a customer sends immediately or at a later point in time; initiates the next micro-engagement in the sequence after getting a response from the customer to the previous micro-engagement as part of the overall goal. The platform chooses from one of a plurality of modes of delivery for that snippet of information; modes can be SMS, mobile browser or ore or more mobile apps.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A micro-engagement platform for enabling a user to build a goal in the form of a plurality of micro-engagements and to cause these micro-engagements to be coupled one at a time to a customer mobile device for enabling interaction by the customer with each micro-engagement, said platform comprising:
 a goal builder for enabling the user to input a plurality of short information snippets, each designed to be separately transmitted to a customer mobile device;   a data store for storing the information snippets input by the user;   an executor for receiving customer mobile device contact data and for controlling the coupling of the information snippets stored in said data store to the customer mobile device as a series of micro-engagements and, when defined by the user, for receiving a response to one or more of said micro-engagements from the customers mobile device; and   a plurality of edge gateways for causing the micro-engagements to be output to the customer's mobile device via a selected one of a plurality of communication channels.   
     
     
         2 . The micro-engagement platform of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an enterprise data manager for defining enterprise data, making that data available to the goal builder, acquiring enterprise data through an application programming interface with one or more remote enterprise systems, allowing access to the executor to utilize this enterprise data to affect micro-engagements.   
     
     
         3 . The micro-engagement platform of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a user behavior monitor to track which communication channel is being used by each customer mobile device, and to enable the edge gateways to identify which of the plurality of communication channels is to be used for presenting the next micro-engagement to the customer's mobile device as a function of said tracking.   
     
     
         4 . The micro-engagement platform of  claim 3 , wherein the user behavior monitor detects scripts on the mobile device running on behalf of the micro-engagement platform; and wherein the edge-gateways are enabled to maintain connection with the mobile devices running the micro-engagement platform scripts either via a browser on the customer's mobile device or within a mobile app running on the customer's mobile device. 
     
     
         5 . The micro-engagement platform of  claim 1 , further comprising a dynamic data store, and wherein the edge gateways identify the different messages received from the customer's mobile device and selectively route them to the dynamic data store for later use by the executor and for monitoring of the results of the micro-engagements by the user. 
     
     
         6 . A method to create, launch and administer goals in a micro-engagement platform, the method comprising:
 creating and storing a plurality of goals, each goal comprising one or more micro-engagements;   uploading and storing customer mobile contacts in said micro-engagement platform;   pushing one or more goals to one or more customers' mobile devices;   enabling a customer to initiate one or more goals stored in the micro-engagement platform from his/her mobile device;   receiving a response to one or more micro-engagements from the customer's mobile device; and   selecting one of a plurality of communication channels for each micro-engagement for transmitting that micro -engagement to the customer's mobile device.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein a weighting function is created as a function of the communication channel selected by the customer's mobile device for sending a previous response to the micro-engagement platform, and wherein the communication channel selected for the next micro-engagement is a function of said weighting function. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 enabling a user to create each goal; and   enabling said user to view the results of the micro engagements.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the step of allowing a customer to initiate a goal comprises:
 enabling a user to publish one or more keywords for a given goal;   enabling the customer via his or her mobile phone to initiate a goal by sending one of said keywords to the micro-engagement platform.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the micro-engagement platform enables a user to initiate goals via a graphical user interface, and wherein, through this interface, the user can monitor all the micro-engagements with customers. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the micro-engagement platform enables a remote enterprise system to initiate goals via a programming inter-face, and wherein, through this programming interface, the remote system can monitor ail the micro-engagements with customers via the customer's mobile devices. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the programming interface comprises:
 an API with the ability for remote systems to identify specific goals to be launched; 
 an API with the ability for remote systems to identify specific goals to retrieve customer responses; and 
 an API with the ability for remote systems to identify specific micro-engagements and retrieve analytics from customer engagements. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising:
 displaying a micro-engagement visually on a mobile browser; 
 transferring scripts from the platform to the mobile browsers; and 
 retrieving the response from customer's mobile device to each micro-engagement through scripts connecting back to the micro-engagement platform. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the contents of the micro-engagement includes one or more of text, video, and images. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 detecting the active presence of the customer and launching the micro-engagements to the customer;   identifying the active delivery path that the customer is most recently responsive on; and   selecting that delivery path to continue the micro-engagement.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 enabling multiple goals to be active on a customer mobile device at any time and enabling the customer to selectively access any one of these active goats and engage with them.   
     
     
         17 . The method of claim  18 , further comprising:
 identifying active goals for the customer;   delivering and presenting those active goals to the customer mobile device;   allowing the customer via the customer's mobile device, to select and engage with any specific ongoing goals; and   allowing the customer to switch between goals.