Using user segments for targeted content

• US 10,282,747 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2015
• Issued: 05/07/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Inventors: Sachdev, Anil, Greger, Thomas, Pack, Brandon
• Primary Examiner(s): Sittner, Matthew T
• Application Number:
  US14/728,354
• Publication Number:
  US 20160358206A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,435 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1419, 382103, 345440
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0245 Surveys
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Techniques for providing content to a computing device of a user are described. For example, a platform hosts a plurality of tools includes an analytics tool and a content tool. Input of a customer of the platform is received and specifies user segments and content to be provided accordingly. The tools are updated based on the customer input. User interactions of the user are also received and analyzed by, for example, the analytics tool. The analytics tool outputs an indication that the user is associated with a user segment based on the analysis. The output identifies the user segment and the user based on a format usable by the other tools. In turn, the content tool automatically receives and uses the output as an input to determine the content and the target of the content. Accordingly, the content tool provides the content to the computing device of the user.

Claims

1. In a computing platform having an analytics tool configured to analyze interactions of users with published content and a separate content tool configured to provide targeted content to the users, a computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by the computing platform from a marketer computing device, input that identifies a user segment and a parameter for an action associated with the user segment;

generating, by the computing platform based on the input, metadata that comprises (i) an identifier of the user segment, (ii) an identifier of the action, and (iii) an identifier of the parameter, wherein the metadata standardizes an interface between the analytics tool and the content tool by specifying how an identifier of a user associated with the user segment should be generated according to a standard format common to the analytics tool and the content tool, wherein the metadata is provided to the analytics tool and the content tool based on respective application programming interfaces of the analytics tool and the content tool;

providing, by the computing platform, at least portions of the metadata to the analytics tool and the content tool;

receiving, by the analytics tool, first information identifying one or more user interactions of the user using a computing device to interact with the published content;

automatically triggering, based on receiving the first information identifying the one or more user interactions, the analytics tool to associate the user with the user segment based on analyzing the first information identifying the one or more user interactions, wherein the associating of the user with the user segment comprises associating the identifier of the user with the identifier of the user segment based on the metadata; and

automatically triggering, based on the associating of the user with the user segment, the analytics tool to provide second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment to the content tool, the second information comprising the identifier of the user and the identifier of the user segment in the standard format,

wherein the second information is published from the analytics tool to the content tool over an internal communication bus,

wherein the respective application programming interfaces are separate from the internal communication bus, and

wherein the content tool is configured to provide targeted content to the computing device of the user based on the second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment and based on the identifier of the action and on the identifier of the parameter from the metadata.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising updating the analytics tool and the content tool to use a common identifier of the user segment in the standard format common to the analytics tool and the content tool, wherein the second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment comprises the common identifier.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the analytics tool and the content tool are configured to use a common identifier of the user segment and a common identifier of the user in the standard format common to the analytics tool and the content tool, and wherein the second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment comprises the common identifier of the user segment and the common identifier of the user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the published content is available from a web site that embeds a beacon for tracking the user interactions, wherein the targeted content comprises an advertisement to be inserted in another web site accessed by the computing device of the user.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the platform comprises a cloud-based service for hosting a plurality of tools comprising the analytics tool and the content tool.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the platform comprises the internal communication bus configured to interconnect the analytics tool and the content tool, and wherein the second information identifying that the user is associated with the user is published from the analytics tool to the content tool over the internal communication bus.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises a common identifier of user segment, parameters for associating the user with the user segments based on the user interactions, and a definition of an action to be performed to determine the targeted content.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the analytics tool and the content tool are configured to use a cookie uniquely assigned to the computing device of the user, and wherein the second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment comprises the cookie.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed on a computing system associated with a platform hosting an analytics tool and a content tool to a customer, cause the computing system to at least:

receive input of the customer defining a user segment for the analytics tool and defining an action for the content tool to perform based on the user segment;

generate, based on the input, metadata that comprises (i) an identifier of the user segment and (ii) an identifier of the action, wherein the metadata standardizes an interface between the analytics tool and the content tool by specifying how an identifier of a user associated with the user segment should be generated according to a standard format common to the analytics tool and the content tool, wherein the metadata is provided to the analytics tool and the content tool based on respective application programming interfaces of the analytics tool and the content tool;

provide at least portions of the metadata to the analytics tool and the content tool;

receive first information identifying user interactions of the user using a computing device to interact with published content;

cause the analytics tool to analyze the first information identifying the user interactions based on the input of the customer defining the user segment and to associate the user with the user segment based on the analyzing, wherein the associating of the user with the user segment comprises associating the identifier of the user with the identifier of the user segment based on the metadata; and

cause, based on associating the user with the user segment, the analytics tool to provide second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment to the content tool, the second information comprises the identifier of the user and the identifier of the user segment in the standard format,

wherein the second information is published from the analytics tool to the content tool over an internal communication bus,

wherein the respective application programming interfaces are separate from the internal communication bus, and

wherein the content tool is configured to automatically perform the action based on receiving the second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment and based on the identifier of the action from the metadata.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed on the computing system, further configure the computing system to provide an interface configured to receive the input of the customer from a computing device of the customer.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the user segment indicates an interest common to a plurality of users, and wherein performing the action comprises selecting and providing an advertisement based on the interest to the computing device of the user.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the analytics tool and the content tool comprise the respective application programming interfaces configured to receive the metadata.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the platform comprises the internal communication bus configured to interconnect the analytics tool and the content tool, and wherein the second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment is exchanged between the analytics tool and the content tool over the internal communication bus.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed on the computing system, further configure the computing system to:

associate the user interactions with an identifier of the computing device of the user; and

store the user interactions and the identifier of the computing device in a data store of the platform, wherein the analytics tool and the content tool have access to the data store.

15. A system associated with a platform hosting an analytics tool and a content tool, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and bearing instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, cause the system to at least;

provide an interface to a computing device of a customer, wherein the interface is configured to facilitate customer input specifying a user segment for the analytics tool and indicating content for the content tool based on the user segment;

generate, based on the customer input, metadata that comprises (i) an identifier of the user segment and (ii) an identifier of the content, wherein the metadata standardizes an interface between the analytics tool and the content tool by specifying how an identifier of a user associated with the user segment should be generated according to a standard format common to the analytics tool and the content tool, wherein the metadata is provided to the analytics tool and the content tool based on respective application programming interfaces of the analytics tool and the content tool;

provide at least portions of the metadata to the analytics tool and the content tool;

receive first information identifying user interactions of the user using a computing device to interact with published content;

trigger the analytics tool to analyze the first information identifying user interactions based on the input of the customer specifying the user segment and to associate the user with the user segment based on the analyzing, wherein the associating of the user with the user segment comprises associating the identifier of the user with the identifier of the user segment based on the metadata; and

trigger, based on associating the user with the user segment, the analytics tool to provide second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment to the content tool, the second information comprising the identifier of the user and the identifier of the user segment in the standard format,

wherein the second information is published from the analytics tool to the content tool over an internal communication bus,

wherein the respective application programming interfaces are separate from the internal communication bus, and

wherein the content tool is configured to automatically provide the content to the computing device of the user based on receiving the second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment and based on the identifier of the content from the metadata.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, cause the system to provide code to the computing device of the customer for embedding in a web site or an application, the code when embedded is configured to send the second information indicating the user interactions to the system.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein a portion of the first information identifying the user interactions is received from an external source independent of the customer.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the user interactions are associated with an identifier of the computing device of the user, and wherein the identifier of the computing device of the user is shared between the analytics tool and the content tool.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions, upon execution by the one or more processors, cause the system to provide the application programming interfaces to update the analytics tool and the content tool and the internal communication bus to the platform to publish the second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment.

20. The system of claim 19, the application programming interfaces are run at a time interval to update the analytics tool and the content tool based on a plurality of customer inputs, and wherein the second information identifying that the user is associated with the user segment is published in real time over the internal communication bus.