Patent ID: 8554592

Claim:
A method for transaction-based profiling of a customer, the method comprising: preparing a transaction data file comprising transaction data for transactions performed by a customer with merchants in a predetermined time period; obtaining a profile of said customer, said profile comprising a time-sensitive variable having a numerical value; periodically calculating an updated numerical value based on the numerical value of said time-sensitive variable obtained from said profile, a time function, and said transaction data; assigning using a specially programmed processor said updated numerical value to said time-sensitive variable; using said updated numerical value to identify at least one target customer having a predetermined characteristic; and transmitting a marketing communication to said at least one target customer, wherein said time function comprises an exponential decay time function defined as: x=xe −kδ +y wherein x is said time-sensitive variable, k is an aging constant, δ is a time variable based on a last qualifying transaction performed by the customer, and y is an incrementing variable.