Inbox management system

• US 10,198,742 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Inventors: Aggarwal, Amit, Thacker, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Alvarez, Raquel
• Application Number:
  US13/838,452
• Publication Number:
  US 20140006139A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,153 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1452, 705 1453, 705 1441
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement

Abstract

Electronic correspondence that includes one or more promotions may be generated for presenting to a consumer. In order to determine whether to present the electronic correspondence to the consumer, the promotions included in the electronic correspondences may be analyzed in terms of a probability the consumer will accept the promotions, a relevance level between the promotions and attributes of the consumer, a relevance level between the promotions and the consumer, a relevance level between the promotions and a set of goals or rules, among other similar terms. After the analysis, a determination may be made whether to send the electronic correspondence to the consumer. Similarly, the analysis may compare multiple electronic correspondences, and determine, based on the comparison, which of the multiple electronic correspondences to send to the consumer.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for improving electronic correspondence transmission efficiency by selectively transmitting generated emails to a consumer device associated with a consumer via a network at a current time period, the method comprising:

generating an email by at least;

selecting, by an electronic correspondence generation component, two or more promotions to include in the email by accessing a database of promotions to select the two or more promotions stored therein, wherein the two or more promotions are selected based at least in part on a promotion score associated with each of the two or more promotions; and

including the two or more promotions in the email for transmission;

providing, by the electronic correspondence generation component, the generated email to a scoring component of an electronic mail server configured to transmit the email;

generating, by the scoring component, an electronic correspondence score for the generated email based on the associated promotion score for each of the two or more promotions included in the email;

applying a supplemental analysis that determines a past engagement level based on the consumer'"'"'s interaction with previously transmitted emails;

adjusting the electronic correspondence score based on the past engagement level including;

determining that the two or more promotions are associated with a first previously transmitted email of the previously transmitted emails;

determining that the current time period is associated with a first time period of the first previously transmitted email; and

adjusting the electronic correspondence score based on a first past performance score of the first previously transmitted email;

determining, by the scoring component, whether to send the email to the consumer device based on;

whether the electronic correspondence score satisfies a threshold value; and

causing, by the scoring component, transmission of the email to the consumer device at the current time period via the network in response to determining that the electronic correspondence score satisfies the threshold value.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the electronic correspondence score is generated according to a weighted mean of the associated promotion scores, wherein a best promotion score is assigned a most weighting value.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the past engagement level is based on a total number of past promotions accepted by the consumer, a total value of past promotions accepted by the consumer, or a total number of past emails accessed by the consumer.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the supplemental analysis removes from the email any promotions that have been previously sent to the consumer device in a previous electronic correspondence within a predetermined amount of time.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein

the supplemental analysis prevents the email from being sent to the consumer device when a predetermined number of electronic correspondences have been previously sent to the consumer device within a predetermined time period

by adjusting the electronic correspondence score to a value that indicates the email is not to be sent to the consumer device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein

the supplemental analysis determines whether the email includes a group of two or more promotions that have been accepted by the consumer at a greater rate when presented together than either one of the promotions presented alone, and

generating the electronic correspondence score further includes adjusting the electronic correspondence score when such a group of two or more promotions is determined to be included in the email.

7. A computer-implemented method for improving electronic correspondence transmission efficiency by selectively transmitting generated emails to a consumer device associated with a consumer via a network at a current time period, the method comprising:

accessing, by an electronic correspondence generation component, a plurality of generated emails, each of the plurality of generated emails including two or more promotions and each promotion having an associated promotion score, wherein the two or more promotions are selected based at least in part on their associated promotion score;

providing, by the electronic correspondence generation component, an email of the generated emails to a scoring component of an electronic mail server configured to transmit the email;

generating, by the scoring component, an electronic correspondence score for each of the plurality of emails, wherein the electronic correspondence score is generated based at least in part on the promotion scores of the promotions contained within the email;

applying a supplemental analysis that determines a past engagement level based on the consumer'"'"'s interaction with previously transmitted emails;

adjusting the electronic correspondence score based on the past engagement level including;

determining that the two or more promotions are associated with a first previously transmitted email of the previously transmitted emails;

determining that the current time period is associated with a first time period of the first previously transmitted email; and

adjusting the electronic correspondence score based on a first past performance score of the first previously transmitted email;

determining, based on at least the promotion scores, whether to select an email from the plurality of emails to send to the consumer device based on an electronic correspondence score associated with the email satisfying a threshold value;

selecting a number of emails to send to the consumer device based on the electronic correspondence scores of the plurality of emails; and

causing, by the scoring component, transmission of the number of emails to the consumer device via the network at the current time period.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the past engagement level is based on a total number of past promotions accepted by the consumer, a total value of past promotions accepted by the consumer, or a total number of past emails accessed by the consumer.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the supplemental analysis removes from the email any promotion that has been previously sent to the consumer in a previous electronic correspondence within a predetermined amount of time.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein

the supplemental analysis prevents the email from being sent to the consumer device when a predetermined number of electronic correspondences have been previously sent to the consumer device within a predetermined time period

by adjusting the electronic correspondence score to a value that indicates the electronic correspondence is not to be sent to the consumer device.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein

the supplemental analysis determines whether the email includes a group of one or more promotions that have been accepted by the consumer at a greater rate when presented together than either one of the promotions presented alone, and

generating the electronic correspondence score further includes increasing the electronic correspondence score when such a group of one or more promotions is determined to be included in the email.

12. An apparatus for improving electronic correspondence transmission efficiency by selectively transmitting generated emails to a consumer device associated with a consumer via a network, the apparatus comprising:

a memory configured to;

store the generated emails, each generated email including two or more promotions, wherein the two or more promotions are selected based at least in part on a promotion score associated with each of the two or more promotions; and

store an associated promotion score for each promotion; and

a processor in communication with the memory and configured to;

generate an electronic correspondence score for each email based on the associated promotion score for each of the two or more promotions included in the email, wherein the processor is configured to generate the electronic correspondence score;

apply a supplemental analysis that determines a past engagement level based on the consumer'"'"'s interaction with previously transmitted emails;

adjust the electronic correspondence score based on the past engagement level including;

determining that the two or more promotions are associated with a first previously transmitted email of the previously transmitted emails;

determining that the current time period is associated with a first time period of the first previously transmitted email; and

adjusting the electronic correspondence score based on a first past performance score of the first previously transmitted email; and

determine whether to send the email to the consumer device based on;

whether the electronic correspondence score of the email satisfies a threshold value; and

cause transmission of the email to the consumer device via the network at the current time period in response to determining that the email is to be sent.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to generate the electronic correspondence score by obtaining a weighted mean of the promotion scores, wherein a best promotion score is assigned a most weighting value.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor determines the past engagement level based on a total number of past promotions accepted by the consumer, a total value of past promotions accepted by the consumer, or a total number of past emails accessed by the consumer.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the supplemental analysis removes from the email any promotions that have been previously sent to the consumer device in a previous electronic correspondence within a predetermined amount of time.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the supplemental analysis prevents the email from being sent to the consumer device when a predetermined number of electronic correspondences have been previously sent to the consumer device within a predetermined time period

by adjusting the electronic correspondence score to a value that indicates the email is not to be sent to the consumer device.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the supplemental analysis determines whether the email includes a group of two or more promotions that have been accepted by the consumer at a greater rate when presented together than either one of the promotions presented alone, and

the processor is further configured to adjust the electronic correspondence score when such a group of two or more promotions is determined to be included in the email.