A customer acquisition system is disclosed that allows an offeror service provider
to acquire new customers by making acquisition offers to customers through the
billing statements of other businesses ("billing statement issuers"). An "acquisition
offer" is an offer by the offeror service provider to pay an amount owed by the
customer to the billing statement issuer, or a portion thereof, provided the customer
agrees to become a customer of the offeror service provider. Predetermined criteria
are used to automatically include an acquisition offer for eligible potential new
customers of the offeror service provider with a billing statement or on associated
promotional materials, and allows the customer to accept the acquisition offer
using the billing statement. The customer acquisition system optionally ensures
that the customer is not an existing customer of the offeror service provider before
extending an acquisition offer. The acquisition offers can be tailored to the amount
owed by the customer, and targeted to customers based on financial, geographic
or historical data.
