JP2002014993A - Distribution method for electronic mail of commodity information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide commodity information in response to the requests of customers. SOLUTION: The electronic mails are distributed by means of the mail distribution method of commodity information which includes a step to hold the mail accounts and customer information, a step to hold the commodity information, a retrieval step to classify the customers from the customer information and to retrieve the mail accounts of customer corresponding to the classified customer information and the commodity information and a distribution step to distribute the corresponding commodity information to the detected mail accounts.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of distributing electronic mail of merchandise information not only in real estate sales but also in sales of interior goods or passenger cars. More specifically, the present invention relates to a mail distribution method for distributing electronic mail to customers using a communication network such as the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art E-mail systems include networks,
It is composed of a mail sending server, a mail receiving server and a client computer. An outline of the flow from sending to receiving an email is as follows. An email sent from a client computer is delivered to a server with a domain corresponding to the sender's email account.
After being resent on the network by that server, it is finally routed to the server's mailbox with the domain corresponding to the recipient's mail account, through appropriate routing. Note that the mailbox is a mail storage area dedicated to an account provided in the server. The received mail in the mailbox is deleted from the mailbox after being downloaded from the mailbox to the client computer (the client computer operated by the customer). 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of distributing e-mail to a large number of customers using the Internet, a storage means stores a customer's e-mail distribution destination (e-mail account) and distributes product information and the like to the customer's e-mail distribution destination. Is what you do. The product information is stored in the holding means, and the same product information is distributed to a large number of customers all at once.

[0003]

In the conventional e-mail distribution method, a single content is distributed to a large number of customers, and information of the content is not provided according to the individual demands of the customers. . In addition, in order to provide information according to customer's request, measures such as increasing the amount of information to be distributed are taken. For this reason, it is necessary for the customer to select excessive information or unnecessary information, which imposes a heavy burden on the customer. For example, in the case of a product called housing, information on barrier-free and nursing homes nearby is not so important for young single men, but is important information for elderly people. Further, the provided information lacks necessary information, and it may be necessary to send and receive information several times before obtaining the required information. Here, it is necessary to reduce the burden on the customer of selecting information by accurately distributing information according to the request of the customer, and to promote smooth distribution by providing the information.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A step of holding a mail account and customer information, a step of holding product information, a customer is classified based on the customer information, and a customer mail account and product information corresponding to the classified customer information. The electronic mail is distributed to the customer by a method of distributing the product information mail, which includes a search step of searching for and a distribution step of distributing the corresponding product information to the detected mail account.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 is a schematic diagram of an electronic mail distribution process, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a connection configuration between a customer's computer and a server, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a questionnaire item, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a database configuration. 5
Is a schematic diagram showing a classification and search configuration, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of contents of an e-mail to be distributed, and FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a search configuration of a product element.

[0006] The present invention relates to products whose age and family structure greatly influence product selection, such as home purchase, interior purchase, and the like.
Furthermore, it can be effectively used for purchasing a car. For example, condominiums and built-for-sale condominiums are versatile products because they are versatile products with individuality. For this reason, various customers request property information, but different information is required for newlyweds, prime-working households, elderly households, and single-person households. The present invention is to supply product information according to such various customer requests. An electronic mail distribution process in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
As customer information, a customer's questionnaire response and a mail account (mail address) are input. The customer's questionnaire response and e-mail account can be input directly to the server from the customer's computer via a communication network such as the Internet from the customer's computer. It is also possible to enter a response and an email account. In the present invention, the customer's questionnaire response and the mail account are stored in the beta base, and the input process up to that point is not limited.

[0007] As the customer information, the customer information (mail account) is classified based on the input result of the questionnaire. Here, in order to easily classify customers based on the results of the questionnaire, the questionnaire can be classified based on the result of the questionnaire by a simple process by using a selectable questionnaire.

[0008] As the product information, product information corresponding to the classification of the customer is input to the database. A plurality of pieces of product information are set for one product, and the plurality of pieces of product information are information for simultaneously inputting information corresponding to the classification of the customer. Then, the product information is classified according to the classification of the customer, and is stored in the beta. In this input process, it is also possible to recognize a certain word or sentence from existing product information and automatically input a corresponding sentence as product information. By classifying the merchandise information and inputting and holding it in a database, the information can be easily processed.

[0009] When distributing an e-mail to a customer, merchandise information corresponding to the classification of the customer is searched in a database, and this merchandise information is output together with the mail account. Then, according to this output, an e-mail is distributed to each customer. Thereby, it is possible to provide product information corresponding to each customer's desire.

The embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 is described using a mail delivery system connected to the Internet as an example. In FIG. 2, a database 5 has a server 5 (such as a WWW server) for receiving a questionnaire,
And a mail server 6 are connected. The server 5 and the mail server 6 are connected to the customer's computers 1, 2, 3 via a communication network 4 (such as the Internet). The distribution destination of the electronic mail is not limited to the computer of the customer, but may be any one that can receive the mail, and can be distributed to a terminal such as a mobile phone.

The customer connects to the server 5 from the customer's computer 1.2.3 through a communication network, answers a questionnaire, and inputs a mail account.
The result of the questionnaire and the mail account input to the server 5 are stored in the database 7 as customer information. The customers are classified according to the questionnaire response results stored in the database. The database 7 holds customer information and product information.
The merchandise information is classified according to the classification of the customer. When distributing e-mail, the database 7
The mail account corresponding to the customer and the product information corresponding to the classification of the customer are output to the mail server 6. The data is output from the mail server 6 to the customer computers 1, 2, and 3 via the communication network 4.

Next, an example of a questionnaire for classifying customers will be described with reference to FIG. In the questionnaire, address, name, gender, date of birth, phone number,
The e-mail account (e-mail address) of the e-mail is input. These pieces of information are customer identification information, and it is also possible to extract gender, age, and address from this information and use it as information for classification. The survey also includes the number of families, occupation, current situation, desired conditions,
Questions such as the desired time, the reason for purchase, and the reason for knowing the home page are prepared, and these questions can be selected and answered. In addition, by displaying the attribute information of the customer who answered the questionnaire to the product information provider, it is possible to grasp the demands of the market.

[0013] By using a selection formula in the questionnaire element, it is possible to easily recognize a customer's desire and situation, etc., and to efficiently classify the customer. In the present invention, since it mainly targets houses, interiors, cars, and the like, customers are classified according to their life stages. The life stage is a section of each human milestone, such as adolescence, adulthood, old age, and the like. Here, it indicates a lifestyle that further includes factors such as annual income and occupation. For example, customers are classified into life stages such as newly-married households, prime-working households, elderly households, singles, and DINKS. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the customer is classified into each category in the customer information database 8 according to the life stage category according to the customer information. The corresponding element of the product information corresponding to each section is stored and classified in the product information database 9. Also in product information, judge whether one real estate property is suitable for each life stage, create product information including necessary information for each suitable life stage,
It is managed as a database. For example, in FIG. 4, when delivering an e-mail to a customer in the A-system category, the contents of the A-system mail including the corresponding element of the A-system are searched. Then, a product introduction e-mail is delivered to the customers in the A system category. The transmission of the e-mail is for matching (searching) the customer information database and the product information database, and transmitting the suitable product information to the corresponding customers. This e-mail can be transmitted to many at the same time.

The process of searching for merchandise information corresponding to a customer segment will be described with reference to an example of FIG. As the customer information, the customer is classified according to the questionnaire result among the input mail account and the questionnaire result.
For example, if the customer information is classified according to the budget age and desired size, the product information is classified according to the house price, target age, and size. Then, the category of the product element is searched according to the category of the customer. The detected product information (product element) is output to the mail server together with the customer's mail account, and the e-mail is delivered to the customer.

Next, the specification of the e-mail to be delivered will be described with reference to the example shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, a name corresponding to the customer classification is inserted in the column 10 of the e-mail. In the column 11, main information such as the name of a merchandise article is inserted. Next, the table of contents of the merchandise element corresponding to the customer classification is inserted into the column 12. Then, the contents of the merchandise element corresponding to the table of contents of this merchandise element are inserted into the column 13, and the contents of the e-mail are completed.

A plurality of merchandise elements are accumulated for one merchandise, and the merchandise elements are assigned a degree of relevance to each customer classification. When a customer classification is selected and an e-mail is delivered to the customer, several product elements having a high degree of relation to the customer classification are preferentially selected to constitute the contents of the e-mail. For example,
As shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of merchandise elements are associated with one merchandise, and a priority level is assigned to each customer classification. In FIG. 7, a priority level is given to each of the three classifications. Then, when distributing the e-mail to the category 1, the one having the higher priority to the category 1 is selected. Then, the selected product element constitutes the content of the e-mail. This makes it possible to easily and quickly deliver an e-mail including a product element corresponding to a customer classification.

As examples of the degree of association of the above-mentioned product elements, age is a classification requirement, adolescence is classified as one, adulthood is classified as two,
The explanation will be made using the case where the old age is classified as Class 3, and the childhood is classified as Class 4. Products are classified according to physical conditions such as size and price, and a plurality of product element information items are associated with the product. Classification 1, 2,
The degree of relevance to the third item is set, and the merchandise element information corresponding to the classification of the customer is selected by the search. In the case of a single adolescent, the search is performed based on physical conditions such as size and price, and the product element information related to the searched product is searched for a highly relevant adolescent category corresponding to the customer, Is the choice. In the case of a family having an infant, those having a high degree of relevance are searched for and selected for the second-class adult and the fourth-class child corresponding to the customer. It should be noted that the priority of the category 4 with respect to the category 2 can be set to an individual numerical value for the customer based on the result of the questionnaire. As a result, products and product information corresponding to the life stage of the customer can be distributed by e-mail.

[0018]

As described in claim 1, a step of holding a mail account and customer information, a step of holding merchandise information, a customer is classified based on the customer information, and a customer mail corresponding to the classified customer information. Since the method for distributing product information mail includes a search step for searching for account and product information and a distribution step for distributing corresponding product information to the detected email account,
It is easy for customers to obtain information and can transmit information that meets their needs. In addition, by efficiently collecting attribute information of a wide range of customers including customer preferences and feeding back the attribute information to the product information provider, it is possible to obtain information for correctly knowing customer needs. The information unnecessary for the customer is reduced, and the trouble of searching for the necessary information is greatly reduced. Quickly get the information you need for your customers. Accurate information transmission allows customers to be acquired quickly, reducing the probability of being escaped by other companies. Then, accurate information transmission is possible with a small amount of work by using a database and a mail distribution system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an electronic mail distribution process.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a connection configuration between a customer computer and a server.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a questionnaire item.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a database.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a classification and search configuration.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the structure of the content of an electronic mail to be distributed.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a search configuration of a product element.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1.2.3 Client computer 4 Communication network 5 Server 6 Mail server 7 Database

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Kiyohide Fujii 1-1-88 Oyodonaka, Kita-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka F-term in Sekisui House Co., Ltd. 5B049 AA06 BB11 EE05 GG02 5B075 ND20 NR12 PQ05 UU24

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A step of holding a mail account and customer information, a step of holding product information, a step of classifying customers based on the customer information, and a search for a customer mail account and product information corresponding to the classified customer information. An e-mail distribution method of merchandise information including a step and a distribution step of distributing corresponding merchandise information to the detected mail account.