Machine-Learned Reward Offers for Automatic Payment Redemption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing reward programs and promotional offers are not customized to individual customer interests, making it difficult for customers to effectively utilize them, and integrating merchant offers with payment methods is inefficient, requiring manual effort and memory, which limits the effectiveness of redeeming rewards.
Innovation Solution
A payment service uses machine-learning models to personalize reward offers based on user data, automatically applying them during transactions at the point of sale, enhancing user experience and efficiency through automated redemption and personalized rewards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional communication methods are used to communicate reward programs, then information can be transmitted to customers, but the information is not customized to individual customer interests and requires manual customer action to redeem
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically matches and applies reward offers to customer transactions without requiring manual customer action. The payment service provider's system autonomously identifies applicable rewards, validates transaction eligibility, and processes redemption, allowing the system to serve itself rather than requiring customer intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
Reward offers are pre-configured with redemption criteria and automatically applied at the point of sale before the transaction is completed. The system performs preliminary matching of transactions with applicable rewards, so that when a customer makes a purchase, the reward is automatically redeemed without requiring the customer to take any action.
2Productivity
If multiple communication channels are used to reach customers with promotional offers, then more customers can be contacted, but it increases the complexity of integrating offers with payment methods
Solution Approach 1:
The payment service provider's system serves multiple functions: it processes payments, manages reward programs, communicates with merchants across different channels, and automatically reconciles transactions with applicable rewards. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems for each communication channel and payment method.
Solution Approach 2:
The payment service provider acts as an intermediary between merchants, customers, and various communication channels. The system receives promotional offer information from merchants through any channel, stores it in a centralized database, and automatically matches it with customer transactions, thereby simplifying the integration complexity by providing a single point of coordination.
3Adaptability or versatility
If customers are required to remember and manually redeem promotional offers, then merchants can provide diverse reward programs, but it limits the customer's ability to effectively take advantage of rewards
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically identifies and applies applicable reward offers to customer transactions without requiring the customer to remember or manually redeem them. The payment service provider's system autonomously performs the redemption process, eliminating the time customers would otherwise spend on manual redemption activities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides real-time feedback to customers about applicable rewards during the transaction process. When a customer initiates a payment, the system instantly identifies matching reward offers, presents them to the customer for approval, and automatically processes redemption upon customer confirmation, thereby reducing the time and effort required for redemption.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for electronic reward offer management are disclosed. For instance, a system identifies, using a machine learning model, reward offer(s) for a user of a payment service. The system sends, to a client device of the user, a request to display the reward offer(s) together with a virtual payment card (associated with a payment account issued by the payment service to the user) in a user interface of an application for the payment service. The system receives, from the client device, a user input indicating assignment of a selected reward offer to the payment account, and updates data store(s) to include information associated with a connection between the payment account and the selected reward offer. The connection authorizes automatic redemption of the selected reward offer upon receiving a payment authorization request for a subsequent transaction using a payment card issued to the user by the payment service.