Abstract:
A system and method for business entities to solicit product and brand related feedback from the authenticated customers through use of browser run feedback application on the internet enabled mobile devices of customers, where customer opts to wirelessly connect their mobile device with the feedback software and the software: captures customer location; verifies customers as genuine user of products; initiates the feedback session; presents the identification and feedback forms to the mobile device; captures and relays the feedback data to the business in real-time; and offers reward coupon to the customer after successful submission of the feedback form. System includes custom tags encoded with product information and embedded in the product and related paraphernalia. Geographical co-ordinates and personal information obtained from participants are plotted on a grid or a map to provide macro analysis and micro analysis to businesses.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present disclosure relates generally to business-customer communication using wireless and other computerized communication devices and, more particularly, to a system and method that enables business entities to receive authenticated customer suggestions, feedback and consultancy through an internet connected mobile or wireless devices. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    For business entities, customer feedback and profiles are important tools to conduct market segmentation, targeting and positioning. The customer feedback and profiles are also required to gauge product performance and the reasons thereof, improve the current products, design new products with relevant features, and determine the market demand and market price for current and future products. Traditionally, business entities have relied on market research firms to conduct polls, surveys and focus groups to collect the customer information. A major drawback of this approach is that these market research methods either require considerable investment and time or are too focused on only a particular customer segment or a region. 
         [0003]    Tracking product performance after the market launch is trickier. One of the lagging indicators of product performance is change in the demand of the product. This change in demand may be geographical region specific or widespread. If the demand change is not per the expectations, product is considered to be underperforming. Although, businesses can conduct a market study to find the underlying reasons, short product lifecycles mean that results may not be received in time for any meaningful modifications to be applied to the product. 
         [0004]    A relatively newer method of consumer research is the use of region specific online search engine data to predict the demand for a product in the region. Although inexpensive, it relies on the capture of most commonly searched words or phrases on the online search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. With strict privacy requirements imposed by regulatory authorities and do-not-track browser option employed by customers, it is difficult to differentiate multiple searches conducted by same customer from searches conducted by multiple customers. Additionally, demographic information may not be captured through this method due to privacy restrictions. Thus, this method may not accurately reflect the needs of customers. 
         [0005]    Direct communication with customers to determine their needs is considered superior to methods that rely on sampling or indirect data collection. Advent of social media has provided business entities a channel to collectively engage customers and solicit their feedback in an inexpensive way. But Social Media tools have not solved the many issues. First and foremost, the customer feedback received is not authenticated. There is no reliable way to determine if feedback provider is product user or not. Secondly, the customer feedback using social media does not offer location where the customer bought and consumed the product or brand except in the case of public consumption like dine-in restaurants. Thirdly, the consumer feedback is not relayed to business entities in real time. Business entities may have to collect feedback manually or utilize costly third party tools. Precious time and resources are consumed in this operation. Lastly, the customer feedback using social media tools is not private and hence some customers are unwilling to give feedback. 
         [0006]    As can be seen, there is a need for business entities to receive real-time, location specific and sometime private feedback from large number of authenticated customers in a cost-effective manner. These needs are satisfied by the present invention. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    Present invention provides a method for business entities, following either business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C) model including but not limited to product manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, marketers or any other business stakeholders that manufacture and/or market products or brands to receive authenticated customer comments, suggestions, feedback and consultancy from consumers or customers through an internet connected mobile or wireless devices. 
         [0008]    In the method, customers can upgrade into a remote product and/or brand consultant for the business entity by registering. Customer details such as but not limited to the residence location information may be needed by the business entity to perform this operation. A unique identifier may be used for differentiating a consultant from an unregistered feedback provider. 
         [0009]    In the method, aggregate geographic customer concentration based on actual location of the product consumption can be determined. Geographic customer concentration is calculated by determining longitude and latitude of product consumption location and mapping these coordinates in a tabular or graphical representations. 
         [0010]    Further, present invention provides a system for feedback solicitation. System described constitutes of: (a) software applications that are executed in part on mobile browsers of customer and partially on the remote located computing systems, (b) apparatus that contains information for the customer on how to provide feedback and connect with the feedback software. 
         [0011]    This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described in the Detailed Description section. Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    Detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings will provide a complete understanding of present invention wherein: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  is a flowchart that illustrates the basic steps of a method for business entities to solicit customer feedback and consumption location information about products or brands sold in shopping centres by company owned shops, third party retailing shops or even online; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram that illustrates the basic components of a system the business entities employ to receive customer feedback and consumption location information in accordance with embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIGS. 3A-3C  are block diagrams of example mobile devices used by customer to provide feedback and the respective custom tags encoded with information that can be deciphered by mobile devices of customers as deployed on the product; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3D  is block diagram of an embodiment of a product with custom tag containing multiple tags encoded with information that can be deciphered by mobile devices of customers; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is block diagram of an embodiment of customer density map displaying customer density in a residential area based on location data provided by customers; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is flowchart that illustrates the basic steps of a method which business entities may employ to additionally reward customers who provide useful feedback in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart that illustrates the basic steps of a method which business may employ to make customer feedback comments available for public view in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention; 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0020]    Direct customer feedback is very important for business entities engaged in manufacturing, selling or marketing of products. It allows business entities to understand product requirements, add features to the products and design new products. Feedback also helps in determining the aggregate product demand and set product pricing. Besides direct customer feedback, other customer information obtained indirectly like consumption location and patterns are very useful in determining aforementioned. All this information is only valid and useful if obtained from an authenticated or genuine customer. Various embodiments of the current invention enable business entities to solicit customer feedback and other useful information from authenticated customers. Further, density map feature of the current invention allows raw information to be depicted in a graphical or a tabular way making information very easy to comprehend for business decision makers. 
         [0021]      FIG. 1  illustrates a flowchart  100  of the basic steps of the method for the business entities to solicit customer feedback and consumption location information about their products and/or brands sold in shopping centres by company owned shops, third party retailing shops or online, and businesses to receive above data in unprocessed and processed form. 
         [0022]    In step  1  of the flowchart  100 , business entity subscribes to the feedback plan from the company handling the feedback software and the apparatus. A custom tag is generated and embedded with uniform resource locator (URL). This URL contains the product information including but not limited to product name, Universal Product Code, International Article Number, product code, batch code and a sale location. URL contains the product information as GET variables. 
         [0023]    In another embodiment, URL directs the feedback software to a remote server location where a file designed to carry data file like XML is stored with the product information mentioned in [0022]. This embodiment is suitable for situations where product information is updated frequently. Business entities may be provided with key to remote server location and authentication server to update the product information. In some embodiments, this process may be automated through a prior determined algorithm. 
         [0024]    In step  2  of the flowchart  100 , business receives the custom tags encoded or embedded with URL depending on the type of custom tags. Custom tag can take form of including but not limited to Quick Response (QR) Code, a near field communication (NFC) chip or a shortened URL. 
         [0025]    In step  3  of the flowchart  100 , business entity, depending on the nature of custom tags, embeds or prints the custom tags in/on the product packaging and/or the accompanying manual. It is important that tags are visible and accessible to the customers. An appropriate message can be added by business entity inviting customers to use their internet mobile device to extract the URL information and provide feedback and other information as requested. 
         [0026]    In step  4  of the flowchart  100 , customer with the internet connected mobile device uses a third party application to extract URL from custom tag on the product. Third party application feeds this URL to the browser of the mobile device. Browser may be any compatible browser for the mobile devices including but not limited to Android browser, Safari browser and Mozilla Firefox browser. A handshake between mobile device and feedback software application is offered over browser of the mobile device. A unique session token that persists through the feedback session is generated by the authentication server. Session token is time sensitive and allows customer to connect to the feedback server for a limited period of time also known as session. The feedback application extracts the product information embedded in the URL or by reading the file designed to carry data stored in a remote server location pointed to by the URL as described in [0023]. Further, the feedback application determines the current location of the mobile device using; the Internet Protocol (IP) address database wherein network addresses as linked to specific postal addresses or latitude/longitude coordinates are stored; cell-tower or WiFi antenna triangulation; cell-tower or WiFi antenna proximity or signal strength and/or other appropriate techniques. The determination of location information will depend upon the privacy requirements and permissions provided by the customer. 
         [0027]    In step  5  of the flowchart  100 , the product information and the location information extracted in step  4  is forwarded to the authentication server that compares the extracted information with the information stored in the database of the authentication server. Results of match are categorized as: (a) Full match of product and location information (b) Product Information matches but location information does not match. This condition can result from customer not providing location information or the location information of consumption is not within a specified distance from the product sale location (c) No match for product information. If condition (a) is met, the feedback is tagged as fully authenticated. If condition (b) is met, the feedback is tagged as partially authentic. If condition (c) is met, the session is terminated and an appropriate message is displayed on the customer&#39;s mobile device. It is to be noted that browser may or may not request permission from customer for sharing the location data depending upon the settings of the browser. If location data in not shared then condition (a) can never be met. An incentive for customers to share their location will increase customer participation and in turn increase the usefulness of the feedback. 
         [0028]    In another embodiment, the authentication server is connected with the inventory management system of the retailers and status of product batch updated in real-time. An attempt to scan or tap custom tags on products before purchase will return negative on check with retailer inventory management system while a positive return will indicate that the product has already been purchased by the customer. This information be used for customer authentication and/or can be tagged to feedback provided. 
         [0029]    In step  6  of the flowchart  100 , the mobile device is connected to the feedback server conditional upon successful completion of the authentication in step  5  as described in [0027] and [0028]. Feedback server generates the identification and feedback forms and offers them as mobile optimized web pages to the customer during this session. The identification page provides customer option to identify as an unregistered customer or a registered customer. Customers can read the feedback instructions, provide contact information, add comments or the feedback, and submit the content to feedback server during the life of the session utilizing the mobile device. If session is timed out or connection with the server is lost, customer will have to reinstate the connection with feedback server. Feedback server may limit the number of connection attempts by same mobile device during a certain time interval to deter malicious users. 
         [0030]    In step  7  of the flowchart  100 , customer is given option to login as a consultant if previously registered, register as a consultant or provides anonymous feedback. Customer may decide to share his/her contact details in feedback form which business entity can use to contact the customer to conduct a more thorough analysis. Unregistered customers may also decide to leave contact information blank to submit feedback anonymously. 
         [0031]    Customer can upgrade into a remote product and/or brand consultant for the business entity by registering. Registration process requires customer to provide and verify personal information. Personal information may include but is not limited to name, contact information, residence location and personal preferences. A unique identifier is assigned to each registered consultant, to be used for differentiating a consultant from a general feedback provider. Registered customers prove their identity during subsequent feedback sessions by utilizing one or more of the following methods (a) providing unique identifier assigned during registration, (b) using single sign-on using third-party application programming interface for login set up during registration, and (c) using integrated login of existing third-party application set up during registration. 
         [0032]    In an embodiment, business entities may assign a reputation rating to registered consultants, wherein the reputation rating is function of completeness of personal information profile, feedback history and usefulness of feedback as inferred by business management. Feedback history, in turn, constitutes of product information as extracted from custom tag of the product during each feedback session, results of the product and/or sale location verification conducted by authentication server during each feedback session, feedback location coordinates as captured during the feedback session and feedback in the form of answers to the questions in the feedback form of feedback software module. 
         [0033]    In step  8  of the flowchart  100 , successful submission of feedback within allowed session results in customer being redirected to a rewards server. Rewards server generates a reward coupon and displays it on the browser of mobile device as a mobile optimized web page. Coupon may be time stamped for use within limited time period. This process is automated and rewards are predetermined. 
         [0034]    In step  9  of the flowchart  100 , the map server is updated with the geographical coordinates obtained earlier. The map server uses this information and other demographic data to plot customer geographic market densities in various tabular and chart formats for a particular product or brand worldwide. Thematic maps created using methods like dot distribution, contour lines, cloropeth maps or any other appropriate method like 3D mapping techniques may be used as density maps. The density maps can be utilized by business entities to quickly identify changing needs of customers without involving third parties. For example, a rapidly growing customer base in an area or locality may elicit a need for establishing a newer retail location in that area or procuring shelf space with local retailer for offering the products. 
         [0035]    In step  10  of the flowchart  100 , the feedback data stored in feedback server and map data stored in map server is processed and relayed to a dashboard in real-time. Feedback may also be forwarded to a web or mobile device of the business manager in form of email or any appropriate message format. 
         [0036]    In another embodiment, the customer feedback is analyzed using a statistical method like conjoint analysis to determine the value that customer places on different features which make up a product or brand and hence determine the market price for a product or brand. 
         [0037]      FIG. 2  illustrates a block diagram  200  with the basic components of a system for business entities to receive product and brand related customer input and other data in accordance with embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0038]      10  of the block diagram  200  represents product packaging and/or accompanying brochure with custom tags  12  that are encoded with a URL. Scanning or tapping the custom tags initiate a connection between an internet connected mobile device and feedback software. 
         [0039]      13  of the block diagram  200  represent a mobile terminal used by the customers to connect with feedback software. It may represent any mobile phone or tablet with Android, iOS, Windows or any other suitable operating system. This mobile terminal is capable of connecting with a network using 3G cellular communication system, a wireless local area network (WLAN) or any other appropriate wireless communication system capable of sending and receiving data.  14  represents network access provided to mobile terminal using any of the above methods. This network access is required for feedback software to connect with mobile device. Mobile terminals depicted by  13  are able to decode URL information encoded in custom tags. 
         [0040]      15  of the block diagram  200  represent all-encompassing feedback software. It handles the requests from customer to connect the mobile terminal; extracts and interprets information encoded in the custom tag  12  of the product  11 ; initiates a browser session using a session token generated by the authentication server  16 ; determines the current location of the mobile terminal  13 ; provides the product information and mobile terminal location to the authentication server  16  for the verification of customer&#39;s product purchase; presents the optimized identification page generated by feedback server  20  to the mobile device; presents appropriate feedback page generated by a feedback server to the mobile device dependent on the identification option selected by customer in previous step; captures the feedback data entered by customer and stores it in feedback server  20 ; offers reward coupon generated by the rewards server  21  to the customer upon successful submission of the feedback form; updates the location map stored in the map server  18  using the geographical coordinates obtained in earlier step; processes and relays the feedback data stored in feedback server  20  and map data stored in map server  18  to a dashboard in real-time; and displays the relayed data in graphical format on the dashboard. Arrows in the illustration  200  depict the flow of information. Authentication server, feedback server, map server and rewards server comprise of computer software programs capable of reading, analysing and updating databases that run on networked computers hosted in the business premises or on the networked remote computer systems hosted on the cloud system. 
         [0041]      17  of the block diagram  200  represents an analytics tool capable of conducting in depth analysis of the feedback for reasons that include but not limited to market research and improving customer loyalty. In an embodiment of the invention, a customer relationship management (CRM) system  19  can be integrated into the system to organize and synchronize business functions like but not limited to sales, marketing, and customer service. 
         [0042]      22  of the block diagram  200  represents computing device used by business entity to receive feedback in real-time. It may be a mobile phone, a tablet or a personal computer with network access  14 . The feedback may be received in form of dashboard generated by feedback software  15  in form of webpage, an email or message that can be optimally displayed on the device. 
         [0043]      FIG. 3A  illustrates an embodiment of a mobile terminal  23  that can extract URL information from QR code and an example product with QR code based custom tag. Diagram  300 A depicts front of the mobile terminal with screen  24 , a front camera  26  and a QR code reader app  25 . Diagram  300 B depicts back of the mobile terminal with a back camera  27  and hardware  28  used to wirelessly connect with a network  14  as shown in  FIG. 2 . QR code reader app uses one of the cameras to scan QR code and extract URL information. Diagram  300 C depicts an example product  29  with printed QR code  30  encoded with the URL that contains the product information or points to the remotely stored file containing the product information. 
         [0044]      FIG. 3B  illustrates an embodiment of a mobile terminal  31  that can extract URL information from NFC chip and an example product with NFC chip based custom tag. Diagram  400 A depicts front of the mobile terminal with screen  32  and a NFC reader app  33 . Diagram  400 B depicts back of the mobile terminal with NFC chip reader hardware  35  and hardware  34  used to wirelessly connect with a network  14  as shown in  FIG. 2 . NFC reader app uses the NFC chip reader hardware to extract URL from NFC chip. Diagram  400 C depicts an example product  36  embedded with a pre-programmed NFC chip  37  encoded with the URL that contains the product information or points to the remotely stored file containing the product information. 
         [0045]      FIG. 3C  illustrates an embodiment of a mobile terminal  38  that can extract URL information from printed text and an example product with printed text based custom tag. Diagram  500 A depicts front of the mobile terminal with screen  39  and an optical character recognition app  40 . Diagram  500 B depicts back of the mobile terminal with a back camera  41  and hardware  42  used to wirelessly connect with a network  14  as shown in  FIG. 2 . Optical character recognition uses one of the cameras to scan an image with text and extract URL information. Diagram  500 C depicts an example product  43  with printed shortened URL  44  that redirects customer to a URL containing the product information or points to the remotely stored file containing the product information. 
         [0046]      FIG. 3D  illustrates an embodiment of product with custom tag that comprises of multiple tags. Multiple tags can be used in conjugation to add additional layer of authentication or individually to provide customers multiple options to access the feedback module. Diagram  600  depicts an example product  45  with printed QR code based custom tag  46  and printed shortened URL based custom tag  47 . 
         [0047]      FIG. 4  illustrates an embodiment of customer density map generated by the map server  18  of  FIG. 2 . Block diagram  700  depicts a residential area and two shopping plazas in the areas. Top represents north, right represents east, bottom represents south, and left represents west. Density Map concept is used here to graphically display availability, consumption and demand of a hypothetical product called VVoily. VVoily is available in Shopping Plaza A  52  in South-West but not in Shopping Plaza B  48  in North. The residential blocks are categorized based on demand (density of customers) for VVoily: residential blocks with low product demand  49 , residential blocks with medium product demand  50 , and residential blocks with high product demand  51  as depicted by legend. Density of customers is determined based on number of feedbacks from each residential block as deciphered by correlating the location coordinates with residential blocks. An immediate conclusion from the density map is that a huge population segment located in North-Eastern area consumes VVoily. This segment will benefit if the product VVoily is also available at Shopping Plaza B  48  in North which is closer to their residences. 
         [0048]      FIG. 5  illustrates an embodiment  800  of method  100  as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . In this embodiment, additional steps of allowing business entity to further reward customers and remote consultants if business entity finds the feedback useful are incorporated. A second reward coupon can be sent conditional upon customer choosing to provide contact information along with the permission to contact or choose to register as remote consultant. In step  53 , business entity analyses the feedback using analysis software and other tools to determine its usefulness. In step  54 , business entity rewards the feedback provider with a second reward coupon by sending to customer using an email, messaging program, short messaging service (SMS) or any other appropriate tool. 
         [0049]      FIG. 6  illustrates another embodiment  900  of method  100  as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . In this embodiment, additional steps of allowing businesses to link the feedback dashboard to social media and/or other web tools thus making it available for public view conditional upon privacy requirements imposed by customer are incorporated. For example, if customer has provided contact details but no permission to make it public, customer comments will be excluded from public dashboard. Businesses may also choose to impose conditions that feedback software can use to vet and select the feedback from database before displaying it. In step  55 , business entity finds that feedback of certain nature from a customer or customers can be shared with other customers or general public due to its usefulness. In step  56 , business entity sets the sharing rules that can select feedback to be automatically shared using social media or other web tools. In step  57 , business entity selects the social media and web tools to be used. A Dashboard is displayed with all feedback on social media tools that may include but not limited to Facebook and Twitter. Dashboard may be customized if the permissions for customization exist.