Method, system and computer program for client acquisition and surveying

An Internet server hardware system comprising:

• means for executing software for enabling a loyalty program to be operable via the Internet to engage in real time data communications with one of more card issuers respectively issuing accounts to cardholders and one or more merchant acquirers respectively issuing accounts to merchant, the method further enabling the loyalty program to be linked to the one or more card issuers, and thereby their cardholders, by operation of a loyalty system, the loyalty system being operable to enable the creation, implementation and management of one or more loyalty programs that provide benefits to members of the loyalty programs in connection with transactions between the members and one or more merchants associated with the loyalty system, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of:
• registering on the loyalty system one or more card issuers of a card issuer system;
• registering on the loyalty system one or more merchant acquirers of a merchant acquirer system associated with the one or more care issuers;
• registering a plurality of the cardholders as members of the loyalty program;
• the operator of the loyalty system, the one or more card issuers, and the merchants establishing rules for accrual and processing of benefits from the merchants to cardholders associated with the one or more card issuers in connection with transactions between the cardholders and the merchants with the loyalty system;
• for each said transaction between one said cardholder and one said merchant transaction, receiving acknowledgement of:
• an authorization request for the transaction sent from the merchant acquirer corresponding to the merchant to the card issuer corresponding the cardholder;
• and
• an authorization response to authorization request sent from the card issuer corresponding to the cardholder to the merchant acquirer corresponding to the merchant;
• and
• for each said transaction for which the authorization response includes an indicator that the transaction has been authorized by the card issuer corresponding to the cardholder:
• applying the rules to accrue and process the benefits of cardholders in connection with the transactions between the cardholders and the merchants, by operation of the loyalty system;
• and
• defining a survey utility capable to issue surveys to members of the loyalty system, wherein the defined survey utility includes the steps of:
• receiving, from at least one of the card issuer system and the merchant acquirer system, transaction data associated with an electronically-processed transaction conducted on an account of one said cardholder to whom the account was issued by one said card issuer, wherein the one said cardholder and the one said card issuer are registered with the loyalty program, and the transaction is between the one said cardholder and one said merchant registered with the loyalty program, the transaction data including a cardholder identifier;
• determining whether the transaction triggers a survey based on the data and a set of survey triggering criteria;
• and
• when the transaction triggers the survey, generating signals for communicating the survey to the one said cardholder;
• and
• paying the benefits to the card issuers so that the card issuers may optionally retain a portion of the benefits, whereby an additional source of revenue is provided to the card issuers.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium or media having stored thereon computer-readable instructions for configuring an Internet server hardware system to execute the computer-readable instructions to perform a method for enabling a loyalty program to be operable via the Internet to engage in real time data communications with one of more card issuers respectively issuing accounts to cardholders and one or more merchant acquirers respectively issuing accounts to merchant, the method further enabling the loyalty program to be linked to the one or more card issuers, and thereby their cardholders, by operation of a loyalty system, the loyalty system being operable to enable the creation, implementation and management of one or more loyalty programs that provide benefits to members of the loyalty programs in connection with transactions between the members and one or more merchants associated with the loyalty system, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of:

• registering on the loyalty system one or more card issuers of a card issuer system;
• registering on the loyalty system one or more merchant acquirers of a merchant acquirer system associated with the one or more care issuers;
• registering a plurality of the cardholders as members of the loyalty program;
• the operator of the loyalty system, the one or more card issuers, and the merchants establishing rules for accrual and processing of benefits from the merchants to cardholders associated with the one or more card issuers in connection with transactions between the cardholders and the merchants with the loyalty system;
• for each said transaction between one said cardholder and one said merchant transaction, receiving acknowledgement of:
• an authorization request for the transaction sent from the merchant acquirer corresponding to the merchant to the card issuer corresponding the cardholder;
• and
• an authorization response to authorization request sent from the card issuer corresponding to the cardholder to the merchant acquirer corresponding to the merchant;
• and
• for each said transaction for which the authorization response includes an indicator that the transaction has been authorized by the card issuer corresponding to the cardholder:
• applying the rules to accrue and process the benefits of cardholders in connection with the transactions between the cardholders and the merchants, by operation of the loyalty system;
• and
• defining a survey utility capable to issue surveys to members of the loyalty system, wherein the defined survey utility includes the steps of:
• receiving, from at least one of the card issuer system and the merchant acquirer system, transaction data associated with an electronically-processed transaction conducted on an account of one said cardholder to whom the account was issued by one said card issuer, wherein the one said cardholder and the one said card issuer are registered with the loyalty program, and the transaction is between the one said cardholder and one said merchant registered with the loyalty program, the transaction data including a cardholder identifier;
• determining whether the transaction triggers a survey based on the data and a set of survey triggering criteria;
• and
• when the transaction triggers the survey, generating signals for communicating the survey to the one said cardholder;
• and
• paying the benefits to the card issuers so that the card issuers may optionally retain a portion of the benefits, whereby an additional source of revenue is provided to the card issuers.