HK1030286A - Method and system for compiling demographic data - Google Patents

Description

Method and system for compiling demographic data

The invention relates to a method and system for compiling demographic data.

Merchants are generally in a difficult situation with little or no knowledge of the characteristics of the customer. Their advertising and promotional programs are at best aimed at a sense of anticipation that they will attract existing and prospective customers to purchase things from them. Merchants are not aware of the demographic characteristics of their customers, such as geographic location, professional status, family population, etc. They also do not know from which other merchants their customers are also purchasing products, and these merchants do not know how to locate individual customers.

The same problem may also arise with other forms of interaction between the merchant and the customer, including, for example, call centers, help query services, and other similar services.

Typically, such information is collected only by large merchants, either through their own customer databases or through market research.

Methods and systems for building databases for marketing purposes are known in the art as follows:

one form of system is described in us patent No. 5636346. A method of creating a database or modeled profile for customer information of an advertiser is described. The database contains the name and address information of the subscriber and is compiled from the actual closed circuit system and the telephone company billing records. And then allow the data processing company or their customers to utilize the database to compare with their own customer database. Target user tables are generated from users that are not already in the modeled profile of the customer database and then are directly aligned to these users.

Another system is described in U.S. patent No. 5305196. A method of building a database for use in a sales program at a retail outlet in which a customer's check is scanned to detect an account identifier is described. The unique identifier is then compared to a database of customer identifiers maintained in storage by the store. The database may also be updated with other identification criteria, if desired. The retail store may obtain a list of prospective customers within the predetermined area from conventional sources. The prospective customer table is compared to existing customer tables and customers that are simultaneously present in both tables are deleted from the prospective customer table. The advertising material may then be directed to those customers left in the table of prospective customers.

In the prior art described above, the merchant is provided with a little more customers than in the list of customers that can be sold directly. This is particularly advantageous for providing merchants with features and other information about existing and prospective customers.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and system for compiling demographic data of a customer.

Accordingly, in one aspect, the invention may be said to consist in a computer implemented method for compiling demographic data, the method comprising the steps of: maintaining a database in a computer having a memory, the database containing demographic data about existing and/or prospective customers and interactions between customers and merchants; updating the database with data regarding the new interaction between the customer and the merchant; retrieving demographic data about existing and/or prospective customers from the database; and generate reports on existing and/or prospective customer demographics.

In another aspect, the invention may be said to consist in a system for compiling demographic data, the system comprising a computer having a memory, a database stored in the memory containing demographic data about existing and/or prospective customers and interactions between the customers and merchants; means for updating the database with data regarding new interactions between the customer and the merchant; means for retrieving demographic data about existing and/or prospective customers from a database; and report generating means for generating reports on existing and/or prospective customer demographics.

A preferred embodiment of the method and system will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 presents a block diagram of the system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 presents a block diagram of a system in a commercial transaction between a customer and a merchant;

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a system in communication between a customer and a merchant;

FIG. 4 shows a database schema of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary database record;

FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary characteristics of a group of customers;

FIG. 7 shows a typical customer analysis by a country;

FIG. 8 illustrates further features of a typical group of customers;

FIG. 9 illustrates a plot of areal density;

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary customer value map;

FIG. 11 shows a merchant sharing its customers with a typical merchant;

FIG. 12 illustrates a repeating client table.

In a preferred form of the invention, as shown in figure 1, the system 2 comprises a computer 3 having a data processor and memory, operating under the control of application software. The computer 2 is in communication with at least one stored database 4. The database 4 may include an interaction database 6 and a customer demographic database 8. It should be understood that the interaction database 6 and the demographic database 8 may be implemented as separate databases or as one database. For simplicity, the present invention will be described in connection with database 4. The customer demographic database 8 may store data about existing and/or prospective customers. It should be appreciated that references to customers in the specification and claims may additionally include prospective customers.

Demographic characteristics of the customer used in the specification and claims may include geographic location, specialty, family population, age, gender, marital status, ethnicity, education, and occupational status. In addition, there may be psycho-dynamic or psycho-graphic characteristics included within the demographic range, and where the customer is a business unit, the demographic data may include the number of employees and industry codes of the business.

The database 4 may be stored in the memory of the computer 3. Alternatively, the database 4 may be stored externally in one or more separate servers and accessed by dedicated and dial-up telecommunications tools, communicated using email, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and/or via an internet website, or stored on a CD-ROMS, floppy disk, tape drive or other storage medium. Alternatively, the database 4 may be accessed by terminal emulation or telecommunication network tools.

The data in the database 4 may be provided by a bank, financial institution, telecommunications or internet service provider, or some other third party, such as an entity performing a certain loyalty programme.

As shown in FIG. 1, the customer 12 interacts with the merchant 16. Typically, the merchant 16 operates in a commercial base or store from which the customer purchases goods or services. Alternatively, the merchant 16 may operate from a programmatically located machine such as a vending machine, parking meter, washing machine, and transportation ticket machine. Merchants 16 may also operate a mail order catalog service, direct sales goods or services, or sales through a hierarchical network of wholesalers and retailers. Merchants 16 may also operate from websites or other electronic media, which is becoming increasingly common.

Alternatively, the merchant 16 may operate a help desk, paging center, or some other business in which customers may interact with the merchant 16 via telephone, fax, email, web browsing, or other form of communication. It should be understood that the business nature of the merchant 16 includes a wide range of commercial activities.

The customer 12 may be a person who purchases goods or services from the customer 16. If the merchant 16 operates a help desk or paging center, the customer 12 may be a subscriber to such a service. The client 12 may be a business or residential entity.

It should be understood that the interaction between the customer 12 and the merchant 16 may be initiated by the customer 12 or by the merchant 16. When a customer 12 interacts with a merchant 16, interaction data 18 is generated, which may be stored in the interaction database 6, as will be described further below.

The present invention will first be described in conjunction with fig. 2, wherein the interaction comprises a retail transaction. It is becoming more common for customers 12 to employ non-cash payment means for security and convenience. An example is a credit card in which a salesperson either reads magnetically or applies a mark to the card, calls a processing center through a dial-up modem, gets approval and confirms the cardholder's signature in order to prevent counterfeiting.

Alternatively, the customer 12 may provide the account number and expiration date of the credit card to merchants 16 that are not in the same area. Other means of replacing cash include checks, electronic fund transfer (EFT-POS) cards, prepaid cards, credit, debit, or toll cards, and integrated circuit or smart cards.

If a non-cash payment method is used, some information about the customer may need to be communicated from the customer 12 to the merchant 16. For example, the customer information should include details of the customer's financial account to be debited. The merchant 16 sends the payment to the merchant's own financial institution 24 or other financial institution. Also transmitted to financial institution 24 is transaction information including at least the merchant's identifier, the customer identifier, the transaction amount, and the date and time of the transaction.

The transaction between customer 12 and merchant 16 generates interaction data 18A. Interaction data 18A includes a merchant identifier. This merchant identifier may include the bank account number of the merchant 16, or some other identifier. It should be appreciated that the interaction data 18A may include further information about the merchant, such as geographic location. This information may be provided by the merchant 16 or financial institution 24 and may exist with the interaction data 18A or in the database 4.

The interaction data 18A also includes a customer identifier. This customer identifier may comprise a bank account number or some other identifier of customer 16. In addition, the interaction data 18A may also include demographic data about the customer such as geographic location, professional status, family population, and the like. Additionally, psychodynamic or psychographic data may be included, for example. If the customer is a business unit, the interaction data 18A may include the number of employees and the industry code for the business. Information about the customer may be provided by the customer 12, the merchant 16, the financial institution 24, and may exist with the interaction data 18A, as well as in the database 4.

The interaction data 18A may also include, for example, a monetary value for the interaction, a goods/services identifier, and/or a date and time of the interaction.

As shown in FIG. 3, the interaction may take the form of communication between the customer 12 and the merchant 16. The merchant 16 may operate a help desk, a paging center, and some other business where the customer 12 interacts with the merchant 16. If the customer 12 interacts with the merchant 16 by telephone or facsimile, the identities of both the customer 12 and the merchant 16 are known by the telecommunication service provider (telco)20 for communication. The customer identifier and merchant identifier may be generated or at least known to and may be provided by the person 20 providing the telecommunications service. In addition, the customer identifier and merchant identifier may also be provided by the merchant 16 or customer 12. The merchant identifier and customer identifier may be the telephone/fax numbers of the merchant 16 and customer 12, respectively, or may be some other identifier.

Further information about the merchant 16 and customer 12 may also be included, as discussed above in connection with fig. 2. For example, the interaction data 18B may include geographic information for the merchant 16, demographic, psychodynamic, or psychographic data for the customer 12, and if the customer 12 is a business, details of employee size and industry code.

As discussed above in connection with FIG. 2, the interaction data 18B may also include, for example, the monetary value of the interaction (if any), the goods/services identifier (if available), and/or the date and time of the interaction. The interaction data 18B may also include the duration of the communication.

Customer 12 may also interact with merchant 16 electronically. For example, customer 12 may send a message to merchant 16 via email. Alternatively, the merchant 16 may operate a website that the customer 12 may access using a web browser. In this case, the identity of the customer 12 and the merchant 16 can be known by an Internet Service Provider (ISP)20 that provides communication services.

The customer identifier and merchant identifier may be generated or at least known to ISP20 and may be provided by ISP 20. In addition, the customer identifier and merchant identifier may also be provided by the merchant 16 or customer 12. The merchant identifier and customer identifier may be the internet addresses of the merchant 16 and customer 12, respectively, or may be some other identifier.

As described above, the interaction data 18B may include further information about the merchant 16 and the customer 12.

The merchant 16 may operate a loyalty program whereby selected customers 12 are distinct from other customers. Those customers who are members of the loyalty program are typically generated with identification cards. The interaction data 18, 18A or 18B may contain the fact that the customer 12 is a member of the loyalty program.

The invention will now be described in the context of a retail transaction. It should be understood that the scope of the present invention is not limited to retail transactions, but includes other forms of interaction as described above in connection with fig. 1-3.

The computer 3 may have information for specific merchants, such as those in a common industry, in its database 4. This information may include the name and address of the merchant 16, as well as the nature of the merchant's business. The information maintained by the computer 3 about a certain merchant 16 is represented in fig. 4 as merchant data 22. Although not necessary, the merchant data 22 may be indexed by the merchant identifier 24 to facilitate processing.

The computer 3 also has information about those individuals who may utilize the merchant 16. For example, the computer 3 may have a record of personal income, age, gender, marital status, race, education, telephone number, address, and occupation. The addresses may be defined by category or may be an arbitrarily defined geographic region, grid block, address code or demographic survey area unit. Each individual may be a customer 12 of a merchant 16. This information is represented in fig. 4 as customer data 26. The customer data 26 may be indexed by a customer identifier 28.

When customer 12 interacts with merchant 16, the interaction data is stored as transaction data 30. An example is given in fig. 4.

There may be only one merchant per transaction and there may be multiple transactions per merchant. The relationship of transaction data 30 to merchant data 22 is many-to-one. Also, there may be only one customer per transaction, and an individual customer may have multiple transactions. Thus, the relationship of the transaction data 30 to the customer data 26 is also many-to-one.

Computer 3 has access to all information contained in merchant data 22, customer data 26, and transaction data 30. From this data, a report may be generated for a merchant 16 that provides the merchant 16 with detailed information about its customers 12. For example, the per-year income of the nation can be estimated. It is also possible to identify customers 12 of merchants 16 based on the accumulated transaction data 30 and thereby estimate the average revenue for customers 12 of a particular merchant 16. Such information is valuable to the merchant 16 because it is known later where the customer will be. Merchants 16 may also be provided with other demographics of their customers 12 as described above.

In some circumstances, several other parties may each transmit certain data to the computer 3, so that the merchant 16 may obtain further information about its customers 12.

Based on the characteristics of the customer 12, the merchant 16 may be provided with the customer's segmentation data. For example, the merchants 16 may be provided with a proportion of customers within a particular revenue range to assist in developing marketing strategies.

Details of customers 12 that a particular merchant 16 shares with other merchants may also be provided. Transaction data 30 includes a merchant identifier and a customer identifier. From this information, the proportion and characteristics of customers 12 that a particular merchant 16 shares with competing merchants can be determined. The merchant 16 may then know its market share and know the type of customer that is concentrating the market activity. The merchant 16 may also be provided with information about the customer 12 that it shares with merchants in other markets. This allows, for example, a convenience food retailer to evaluate the advantages of joint advertising with a gas station if the merchants share a large percentage of customers.

The transaction data 30 may also include temporal data, such as the date and time of the transaction. Thus, the date and time at which different types of customers are likely to purchase goods or services from the merchant 16 may be identified.

In a preferred form of the invention, the computer 3 includes a stored database of customer addresses including addresses, zip codes and telephone numbers. From this information, a customer type density map based on the geographic location, zip code, and/or telephone number of customers 12 may be generated for the merchant 16. These density maps may range from local, regional, national, or global.

Although not strictly required, in a further preferred form of the invention the computer 3 comprises a stored database of transaction amounts for transactions between merchants 16 and customers 12, as shown in figure 4. From this information, the characteristics of the customer from which a merchant derives the greatest profit, or the most valuable customer, can be determined.

Where appropriate, the transaction details may also include an identification code of the product. This allows the quantity and characteristics of the products purchased by the customer 12 to be determined. For example, a merchant 16 that does not sell a particular product may be interested in knowing that a competitor is selling a large number of such products. If the merchant 16 offers a homogeneous sale of products, the customers may purchase the products from the merchant 16 rather than from their competitors.

The product identification code is also useful for evaluation of reactions using coupons. Often, offers are streamed to existing customers or disseminated to a particular geographic area. Coupons typically offer discounts for subsequent purchases or attach complimentary goods or services. The product identification code is used to determine the characteristics of those customers who provide coupons as well as those who do not have coupons.

In addition to the above information, specific information about a company or an industry can be obtained. From this information in the computer 3, the characteristics of the customers 12 of a merchant 16 in one group and another can be compared. This information should be valuable to the merchant 16 who is going to introduce a product into a new market because he needs to know how well the product has been accepted in other countries.

As described above, the transaction data 30 may include time data. Reports may be generated periodically and changes in the merchant's customer base over time may be identified and reported. This use of temporal data is useful for assessing whether a general promotional activity is successful, such as a reduced price sale of goods or services.

The reports may be provided to the merchant 16 via written, verbal/visual, or electronic, such as email or encrypted network access. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the merchant 16 may select the information it requires about its customer base.

In a preferred form of the invention, the demographic data 32 is generated from information held by the computer 3. However, other data sources may also be utilized, such as demographic data, customer databases, demographic information maintained by other parties, other customer transactions, product descriptions, and merchant databases.

The system 2 may be specially tailored to meet confidentiality and privacy requirements, e.g., merchant statements may ignore details of individual customers. In addition, details of the individual merchant may also be omitted for the sake of confidentiality of the business.

As shown in fig. 5, a certain customer has purchased a commodity from a fictitious company, Flowers R Us. The correct record has been formed in the merchant data 22, customer data 26 and transaction data 30. A customer living in Roseneath, wellington, new, with a unique identifier CUST1, has purchased Flowers worth 35 new zealand dollars from Flowers R Us, a merchant with a unique identifier mer c 1. Based on many such transactions, detailed and commercially valuable reports may be generated for the merchant 16.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a report that may be generated for the merchant 16 illustrating the general characteristics of customers of the Flower R Us. For example, these customers may be eligible and not lost. Computer 3 may obtain similar such characteristics from database 4 or other sources, and thus may determine that customers of Flowers R Us have such characteristics.

As shown in FIG. 6, most of the customers, i.e., 87.2%, of Flowers R Us live in New Zealand. This allows the merchant 16 to know where to place the advertisement. The nature of such services means that a lesser proportion of customers live in other countries, although this is not necessarily the case for other types of services, such as in the travel registration and reservation industry.

Fig. 7 gives a further example of the client feature. For simplicity, the customer is categorized as one of 14 customer types, such as "educated" or "solitary. From these information in computer 3, it can be estimated that 8.25% of the new zealand is of the "educated" type and 5.51% of the new zealand is of the "solitary" type. Based on geographic data about its customers, it can be determined that 11.53% of the population living in the same area as the merchant 16 is of the "educated" type and 7.91% is of the "solitary" type. From the transaction data, it can be calculated that 14.63% of the Flowers R Us customers are of the "educated" type. In addition, the ratio of "educated" customers in Flowers R Us to "educated" type customers living in the same area can also be estimated. For example, 14.63% of the consumers in Flowers R Us are of the "educated" type, while the "educated" type living in the same area is 11.53%. The ratio was 126.89%.

The present invention allows for the generation of detailed geographic density maps, as shown in FIG. 9. In the example given, all customers of the merchant 16 have been identified. The computer 3 has geographic data about these customers and this data may be provided in the form of a density map. This figure shows the area where the customers of the Flowers RUs reside, and will provide emphasis for area advertising.

FIG. 10 presents a customer value map generated by the present invention. As shown, 17% of the Flowers RUs customers represent 48% of the transactions of the merchant. The value of the 17% of customers can also be calculated from this information, depending on the value of the transaction.

As shown in fig. 11, the Flowers R Us may be provided with a proportion of its customers 12 that share with other merchants. For example, 35.9% of the Flowers R Us customers are also customers of Peter's Petrol Limited. The merchant 16 may consider advertising in conjunction with Peter's Petrol Limited to reduce the cost of the advertising since the large customer base shared by the two merchants is available through the advertising. The Flowers R Us may also be given a customer proportion it shares with competitors.

FIG. 12 illustrates a further report showing information about repeat purchases by the customer. Of the customers of FlowersR Us, 34% of the customers purchase goods or services from the merchant once, 26% purchase twice, and so on. This information may also be combined with information about the product and other information.

According to the invention, a method and system for compiling demographic data is provided. The approach used allows a financial institution, third party or merchant to easily compile demographic data, allowing merchants to better understand their existing customers and attract prospective customers.

Claims (13)

1. A computer-implemented method for compiling demographic data, comprising the steps of:

maintaining, in a computer having a memory, a database of demographic data about existing and/or prospective customers and interaction information between the customers and merchants;

updating the database with data regarding new interactions between the customer and the merchant;

retrieving demographic data about existing and/or prospective customers from the database; and is

A report is generated of demographic data about existing and/or prospective customers.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of maintaining a geographic location of existing and/or prospective customers in a database.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the interaction between the merchant and the customer comprises a commercial transaction, and the interaction data further comprises a transaction value.

4. The computer-implemented method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the interaction data further comprises a product/service identification code.

5. The computer implemented method of any preceding claim further comprising the step of maintaining demographic survey data in a database.

6. The computer-implemented method of any preceding claim, wherein the interaction data further comprises temporal data, the method further comprising the step of retrieving the temporal data in order to identify and display changes in the demographic data.

7. A computer operating according to the method of any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. A system for compiling demographic data, the system comprising:

a computer having a memory in which is stored a database comprising demographic data about existing and/or prospective customers and interaction data between the customers and merchants;

means for updating the database with data regarding new interactions between the customer and the merchant;

means for retrieving demographic data about existing and/or prospective customers from the database; and

report generating means for generating a report on existing and/or prospective customer demographic data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the stored database further comprises geographic locations of existing and/or prospective customers.

10. The system of claim 8 or 9, wherein the interaction between the merchant and the customer comprises a commercial transaction, and the interaction data further comprises a transaction value.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction data further comprises a product/service identification code.

12. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein the stored database includes demographic survey data.

13. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein the interaction data further includes temporal data and the report generating means is arranged to identify and display changes in the demographic data.