US 2014/0278671 A1Published application

Automatic promotion generation to fill unbooked appointment time slots of a service provider

AssigneeSchedulicity Inc.

InventorsTim F. Leonhardt, Chad T. Coley, Jane E. Crites

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Abstract

Systems and methods for creating automated promotions for services based upon prior appointment bookings for the current service provider or a group of service providers. A service provider or other user may limit the number of automated promotions offered, the services offered, and specify a difference between existing and new customers. Automated promotions are optimized for increasing the usage of services during off-peak times and for services with higher profit margins. Automated promotions are advertised on 3rd party sites in aggregate and summary fashion, with resulting bookings providing the specific promotion details. Embodiments allow for allocation of a portion of the booking fee from a pre-payment by the customer for automated promotions.

Claims26

Dependent claims

A computer-based system for generating an automated promotion for a service provider, wherein the automated promotion is for a schedulable item that is defined by at least a type of service and a provider of the service, and wherein the schedulable item can be scheduled by a customer for an unbooked appointment time slot of the service provider within a promotion time period that lasts from a promotion start time to a promotion end time, the system comprising:

at least one computer database for storing:
service provider data that comprises schedule data about unbooked appointment time slots for the service provider within the promotion time period;
and
historical appointment data that comprises data regarding services provided at past appointment time slots over a historical time period for one or more of the following:
the service provider;
one or more other service providers in a same industry as the service provider;
and
one or more other service providers in a same geographic region as the service provider;
at least one processor in communication with the at least one database, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to:
determine promotion parameters for the schedulable item by determining a discount amount for one or more unbooked appointment time slots of the service provider over a remaining portion of the promotion time period, wherein the discount amount is determined based on at least:
a time remaining until the promotion end time;
a popularity of the type of service of the schedulable item that is based on the historical appointment data stored in the at least one database;
and
a popularity of the one or more unbooked appointment time slots of the service provider over the remaining portion of the promotion time period that is based on the historical appointment data stored in the at least one database;
and
distribute the promotion parameters such that a customer can schedule the schedulable item at the applicable discount rate.

13 more elements

A computer-implemented method for generating an automated promotion for a service provider, wherein the automated promotion is for a schedulable item that is defined by at least a type of service and a provider of the service, and wherein the schedulable item can be scheduled by a customer for an unbooked appointment time slot of the service provider within a promotion time period that lasts from a promotion start time to a promotion end time, the method comprising:

storing, in at least one computer database:
service provider data that comprises schedule data about unbooked appointment time slots for the service provider within the promotion time period;
and
historical appointment data that comprises data regarding services that were provided at past appointment time slots over a historical time period for one or more of the following:
the service provider;
one or more other service providers in a same industry as the service provider;
and
one or more other service providers in a same geographic region as the service provider;
determining, by at least one processor that is in communication with the at least one computer database, promotion parameters for the schedulable item by determining a discount amount for one or more unbooked appointment time slots of the service provider over a remaining portion of the promotion time period, wherein the discount amount is determined based on at least:
a time remaining until the promotion end time;
a popularity of the type of service of the schedulable item that is based on the historical appointment data stored in the at least one database;
and
a popularity of the one or more unbooked appointment time slots of the service provider over the remaining portion of the promotion time period that is based on the historical appointment data stored in the at least one database;
and
distributing, by the least one processor, the promotion parameters such that a customer can schedule the schedulable item at the applicable discount rate.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.