WO2001039013A2 - Envoi d'un message de messagerie electronique en reponse a une activite selectionne de navigation sur le web - Google Patents

Envoi d'un message de messagerie electronique en reponse a une activite selectionne de navigation sur le web Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2001039013A2
WO2001039013A2 PCT/US2000/031952 US0031952W WO0139013A2 WO 2001039013 A2 WO2001039013 A2 WO 2001039013A2 US 0031952 W US0031952 W US 0031952W WO 0139013 A2 WO0139013 A2 WO 0139013A2
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
user
email
information
web page
action tag
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2000/031952
Other languages
English (en)
Other versions
WO2001039013A3 (fr
Inventor
Paul Frederick Brownlow
Scott Eric Lipsky
Original Assignee
Avenue A, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Avenue A, Inc. filed Critical Avenue A, Inc.
Priority to AU17852/01A priority Critical patent/AU1785201A/en
Publication of WO2001039013A2 publication Critical patent/WO2001039013A2/fr
Publication of WO2001039013A3 publication Critical patent/WO2001039013A3/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Definitions

  • the present invention is directed to Internet advertising techniques, and more particularly to advertising via email messages.
  • a common approach to Internet advertising is the direct email campaign.
  • an email message promoting one or more products is sent at an arbitrary time, in an identical form, to a large group of customers.
  • timing In timing, conventional direct email campaigns fail to target customers at a time when they are likely to buy, and thus frequently reach customers at a time when they are not ready to buy.
  • customization because each of the recipients receives the same email, there is no opportunity to target the email message to products or programs in which particular customers may have a special interest.
  • the present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art by providing a method of electronic communication that includes providing a web page on a first computer with an action tag including information about the web page. In response to a user visiting the web page, the action tag is received from the user at a second computer. Based on the action tag, an email message is generated for the user.
  • the method may include receiving a cookie or other device identifier, using the cookie to determine an associated email address in a database, and sending the email message to the user.
  • the content of the action tag may be used to select a suitable email template, and to fill in the template with suitable content.
  • Figure 1 is a high-level block diagram showing the environment in which the facility preferably operates.
  • Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the system and method of operation according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
  • a software facility for sending an email message in response to selected web browsing activity by a user is provided.
  • the facility observes the web browsing activity of the user when browsing the advertiser's web site.
  • the facility preferably composes and transmits an email to the user.
  • the content of the message is preferably tailored to the action of the user. For example, where the user viewed a description of a product, the email may thank the user for the user's interest in the product.
  • each message transmitted by the facility is also tailored to the user, in that each message is sent at a time relative to the time when the user was observed browsing the advertiser's web site and therefore a time when the user likely had some interest in purchasing.
  • the facility preferably permits the time at which a particular message is transmitted to be configured, such as at a time a few seconds after the user performs the observed action, or at a time a few days after the user performs the observed action.
  • the facility may preferably also be used to automatically send an email message in response to other types of browsing activity, such as visits to an Internet publisher's web site that causes an advertisement to be presented ("advertising impression").
  • the facility automatically sends an email message in response to receiving a request for advertising impression.
  • action tags may be added to the HTML content of significant web pages on the advertiser's website, such as an order or confirmation page to facilitate the facility's observation of the user's actions on the advertiser's website.
  • Each action tag is an HTML image tag coded to retrieve a one-pixel transparent image from a particular URL within the domain of a web server operated by an advertising service, upon which the facility executes.
  • the URL is composed dynamically by the advertiser's computer system in a way that incorporates information about the action taking place between the advertiser's web site and the current customer visiting the tagged web page.
  • the customer's computer system When a web page containing an action tag is received from the advertiser's web server by the customer's computer system, the customer's computer system sends an HTTP request to the advertising service's web server for the URL contained in the action tag.
  • This HTTP request includes a copy of a cookie stored persistently on the customer's computer system that uniquely identifies the customer's computer system to the advertising service.
  • the advertising service's web server receives the HTTP request, it extracts the extended data from the URL, and stores the extended data in a log entry along with the customer's cookie.
  • the facility correlates such log rows created by action tags with additional log entries reflecting advertisements presented on the advertiser's behalf on one of a variety of Internet publishers that sell advertising space.
  • these entries identify the customers that saw their advertisements using the customer's cookie, they can be correlated with the action tag log rows to determine, for each customer that encountered and action tag, whether and where the customer saw advertisements for the advertiser by correlating the data in this manner, the facility can assess the effectiveness of advertising done on behalf of the advertiser in terms of such variables as the identify of the particular advertisement and the Internet publisher on which the advertisement was presented.
  • the extended data stored for each action tag encountered can be used by the facility to further illuminate the effect of presenting the advertisements to the customer, by, for example, showing the dollar amount of each order placed by a user that saw advertisements for the advertiser.
  • Other pieces of extended data may be included to indicate preferences shown by the customer and to correlate information gathered in this manner with additional information about the customer provided by the advertiser.
  • Figure 1 is a high-level block diagram showing the environment in which the facility preferably operates.
  • the diagram shows a number of Internet user computer systems 101-104.
  • An Internet user preferably uses one such Internet user computer system to connect, via the Internet 120, to an Internet publisher computer system, such as Internet publisher computer systems 131 and 132, to retrieve and display a Web page.
  • the Web page contains a reference to a URL in the domain of the Internet advertising service computer system 140.
  • the Internet user computer systems sends a request to the Internet advertising service computer system to return data comprising an advertisement, such as a banner advertisement.
  • the Internet advertising service computer system selects an advertisement to transmit to the Internet user computer system in response the request, and either itself transmits the selected advertisement or redirects the request containing an identification of the selected advertisement to an Internet content distributor computer system, such as Internet content distributor computer systems 151 and 152.
  • the Internet user computer system receives the selected advertisement, the Internet user computer system displays it within the Web page.
  • the displayed advertisement preferably includes one or more links to Web pages of the Internet advertiser's Web site.
  • the Internet user computer system de-references the link to retrieve the Web page from the appropriate Internet advertiser computer system, such as Internet advertiser computer system 161 or 162.
  • the Internet user may traverse several pages, and may take such actions as purchasing an item or bidding in an auction. Revenue from such actions typically finances, and is often the motivation for, the Internet advertiser's Internet advertising.
  • the Internet advertising service computer system 140 preferably includes one or more central processing units (CPUs) 141 for executing computer programs such as the facility, a computer memory 142 for storing programs and data, and a computer-readable media drive 143, such as a CD-ROM drive, for reading programs and data stored on a computer-readable medium. While preferred embodiments are described in terms of the environment described above, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the facility may be implemented in a variety of other environments, including a single, monolithic computer system, as well as various other combinations of computer systems or similar devices.
  • CPUs central processing units
  • the facility may preferably be used with a number of different types of templates for email messages.
  • the facility may preferably use textual templates to generate textual email messages, and may use HTML templates, processed as Active Server Pages (ASPs) by a Microsoft corporation ASP processor, to generate HTML email messages.
  • Appendix A shows a sample textual template
  • Appendix C shows a sample HTML template of a similar nature.
  • the sample textual template shown in Appendix A contains several sections that appear in every message produced with the template — lines 1-7, 12-15, 26, and 46-53. Each appear in every message generated with this template, as can be seen in Appendix B, which shows a textual email generated with the sample textual template.
  • the template also contains portions that are customized for each message generated with the template. For example, in line 8-25 of the template, either an offer for a "PhatGPS" product is included in the message, or an offer for a "Spy Watch” product, depending upon whether the amount of the order just placed by the customer exceeds $100.
  • the template uses additional information received via the action tag to query a database for a second offer to be presented to the user. Further, in lines 40-45, the template causes the facility to add a third offer to the message based upon the application of an externally-specified rule based upon parameters received via the action tag.
  • the facility is preferably capable of sending pages, telegrams, faxes, voicemail messages, telephone calls, icq instant messages, and various other types of messages to users.
  • Such messages may be in response to other types of "visits" to the advertiser, including telephone calls to the advertiser, review of physical catalogs and brochures circulated by the publisher, various transactions conducted with the advertiser, and visits to the advertiser's website or other similar electronic presence.
  • Such "visits” may be effectuated using either general-purpose computers or special-purpose devices, including personal digital assistants, cellular and satellite phones, pagers, devices installed in automobiles and other vehicles, automatic teller machines, televisions, and other home appliances.
  • Figure 2 shows a method of operating under the preferred embodiment of the invention, as discussed above, illustrated for clarity.
  • a customer 200 (operating one of the Internet user computer systems 1 Oi104), a merchant 202 (operating one of the Internet publisher computers 131, 132), and an advertising service company 204 (operating the Internet advertising service computer system 140) are interconnected to transmit information as described above and summarized below.
  • the process begins in the generation of the merchant's web site, which normally includes numerous web pages.
  • One or more of these pages will include an action tag including a URL, which is generated by the advertising service company 204, and which is transmitted to the merchant in step 206 for inclusion in each desired web page.
  • the action tags typically differ for each page, which helps to identify the page visited and to convey any data collected as noted below.
  • the action tags may have certain blank fields, which may be filled in by the merchant, or which may be automatically generated based on the user's web browsing activity. This process generally occurs well in advance of a visit from the customer, during an initial period when the web pages are created at step 208.
  • the customer requests a web page in step 210. This may be by typing in the URL of the desired page, or more typically by clicking on a link from another site, or from an advertisement on another site or in a promotional email or other communication.
  • the page is requested by navigation among the pages within the merchant's web site, such as by selecting a particular product description page form the main page, by selecting a result returned from a list generated by a search request, by adding a product to a shopping cart, by requesting to check out, and by confirming an order, among a multitude of other commercial or communication events.
  • pages are essentially requested by engaging in the sequential steps of browsing, shopping and placing an order.
  • the merchant transmits the action tag to the user as part of the transmission of the page.
  • the merchant may modify the action tag by adding extended data pertaining to the details of a sales transaction, for instance, based on the actions taken by the customer.
  • the URL is specific to the page on which it is placed, so that it provides a clear indication of which page or product was viewed by the user.
  • the URL is transmitted to the customer, as the rest of the requested web page is transmitted.
  • the customer's computer automatically transmits the URL and the customer's cookie to the advertising service company, at the address indicated by the URL.
  • This automatic process is the natural result of the customer's web browser seeking to load all information provided at the page, by retrieving it from various sites using the URLs provided on the page.
  • the advertising service company 204 receives the action tag or URL, extracts the extended data and cookie as described above, and stores the complete data set in a database record associated with the transaction. Also in response to receipt of the URL, the advertising service company transmits the one pixel transparent gif image to the customer in step 220 to fulfill the customer's browser's request.
  • the download is complete 224. The process may continue as the customer continues browsing, or progresses through the steps of a transaction.
  • the advertising service company can learn when the user made the request, in response to which advertising campaign, how long the customer waited for each page to load (comparing the time of the request and the time of the receipt of the action tag URL), how long was spent at each page, which sequence of pages were visited, which items were selected for the shopping cart listing potential purchases, which items were purchased, preferred characteristics of the ordered items (e.g., size, color, style, format), the customer number assigned by the merchant, and any of the other items discussed above or of interest to a merchant.
  • preferred characteristics of the ordered items e.g., size, color, style, format
  • the advertising service company 204 may send an email response to the user.
  • the email may be sent immediately in response to the triggering event, or may be delayed.
  • the delay may be a selected time interval following the triggering event, such as two days after the event.
  • the delay may also provide for a selected time of delivery, such as 5:00 PM a selected number of days later, to avoid the cursory deletion of a message that might occur at the beginning of a work day.
  • a weekend delivery might be scheduled for personal products, weekday business hours delivery for messages of commercial business interest.
  • a promotion for a restaurant may be delivered shortly in advance of prime weekend days, or to stimulate demand during slack periods.
  • a user with an extensive recorded history of making purchases at certain days or hours may be targeted to receive messages at their implicitly preferred purchasing times.
  • campaigns may be targeted for certain holidays, or end-of-month paydays; in addition, personal information sucn as birthdays and anniversary dates may provide suitable timing triggers.
  • the preferred embodiment is intended to be limited to use for sending messages only to those users who have "opted in", that is, who have affirmatively requested to receive such mailings. Such requests are typically offered as an option to users when making a purchase or otherwise registering at a site. Nonetheless, the principles disclosed herein may be applied to non-consensual email recipients, so that the patent owner may exclude such practices.
  • the destination email address is determined at step 234.
  • the advertising service company maintains a database of users. The contents may be provided by the merchant based on information offered by its customers. For instance, when a customer requests to be included on a list for future promotional emails, the merchant (or other entity) records the user's email address, and also collects the "cookie" that uniquely identifies the user's computer or other communication device. A record in the database associates the address and the cookie.
  • the database may include more information in the record, and may include detailed information about the web browsing activities of the user. For example, each advertisement served by the advertising service company to the user may be recorded as having been viewed, so that future advertisements may be offered in a planned sequence.
  • the process of looking up the email address includes the step of determining whether or not an address is known for the cookie of the user. If not, no email is generated.
  • UID unique ID
  • PH personally identifiable information
  • the template selection process may be complex, as the user may visit multiple pages on a single visit to the merchant, many of which may include action tags. In such circumstances, a delay should prevent the immediate sending of email until the user's session is concluded. Then, the system may evaluate the pattern of recorded page views or action tag requests, and thereby determine the appropriate template. Such a system may prioritize purchase activity over specific product viewing activity, and may prioritize specific product viewing over a visit to an entry or home page of the merchant site.
  • the message is generated by filling in the blank fields in step 240.
  • Some of the fields may be filled with information from the action tag URL (e.g., product information); other fields may be filled with information from a pre-existing database record derived from the merchant (i.e., the customer's first name for a salutation).
  • Other information may be derived at least in part from database records from other visits to the merchant's site. For instance, the percentage discount may vary depending on whether the customer has made a purchase (depending on whether it is preferable to reward loyalty or to gain a new customer). Also, the discount may vary depending on the number of prior visits, so that a repeat viewer of a particular product might be offered a different discount than one who looked only one time.
  • any of innumerable other communication events may serve as the trigger for generating an email message with timing and or content customized to the particular use based on the timing and content of the communication.
  • Possible triggering events include:
  • travel or entertainment activity e.g., airline flight, restaurant or hotel visit
  • strAlt "PB8860”
  • strAlt "3561”

Abstract

Un procédé de communication consiste à fournir une page Web sur un premier ordinateur avec une étiquette d'action contenant des informations relatives à la page Web. En réponse à la visite de la page Web par un utilisateur, l'étiquette d'action est reçue de l'utilisateur au niveau d'un second ordinateur. Sur la base de l'étiquette d'action, un message de messagerie électronique est généré pour l'utilisateur. Le procédé peut consister à recevoir un témoin ou un autre identificateur de dispositif, à utiliser le témoin pour déterminer une adresse de messagerie électronique associée dans une base de données et à envoyer le message de messagerie électronique à l'utilisateur. Le contenu de l'étiquette d'action peut être utilisé pour sélectionner une grille de données de messagerie électronique appropriée, et pour remplir la grille avec un contenu approprié.
PCT/US2000/031952 1999-11-22 2000-11-22 Envoi d'un message de messagerie electronique en reponse a une activite selectionne de navigation sur le web WO2001039013A2 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU17852/01A AU1785201A (en) 1999-11-22 2000-11-22 Sending an email message in response to selected web browsing activity

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US16705499P 1999-11-22 1999-11-22
US60/167,054 1999-11-22
US59576100A 2000-06-16 2000-06-16
US09/595,761 2000-06-16

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2001039013A2 true WO2001039013A2 (fr) 2001-05-31
WO2001039013A3 WO2001039013A3 (fr) 2002-05-10

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PCT/US2000/031952 WO2001039013A2 (fr) 1999-11-22 2000-11-22 Envoi d'un message de messagerie electronique en reponse a une activite selectionne de navigation sur le web

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AU (1) AU1785201A (fr)
WO (1) WO2001039013A2 (fr)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9391827B1 (en) 2006-04-20 2016-07-12 Google Inc. Conditional audio content delivery method and system
US20210312413A1 (en) * 2017-12-29 2021-10-07 Square, Inc. Application programming interfaces for structuring distributed systems
US11288700B2 (en) 2018-01-26 2022-03-29 Walmart Apollo, Llc Automatic personalized email triggers

Families Citing this family (1)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN107239952B (zh) * 2016-03-28 2023-09-08 创新先进技术有限公司 一种数据处理的方法及装置

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WO1997015885A1 (fr) * 1995-10-25 1997-05-01 Open Market, Inc. Gestion des transferts d'informations dans un reseau de communication
EP0831409A2 (fr) * 1996-09-19 1998-03-25 Digital Equipment Corporation Messagerie électronique sur base de navigateur
WO1999012109A1 (fr) * 1997-09-02 1999-03-11 Torres Damon C Dispositif d'ordonnancement et d'affichage a contenu automatise

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Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9391827B1 (en) 2006-04-20 2016-07-12 Google Inc. Conditional audio content delivery method and system
US20210312413A1 (en) * 2017-12-29 2021-10-07 Square, Inc. Application programming interfaces for structuring distributed systems
US11288700B2 (en) 2018-01-26 2022-03-29 Walmart Apollo, Llc Automatic personalized email triggers

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2001039013A3 (fr) 2002-05-10
AU1785201A (en) 2001-06-04

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