WO2022061462A1

WO2022061462A1 - System for generating and redeeming mobile money-linked offers

Info

Publication number: WO2022061462A1
Application number: PCT/CA2021/051328
Authority: WO
Inventors: Brianna MACNEIL; Patrick Guay
Original assignee: Bitback Inc.
Priority date: 2020-09-23
Filing date: 2021-09-23
Publication date: 2022-03-31

Abstract

Systems and methods for generating and redeeming mobile money-linked offers for e-money transactions are provided. When a customer makes a mobile money transaction using a mobile device, transaction data associated to the customer's mobile money account is stored by a mobile money platform. An offer server stores mobile money-linked offers generated by merchants. The offer server is configured to automatically match mobile money-linked offers to customer transaction data based on criteria that is set by the merchant for redeeming the offer. If a customer transaction meets the criteria for redeeming the offer, the offer is applied automatically, and a reward is credited to the customer account. This abrogates the need for physical coupons or entering promo codes to apply an offer. Further, the present mobile money-linked offers provide incentive for customer and merchants to perform more mobile money transactions thereby enhancing the circulation of the mobile money platform.

Description

SYSTEM FOR GENERATING AND REDEEMING MOBILE MONEY-LINKED OFFERS

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments disclosed herein relate to advertisement, promotion and loyalty programs, and, in particular to a system for generating and redeeming mobile money-linked offers.

Introduction

[0002] Card-linked offers (CLOs) are promotions/incentives that are tied to transactions made with a payment card (e.g. a credit card or debit card with a magnetic stripe). A user can choose to link their payment card to an application or a service provider that provides card-linked offers. By linking a payment card, the user provides, on an ongoing basis, the ability for the service provider or application provider to query the transactions made with the linked payment card in order to match said transactions to eligible card-linked offers. After linking their card, the user automatically receives rewards (like cash back or loyalty points) when they pay in store or online at a participating merchant with the linked payment card. CLOs may be merchant funded promotions, meaning that the merchant is responsible for creating the promotion and paying out the reward to the customer.

[0003] CLOs are an effective form of marketing for merchants and typically increase customer retention and average order values of customers. As awareness of CLOs has increased, competition for offering these products has grown and are now offered by card schemes (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), banks and prepaid card companies, 3rd party APIs, cash back and offer publishers, affiliate networks, terminal providers, and others have entered the marketplace.

[0004] ’’Mobile money” is a growing payment infrastructure used across the world with the highest adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa. A mobile money account (mobile wallet) is an electronic money (e-money) account that is held with an e-money issuer, rather than a traditional bank account. E-money is stored value held in the electronic money accounts of users, agents and the provider of the mobile money service. An e-money issuer is typically a regional mobile network operator, but in some regions an e-money issuer can be a private company.

[0005] Typically, mobile money providers are regulated differently and separately to banking institutions. Typically, the total value of e-money in the mobile wallet is mirrored in (a) bank account(s), such that even if the mobile money service were to fail, users can recover 100% of the value stored in their mobile wallet. This is unlike credit cards which may permit the user to make transactions tied to credit or banks which are not mandated to hold 100% of the value of customer funds in cash.

[0006] When a mobile wallet is issued by a mobile network operator, the user’s account and balance are tied to their SIM card issued by the mobile network operator. The payments made between users and between users and merchants are settled via the telecommunications network. The transaction can occur via a low-level GSM network requiring no smartphone or internet connection. Thus, the accessibility of mobile money has helped propel the use of mobile money for payments where traditional payment card infrastructure is unavailable or not widely adopted. Increasingly merchants are accepting mobile money as payment for goods and services online and in brick and mortar retail stores. However, there is no equivalent to CLOs for mobile money transactions.

[0007] Accordingly, there is a need for mobile money-linked offers (MMLOs) to provide merchants with greater value and flexibility to promote and grow their businesses. There is also a need for a system that can be integrated into/with the existing mobile money infrastructure to generate and redeem MMLOs to encourage further mobile money transactions between merchants and customers and peer-to-peer. A further benefit is to e-money issuers who can gain a greater share of retail payments by offering MMLOs and promote the circulation of their e-money through MMLOs.

Summary

[0008] According to some embodiments, there is a computer-implemented method for generating and redeeming mobile money-linked offers, the method comprising: linking a customer account to a mobile money account; storing one or more mobile money-linked offers and matching criteria; storing mobile money transaction data of the mobile money account; querying the transaction data for transactions to identify matching mobile money-linked offers based on the matching criteria; and applying the matching mobile money-linked offers to the customer account.

[0009] According to an embodiment, the method may further comprise: registering the customer account, using customer information received from a customer mobile device; and receiving customer consent to query the mobile money transaction data. According to another embodiment, the method may further comprise: presenting one or more mobile money-linked offers on a customer mobile device; and receiving a customer selection of the one or more mobile money-linked offers. According to another embodiment, the method further comprises: recording analytics related to the applied mobile money-linked offers. According to an embodiment, the one or more mobile money- linked offers and the matching criteria may be received from a merchant device.

[0010] According to an embodiment, there is a system for redeeming mobile money-linked offers, the system comprising: an offer server, configured to link a customer account to a mobile money account using 2-factor authentication whereby customer consent to query transaction data of the mobile money account is obtained; query transaction data of the mobile money account; identify one or more mobile money-linked offers matching with the transaction data based on matching criteria; and apply the matching mobile money-linked offers to the customer account.

[0011] According to an embodiment, there is a system for generating mobile money-linked offers, the system comprising an offer server, configured to: store merchant accounts; store mobile money-linked offers and associated matching criteria; transmit the one or more mobile money-linked offers to a user device; and receive a user selection of the one or more mobile money-liked offers from the user device.

[0012] Other aspects and features will become apparent, to those ordinarily skilled in the art, upon review of the following description of some exemplary embodiments.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013] The drawings included herewith are for illustrating various examples of articles, methods, and apparatuses of the present specification. In the drawings: [0014] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system for mobile money-linked offers, according to an embodiment;

[0015] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the system of FIG. 1 ;

[0016] FIGS. 3-6 are block diagram of systems for mobile money-linked offers, according to several embodiments;

[0017] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the linked offer system of FIGS. 1 -6; and

[0018] FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a method for generating and redeeming mobile money-linked offers, according to an embodiment.

Detailed Description

[0019] Various apparatuses or processes will be described below to provide an example of each claimed embodiment. No embodiment described below limits any claimed embodiment and any claimed embodiment may cover processes or apparatuses that differ from those described below. The claimed embodiments are not limited to apparatuses or processes having all of the features of any one apparatus or process described below or to features common to multiple or all of the apparatuses described below.

[0020] One or more systems described herein may be implemented in computer programs executing on programmable computers, each comprising at least one processor, a data storage system (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device. For example, and without limitation, the programmable computer may be a programmable logic unit, a mainframe computer, a server, a web-based program or system, or a merchant device or a customer device.

[0021] The memory may be any volatile or non-volatile memory or data storage components including random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard disk drives, solid state drives, USB flash drives, memory cards accessed via a memory card reader, optical discs accessed via an optical disc drive, or a combination of any two or more of these memory components. [0022] The memory stores a plurality of instructions that are executable by the processor. In this respect, the term “executable” means a program file that is in a form that can ultimately be run by the processor. Examples of executable programs may be, for example, a compiled program that can be translated into machine code in a format that can be loaded into a random access portion of the memory and run by the processor, source code that may be expressed in proper format such as object code that is capable of being loaded into a random access portion of the memory and executed by the processor, or source code that may be interpreted by another executable program to generate instructions in a random access portion of the memory to be executed by the processor, etc.

[0023] Each program is preferably implemented in a high-level procedural or object-oriented programming and/or scripting language to communicate with a computer system. However, the programs can be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language. Each such computer program is preferably stored on a storage media or a device readable by a general or special purpose programmable computer for configuring and operating the computer when the storage media or device is read by the computer to perform the procedures described herein.

[0024] A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the present invention. For example, references herein to databases means data storage components, for example, hard disk drives, solid state drives, USB flash drives, memory cards accessed via a memory card reader, optical discs accessed via an optical disc drive, or a combination of any two or more of these data storage components.

[0025] Further, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the like may be described (in the disclosure and/or in the claims) in a sequential order, such processes, methods and algorithms may be configured to work in alternate orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be described does not necessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in any order that is practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously.

[0026] When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device I article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device / article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device I article may be used in place of the more than one device or article.

[0027] Reference herein to “SIM” means a physical SIM card (i.e. standard size SIM, mini SIM, micro SIM or nano SIM) or a virtual SIM (i.e. eSIM).

[0028] Referring to FIG. 1 , illustrated therein is a diagram of a system 100 for generating and redeeming mobile money-linked offers (MMLOs). The system 100 includes a customer mobile device 102. The customer mobile device 102 may be a mobile device having a subscriber identification module (SIM) and capable of connecting to and transmitting data over a cellular communications network 101 (ex. a GSM network) without requiring an internet connection.

[0029] The customer mobile device 102 is linked, via the SIM, to the customer’s mobile money account. The customer mobile device 102 may be a cell phone, a smartphone, a feature phone, a smart feature phone, a tablet, or generally any device having a SIM and capable of executing mobile money transactions on behalf of the account holder. According to an embodiment, the customer mobile device 102 may be capable of connecting to the internet 103 over WiFi or the cellular communications network 101. According to an embodiment, the customer mobile device 102 may be a laptop with internet connection to view MMLOs via a web browser. According to other embodiments, the system 100 may include a plurality of customer mobile devices 102, whereby a customer may view a MMLO using a first customer device and may perform a mobile money transaction to redeem the MMLO using a second customer device.

[0030] The system 100 includes a merchant device 104. The merchant device 104 is used by a merchant that accepts mobile money for payment and is operating an online and/or brick and mortar retail store for goods/services. The merchant device 104 may be a computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet, or similar device having an input device, a display and an internet connection. The merchant device 104 may be a feature phone or a smart feature phone connected to a mobile communications network (ex. a GSM network). According to other embodiments, the system 100 may include a plurality of merchant devices 104, whereby a merchant may use a first merchant device to create a MMLO and may use a second merchant device to perform mobile money transactions and receive payment.

[0031] The system 100 includes a mobile money system 106. The mobile money system 106 may be operated and maintained by a mobile money issuer. The mobile money system 106 is a computerized system and may be distributed across physical network infrastructure and/or may be hosted by one or more servers.

[0032] The system 100 includes a linked offer system 112 for generating and redeeming MMLOs. The linked offer system 112 is a computerized system and may be hosted by one or more servers that are operably connected. The linked offer system 112 is described in detail below with reference to FIG. 7.

[0033] The merchant device 104, the linked offer system 112 and the mobile money system 106 are connected over the internet 103. The customer mobile device 102 may also connect to the linked offer system 112 over the internet 103. Communications between the devices 102, 104 and systems 106, 112 are encrypted in transit using SSL/TLS protocols to protect against man-in-the-middle attacks. Data stored in the linked offer system 112 is encrypted at rest using an encryption algorithm with periodic key rotation, for example, AES 256.

[0034] For performing mobile money transactions, the customer mobile device 102 is connected to the mobile money system 106 over the cellular network 101 via an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) message without an internet connection. According to an embodiment, the customer mobile device 102 may initiate the mobile money transaction over the internet, using for example, an application running on the customer mobile device 102.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 2, illustrated therein is a block diagram of the system 100. The customer mobile device 102 is installed with a native customer application 124. According to an embodiment, the customer application 124 may be a web-based application, website, or web browser extension running via a web browser on the customer mobile device 102. The customer application 124 may be a USSD-based application or SMS-based application running on the customer mobile device 102. When executed, the customer application 124 causes the customer mobile device 102 to connect to and exchange data with the linked offer system 112. The customer app 124 may be configured to receive customer information as entered on the customer device 102 and register a customer mobile money account with the linked offer system 112. The customer app 124 may be configured to record a plurality of analytics associated to the customer’s mobile money transactions and redeemed MMLOs.

[0036] According to an embodiment, the customer information may be obtained from a third-party application 125. The third-party app 125 may be an online marketplace application, or the like, provided by a third-party who wishes to offer MMLOs via the third- party app 125 to customers of the online marketplace. The third-party app 125 may be a native application running on the customer mobile device 102. The third-party app 125 may be a web-based application, website, or web browser extension running via a web browser on the customer mobile device 102. The third-party app 125 may be a USSD- based application or SMS-based application running on the customer mobile device 102.

[0037] For simplicity of illustration, the third-party app 125 is shown installed on the customer mobile device 102 however, the third-party app 125 may be installed or running on another customer mobile device (i.e. a separate customer mobile device that is connected to the mobile money system 106 and the linked offer system 112).

[0038] The third-party app 125 causes the customer mobile device 102 to connect to and exchange data with the linked offer system 112. The third-party app 125 may be configured to receive customer information as entered on the customer device 102 and register a customer mobile money account with the linked offer system 112. The third- party app 125 may be configured to record a plurality of analytics associated to the customer’s mobile money transactions and redeemed MMLOs.

[0039] The merchant device 104 includes a merchant application 126 running on the merchant device 104. The merchant application 126 may be a native application or a web-based application running via a web browser on the merchant device 126. The merchant application 126 may be configured to receive merchant information as entered on the merchant device 104 and register one or more mobile money accounts owned by the merchant with the linked offer system 112.

[0040] The mobile money system 106, includes a payment gateway 108. The payment gateway 108 is configured to process mobile money transactions received as a USSD message over a cellular network from the customer mobile device 102. The payment gateway 108 may also be configured to process mobile money transactions received over the internet from the customer mobile device 102.

[0041] The mobile money system 106 stores transaction data 110. The transaction data 110 includes, for each mobile money transaction at least: a customer ID linked to the SIM of the customer mobile device 102, uniquely identifying the customer in the transaction; a merchant ID, uniquely identifying the merchant in the transaction; a transaction amount; a transaction type (e.g. purchase, refund, etc.); and a timestamp. Some transaction data 110 may be anonymized analytics or data that is aggregated in a manner such that individual customers cannot be identified from the transaction data 110. Transaction data may include historical transaction data over a period of time.

[0042] The linked offer system 112 includes a merchant portal 114. A merchant using the merchant device 104 may access the linked offer system 112 via the merchant portal 114. The merchant portal 114 is configured to allow merchants to create and post MMLOs and the criteria by which MMLOs are redeemable and applied to customer purchases. For example, the criteria may be rules to automatically apply MMLOs to customer purchases. The criteria may require merchants to manually approve and apply MMLOs.

[0043] The linked offer system 112 includes a customer portal 116. A customer using the customer app 124 running on the customer mobile device 102 may register an account and exchange data with the linked offer system 112 via the customer portal 116. A customer may also view posted MMLOs, merchants that offer MMLOs, and MMLOs that are matched to the customer, via the customer portal 116. Via the customer portal 116, a customer may view their reward balance, and spend/withdraw their balance. The customer portal 116 may also be used by a customer to “promise” to make a purchase in a merchant store, and once the transaction is confirmed the customer will receive the corresponding reward as specified by the creator of the MMLO.

[0044] The linked offer system 112 includes a third-party portal 115. A customer using the third-party app 125 running on the customer mobile device 102 (or a third-party customer mobile device) may register an account and exchange data with the linked offer system 112 via the third-party portal 115. A customer may also view posted MMLOs, merchants that offer MMLOs, and MMLOs that are matched to the customer, via the third- party portal 115. Via third-party portal 115, a customer may view their rewards balance, and spend/withdraw their balance. The third-party portal 115 may also be used by a customer to “promise” to make a purchase in an online marketplace, and once the transaction is confirmed the customer will receive the reward.

[0045] According to some embodiments, the system 100 includes a third-party system 105. The third-party system 105 may be a server or backend computer system of the third-party app 125. The third-party system 105 may fetch MMLOs that are created by merchants from the linked offer system 112 and present the MMLOs to customers via the third-party app 125 or through other means, for example, on the third-party online marketplace website. The third-party system 105 may record customer consent obtained via the third-party app 125 for the transaction data 110 of the customer to be queried by the linked offer system 112 to match against MMLOs.

[0046] The linked offer system 112 includes a rewards engine 118. The rewards engine 118 is configured to automatically query transaction data 110 in order to match customer transactions to corresponding MMLOs. The rewards engine 118 is configured to obtain the transaction data 110 from the mobile money system 106 in near real-time or at regular intervals. The rewards engine 118 may be configured to directly fetch the transaction data 110 from the mobile money system 106 using, for example, an API provided by the mobile money issuer (i.e. the operator of the mobile money system 106). The API may implement REST/HTTP, RPC, SOAP, or other messaging architectures known in the art. [0047] According to other embodiments, the rewards engine 118 may be configured to match a customer transaction data 110 to a corresponding MMLO by, for example, applying machine learning algorithms to speed up the matching process based on customer transaction history and/or purchasing behavior.

[0048] According to several embodiments (FIGS. 3-6), the mobile money system 106 may include an internal service for providing the transaction data 110 to the rewards engine 118. For example, referring to FIG. 3, an internal service 122 may be configured to directly push a notification (or call an endpoint on the linked offer system 112) to provide transaction data 110 to the rewards engine 118.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 4, an internal service 142 may be configured to populate the transaction data 110 in an external database 144 that is shared between the mobile money system 106 and the linked offer system 112. The rewards engine 118 queries the database 144 for the transaction data 110. For simplicity, one database 144 is shown in FIG. 4, however, other embodiments may comprise multiple databases that are operably connected.

[0050] Referring to FIG. 5, an internal service 152 may be configured to export a batch file 154 (e.g. CSV, JSON, etc.) containing all transaction data 110 recorded within a given period of time. The rewards engine 118 imports the batch file 154 by employing, for example, secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) or the like, and processes the transaction data 110.

[0051] Referring to FIG. 6, an internal service 162 may be configured to generate a message containing transaction data 110 and publish the message to a message queue 164. The rewards engine 118 subscribes to the message queue 164 to obtain the transaction data 110.

[0052] The embodiments shown in FIGS. 2-6 provide flexibility in terms of how transaction data 110 is queried by the rewards engine 118 allowing for wider implementation with different mobile money systems 106 and across jurisdictions with different access to data and privacy laws. This further allows for the mobile money issuer (i.e. the operator of mobile money system 106) to set access rules for what transaction data 110 is accessible by the rewards engine 118 according to local privacy law. Thus, a mutually agreeable (to the customer and the mobile money system operator) subset of transaction data 110 can be queried by the linked offer system 112 while minimizing unnecessary data sharing.

[0053] According to several embodiments, the rewards engine 118 may only query the transaction data 110 of customers who have provided consent to link their customer account in the linked offer system 112 to their mobile money account in the mobile money system 106. According to other embodiments, the rewards engine 118 receives aggregate transaction data 110 from the mobile money system 106 and searches the aggregate transaction data 110 for a subset of transaction data 110 originating from a consenting customer who is registered with the linked offer system 112, or originating from a merchant who posted a MMLO.

[0054] Referring to FIG. 7, illustrated therein is a block diagram of the linked offer system 112 shown in FIGS. 1-6. The linked offer system 112 includes an offer database 132 for storing offers generated by merchants via the merchant portal 114. Stored offers are searchable by the rewards engine 118 for matching offers to transaction data (i.e. transaction data 110 in FIGS. 2-6).

[0055] The linked offer system 112 includes a customer account database 134 for storing customer account information, including personal information and consents received via the customer portal 116 and/or the third-party portal 115 from a customer mobile device (i.e. customer mobile device 102 in FIGS. 2-6). The rewards engine 118 is configured to query the customer database 134 to identify customers that have provided consent for their transaction data to be queried by the rewards engine 118.

[0056] The linked offer system 112 includes an analytics database 136 for storing a plurality of analytics. The analytics may include anonymized transaction data and transaction history. The analytics may include, matched offers, redeemed offers, offer click-through rates, etc.

[0057] The analytics stored in the database 136 may be accessed by customers via the customer portal 116 and the third-party portal 115 to review their received offers, spending habits etc. Analytics may be accessed by merchants via the merchant portal 114 to assess the effectiveness of past offers and create new offers that are targeted to a customer or subset of customers.

[0058] The linked offer system 121 includes a message generator 138 for generating and pushing messages to the customer mobile device (i.e. customer mobile device 102 in FIGS. 1 -6) over a cellular network. The message generator 138 may be a third-party notification system configured to send one or more of: SMS messages, mobile notifications, Whatsapp® messages, voice calls, etc.

[0059] The linked offer system 112 includes an account linker 130. The account linker 130 is configured to link the customer account to the customer’s mobile money account upon verifying the identity of the customer and obtaining customer consent to query transaction data. The linking of the customer account to the customer mobile money account is achieved by 2-factor authentication which may be performed in several ways, as described below.

[0060] According to an embodiment, the account linker 130 may be an API service endpoint from a mobile money provider or a third-party verification service provider for the customer to verify that they are the account owner and provide consent to link accounts. The mobile money provider (or third-party service) sends a USSD prompt for consent to the customer mobile device. The USSD prompt may include a consent agreement. The customer sends a reply to the USSD prompt with their mobile money account PIN thereby verifying the customer’s identify and providing consent. The consent is then recorded by the mobile money system (or third-party service provider) and provided via the account linker 130 to the linked offer system 112.

[0061] According to another embodiment, the account linker 130 may be configured to obtain identification verification and consent via a customer application running on the customer mobile device. The customer requests to link their customer account to their mobile money account via the customer app. The account linker 130 sends a USSD message to the customer mobile device with the required consent information. The user replies to the USSD message and consent and a timestamp are recorded by the linked offer system 112. The account linker 130 may then query the mobile money system for the customer’s transaction data using the “proof” of consent and the timestamp received.

[0062] Alternatively, the account linker 130 may send a mobile money payment request for a nominal sum of mobile money from the customer. To accept the payment request, the customer inputs their mobile money account PIN whereby the nominal sum is withdrawn from the customer’s mobile money account and transferred to a mobile money account of the linked offer system 112. The nominal sum is treated as a consent token whereby, if the customer has a positive balance with the linked offer system 112 it indicates the customer has consented to the linked offer system 112 to query the customer’s transaction data. If/when the customer wishes to withdraw consent they can request to do so via the customer application at which point the nominal sum is transferred back to the customer’s mobile money account.

[0063] According to another embodiment the account linker 130 may be configured to employ a smart contract to obtain customer consent using a public blockchain (e.g. Ethereum or Bitcoin) that records a time of consent. The smart contract defines a scheme whereby a customer ID associated to the customer is pseudonymized (ex. by taking the SHA-256 of the customer ID) and a blockchain hash map is set to map the pseudonymized customer ID to a Boolean (ex. {SHA256:true}) or a bitmap. The smart contract defines private keys held by the linked offer system 112 that can change the hash map. Each time the customer provides consent to query their transaction data, the entry for the pseudonymized customer ID in the hash map is set to true. The mobile money system may then query the hash map (as it is a public blockchain) at any time and retrieve the result as to whether a user has consented and at what time consent was received.

[0064] The account linker 130 may be further configured to unlink the mobile money account if the customer no longer uses the phone number and/or requests their account to be unlinked. Unlinking of the account is performed in a similar fashion as linking. For example, the unlinking may return the consent token (nominal sum of mobile money) back to the customer; record a take and time of unlinking in the customer account database 134; or update the smart contract to reflect the account is unlinked. Unlinking the mobile money account withdraws consent for the rewards engine 118 to query transaction data for that account.

[0065] Referring to FIG. 8, illustrated therein is a flow chart of a method 200 for generating and redeeming MMLOs. The method 200 may be implemented using the systems in FIGS. 2-6. In the description of method 200, the elements from FIG. 2 are indicated in parenthesis for reference.

[0066] At 202, a customer registers a customer account with the linked offer system (112). The customer may enter their personal information including, at least, a phone number via a customer app (124) running on the customer mobile device (102). Personal information may further include a name, a date of birth, an email address and/or a mobile money account number. According to an embodiment, the customer may enter their personal information on a website accessed via the customer mobile device (102) or another device used by the customer. According to an embodiment, the customer may enter their personal information via a third-party app (125). According to other embodiments, the phone number provided by the customer mobile device (102) via the customer mobile app (124) may be used by the linked offer system (112) to retrieve the other personal information including name and date of birth from a KYC service provider or a mobile money issuer (106).

[0067] The phone number is associated to the SIM in the customer mobile device (102). The date of birth is used to determine that the customer is not a minor and has the legal capacity to provide consent to use of their transaction data (110). The personal information is received by the linked offer system (112) via the customer portal (116) and stored in a customer account database (i.e. customer accounts 134 in FIG. 7).

[0068] To complete registration, a message generator (message generator 138 in FIG. ) of the linked offer system (112) sends a message to the phone number (or email) provided (i.e. to the customer device (102)). The message includes a one-time password to verify the phone number. After verification, the customer is required to enter a strong password to protect access to their customer account in the linked offer system (112). Generally, Act 202 is only performed the first time method 200 is implemented for each customer mobile device (102). [0069] At 204, customer consent to query their mobile money transaction data (110) is received by the linked offer system (112). The consent is permission for the linked offer system (112) to query the customer’s transaction data in order to match with MMLOs and credit the customer’s mobile money account with rewards.

[0070] Generally, act 204 is only performed the first time method 200 is implemented for a given mobile money account. However, in subsequent implementations, additional consents may be received to allow the linked offer system (112) to query additional transaction data and/or to provide additional offers (110) not consented to previously. According to an embodiment, acts 202 and 204 may be performed simultaneously, whereby customer consent is received at the time of registration.

[0071] At 206, the customer account, in the linked offer system (112), is linked to the customer’s mobile money account in the mobile money system (106) by two-factor authentication. For example, the customer’s mobile money account number may be entered via the customer application (124) running on the customer device (102) and is received by an account linker API endpoint (130 in FIG. 7) in the linked offer system (112). The account linker API calls the mobile money system (106) to generate a USSD prompt requesting the customer to enter their mobile money account PIN to verify they are the owner of the mobile money account. Upon verification of the PIN by the mobile money system (106), the customer account is linked to the mobile money account.

[0072] According to an embodiment, at 206, the USSD prompt may be a mobile money request for a nominal sum whereby the customer is required to enter their mobile money PIN to approve the request and verify they are the owner of the mobile money account.

[0073] Generally, act 206 is only performed the first time method 200 is implemented for a given mobile money account. Act 206 may be performed once for each mobile money account owned by the customer, whereby the customer account is linked to one or more mobile money accounts. Note, while a customer account may be linked to one or more mobile money accounts, each mobile money account is generally linked to one (1 ) phone number/SIM of the customer. It may be possible that a SIM may be linked to more than one mobile money account belonging to the same customer (i.e. a business mobile money account and a personal mobile money account). Act, 206 may be performed concurrently with Act 202 if the personal information entered by the customer includes the mobile money account number.

[0074] At 208, one or more MMLOs are received from a merchant device (104). The one or more offers may be created by a merchant using the merchant app (126) running on the merchant device (104) and uploaded to an offer database via the merchant portal (i.e. offer database 132 and merchant portal 114 in FIG. 7). MMLOs may include: a cash back reward; a discount (e.g. 50% off); an incentive (e.g. buy one get one free); points for a rewards program (e.g. Air Miles®) or an advertisement. Offers, may be merchant-led. That is, the merchant themselves may fund the offers. The merchant may also set the criteria for redeeming the offer (e.g. 50% on purchases of $100 or more).

[0075] According to an embodiment, at 208, a third-party sponsor of the merchant (e.g. the mobile money issuer/operator of mobile money system 106) may create MMLOs or fund existing MMLOs created by the merchant. For example, the third-party sponsor may create an offer applicable to: all merchants who accept the issuer’s mobile money; a subset of merchants in a geographic region; a subset of merchants in a given industry or business category; a merchant who only accepts the issuer’s mobile money, etc. In such case, the third-party sponsor funds the offers, rather than the merchant. According to other embodiments, the third-party sponsor may fund the MMLOs, for example, by extending a line of credit to the merchant to create MMLOs that the merchant must then repay.

[0076] At 210, the MMLOs are presented to the customer. The MMLOs may be presented to the customer via the customer application (124) or a third-party application (125) running on the customer mobile device (102). The MMLOs may be presented to the customer via a message sent to the customer mobile device (102) by the message generator (138 in FIG. 7). According to some embodiments, Act 210 may be omitted.

[0077] At 212, a customer selection of one or more MMLOs is received by the linked offer system (112). The customer may enter the selection via the customer application (124) or the third-party application (125) running on the customer mobile device (102). The customer may provide the selection by opening a link in an SMS text message sent to the customer mobile device (102). The customer selection is received via the customer portal (116) and stored in the customer account database (134 in FIG. 7). According to some embodiments, wherein the rewards engine (118) automatically matches MMLOs to transaction data (110), Act 212 may be omitted.

[0078] At 214, transaction data (110) of one or more transactions made using the mobile money account are stored. The mobile money transactions are made using the customer mobile device 102 via the customer app (124), the third-party app (125), a mobile money (digital wallet) application, etc. As noted above, transaction data includes, at least, a customer ID, a merchant ID, a transaction amount, a transaction type (e.g. purchase, refund, etc.) and a timestamp. Transaction data (110) may include historical transaction data recorded over a period of time. Thus, the transaction data (110) may predate the registration of the customer account, if the customer had made mobile money transactions prior to registration.

[0079] The transaction data (110) is recorded by the mobile money system (106) as transactions are processed. The transaction data (110) may be stored in a local database of the mobile money system (106). The transaction data (110) may be processed by an internal service (142) for: storage in an external database (144 in FIG. 4); storage in a batch file (154 in FIG. 5); or storage in a message queue (165 in FIG. 6).

[0080] At 216, the rewards engine (118) queries the transaction data (110) for transactions matching the MMLOs. The rewards engine (118) may be configured to query transaction data (110) only for those customers who have consented to providing access to their transaction data (110). Consenting customers are identified, according to the customer ID stored in the customer account database (134 in FIG. 7).

[0081] The rewards engine (118) is further configured to query the merchant ID in transaction data (110) to search for offers posted by that merchant in the offer database (132 in FIG. 7). If the transaction data (110) includes a transaction between the consenting customer (according to customer ID) and the merchant (according to merchant ID), the rewards engine (118) applies matching criteria to determine which, if any, offers are applicable to the transaction. The matching criteria may be based on, for example, the time of purchase, size of the transaction, purchasing behavior/frequency, the location of the customer, and customer traits (age, etc.). The transaction data (110) is queried at regular intervals (every 5 seconds to daily) by the rewards engine (118) depending on system capacity.

[0082] In an exemplary query operation, the rewards engine (118) may query aggregated transaction data (110) from the mobile money system (106) via an API service (FIG. 2). The rewards engine (118) searches the aggregated transaction data (110) for a subset of transaction data (110) originating from a consenting customer (according to customer ID) that is registered with the linked offer system (112). The merchant(s) (according to merchant ID) for the subset of transactions are then queried for active MMLOs at the time of the transaction. If the transaction fits the matching criteria for the MMLO, then the MMLO is matched to the transaction. Alternatively, the rewards engine (118) may first query a subset of transaction data (110) originating from a merchant who posts MMLOs to the linked offer system (112), then search the subset of transactions for customer(s) that have consented to receive MMLOs.

[0083] At 218, the matching MMLOs are applied to the customer account. In this respect “applied” refers to how the customer is credited with the reward, depending on the nature of the MMLO (whether it is cash back, a discount, etc.). The reward may be received instantaneously or delayed. For example, if the matching MMLO is a cash back reward, the value of the cash back reward may be stored by the linked offer system (112) to be applied against future transactions, or may be sent to the customer’s mobile money account via a USSD mobile money transfer to the customer device (102). The cash back reward may be held in a pending state for a period of time following the transaction, until the transaction has been confirmed to meet the terms and conditions set forth by the creator of the MMLO to ensure that the transaction is not refunded/cancelled before a reversal period is over.

[0084] Where the merchant funds the matching offer, merchant mobile money (or credit) is held in reserve by the linked offer system (112) and paid out when the matching offer is applied. Where act 212 is performed, the customer selection of matching offers is applied. According to embodiments, wherein acts 210 and 212 are omitted, the rewards engine (118) is configured to automatically apply the matching offers to the mobile money account based on the matching criteria and transaction data (110).

[0085] At 220, analytics related to the applied offers are recorded in the analytics database (136 in FIG. 7). Analytics include, for example, the time of purchase, the size of the transaction, the merchant selling the goods/service, how many customers redeemed an offer, customer traits, etc.. Following act 220, the method 200 reverts to act 208, and proceeds in a loop thereafter.

[0086] The systems and methods disclosed herein, provides incentives to make mobile money a more appealing payment method for both customers and merchants. Customers are encouraged to make more mobile money transactions with the expectation that more transactions will increase the likelihood of a given transaction matching a mobile money-linked offer. Further, a customer may be more likely to shop at a merchant that they have received offers from in the past.

[0087] Similarly, there is incentive for merchants to create more offers with the expectation that more offers will increase the likelihood of a given offer matching transaction data (and being redeemed by the customer). Incentive is also increased for the mobile money issuer (i.e. operator of the mobile money system 106) to create offers to promote the circulation of their mobile money compared to other e-money or hard currency.

[0088] A further benefit is that customers do not have to change their shopping habits to avail themselves to offers. Since the customer is automatically matched with offers based on their stored transaction data, customers simply need to register their customer account with the linked offer system and link their customer account to their mobile money account, and shop as normal to redeem offers. Similarly, merchants do not have to change their day-to-day operations to apply offers, perform POS integration, train staff, etc. because the offers are attributed automatically.

[0089] Another benefit of the present invention is that a merchant may generate offers targeted to a specific customer, or subset of customers, based on past customer transaction history and stored analytics. A further benefit is that the systems and methods disclosed provide for customers to receive offers that are automatically applied to transactions, thus abrogating physical coupons or entering promotional/discount codes in online retail outlets.

[0090] While the above description provides examples of one or more apparatus, methods, or systems, it will be appreciated that other apparatus, methods, or systems may be within the scope of the claims as interpreted by one of skill in the art.

Claims

- 22 - Claims:

1. A computer-implemented method for generating and redeeming mobile money- linked offers, the method comprising: linking a customer account to a mobile money account; storing one or more mobile money-linked offers and matching criteria; storing mobile money transaction data of the mobile money account; querying the transaction data for transactions to identify matching mobile money- linked offers based on the matching criteria; and applying the matching mobile money-linked offers to the customer account.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: registering the customer account, using customer information including at least a phone number linked to the mobile money account, received from a customer mobile device; and receiving customer consent to query the mobile money transaction data.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: presenting one or more mobile money-linked offers on a customer mobile device; and receiving a customer selection of the one or more mobile money-linked offers.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: recording analytics related to the applied mobile money-linked offers. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile money transaction data comprises: a customer ID, for uniquely identifying the customer in the transaction; a merchant ID, for uniquely identifying the merchant in the transaction; a transaction amount; a transaction type; and a timestamp. The method of claim 1 , wherein the customer information further comprises: a name; and a date of birth. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more mobile money-linked offers and the matching criteria are received from a merchant device. A system for redeeming mobile money-linked offers, the system comprising: an offer server, configured to: link a customer account to a mobile money account using 2-factor authentication whereby customer consent to query transaction data of the mobile money account is obtained; query transaction data of the mobile money account; identify one or more mobile money-linked offers matching with the transaction data based on matching criteria; and apply the matching mobile money-linked offers to the customer account. The system of claim 8, further comprising: at least one mobile device having a subscriber identification module (SIM) and configured to: connect to the mobile money account to perform mobile money transactions, wherein the mobile money account is linked to the SIM; and connect to the offer server to register the customer account, wherein the mobile device is connected to the offer server over the internet. The system of claim 8, further comprising: a merchant device connected to the offer server, wherein the merchant device is configured to: upload the one or more offers and the matching criteria to the offer server. The system of claim 8, further comprising: a mobile money system, configured to: process mobile money transactions of the mobile device, wherein the mobile device is connected to the mobile money system over a cellular network; store the transaction data of the mobile money account; and - 25 - provide transaction data when queried by the offer server, wherein the mobile money system is connected to the offer server over the internet. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one mobile device comprises: a display; and an input device, wherein the at least one mobile device is further configured to: transmit customer information and consent entered via the input device to the offer server; present the mobile money-linked offers via the display; and transmit a customer selection of one or more mobile money-linked offers entered via the input device to the offer server. The system of claim 8, wherein the offer server is further configured to: store the one or more mobile money-linked offers; and record analytics related to the matching mobile money-linked offers. A system for generating mobile money-linked offers, the system comprising: an offer server, configured to: store merchant accounts; store mobile money-linked offers and associated matching criteria; and - 26 - transmit the one or more mobile money-linked offers to a user device. The system of claim 14, wherein the offer server is further configured to transmit the one or more mobile money-linked offers to the customer device based on the associated matching criteria for each mobile money-linked offer. The system of claim 14, further comprising: a merchant device, configured to: connect to the offer server to register the merchant account, wherein the merchant device is connected to the offer server over the internet; receive user input via an input device to create the mobile money- linked offers and the matching criteria; receive a user input via the input device to associate each mobile money-linked offer to associated matching criteria; upload each mobile money-linked order and associated matching criteria to the offer server. The system of claim 14, further comprising a third-party system, configured to: receive mobile money-linked offers from the offer system, wherein the third-party system and the offer system are connected over the internet; present the mobile money-linked offers to customers; - 27 - receive a customer selection of the one or more mobile money-liked offers from a customer device; and transmit the customer selection to the offer system; wherein the offer system is further configured to receive the customer selection of the one or more mobile money-liked offers from the user device. They system of claim 17, wherein the third-party system is configured to: present the mobile money-linked offers to customers via a third-party application running on the customer mobile device; and receive the customer selection via the third-party application. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of an offer server, cause the offer server to: link a customer account to a mobile money account; store one or more mobile money-linked offers received from a merchant device; query transaction data of the mobile money account stored in a mobile money platform for transactions matching the mobile money-linked offers; and apply the matching mobile money-linked offers to the customer account.