Patent ID: 8401926

Claim:
A system for tracking the successful recommendation of a good or service comprising: a mobile phone in the possession of a receiver, the mobile phone capable of sending and receiving communication messages; a merchant system; at least one database; and an intermediary system, the intermediary system in data communication with the at least one database and the merchant system and in communication with the mobile phone through a mobile telecommunications network; wherein the merchant system is accessible by a recommender to select and recommend to the receiver a good or service provided by a merchant operating through the merchant system, the merchant system configured to compose a first communication message to the intermediary system including the mobile phone number allocated to the mobile phone, a unique identifier of the recommender and a reference code for a good or service associated with the selected good or service; the intermediary system being operable to: parse the first communication message to identify the separate information included therein; create a new referral record including the unique identifier of the recommender, the mobile phone number allocated to the mobile phone and the reference code for the recommended good or service; store the referral record in the at least one database; and compose a recommendation message recommending the recommended good or service and send the recommendation message to the mobile phone using a phone number having a unique identification number; wherein, if the receiver wishes to accept the recommendation they can reply to the recommendation message with an appropriate acceptance response, the intermediary system being operable to take steps as appropriate to deem the recommendation successful responsive to the reply to the recommendation message.