JP2012123815A - Mail distribution system and text data distribution system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system capable of generating a mail and text data with a high sales promotion effect by reducing work when a retailer, etc. generates a mail.SOLUTION: A mail distribution system includes: a manager terminal for classifying mails, which are generated by mail generation means of a store terminal and asked for transmission permission, into approval mails and non-approvable mails; and a server including a first memory for preserving mail texts, extraction means for generating extraction data in accordance with an extraction condition, and approval mail storage means for storing the approval mails in the first memory. The approval mail is transmitted from the manager terminal to the store terminal and the server, transmitted to a customer terminal, and stored in the first memory. The non-approvable mail is transmitted from the manager terminal to the store terminal, prevented from being transmitted to the customer terminal, and transmitted to the manager terminal as a mail asked for transmission permission after corrected by mail correction means.

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for delivering e-mail to customers and a system for delivering text data.

Conventionally, retailers and the like have sent direct mails and e-mails to customers for sales promotion, and communicated product information such as product prices and assortments and store information such as store locations. In addition, we are trying to promote sales further by attaching coupons to direct mail and e-mail. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for efficiently sending direct mail while preventing leakage of personal information.
See also Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 which disclose the prior art related to the present invention.

JP 2007-172521 A JP 2003-076914 A JP 2004-126704 A

Conventional direct mail methods usually use paper media, and it takes time to create and send them. In recent years, with the spread of the Internet, sending e-mails to customers instead of direct mails has been performed. E-mail does not require paper media and can be easily sent to many customers at once. For example, the URL of a store web page can be described in the form of a link, or a product discount coupon can be attached, and an improvement in sales promotion effect can be expected. However, the effect depends greatly on the difference in the contents of the e-mail (for example, the text of the e-mail body and the presence or absence of coupons) and the target customer (for example, the region, age, gender, occupation, hobby, etc.) . Therefore, it is necessary for a mail creator to create a mail in consideration of various factors, and much effort is required to create an effective mail. There is a method of providing information for creating effective emails in the form of Q & A, but the information such as the specific effects of delivered emails is not reflected or accumulated, or there is little information provided The utility was low.
On the other hand, e-mails can be easily sent, but mail creation errors and transmission errors are likely to occur. For example, leakage of personal information may occur, such as an error in the product price, an inappropriate expression in the body of the email, or notification of the customer's email address to other customers. Since mistakes such as these significantly reduce the credit of the retailer and the store, it is necessary to take measures to prevent mistakes. In a retailer having a plurality of stores, each store may independently send an e-mail to a customer for sales promotion. Since each store is closer to the consumer than the headquarters that manages multiple stores, it can deliver emails with locality and immediacy, but it maintains a unified brand image and brand value That was difficult.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a system that enables a retailer or the like to create a mail with a high sales promotion effect by reducing labor when creating a mail. Another purpose is to prevent mistakes made by retailers and the like when creating e-mails for sales promotion. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system that contributes to maintaining a brand image and brand value that are unified among a plurality of stores.

In order to achieve the above object, the first aspect of the present invention comprises the following configuration. That is,
A mail delivery system for delivering e-mail,
Mail sending means for sending an e-mail to the first address;
Receiving means for receiving access information to the URL described in the e-mail;
When the customer who has received the e-mail visits the store, input means for inputting customer store information transmitted from the store terminal installed in the store;
A first memory for storing a mail text of the e-mail; a second memory for storing the first address; a third memory for storing access information received by the receiving means; and a customer input from the input means Memory means having a fourth memory for storing store visit information;
Is a mail delivery system.

  In the mail distribution system according to the present invention, for an electronic mail (hereinafter simply referred to as “mail”) distributed to a customer, in addition to the mail text and the mail transmission destination (address), a URL (usually a store) Information on the web page) and store visit information are stored in the memory means. The mail creator can create a mail with reference to the mail stored in the memory means with reference to the increase in the number of accesses to the store web page and the contents of the mail having a high store visit effect. As a result, it is possible to deliver an email with a high sales promotion effect with little effort.

In the mail delivery system of the present invention, the memory means includes a first memory for storing a mail text, a second memory for storing a first address, a third memory for storing access information received by the receiving means, and an input means. And a fourth memory for storing the inputted customer store information. The first memory may include data such as a coupon attached to the mail in addition to the text data of the mail body. The first address stored in the second memory is a mail address that is a destination of the distributed mail. The second memory may include age, sex, region, etc. in addition to the first address. The customer's mail address database can be constructed by extracting the mail address stored in the second memory. Alternatively, the second memory may store tags associated therewith using a separately created customer mail address database.
The access information stored in the third memory is a web page browsing record (fourth aspect) including, for example, the web page browsing count, web page browsing time, IP address, and the like. When a product is sold or received on the web, the information can be stored in the third memory.
The customer store information stored in the fourth memory is the customer terminal that received the distributed mail, or the customer terminal that received the mail or the printout of the mail, and the information is input from the store terminal. It will be. It is preferable that the customer visit information includes coupon usage information described or attached to the mail (fifth aspect). This is because the effect of sales promotion by e-mail can be confirmed in addition to the customer visiting the store.

  In a second aspect of the present invention, the mail delivery system according to the first aspect includes an extraction unit that extracts data that meets a specific condition from the data stored in the memory unit. The mail creator can easily extract data that meets the conditions by arbitrarily setting the conditions of the extraction means. The method for setting conditions in the extracting means is not particularly limited. Among the memory means, a first memory for storing a mail text, a second memory for storing an address, and a third memory for storing access information to the web , And any area of the fourth memory in which store visit information is stored can be extracted.

  In the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the second aspect, the memory means includes a fifth memory for storing the extracted data extracted by the extracting means. By referring to the data stored in the fifth memory, the mail creator does not need to extract each time when creating the mail, so that the mail can be easily created. The memory means may further comprise a sixth memory. For example, the mail creator or administrator may have means for storing an arbitrary keyword or arbitrary tag in the sixth memory.

The sixth aspect of the present invention is as follows. That is,
A mail delivery system for delivering e-mail,
An email creation means for creating an email at the store terminal;
A transmission permission application means for transferring the created e-mail to a server and applying for permission to transmit the mail;
Filter means for filtering mail that satisfies a specific condition among the mail transferred to the server;
A return time adjusting means for adjusting a return time of the filtered mail;
First approval mail return means for returning the filtered mail to the store terminal as an approval mail at the return time defined by the return time adjustment means;
Administrator terminal transfer means for transferring the mail not filtered by the filter means to an administrator terminal;
Is a mail delivery system.

In the mail distribution system according to the sixth aspect, the mail created at the store terminal by the mail creating means is transferred to the server by the transmission permission requesting means to apply for permission to send the mail. The applied mail is first filtered by the filter means of the server. As a result, an email satisfying a specific condition can be made an approval email without being transferred to an administrator terminal described later. Thus, by filtering mail that does not require an administrator's instruction, such mail can be efficiently made into an approval mail, and work efficiency can be improved. The filtered mail is returned to the first approval mail return means at the return time defined by the return time adjusting means and returned to the store terminal as an approval mail. As a result, the store terminal side does not recognize that the mail is an approval mail without being sent to the administrator terminal by the filter means. That is, the mail creator on the store terminal side recognizes the mail as approved by the manager, and can send it to the customer with peace of mind. In addition, it becomes difficult to predict the filtering conditions in the filter means.
On the other hand, mail that has not been filtered by the filter means, that is, mail that has passed through the filter means, is transferred to the administrator terminal by the administrator terminal transfer means. An administrator (for example, the headquarters, the regional headquarters, or a knowledgeable person) judges the forwarded mail based on a predetermined standard, and issues a transmission permission or correction instruction. When the manager issues a correction instruction, the correction instruction signal is returned to the store terminal by the non-approved mail return means, and is corrected by the correction means on the store terminal side. The correction mail is again transferred to the server by the transmission permission application means, and an application for transmission permission is made. In this way, the e-mail creator can only send an approval e-mail to the customer terminal, which prevents the occurrence of typographical errors, inappropriate expressions, leakage of personal information, etc. The brand image and brand value are maintained because there is no need to send damaging emails.

In addition to the sixth aspect, the mail delivery system of the seventh aspect of the present invention is a state in which the first approval mail return means creates a copy of the approval mail, and the copy of the approval mail is accessible from the store terminal. An approval mail storage unit is further provided for storing in a memory unit included in the server. Thus, by accumulating the approval mail and making it accessible to the mail creator at the store terminal, the mail creator can create a mail with reference to the stored data. As a result, it is possible to deliver an email with a high sales promotion effect with little effort.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

A schematic diagram of a mail delivery system 1 which is an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1, and a block diagram showing a configuration is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of mail delivery by the mail delivery system 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the stores A, B, and C form a network with the headquarters 5 via the server 3, and each store has a store terminal for delivering a sales promotion mail to the customer 6. Have. As shown in FIG. 2, the store terminal 2 includes a mail creation unit 11, a transmission permission application unit 12, a corrected mail transfer unit 13, a correction unit 14, a mail transmission unit 15, a store input unit 16, and a display unit 17. The server 3 includes a memory unit 30, an extraction unit 36, a calculation unit 37, a filter unit 40, a return time adjustment unit 41, a first approval mail return unit 42, an administrator terminal transfer unit 43, an input unit 44, and a reception unit 45. The memory means 30 includes a first memory 31, a second memory 32, a third memory 33, a fourth memory 34 and a fifth memory 35. The headquarter 5 includes an administrator terminal 51, second approval mail return means 52, and non-approval mail return means 53.

Each of these means will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The store terminal 2 is connected to the Internet, and mail delivery application software (hereinafter also referred to as “mail delivery software”) installed in the server can be used on a web browser by ASP. FIG. 4 shows an initial screen of mail distribution software in the store terminal 2, and FIG. 5 shows a mail creation screen. On the initial screen of the mail distribution software, a mail group creation button 10a, a mail creation button 11a, a created mail confirmation button 12a, a sent mail confirmation button 13a, a member setting 14a, and a system setting button 15a are arranged. To create a mail, the mail creation button 11a is clicked to activate the mail creation means 11, and the mail creation screen shown in FIG. 5 is displayed. As shown in FIG. 5, the sender 11a ₁ and the destination 11a ₂ are selected from each pull-down menu. The destination 11a ₂ can select a mail group created in advance by clicking the mail group creation button 10a on the initial screen to display a mail group creation screen (not shown). Enter the subject 11a ₃ as desired. To select a template for the E-mail Message from the pull-down menu of template 11a _4. The template can be selected as follows. First, the extraction data is created from the mail data stored in the memory means 30 described later by inputting a specific extraction condition from the mail creating means 11 to the extracting means 36 described later. The extracted data is stored in a fifth memory 35, which will be described later. Based on the extracted data, the calculation means 37 calculates the calculation conditions input from the mail creation means 11, and the calculation result is displayed on the store terminal 2 side by the display means 17. Is done. Even when the calculation result is displayed on the display unit 17, the extraction condition is input to the extraction unit 36 and the calculation unit 37 performs the calculation, thereby updating the extracted data in real time and displaying the calculation result. it can. Select a template by referring to these. An e-mail is created by confirming / editing the e-mail text etc. of the selected template in preview 11a ₅ (S1 in FIG. 3). By entering the scheduled transmission date and time in the scheduled transmission date column 11a ₇ , the scheduled transmission date can be set in advance.
When the application button 11a ₆ is clicked after the mail is created, the transmission permission application means 12 is activated, and the created electronic mail is transferred to the server 3 to apply for transmission permission (S2 in FIG. 3).
The applied mail is transferred to the filter means of the server 3, and mail satisfying a specific condition is filtered (S3 in FIG. 3). Although the specific condition here can be set arbitrarily, in this embodiment, a condition for filtering mail that does not require the approval of the administrator is set.
The filtered mail is adjusted for return time by the return time adjusting means 41 (S4 in FIG. 3). The return time can be set arbitrarily. In the present embodiment, the return time is set to be randomly selected within a predetermined time range (3 hours to 12 hours).
When the return time is reached, the first approval mail return means returns the filtered mail as an approval mail to the store terminal 2 (S5 in FIG. 3).

On the other hand, mail that has not been filtered by the filter means, that is, mail that has been passed through, is transferred to the administrator terminal 51 in the headquarters 5 by the administrator terminal transfer means 43 (S6 in FIG. 3). Within the headquarters 5, the administrator or a knowledgeable person makes a determination of transmission permission or correction instruction for the forwarded mail, and inputs a transmission permission signal or correction instruction signal to the administrator terminal 51. If the correction instruction is determined, the contents of the correction instruction are also input to the administrator terminal 51.
When the second approval mail returning means receives a transmission permission signal from the manager terminal 51, the second approval mail returning means returns the mail to the store terminal 2 as an approval mail (S7 in FIG. 3).
Upon receipt of the correction instruction signal from the administrator terminal 51, the non-approved mail return means returns the mail as a non-approved mail to the correction means of the store terminal 2 together with the contents of the correction instruction (S8). The correcting means 14 corrects the unapproved mail and creates a corrected mail (S9). The correction means 14 is also used on the web browser at the store terminal 2.
When the correction mail is created, the correction mail transfer means 13 transfers the correction mail to the transmission permission application means 12 (S10). As a result, the application for permission to transmit is performed again.
The approval mail transferred to the store terminal 2 is transmitted to the customer terminal 60 at the scheduled transmission date and time set in advance by the mail transmission means 15.
The first approval mail return means and the second approval mail means store a copy of the approval mail in the memory means 30 of the server 3. The body of the approval mail is stored in the first memory 31 of the memory means 30, and the destination address of the approval mail is stored in the second memory 32 (S12 in FIG. 3).

  When the customer who received the mail accesses the store web page described in the mail from the customer terminal, the access information is received by the receiving means 45 of the server 3 (S13 in FIG. 6A). The received access information is stored in the third memory 33 of the memory means 30 (S14 in FIG. 6A). Further, when the customer who has received the mail visits the store, customer visit information is input to the store terminal 2. The input customer visit information is transferred to the input means 44 of the server 3 by the store input means 16 (S15 in FIG. 6B). The input means 44 stores the customer visit information in the fourth memory 34 of the memory means 30 (S16 in FIG. 6B). The customer visit information includes, in addition to the date and time when the customer visited the store, usage information on the coupon when a coupon is attached to the mail.

  The extraction means 36 provided in the server 3 creates extraction data based on the extraction conditions input from the mail creation means 11 of the store terminal 2. The extraction condition can be set for each data stored in the memory means 30. For example, the ratio of the number of accesses to a specific keyword, the number of emails sent (equal to the number of first addresses) (hereinafter referred to as “access ratio”), the ratio of the number of coupons used to the number of emails sent (hereinafter referred to as “coupon usage”). The ratio can be used as an extraction condition. Note that the access ratio is calculated by the extraction means 36 by comparing the first address of the second memory and the access information of the third memory. Similarly, the coupon utilization ratio is calculated by the extraction means 36 by comparing the first address in the second memory and the customer visit information in the third memory. In addition, when the second memory includes data such as age, sex, region, etc. in addition to the first address, extraction data can be created using any one or all of these as extraction conditions. The extracting unit 36 stores the created extracted data in the fifth memory 35.

  The calculation means 37 is calculated under the calculation conditions inputted from the mail creation means 11 and data stored in at least the first memory 31 and the second memory 32 among the data stored in the memory means 30 based on the extracted data. Sort. For example, the mail text and the first address can be sorted in descending order of access ratio. As a result, a mail template having a high access ratio can be selected. In addition, the extraction data is created using the coupon usage ratio, age data and gender data (for example, 30s, male) included in the second memory as extraction conditions, and the calculation means 37 calculates and sorts the mail text. For example, it is possible to select a mail template having a high sales promotion effect for a specific age group and sex. The calculation means 37 can also perform calculation by weighting the extraction conditions with respect to the extracted data extracted under a plurality of extraction conditions. For example, the extraction means 36 can extract the access ratio and the coupon usage ratio, and the calculation means 37 can weight each of them and calculate according to the weights to sort the mail text and the first address. If the calculation is performed with weighting, the calculation result is more reliable. The calculation result by the calculation means 37 is displayed on the display means 17 of the store terminal 2, and the mail creator can select a template based on this.

  As described above, in the mail delivery system 1 of the present invention, a mail is created using the mail stored in the memory means 30 as a template. Here, since the data such as the mail stored in the memory means 30 is an approved mail, it is possible to create an effective mail with a little effort by using this as a template. In addition, even those who have little experience in creating mail can create effective mail. The extraction data extracted in advance by the extraction unit 36 under specific conditions is stored in the fifth memory 35 in advance or each time, calculated by the calculation unit 37 based on the extracted data, and selected in a specific condition. Effective mail can be easily created. A plurality of templates may be selected and combined to create an email. For example, the first extraction condition is input to the extraction unit 36 and extracted, and after selecting the first template from the calculation result calculated by the calculation unit 37, the second extraction condition is input to the extraction unit 36 and extracted. Then, it is possible to select the second template from the calculation result calculated by the calculation means 37 and create a mail by combining the first template and the second template. Thereby, a more effective mail can be created.

  The created email is approved and delivered to the customer. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of misprints in the body of the email, improper expressions, leaks of personal information, etc., and it does not send emails that damage the brand image or brand value. Brand value is maintained.

  The created mail is once transferred to the filter means 40. The filter means 40 filters mail that does not require approval. It is possible to improve the work efficiency of the administrator side by filtering the mail that should be approved without requiring the administrator's approval in advance by the filter means 40 and making it an approval mail without transferring it to the administrator terminal. . The filtered mail is not immediately returned to the store terminal 2, but the return time is adjusted by the return time adjusting means 41 and returned as an approval mail at a predetermined time. As a result, the mail automatically approved by the filter means without being approved by the manager is actually recognized from the store terminal 2 as if the mail was approved by the manager. If the created mail is automatically approved and sent back immediately, the mail creator may feel anxious about whether the approval has been made correctly or feel distrusted with the approval criteria itself. However, in the mail delivery system 1, since the return time is adjusted by the return time adjusting means 41, the reply is not sent immediately, and the mail creator is not anxious or distrustful. In addition, it becomes difficult for the mail creator to predict the filtering condition in the filter means 40.

  The present invention can be used as a system for delivering mail to customers.

The present invention is not limited to the description of the embodiments and examples of the invention described above. Various modifications may be included in the present invention as long as those skilled in the art can easily conceive without departing from the description of the scope of claims.
The contents of papers, published patent gazettes, patent gazettes, and the like specified in this specification are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a mail delivery system 1 which is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the mail delivery system 1. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of mail delivery by the mail delivery system 1. FIG. 4 is an initial screen of the mail distribution software in the store terminal 2. FIG. 5 is a mail creation screen of mail distribution software in the store terminal 2. 6A and 6B are flowcharts of mail delivery by the mail delivery system 1.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mail delivery system 2 Store terminal 3 Server 5 Headquarters 6 Customer 11 Mail preparation means 12 Transmission permission application means 13 Correction mail transfer means 14 Correction means 15 Mail transmission means 16 Store input means 17 Display means 30 Memory means 31 First memory 32 2 memory 33 3rd memory 34 4th memory 35 5th memory 36 Extraction means 37 Calculation means 40 Filter means 41 Return time adjustment means 42 First approval mail return means 43 Administrator terminal transfer means 44 Input means 45 Receiving means 51 Administrator Terminal 52 Second approval mail return means 53 Non-approval mail return means

Claims (3)

A store terminal comprising a mail creation means, a transmission permission application means, a mail correction means, an extraction condition input means and a mail transmission means;
An approval mail with a transmission permission signal and an unapproved mail with a correction instruction signal created by the mail creation means of the store terminal and requested for transmission permission through the transmission permission application means Sorting administrator terminal,
Memory means having a first memory for storing a mail body, extraction means for creating extraction data in accordance with the extraction condition input from the extraction condition input means, and approval mail storage for storing the approval mail in the first memory A server comprising means,
With
The approval mail is transmitted from the manager terminal to the store terminal and the server, transmitted from the mail transmission means to the customer terminal at the store terminal, and stored in the first memory by the approval mail storage means at the server. And
The non-approved mail is sent from the manager terminal to the store terminal, the mail transmitting means stops sending the non-approved mail to the customer terminal, and the non-approved mail corrected by the mail correcting means is the Sent to the administrator terminal as an email for which transmission permission is requested via the transmission permission application means,
A mail delivery system characterized by this. The store terminal includes display means,
The memory means includes a second memory for storing customer information such as address, age, sex, and region, a third memory for storing access information, and a fourth memory for storing customer visit information.
The server further includes computing means,
The computing means refers to the memory means based on the input condition input from the extraction condition input means, specifies the mail text to be extracted,
The mail text specified by the computing means is displayed on the display means.
The mail delivery system according to claim 1. A first terminal comprising text data creation means, transmission permission application means, text data correction means, extraction condition input means, text data transmission means and display means;
The text data created by the text data creation means of the first terminal and requested for permission of transmission via the transmission permission application means are approved text data with a transmission permission signal and a correction instruction signal is attached. A second terminal that classifies unapproved text data;
Memory means having a first memory for storing text data, extraction means for creating extraction data according to the extraction condition input from the extraction condition input means, and extraction based on the extraction data with reference to the memory means A server comprising computing means for specifying text data to be processed, and approved text data storage means for storing the approved text data in the first memory;
With
The approval text data is transmitted from the second terminal to the first terminal and the server, and is transmitted from the text data transmission means to the third terminal in the first terminal, and the approval text is transmitted to the server. Stored in the first memory by the data storage means;
The unapproved text data is sent from the second terminal to the first terminal, and the text data transmitting means stops sending the unapproved text data to the third terminal, and the text data correction The non-approved text data modified by the means is sent to the second terminal as text data for which transmission permission is requested via the transmission permission application means,
The text data specified by the computing means is displayed on the display means of the first terminal.
A text data distribution system characterized by that.

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