Rewards program

Abstract

The rewards program system and method provide an efficient and effective way for customers to enroll in rewards programs, and accrue and redeem rewards at participating merchants. The system generates promotions, analyzes transaction data to identify whether a customer used a promotion, issued by the system (e.g., promotions provider), with a merchant. When the customer redeems a promotion, the system accrues reward amounts in a customer account, and allows the customer to redeem accrued rewards amounts. The system generates credit card profiles and customer profiles, and offers customers subsequent promotions based on the transaction data and/or the customer's customer profile. The system issues the customer subsequent promotions when the amount credited to the rewards account satisfies a redemption threshold. The subsequent promotions may be redeemable at merchants that have promotions issued by the promotion provider, including the merchant where the promotion was used that resulted in the credited amount.

1 - 24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
 receive transaction data indicative of a transaction, wherein the transaction data includes at least a first part indicative of a customer profile, a second part indicative of a merchant profile, and a third part indicative of a transaction amount;   store the first part and the third part of the transaction data with a credit card profile based at least in part on a credit card number associated with the transaction;   credit a unique rewards account, wherein the unique rewards account is selected based at least in part on the transaction data;   categorize a plurality of customer profiles or a plurality of credit card profiles;   generate multi-dimensional matrices comprised of a plurality of nodes, each node indicating a probability that a particularly categorized customer profile or credit card profile would accept a particular offer; and   utilize the multi-dimensional matrices to provide to a customer associated with the unique rewards account a discount offering based on the particular offer.   
     
     
         26 . The apparatus according to  claim 25 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 determine whether the customer is a registered customer by:
 extracting the first part of the transaction data; 
 searching the rewards database to identify unique rewards account information corresponding to the customer profile associated with the first part of the transaction data; 
   determine whether the merchant is a registered merchant;
 extracting the second part of the transaction data; 
 searching a merchant database to identify the merchant profile associated with the second part of the transaction data in the merchant database profile. 
   
     
     
         27 . The apparatus according to  claim 26 , further comprising:
 in an instance in which the customer is a non-registered customer and the merchant is a registered merchant, the credit card profile is newly created utilizing a first part of the transaction data.   
     
     
         28 . The apparatus according to  claim 25 , further comprising:
 in an instance in which the transaction data does not correspond to a unique rewards account, the unique rewards account is newly created utilizing the credit card profile before being credited.   
     
     
         29 . The apparatus according to  claim 25 , wherein the discount offering is associated with a promotion and comprises a promotion identifier and a promotion value, and wherein the discount offering is provided in an authorization code authorizing the transaction. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus according to  claim 25 , wherein the unique rewards account is associated with unique rewards account information that includes two or more of a credit card number, a customer identifier, a merchant identifier, or a promotion. 
     
     
         31 . The apparatus according to  claim 25 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 determine whether the merchant is registered with a promotion provider based at least on the second part of the transaction data; and   wherein the unique rewards account is credited only if the merchant is registered with the promotion provider.   
     
     
         32 . A method comprising:
 receiving transaction data indicative of a transaction, wherein the transaction data includes at least a first part indicative of a customer profile, a second part indicative of a merchant profile, and a third part indicative of a transaction amount;   storing the first part and the third part of the transaction data with a credit card profile based at least in part on a credit card number associated with the transaction;   crediting a unique rewards account, wherein the unique rewards account is selected based at least in part on the transaction data;   categorizing a plurality of customer profiles or a plurality of credit card profiles;   generating multi-dimensional matrices comprised of a plurality of nodes, each node indicating a probability that a particularly categorized customer profile or credit card profile would accept a particular offer; and   utilizing the multi-dimensional matrices to provide to a customer associated with the unique rewards account a discount offering based on the particular offer.   
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising:
 determining whether the customer is a registered customer by:
 extracting the first part of the transaction data; 
 searching the rewards database to identify unique rewards account information corresponding to the customer profile associated with the first part of the transaction data; 
   determining whether the merchant is a registered merchant by:
 extracting the second part of the transaction data; 
 searching a merchant database to identify the merchant profile associated with the second part of the transaction data in the merchant database. 
   
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , further comprising:
 in an instance in which the customer is a non-registered customer and the merchant is a registered merchant, the credit card profile is newly created utilizing a first part of the transaction data.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising:
 in an instance in which the transaction data does not correspond to a unique rewards account, the unique rewards account is newly created utilizing the credit card profile before being credited.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein the discount offering is associated with a promotion and comprises a promotion identifier and a promotion value, and wherein the discount offering is provided in an authorization code authorizing the transaction. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein the unique rewards account is associated with unique rewards account information that includes two or more of a credit card number, a customer identifier, a merchant identifier, or a promotion. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising:
 determining whether the merchant is registered with a promotion provider based at least on the second part of the transaction data; and   wherein the unique rewards account is credited only if the merchant is registered with the promotion provider.   
     
     
         39 . A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions for:
 receiving transaction data indicative of a transaction, wherein the transaction data includes at least a first part indicative of a customer profile, a second part indicative of a merchant profile, and a third part indicative of a transaction amount;   storing the first part and the third part of the transaction data with a credit card profile based at least in part on a credit card number associated with the transaction;   crediting a unique rewards account, wherein the unique rewards account is selected based at least in part on the transaction data;   categorizing a plurality of customer profiles or a plurality of credit card profiles;   generating multi-dimensional matrices comprised of a plurality of nodes, each node indicating a probability that a particularly categorized customer profile or credit card profile would accept a particular offer; and   utilizing the multi-dimensional matrices to provide to a customer associated with the unique rewards account a discount offering based on the particular offer.   
     
     
         40 . The computer program product according to  claim 39 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 determining whether the customer is a registered customer by:
 extracting the first part of the transaction data; 
 searching the rewards database to identify unique rewards account information corresponding to the customer profile associated with the first part of the transaction data; 
   determining whether the merchant is a registered merchant by:
 extracting the second part of the transaction data; 
 searching a merchant database to identify the merchant profile associated with the second part of the transaction data in the merchant database. 
   
     
     
         41 . The computer program product according to  claim 40 , further comprising:
 in an instance in which the customer is a non-registered customer and the merchant is a registered merchant, the credit card profile is newly created utilizing a first part of the transaction data.   
     
     
         42 . The computer program product according to  claim 39 , further comprising:
 in an instance in which the transaction data does not correspond to a unique rewards account, the unique rewards account is newly created utilizing the credit card profile before being credited.   
     
     
         43 . The computer program product according to  claim 39 , wherein the discount offering is associated with a promotion and comprises a promotion identifier and a promotion value, and wherein the discount offering is provided in an authorization code authorizing the transaction. 
     
     
         44 . The computer program product of  claim 39 , wherein the unique rewards account is associated with unique rewards account information that includes two or more of a credit card number, a customer identifier, a merchant identifier, or a promotion.