SYSTEM FOR TRACKING THE SUCCESSFUL RECOMMENDATION OF A GOOD OR SERVICE

摘要

A system for tracking the successful recommendation of a good or service (10) comprising a mobile phone (26) in the possession of a receiver (14), the mobile phone (26) capable of sending and receiving communication messages; a merchant system (18); at least one database (30, 32); and an intermediary system (18). The intermediary system (18) is in data communication with the at least one database (30, 32) and the merchant system (18) and in communication with the mobile phone (26) through a mobile telecommunications network (28). When a recommender (12) accesses the merchant system (18) and selects and recommends to the receiver a good or service provided by a merchant operating through the merchant system (18), the merchant system (18) composes a first communication message (50) to the intermediary system (18) including the mobile phone number allocated to the mobile phone (26), a unique identifier of the recommender (12) and a reference code for a good or service associated with the selected good or service. On receipt of the first communication message (50) by the intermediary system (18), the intermediary system (18) parses the first communication message (50) to identify the separate information included therein and creates a new referral record (36) including the unique identifier of the recommender (12), the mobile phone number allocated to the mobile phone (26) and the reference code for the recommended good or service. The referral record 36 is stored in the at least one database (30, 32). The intermediary system (18) then composes a recommendation message (52) recommending the recommended good or service and sends the recommendation message (52) to the mobile phone (26) using a phone number having a unique identification number. On receipt of the recommendation message (52), if the receiver (14) wishes to accept the recommendation they reply (54) to the recommendation message (52) with an appropriate acceptance response. On receipt of the reply (54) to the recommendation message (52) the intermediary system (18) takes steps as appropriate to deem the recommendation successful.