Benefit Customization System Using Segmented Customer Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
The financial services industry faces inefficiencies in providing benefits to customers due to reliance on behavioral data for targeting, leading to unsuitable promotions and increased costs, with current systems lacking personalized and effective interaction between Sponsor/Account Providers, Benefit Providers, and Customer/Account Holders.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that enables financial services companies to interact with customers, gather information with their permission, and tailor promotional programs based on individual interests and needs, using a central server to facilitate interactions among participants, allowing for personalized benefit offerings and improved data management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If benefits are provided to all Customer/Account Holders universally, then the coverage and accessibility of benefits is improved, but the relevance and effectiveness of benefits to individual customers deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the customer base into distinct groups based on stated interests and needs, allowing benefits to be tailored to specific segments rather than applied universally. This enables both broad coverage across multiple segments and precise tailoring within each segment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by customizing benefit offerings to match the specific interests and needs of different customer segments. Each segment receives benefits that are locally optimized for their preferences, improving both relevance and coverage.
2Productivity
If behavioral purchase pattern data is used to determine benefit interest, then the automation and efficiency of benefit targeting is improved, but the accuracy and reliability of individual customer interest determination deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces stated interest and need information as an intermediary factor that complements behavioral data. This intermediary provides more reliable insight into individual customer interests while maintaining the efficiency of automated processing through structured data collection and analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter used for interest determination from purely behavioral patterns to a combination of stated preferences and behavioral data. This parameter change improves reliability while maintaining productivity through systematic data processing.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual processes are used to interact between different enterprises, then the flexibility and customization of interactions is improved, but the time consumption and operational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables self-service interactions where customers can manage their own benefit selections and preferences without manual intervention from multiple enterprises. This maintains flexibility in customization while dramatically reducing process time and operational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms that allow customers to provide stated interests and needs, which are then automatically processed and used to customize benefit offerings. This feedback loop maintains flexibility while eliminating time-consuming manual coordination between enterprises.
4Reliability
If proprietary systems are used by each enterprise independently, then the security and control of each enterprise's data is improved, but the integration and coordination efficiency between enterprises deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal benefit management system that serves multiple enterprises simultaneously while maintaining their individual security and control. This multi-functional platform enables efficient integration and coordination without compromising data security, as each enterprise maintains control over its proprietary systems while interacting through the unified platform.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for customizing benefits to be made available from benefit providers to financial account holders through their account providers, wherein a promotional enterprise gathers and segments appropriate information in a central server system for use by participant groups, including financial account holders, their account providers, benefit providers, and credit bureaus. Appropriate information is gathered on account holders, with permission, regarding their marketing practices and cross-selling and up-selling mechanisms using their purchasing patterns and behavior. This information is stored in the server system for use in offering account holders enhanced benefit selections in accordance with specific rules that generate free upgrades, fee-based offers, and other cross-sell/up-sell promotions based on the account holders' interests, and which afford product profit opportunity and other pre-determined factors to the participant groups. A knowledge base of account holders is provided tied in directly to both automated and live on-line account holder services and can afford management tools for reporting, measuring, and evaluating suggestions to an account holder's complete portfolio.