DYNAMIC ADMINISTRATION OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY PROGRAMS

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DYNAMIC ADMINISTRATION OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY PROGRAMS
申请号	EP06790772.5	申请日	2006-09-29	公开(公告)号	EP1932108A1	公开(公告)日	2008-06-18
申请人	Tietzen, Terrance Patrick; Archinuk, Mark Marcel; Haskins, Tamara Mary;			发明人	Tietzen, Terrance Patrick; Archinuk, Mark Marcel; Haskins, Tamara Mary;
摘要	A method, computer system, and computer program product for encouraging customer loyalty; acquiring, retaining and rescuing new customers is provided. The method includes the steps of: (a) one or more partners participating within the loyalty system to help define token, cross-promotional tokens, and prize opportunities associated with one or more activities (16); (b) registering one or more members with the loyalty methods for the loyalty system, whereby their registration may include the provision of a registered form of payment data for one or more registered form of payment types of each of the one or more participants and the registration of a token (36); (c) collecting financial data corresponding to transactions of the one or more members associated with the one or more partners, and providing said financial data to the loyalty system; (d) providing access to the loyalty system to the one or more members, the loyalty system permitting the one or more partners; (i) to define the rules defining the loyalty program, including special partner tokens including cross-promotional tokens between partners, loyalty tokens or payments, and chances to win prize opportunities (16); (ii) to monitor the effectiveness of the loyalty systems; and (iii) to modify the loyalty system to enhance its effectiveness.
权利要求	1. A method of encouraging customer loyalty, characterised in that the method comprises the steps of: (a) One or more partners registering with a loyalty system, the loyalty system being operable to enable the one or more partners to define one or more loyalty programs and associated tokens for administering such loyalty program, the loyalty programs enabling one or more participating partners from the one or more partners to collaborate by attaching attributes to the tokens that permit members to redeem the associated tokens with the participating partners; (b) The participating partners defining the attributes of the loyalty program, including the associated tokens (promotions, cross- promotions, combined offers, chances to win prizes, redemption rules) by operation of the loyalty system; (c) Registering the one or more members with the loyalty system, including providing data regarding one or more forms of payment registered with the loyalty system; (d) Collecting financial data corresponding to one or more transactions of the one or more members associated with the one or more participating partners and the loyalty program, and providing said financial data to the loyalty system, and based on the one or more transactions providing an associated token to the one or more members; and (e) Based on the transactions of the one or more members, permitting the one or more members to register their associated token with the loyalty system and to redeem their associated token based on the attributes of the loyalty program defined by the participating partners. 2. The method of claim 1, characterised in that the method comprises the further steps of participating partners by operation of the loyalty system: (i) Monitoring the effectiveness of the loyalty system; and (ii) Modifying the customer loyalty methods and loyalty system to enhance its effectiveness. 3. The method of claim 1, characterised in that the participating partners collectively increase the aggregate commerce of other participating partners by implementing customer acquisition, retention and rescue by means offering tokens redeemable with other participating partners. 4. The method of claim 3, characterised in that participating partners cooperate in the deployment of the loyalty program and the sharing of associated costs, by operation of the loyalty system. 5. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that the method comprises the further step of requiring the one or more members to return survey data regarding one or more participating partners as a condition of obtaining the associated token. 6. The method of claim 5, characterised in that the method comprises the further step of the one or more participating partners, by operation of the loyalty system, linking the associated tokens with a defined value or prize opportunity based on the return of survey data by one or more members. 7. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that the method comprises the further steps of: (a) Defining a unique identifier for each participating member; (b) Defining a unique identifier for each associated token, and defining the associated tokens such that each associated token is operable to create a new customer transaction for another participating partner, thereby enabling participating partners to share their respective customers; (c) Providing the unique identifier for the associated tokens and partner authorization data to a transaction processing entity to enable the processed payments that qualify for the loyalty program to be identified; (d) Filtering transactions processed by the transaction processing entity in accordance with the form of payment registered by the one or more members so as to capture transactions of the one or more members that qualify for the loyalty program; and/or (e) Providing data concerning the transactions of (d) to the operator of the loyalty system. 8. The method of claim 7, characterised in that the data concerning transactions processed by the transaction processing entity in accordance with the form of payment registered by the one or more members includes one or more of the following: (a) The one or more member's unique identifier; (b) A unique identifier confirmation number for each token redemption; (c) Identification data for the partner; and (d) A settlement date and the amount that the one or more members spent with the participating partner. 9. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that the method comprises the further step of providing (by operation of the loyalty system) member feedback data to the one or more participating partners reporting on the effectiveness of the loyalty system, the reports assisting in the modification of the loyalty system to improve the effectiveness thereof. 10. A system for encouraging customer loyalty, the loyalty system being operable to connect to one or more remote computers to provide access to the resources of the system at said one or more remote computers, the loyalty system comprising: (a) A server computer; (b) A server application linked to the server computer, the server application including a loyalty system, characterised in that the server application is operable to provide instructions to the server computer that: (i) Enable one or more partners to register with the loyalty system, and to define one or more loyalty programs and associated tokens for administering such loyalty program, the loyalty program enabling one or more participating partners from the one or more partners to collaborate by attaching attributes to the associated tokens that permit the one or more members to redeem the associated tokens with the participating partners; (ii) Enable the participating partners to define the attributes of the one or more loyalty programs, including of the associated tokens (promotions, cross-promotions, combined offers, chances to win prizes, redemption rules) by operation of the loyalty system; (iii) Enable the system to collect financial data corresponding to one or more transactions of the one or more members associated with the one or more participating partners and the loyalty program, and providing said financial data to the loyalty system, and based on the one or more transactions providing an associated token to the one or more members; and (iv) Based on the transactions of the one or more members, enabling the one or more members to register their associated token with the loyalty system and redeem their associated token based on the attributes of the loyalty program defined by the participating partners. 1. The system of claim 10, characterised in that the loyalty system enables the participating partners to: (a) Monitor the effectiveness of the loyalty system; and (b) Modify the customer loyalty methods and loyalty system to enhance its effectiveness. 12. The system of claim 10, characterised in that the participating partners collectively increase the aggregate commerce of other participating partners by implementing customer acquisition, retention and rescue by means offering tokens redeemable with other participating partners. 13. The method of claim 12, characterised in, that participating partners cooperate in the deployment of the loyalty program and the sharing of associated costs, by operation of the loyalty system. 14. The system claimed in claim 10, characterised in that the server application is operable to link customer loyalty methods, loyalty tokens/cross-promotional tokens and prize opportunities to the provision of survey/customer feedback data, by the operation of the loyalty system. 15. The system claimed in claim 10, characterised in that the server application is operable to: (a) Establish a unique identifier for each member; (b) Establish a unique identifier for each token; (c) Provide the member data and partner authorization data to a transaction processing entity registered as the one or more member's registered form of payment, to enable transactions that quality for the loyalty program to be filtered; (d) Receive and record qualifying transactions from the transaction processing entity; and (e) Apply attributes of the loyalty program based on the qualifying transaction data and the token data. 16. The system claimed in claim 15, characterised in that the data regarding qualifying transactions includes: (a) a unique member identifier; (b) Identification data for the participating partner; (c) A unique identifier confirmation number issued for each loyalty reward or token issued; (d) A unique identifier confirmation number issued for each loyalty reward or token redemption; (e) A unique identifier for tokens; (f) Remote replenishment of tokens by the system; and (g) A settlement date and the amount the transaction of a member with the partner. 17. The system as claimed in claim 10, characterised in that the server computer is linked to a database and the server application includes a database management utility for managing the storage and retrieval of data from the database related to the operation of the loyalty system, wherein the database management utility is operable to encrypt to the database personal information provided by the members. 18. The system as claimed in claim 10, characterised in that the server application includes an administration facility that enables hierarchical access to participating partners or members to functions of the server application or data stored to the database, based on permissions defined by the operator of the server computer. 19. The system as claimed in claim 10, characterised in that the server application is operable to publish a series of web pages to the Internet, wherein the web pages include: (a) One or more web pages defining a member area that provides access to functions of the server application dedicated to members; and (b) One or more web pages defining a participating partner area that provides access to functions of the server application dedicated to participating partners. 20. The system as claimed in claim 10, characterised in that the server application includes a token administration utility that enables partners to modify the attributes for one or more of their loyalty programs, wherein the token administration utility is operable to enable participating partners to perform one or more of the following functions: (a) Definition of the activities required to continue or enhance customer loyalty methods by means of a token but not limited to, to help acquire retain/rescue members; (b) Definition of the quantum of customer loyalty methods and loyalty tokens/cross-promotional tokens and/or prize opportunities assigned to particular activities; and (c) Administration of token and possible token redemption rules by a partner. 21. The system as claimed in claim 17, characterised in that the server application includes a reporting utility, wherein the reporting utility is operable to analyze data stored to the database associated with participant accumulation of prize opportunities and member transactions to populate one or more reports, and present the reports to the associated partner, the reports assisting the partner in modifying the rules for one or more of their areas within the loyalty system to improve their effectiveness. 22. The system claimed in claim 19, characterised in that the partner area enables members to: (a) Access a loyalty account that reflects a substantially real time loyalty tokens/cross-promotional token values and prize opportunities; and (b) Redeem loyalty tokens through a unique identifier. 23. A computer program product, for use on a server computer, the computer program product comprising: (a) A computer usable medium; (b) computer readable program code recorded or storable in the computer useable medium, characterised in that the computer readable program code defines a server application on the server computer that is operable on the server computer to: (i) Enable one or more partners to register with the loyalty system, and to define one or more loyalty programs and associated tokens for administering such loyalty program, the loyalty program enabling one or more participating partners from the one or more partners to collaborate by attaching attributes to the associated tokens that permit the one or more members to redeem the associated tokens with the participating partners; (ii) Enable the participating partners to define the attributes of the one or more loyalty programs, including of the associated tokens (promotions, cross-promotions, combined offers, chances to win prizes, redemption rules) by operation of the loyalty system; (iii) Enable the system to collect financial data corresponding to one or more transactions of the one or more members associated with the one or more participating partners and the loyalty program, and providing said financial data to the loyalty system, and based on the one or more transactions providing an associated token to the one or more members; and (iv) Based on the transactions of the one or more members, enabling the one or more members to register their associated token with the loyalty system and redeem their associated token based on the attributes of the loyalty program defined by the participating partners. 24. The computer program product claimed in claim 23, characterised in that the computer program product: (a) Enables members to use a token as form of full or partial payment to a partner with a registered form of payment but not limited to: (i) Credit card; (ii) Interac card; (iii) Other financial form of payment(s) which are valid forms of payment for partners; (b) Enable members to use one or more tokens at one or more partners whereby partners share the cost of the token/incentive as one partner may acquire the customer while another retains its customer; (c) Collect financial data corresponding to transactions of the one or more members associated with the one or more partners, including anonymous comments on the transaction experience and the rating of the offer; and providing said financial data to the loyalty system; and (d) Wherein the loyalty system is operable on the server computer to enable the partners to: (i) Modify the rules for their applicable area within the loyalty system on a dynamic basis collectively or individually, including but not limited to: (A) Rules for loyalty tokens; (I) Token Values; (II) Token time restrictions (B) Time periods for prizes and tokens values; (C) Closed-loop nature of tokens; (D) Cross-promotional token values; and (E) Possible redemption of the loyalty tokens; (ii) Monitor the effectiveness of the loyalty system; and (iii) Modify an area of the loyalty system to enhance its effectiveness. 25. A computer program product as claimed in claim 24, characterised in that the loyalty system includes a token administration utility that enables partners to modify the rules in their applicable area to improve the effectiveness of the loyalty system, and wherein the token administration utility is operable to enable partners to perform one or more of the following functions: (a) Definition of the activities required to acquire loyalty tokens/cross- promotional tokens values and/or prize opportunities for their own loyalty methods; (b) Definition of the loyalty tokens assigned to particular activities; (c) Prizes available; and (d) Tokens available.
说明书全文	METHOD, SYSTEM AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR PROVIDING A LOYALTY SYSTEM ENABLING DYNAMIC ADMINISTRATION OF LOYALTY PROGRAMS INCLUDING CUSTOMER ACQUISITION/ RETENTION/ RESCUE Field of the Invention This invention relates to the creation and administration of automated loyalty reward and customer acquisition, retention and rescue programs This invention relates more particularly to Internet solutions for creating and administering loyalty reward and customer acquisition/ retention/ rescue programs Background of the Invention Numerous customer loyalty and customer acquisition/retention/rescue programs are known Customer loyalty systems also play an increasingly important role for business The use of the Internet in the area of administering customer acquisition programs is also known For example, U S Application No 10/068,469 (Published, Aug 29, 2002), assigned to International Business Machines Corporation relates to a "Method, Computer System, and Computer Program Product for Processing Customer Loyalty Data" The invention provides for front-end devices, such as front-end input terminals for inputting of transaction data, such as data specifying goods or services to be purchased by a customer The front-end devices can be distributed in the field, for example in retail shops, super market and pomt-of-sale terminals The front-end devices have a spreadsheet engine which comprises the data processing kernel of spreadsheet programs such as Lotus 1 -2-3 or Microsoft Excel The front-end device advantageously can be integrated with a point-of-sale terminal for processing of a customer's checkout and payment Furthermore, the invention is advantageous in that it allows the updating of loyalty rules without a need to separately reprogram each of the front-end devices in the field Changing of loyalty rules in the database of the back-end computer will cause updating of the loyalty rules of the front-end devices when synchronization occurs. Transaction data between the front-end and the back- end occurs via the Internet. U.S. Application No. 09/909,194 (Published Jan. 31 , 2002) in the name of Michael A. Wilkman, relates to a "Universal Transaction Manager Agent, Systems and Methods". This invention provides a transaction engine that enables a user to match and coordinate the use of credit accounts, debit accounts, loyalty (points) programs, affinity (points) programs, promotions, and currency exchanges, to enhance the purchase transaction of consumers and businesses. The enhancements may include financial, promotional, or other benefits for various purchases of goods and services, thereby enabling partners to target their incentives to consumers and businesses prior to or at the time of the purchase transactions. There are a number of disadvantages to the prior art solutions. • Prior loyalty solutions generally require a separate loyalty ID. Most customer loyalty programs require action from the user to associate the customer loyalty program with the consumer behaviour, for example, use of a special loyalty card, or provision of a loyalty card number. This complicates the deployment of the loyalty program, and also makes it less convenient for the customer to participate. • Rewards are generally not processed in real time, so a participant has to wait for up to a month to see the incentive earned. • Rewards are generally not redeemed at the partner's physical site, therefore there is a missed opportunity to further encourage customer loyalty by means of personal interaction. • Prior art and practice do not generally provide a solution that enables customization of loyalty programs "on the fly" based on effectiveness and incremental cost. Summary of the Invention One aspect of the present invention is a method for encouraging customers to patronize participating merchants for the purposes of loyalty reward, customer acquisition, retention, and/or rescue. In this document the methods directed at loyalty reward, customer acquisition, retention and/or rescue are collectively referred to as "loyalty methods". Loyalty methods, in accordance with the present invention, may include automated activities carried out by the system as set forth below, by the system administrator. The partners and members are participants within the loyalty system and obtain the benefit of increased business and other positive quantifiable results by utilizing the loyalty system. Another aspect of the present invention is the "loyalty engine". The loyalty engine encompasses the custom software and methods utilized by the system users. The system of the present invention is best understood as a "Loyalty System", which enables the practice of the method of the present invention. The system includes computer hardware and the computer program of the present invention, as particularized below. The users are the collection of devices or people that interact with the system. Interaction may occur in real-time or as a batched process but is not limited to same. A "member" is an entity that participates in the loyalty program and does not offer goods and services to the other entities of the loyalty program. A customer willingly signs up for the program to become a member to receive the benefits of membership. A member's status and standing are governed by the rules as set forth by the loyalty system. The merchants who participate in the loyalty program are referred to as "partners". Partners' status and conduct are governed by the rules as set forth by the loyalty system. With respect to the invention, rendering, tendering, reimbursing, remitting and remunerating can be collectively referred to as "payment". Payment may occur between partners and/or members. Recognized payment types are defined as set out by an agreement between partners and the loyalty system. Payments may be traceable via the loyalty system by means of a "token". Tokens may have variable value depending on value assignment by the loyalty system. Tokens are traceable when used within the loyalty system. Tokens can be incentives to carry out present and future commerce. Tokens do not reflect the methods of remuneration for goods/services in the course of commerce without the utilization of the invention's methods and benefits. The method of invention includes the following steps: (1 ) One or more partners defining loyalty methods, the program defining tokens associated with one or more activities; (2) Registering one or more members with the loyalty program whereby their registration includes the provision of a registered form of transaction data for one or more registered form(s) of remuneration of one or more members and the registration of a token issued by an initial partner; (3) Customers using the token to patronize one or more other partners in addition to the initial partner, thereby providing a new customer interaction for one or more other partners; (4) Collecting financial data corresponding to transactions of the one or more members associated with the one or more partners, and providing said financial data to a computer system for processing data associated with loyalty program; and (5) Providing access to the data associated with the loyalty program and to a loyalty engine linked to the system, thereby permitting the one or more partners: (a) To define the rules defining the customer partner relationships with respect to a loyalty program, including cross promotions, tokens, chances to win prizes, redemption of tokens issued by other partners and combined offers involving multiple participating partners to maximize the effectiveness of customer/partner relationship costs, acquisition, retention and rescue. Certain other aspects of the loyalty engine are described in Co-Pending Canadian Application No. 2,468,386, filed on May 27, 2004 for a "Method, System, and Computer Program for Providing a Loyalty Engine Enabling Dynamic Administration of Cross-Promotional Loyalty Programs (the "Co-Pending Patent Application"). The invention may offer tokens that: (a) relate to customer-selected benefit programs; (b) are part of joint promotional activities of partners; (c) enable monitoring of the effectiveness of the loyalty program; and/or (d) enable a partner to modify the loyalty program to enhance its effectiveness. In a particular aspect of the invention, the completion of a survey is linked to an opportunity to acquire tokens of varying values to be used with the participating partners using the loyalty system. In yet another particular aspect of the invention, members can make a reservation for special partner tokens through the loyalty system, and tokens can be collected from the partner by the member presenting the member token with an identifier of a location of the applicable partner. In another aspect of the present invention, methods, computer systems, and computer programs and products are provided that enable a plurality of partners to co-operate to provide loyalty benefits jointly via the loyalty system described that enables partners to design and deploy shared loyalty methods. The focus of this invention is a unique business process that enhances customer loyalty methods that can be automated for participating partners. Customer acquisition is a key to the success of most businesses. Many types of business spend a significant portion of resources to acquire a new customer. Competitors who find a more cost effective way to acquire a new customer have a significant customer advantage. One of the advantages of the present invention is that it provides a loyalty method, system and computer program that enables participating businesses to acquire and retain consumers by providing tokens to members and provides quantifiable results to the participating businesses regarding effectiveness of such tokens whereby information regarding such results can be delivered automatically. Depending upon the business sector, some partners may have substantially more difficulty in acquiring new customers because of known competitive factors that exist without the loyalty system. Businesses that offer similar and differing products and services, in accordance with the present invention, can work together to capture consumer commerce by collaborating in offering tokens to members in the loyalty system, as particularized below. The pooling of resources to capture market share increases the opportunities to increase their business. A business could work together with another business that is traditionally a competitor where both businesses, as partners in the loyalty system, pool resources and initiatives to increase customer acquisition within the loyalty system. Customers are offered membership in the loyalty system to receive rewards and to provide the system with important customer data. The partners provide the incentives in a combined effort to win new customers and retain existing ones. The Loyalty System relies upon the attractiveness of all of the cumulative partners' offers and tokens to the consumer. Partners support other partners by using the loyalty system as a portal offering many choices to the member customers of all the partners in the loyalty system in a cooperative environment. Brief Description of the Drawings A detailed description of the preferred embodiment(s) is (are) provided herein below by way of example only and with reference to the following drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating one aspect of the method of the present invention, namely the "partner process"; Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating another aspect of the method of present invention, namely the customer acquisition customer/member process, in one particular implementation of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another aspect of the method of the present invention that promotes customer retention; Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the participant of the loyalty program pertaining to customer rescue, in one particular implementation of the present invention; and Fig. 5 is a program resource diagram illustrating the resources of the computer program of the present invention, which enables partners to make deposits for customer acquisition, retention and rescue of customers and to share the costs of the loyalty program. In the drawings, one embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood that the description and drawings are only for the purpose of illustration and as an aid to understanding, and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. Detailed Description As best illustrated in Fig. 1 , the method of invention includes the following steps: (1) one or more partners defining loyalty methods, the program defining tokens associated with one or more activities; (2) registering one or more members with the loyalty program whereby their registration includes the provision of a registered form of transaction data for one or more registered form(s) of remuneration of one or more members and the registration of a token issued by an initial partner; (3) customers using the token to patronize one or more other partners in addition to the initial partner, thereby providing a new customer interaction for one or more other partners; (4) collecting financial data corresponding to transactions of the one or more members associated with the one or more partners, and providing said financial data to a computer system for processing data associated with the loyalty program; and (5) providing access to the data associated with the loyalty program and to a loyalty engine linked to the system thereby permitting the one or more partners to establish the rules defining the customer partner relationships with respect to a loyalty program, including cross promotions, tokens, chances to win prizes, redemption of tokens issued by other partners and combined offers involving multiple participating partners, to maximize the effectiveness of customer/partner relationship costs, acquisition, retention and rescue. The tokens of the present invention: (a) relate to customer-selected benefit programs; (b) are part of joint promotional activities of partners; (c) enable monitoring of the effectiveness of the loyalty program; and/or (d) enable a partner to modify the loyalty program to enhance its effectiveness. Customers are enticed to join the loyalty program by means of the array of offers, tokens and benefits collectively offered by the partners. The present invention also enables a partner to rescue its customers who may consider utilizing goods/services from a non-participating business. A token may be given by a partner to a potentially disgruntled customer to restore goodwill and participation. The invention can assist in maintaining the business relationship, which might otherwise have been discontinued. The loyalty program of the present invention permits members to perceive immediate benefits from continuation of the business relationship with a partner. The present invention further enables the retention of customers. Specifically, in accordance with one particular aspect of this invention, a token may be given by a partner to an existing customer. The token is a reward for business participation. The token is used by other partners as a replacement for currency in a plurality of transactions involving payment. With respect to the invention rendering, tendering, reimbursing, remitting and remunerating can be collectively referred to as "payment". Payment may occur between partners and/or members. Recognized payment types are defined as set out by an agreement between partners and the loyalty system. Payments may be traceable via the loyalty system by means of a "token". Tokens may have variable value depending on value assignment by the loyalty system. Tokens are traceable when used within the loyalty system. Tokens can be incentives to carry out present and future commerce. Tokens do not reflect the methods of remuneration for goods/services in the course of commerce without the utilization of the inventions methods and benefits. It should be understood that the token can also be stored on a stored value card, may constitute a bar code or can be stored on a financial card. These transactions are recorded to derive loyalty information, as disclosed in the Co- Pending Patent Application. Partners have the ability to alter the value of tokens offered and the value of a member's participation with another partner. The system of the present invention is best understood as the system described in the Co-Pending Patent Application, and is referred to as the "loyalty system" in this disclosure. The loyalty system includes the computer program of the present invention (not shown) such as a known web application that enables the functions described in this disclosure. Certain technical details of this type of computer program are described in the Co-Pending Patent Application. One particular aspect of the computer program of the present invention is a token administration utility, provided in a manner that is known, that enables participating partners to modify the attributes for one or more of their loyalty programs, wherein the token administration utility is operable to enable participating partners to perform one or more of the following functions: Definition of the activities required to continue or enhance customer loyalty methods by means of a token but not limited to, to help acquire retain/rescue members; Definition of the quantum of customer loyalty methods and loyalty tokens/cross-promotional tokens and/or prize opportunities assigned to particular activities; and Administration of token and possible token redemption rules by a participating partner. The loyalty system is operable to generate a plurality of electronic tokens. These electronic tokens are best understood as a file that includes information related to criteria for the token as described below, as well as information that identifies the particular loyalty program and/or partner(s), and/or class of members/customers with which the token is associated. The token and the loyalty system are preferably provided such that the token is interoperable with systems used by partners to process payments such as transaction systems, point-of-sale systems and the like. The generation of the token is linked to the use of a financial card in a transaction with a partner under the loyalty program, as described in the Co-Pending Patent Application. The redemption of a validated token is achieved by a function of one or more of the following: ( 1 ) presenting a coupon printed from within the web site presented by the loyalty system, as described in the Co-Pending Patent Application, (2) a stored value card that is operable to store information regarding one or more tokens then in effect and that is operable to permit the participating partners to redeem the tokens using the loyalty card, or (3) presentation of a financial card, which when swiped through the point-of-sale system or other system of the participating partner enables the participating partner to access information regarding one or more validated token(s) allocated to the member and associated with the participating partner, and processing the transaction of the member such that the transaction takes the token into account. Specific examples are provided below: A member utilizes the loyalty system to obtain a coupon for a particular partner's offer. Member makes a purchase at a partner's business. The partner accepts the coupon with the specific conditions associated with the coupon. The amount that the member owes the partner is decreased by the discount on the coupon. A member presents a stored value card to a partner and the partner gives the member a discount from the amount of the member's bill. The amount of the discount has been agreed to by the accepting partner by defining the acceptance parameters in the loyalty system. The partner adjusts the value of the stored value card to reflect the discount given to the member and the value of the loyalty card is decreased. Token use, in certain cases, is only valid with the use of a registered financial card. Token acceptance may require the use of a financial card such as a credit card. A token presented without a financial card will not be an accepted form of payment for goods and services from partner. It should be understood that the aspect of the invention described in (3) above can be provided in a manner that is known, for example, by linking a database (not shown) associated with the loyalty system to the participating partner's point-of-sale system, or alternatively mirroring selected data from the loyalty system to the point-of-sale system. The tokens are interoperable with payment systems so that monies can flow within the loyalty system in regard to transactions involving tokens. For example, a first participating partner provides an incentive of $50.00 by means of a token to a member that is redeemable with a second participating partner, as a discount of $10.00 per transaction between the member and the second participating partner. In consideration for the transaction realized by the second participating partner, the first participating partner might pay $2.00 to the second participating partner in regard to such transaction. The token is operable to facilitate the flow of monies between accounts maintained within the loyalty system between participating partners in these and other similar situations. As illustrated in Fig. 1 , these tokens can be secured by a partner from the loyalty system in a "quantity" ( 10). Their value is determined and agreed upon between the partner and the loyalty system administrator. Thereafter, the loyalty system is operable to permit the partner to define and apply certain criteria of a certain class of tokens such as: (1) fees, discounts or odds for participation assigned to the token (12); (2) time related rules that determine activation of the tokens such as minimum/maximum time linked to the redemption of the token, special redemption rules related to time such as increased redemption value in off peak hours (14); (3) other partners opting into participation in the class of tokens (16); and (4) restrictions that apply to the redemption of tokens such as times/days/locations that the token can be redeemed, redeemable amount per visit (minimum, maximum) (18). Note that the aforesaid criteria can be variable with time. All characteristics of tokens may be altered over time. Tokens may have an expiry date or have their value altered over time. Changes in token values are set forth by an agreement between the loyalty system administrator and the participating partners. Based on the foregoing, the attributes of the class of tokens to be made available to a defined class of members is established by the loyalty system (20). The number of tokens issued by the loyalty system is controlled by the loyalty system administrator. Effectively, by operation of the loyalty system, partners can opt in to one or more loyalty programs based on the tokens of the present invention and define the rules under which members can participate, and the manner in which they can use a token that is part of a particular class of tokens/loyalty program. Regarding the management of collaboration between participating partners as illustrated in step (16) shown in Fig. 1 , this is achieved by operation of the computer program of the present invention. The computer program presents a "back-end" (not shown) that enables participating partners to manage their loyalty programs of the present invention, including their collaboration with other participating partners. In one particular aspect of the computer program of the present invention, the loyalty system is operable to permit a participating partner to post loyalty program benefits that it is willing to "exchange" for loyalty program benefits with other participating partners. This aspect of the loyalty system permits participating partners to assign corresponding value to their respective loyalty program benefits and thereby dynamically expanding the benefits available to their customers under their loyalty programs. For example, a partner makes a offer available to other partners' customers who are members. The partner uses the loyalty system to assign a value to the offer such as an amount, valid time periods and expiry dates of the offer. The offering partner makes goods/services available to the other partners as incentives to the other partners' customers to conduct commerce with both partners. In a particular aspect of the present invention, tokens are associated to a partner through unique alphanumeric ranges (such as a bin range, as set out in Fig. 1) to uniquely identify and customize the effectiveness of the loyalty system. The components of the loyalty system can include an institution acting as a trustee, the loyalty system software, participating partners and customers that own and use electronic forms of payment. The trustee institution acts as a repository for funds which may be required for the use of tokens. A token's value may need to be paid for in advance as the value may not be able to be extracted unless funds are in place to guarantee any fund transfers between the token issuing and accepting partners. In one aspect of the present invention, the tokens generated by the loyalty system are purchased by the partners for a fee and the loyalty system provides an automated system that enables the partners to follow the processing of specific tokens, and thereby derive valuable information regarding the purchase habits of their customers. In another aspect of the present invention, by operation of the loyalty system, the partner "commits" to the token (22), as illustrated in Fig. 1. This means committing the value that is associated with the particular class of tokens created by operation of the loyalty system. The integrity of the loyalty program overall requires that obligations that are part of the perceived value of the token are met, consequently the provision of step (22). In one particular aspect of the present invention, at the beginning of a promotion involving the tokens of the present invention, the partner places value or money in trust with a trusted organization such as a financial institution (24). For example, this could include funds placed in trust to use in the loyalty program for a designated period. The combination of all the partners' value/monies creates a pool of assets for administering the loyalty programs in accordance with the present invention. The loyalty programs of the present invention leverage the collective strength of all participating partners' values or monies. One of the advantages of the present invention is that it permits participating partners who do not compete with one another to collaborate and share customers within the loyalty system so as to increase their respective customer bases by acquiring as new customers existing customers of other partners. The loyalty system of the present invention tends to increase commerce for all the partners who participate therein. Next, the partner will give the token to the customer (26). The way in which the token is given to the customer depends entirely on the objectives of the partner. For example, in a particular aspect of the present invention, a partner can offer customers a token as a part of a transaction with the customer whereby the customer purchases a product or service from the partner. Typically, the customer will be required to register the token with the loyalty system for the token to have any value. Other conditions may be attached to allocation of value to the token, such as completion of a survey (28). After the token is registered and activated in the loyalty system, the loyalty system can transfer value from the designated institution to the token by transferring value (e.g. money) to an account that is associated in the loyalty system with the particular class of tokens. The member is able to use the token with one or more partners participating business in the loyalty system. When the token is used at one of the participating partners, the value can be transferred from one partner to another partner if the token was used. The cost of the token redemption may be shared between the issuing and redeeming partners. The issuer has used the token for customer retention and the redeeming partner of the token has used the token for customer acquisition. Effectively both partners have shared acquisition costs and customer benefits and extended the customer's business experience within the combined partners. The rules for sharing the cost of the token redemption is defined by operation of the "exchange" described above. For clarity, a token may only be used at participating partners within the loyalty system and there may be a limited time of use for the token. A token established in accordance with the loyalty system of the present invention may consist of a sole method of payment, or can be required to be used in conjunction with another form of payment. The following constitutes an example illustrating the operation of the loyalty program of the present invention. A group of participating partners agree to cooperate within the loyalty system. A first partner may offer a token to a customer in consideration of the customer having purchased product/services from the first partner. A token can be issued to the customer following the payment through the use of an agreed upon form of payment or remuneration The token can be activated by the customer simply by registering the token with the loyalty system (e g through a web site linked to the loyalty system) Value can be applied automatically to the token by operation of the loyalty system The token may be used at any of the other participating partners as a means of an incentives and/or reward for purchases at the discretion of the loyalty system and the redeeming partner A token may be used by a member as a form of payment in full or partial payment for goods or services offered by partners as outlined in the agreement with the loyalty system administrator Tokens may involve the transfer of funds between the partners who accept and issue tokens as set forth by the loyalty system The tokens contributed by the issuing partner can be used by other participating partners (the redeemer), which may help to reduce the costs of the shared loyalty program pursued in the interest, for example, of customer acquisition, retention and/or rescue The method, system and computer program of the present invention enables dynamic administration of loyalty programs including customer acquisition, retention and rescue based on a common pool of resources contributed by the partners collaborating within the loyalty system and thereby enabling the partners to maximize the impact of their customer acquisition, retention and rescue efforts Another important aspect of the loyalty system of the present invention is that it enables partners to obtain valuable feedback from their customers One form of this feedback is the survey referred to above that is linked to activation of a token as illustrated in (28) in Fig 1 In a particular aspect of the present invention, the survey feedback is provided as an anonymous electronic report delivered to the partner whose customer has provided the feedback The loyalty system is operable to provide information from member transactions from any/all of the partners The partner may access feedback of their own customers' survey information by various methods of the loyalty system text messaging, email or by logging into the system and retrieving the feedback information The loyalty system is operable to provide information regarding customer reactions to the transaction with a partner The loyalty system is operable to obtain from the customer/member valuable feedback such as an experience rating by providing incentives to the member to provide feedback survey data A member is notified by text messaging, email or by logging into the system that a feedback survey is available to be responded to. The member is also provided an incentive to participate in the feedback survey by means such as opportunities to win a prize offering. The member logs into the computer system and fills in the feedback survey and submits the results to be later viewed by the partner. The system notifies the member after a set time if they have won a prize. In a particular aspect of the method of the present invention, the member is offered incentives to provide feedback on transactions involving the loyalty system. One of the aspects of the loyalty system is that it is operable to permit a partner to alter attributes of a particular class of tokens, for example in response to customer feedback or evaluation of performance of a loyalty program conducted by operation of the loyalty system of the present invention based on reports provided by the loyalty system. For example, the loyalty system is operable to permit partners to alter their incentives, tokens and other rewards. Where the partner collaborates with other participating partners to provide the particular loyalty program benefits associated with one or more tokens, then the agreement of the various participating partners may be required, or else less than all the participating partners might opt to cover the cost of the modifications to the loyalty program. It should be understood that this ability to modify the characteristics of the loyalty program enables the partner to tailor the loyalty program to the requirements of its members/customers, e.g. based on member/customer feedback. As illustrated in Fig. 2, by means of the method of the present invention, a customer and potential member or an existing member/customer makes a purchase from a partner (30). In response, the member/customer is given. an active token for web- based registration and activation thereof, as described above (32). The token is typically loaded with a set amount of value based on the process described above and illustrated in Fig. 1. Furthermore, and also as explained above, the token is activated only after it has been registered and remains activated in most cases for a set period of time after the partner gives the token to the member/customer. Also as illustrated in Fig. 2, if the token is not activated by means of registration and/or used the within the set period the token cannot be activated and will have no mechanism for reuse (34). During the registration process the customer may be asked to complete a form including information regarding the member's financial cards, along with their token received (36). This enables the tracking of transactions, as particularized in the Co-Pending Patent Application. In a particular aspect of the present invention, the loyalty system is operable to generate a survey linked to a particular class of tokens (38). For example, this can be accomplished by the loyalty system retrieving the bin range of the token, and looking up (e.g. from a table linked to the computer program of the present invention) the survey associated with the bin range. In addition, the loyalty system is also operable to present to the member the particulars of the rewards associated with the particular loyalty program. In a particular aspect of the present invention, if the partner elects this option, once the registration of the member/customer is complete, the member may be offered a special one time offer associated with registration such as bonus token or bonus attribute of a token, eligibility to participate in a draw for a larger prize, etc. The special one time offer can also be linked to visiting selected web pages of other participating partners and/or participating in a loyalty program of another partner, in which case the special one time offer may include contribution from such other participating partners of value, money, or to the costs of the particular loyalty program overall. It should be understood that the loyalty system is operable to adjust the value of a token depending on the particular area of the web site (not shown) linked to the loyalty system where the member registers their token. This way, specific aspects of a loyalty program can be targeted to particular members, for example, the benefits associated with tokens received in a special members' area vs. a new customer may differ. This will enable partners to define different "tiers" to loyalty programs deployed using the loyalty system of the present invention. After a transaction is complete the value of the token is adjusted and the amount left on the token is updated. The value of a token cannot be less than zero. Members may be required to use their token within x days to experience any benefits of the token before it expires. Tokens have NO value outside the loyalty system of the present invention. The tokens are a component of the closed-loop relationship between the various partners, the member and the loyalty system whereby partners can offer loyalty features that are otherwise unavailable. The closed loop nature of the system is demonstrated by the exclusion of businesses that do not participate in the loyalty system. The partner issuing the token has taken the initiative to retain future business with his/her customer by offering a reward to his/her customer. The redeemer has either a new customer (acquisition) or rewarded an existing customer (retention). Both partners have increased loyalty to them and to each other, and the member has received a benefit from the partner(s) via the loyalty system. The loyalty system has increased its own customer retention by bringing together benefits for all partners and members in a collaborative environment. Partners benefit by decreasing the likelihood of transactions outside the loyalty system. Partners can create additional acquisition of new customers by having members choose any additional offer(s) that they offer. The loyalty system continues to operate as such with all of the rewards and incentives available to the new member, thereby effectively retaining members for the benefit of all of the partners. The loyalty system increases its membership by using the offers of all of the partners. The following steps provide an example of the present invention: (1 ) member registration of credit card; (2) merchants agree to cross-promote sharing the cost of member benefits to visit new partners and to provide rewards for past transactions or a single merchant using the "token" for customer acquisition; and (3) member is issued the card by past transactions with loyalty system businesses or may be given a "token" by a different merchant. The member must register the "token" is it is used as a "giveaway", so either way it is associated with a particular member and resisted financial card. This example could be a service company, for example, a "Windshield Replacement" company that wishes to reward customers for patronage and share the costs associated with the reward with other businesses (partners) within the loyalty system. The sharing may be via a "token" on a loadable medium such as "Stored Value Card". The member takes the token to different business that agrees to accept the token and the accepting business may take a nominal value off of the token to validate the customer visitation to the loyalty system. The business that accepts the token also has agreed to provide an additional benefit such as a discount to the member. Note that the member must use the "token" and the registered form of payment to validate the transaction The loyalty system records the visitation and informs the issuing and recipient businesses of the transaction Fig 3 illustrates the operation of the present invention as to customer retention In accordance with this particular aspect of the present invention, a frequent shopper is recognized by awarding them a token that may be based on a specified amount of visits, or specified amount of dollars spent, but not limited thereto A partner uses the token as an incentive for future commerce A token may act as a means to redirect members that may help prevent members conducting commerce outside the loyalty system The token may act as a reminder to the member that the partner values his/her business The loyalty system may act as an automated system to retain customers for the issuer and an acquisition tool for the redeemer where the redeemer is another participating partner Fig 4 illustrates the operation of the present invention as it relates to customer rescue In a particular aspect of the present invention, a customer is rescued that may be dissatisfied based on a partner experience by operation of the present invention Tokens may be given to disgruntled customers or customers considering services of other competitors, thereby influencing their loyalty to a partner's business within the loyalty system, inviting them to come back and enjoy a possible future visit, but not limited to the foregoing The token may act as a mechanism to promote repeat business to a partner that may not otherwise occur The loyalty system provides a mechanism for the partner to rescue an existing customer who would otherwise not conduct business with him/her Fig 5 illustrates one aspect of the resources of the computer program of the present invention Participating partners have the ability to opt into the shared loyalty model tied to the loyalty system An institution acting as a trustee collects the token value from partners Partner(s) that choose to opt in can be tracked according to the attributes that they have defined for a particular class of tokens, restrictions that apply to the class of tokens, and redemption activity in connection with such tokens Partners can obtain customer feedback through every token data registered to the loyalty system, since members generally are required to provide feedback from the issuing partner to receive value for the token(s) The partner who issued the token may use the token as a retention tool to encourage future commerce by use of a gift or the use of the token at the issuer's business. The redeeming partner uses the token as a customer acquisition or retention tool depending if the member is an existing customer. The redeeming partner may be the same as the issuing partner. If the redeeming partner is different than the issuing partner, the issuer has given customer acquisition to the redeeming partner by the commercial activity of a new customer in a collaborative environment that is generally a non-competitive environment. The partners collectively increase their own market share by harnessing the strength of the collective consumer buying power by collectively working together and sharing the efforts and capital resources for the betterment of the loyalty system overall. It should be understood that collaboration with other partners in the context of the loyalty system is not mandatory but provides significant benefits to all partners involved, as described above. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other variations of the preferred embodiment may also be practised without departing from the scope of the invention.