Method and system for customizing electronic communications

• US 6,944,645 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2001
• Issued: 09/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: George, Gary, Luongo, Annette
• Primary Examiner(s): Coulter, Kenneth R.
• Application Number:
  US09/759,701
• Publication Number:
  US 20020095481A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,705 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/224, 709230-234, 709/206, 705/14
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A vendor provides a customer an electronic communications system for customizing the content and the delivery date of product information. The communications system also keeps the vendor informed of evolving customer interests. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method for customizing electronic communications to a customer includes storing a set of customer-provided data in a first database, the customer-provided data being associated with a customer identification code and characterizing the customer. A set of customer-behavioral data is then generated in response to a data selection made by the customer at an informational database and is stored in the first database in association with the customer identification code. A content database is configured for storage of a plurality of product data sets and then at least one product data set is selected from the content database as a function of the customer-provided data and the customer-behavioral data. The customer is then sent the data set from the selecting step via a communications network.

Claims

1. A system for customizing electronic communications to a customer, the system comprising:

a first database configured to store a set of customer-provided data in association with a customer identification code and characterizing the customer, the first database configured to store a set of customer-behavioral data in association with the customer identification code, the customer-behavioral data generated in response to a data selection made by the customer from a second database;

a third database configured to store a plurality of product data sets; and

a server arrangement configured to select at least one product data set from the third database as a function of the customer-provided and the customer-behavioral data and construct an email including at least a portion of the selected product data, the server configured to send the email via a communications network to the customer in response to a message delivery date specified in the customer-provided data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer-provided data of the first database includes data from at least one of the group consisting of customer survey data, electronic commerce transactions, product and service registration data, call center data, point of sale information and demographic data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer-behavioral data includes customer selections of electronic newsletter subscriptions.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising an electronic jump station arrangement adapted to capture and store customer-behavioral data in the first database.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer specifies a transmission frequency for the number of times the communications message is sent in a predetermined time period.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the server arrangement further includes a content merge program configured to construct the communications message as a function of a set of business rules defined by the vendor.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a display arrangement communicatively coupled to the server and adapted for displaying the communications message to the customer.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications network includes a wireless network.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the display arrangement includes at least one of the group consisting of a CRT monitor, a cellular phone display, and a personal digital assistant display.

10. The system of claim 7, further comprising a data input device adapted to input customer-provided data into the first database.

11. A method for customizing electronic communications, comprising:

storing a set of user-provided data in association with a user identification code in response to input of the user-provided data, wherein the user-provided data is descriptive of the user and includes a message delivery date;

storing a set of user-behavioral data in association with the user identification code in response to at least one selection made by the user from a web site, wherein the set of user-behavioral data describes a subject of each selection from the web site;

storing data that describes a plurality of products in a database;

reading from the database, in response to the message delivery date specified in the user-provided data relative to a current date, data that describes at least one product as a function of the user-provided data and the user-behavioral data;

constructing an email message including at least a portion of the data read from the database; and

sending the email message to the user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user-provided data includes a data set from at least one of the group consisting of customer survey data, electronic commerce transactions, product and service registration data, call center data, point of sale information and demographic data.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the user-behavioral data includes selections of electronic newsletter subscriptions.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

including web-browsable links in the email message;

including in the user-behavioral data, data descriptive of a subject of a link in the email message in response to user selection of the link.

15. An apparatus for customizing electronic communications, comprising:

means for storing a set of user-provided data in association with a user identification code in response to input of the user-provided data, wherein the user-provided data is descriptive of the user and includes a message delivery date;

means for storing a set of user-behavioral data in association with the user identification code in response to at least one selection made by the user from a web site, wherein the set of user-behavioral data describes a subject of each selection from the web site;

means for storing data that describes a plurality of products in a database;

means for reading from the database, in response to the message delivery date specified in the user-provided data relative to a current date, data that describes at least one product as a function of the user-provided data and the user-behavioral data;

means for constructing an email message including at least a portion of the data read from the database; and

means for sending the email message to the user.

16. A system for customizing electronic communications, comprising:

a first database including a set of user-provided data in association with at least one user identification code, wherein the user-provided data is descriptive of a user and includes a message delivery date, the first database further including a set of user-behavioral data in association with the at least one user identification code, wherein the set of user-behavioral data describes a subject of each selection from a web site;

a second database including data that describes a plurality of products;

a server arrangement coupled to the first and second databases, the server arrangement configured to read from the second database, in response to the message delivery date specified in the user-provided data relative to a current date, data that describes at least one product as a function of the user-provided data and the user-behavioral data in the first database, construct an email message including at least a portion of the data read from the second database, and send the email message to the user.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the user-provided data of the first database includes data from at least one of the group consisting of customer survey data, electronic commerce transactions, product and service registration data, call center data, point of sale information and demographic data.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the user-behavioral data indicates at least one selection of an electronic newsletter subscriptions by the user.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the user-provided data includes a transmission frequency value that indicates a number of times a message is to be constructed and sent in a predetermined time period.

20. A computer-implemented method for customizing electronic communications to a customer, the method comprising:

storing a set of customer-provided data in a first database, the customer-provided data associated with a customer identification code and characterizing the customer;

generating a set of customer-behavioral data in response to a data selection made by the customer at an informational database;

storing the customer-behavioral data in the first database in association with the customer identification code;

configuring a content database for storage of a plurality of product data sets;

selecting at least one data set from the content database as a function of the customer-provided and the customer-behavioral data;

sending to the customer via a communications network the at least one data set from the selecting step;

obtaining access by the customer of the first database such that customer review is limited to a set of predetermined data sets; and

generating a web site and data storage location for the customer after storing the customer-provided data in the first database.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of constructing a communications message from the at least one data set as a function of a message delivery date specified in the customer-provided data.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the customer-provided data includes a data set from at least one of the group consisting of customer survey data, electronic commerce transactions, product and service registration data, call center data, point of sale information and demographic data.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the customer-behavioral data includes customer selections of electronic newsletter subscriptions.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising the steps of:

capturing behavioral data from a customer review of the communications message; and

storing the captured data as customer-behavioral data in the first database.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of capturing data includes transmitting customer-behavioral data via an electronic mail jumpstation arrangement to the first database.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of selecting the at least one data set includes selecting the at least one data set as a function of a set of business rules defined by the vendor.

27. A system for customizing electronic communications to a customer, the system comprising:

means for storing a set of customer-provided data in a first database, the customer-provided data associated with a customer identification code and characterizing the customer;

means for generating a set of customer-behavioral data in response to a data selection made by the customer at an informational database;

means for storing the customer-behavioral data in the first database in association with the customer identification code;

means for configuring a content database for storage of a plurality of product data sets;

means for selecting at least one data set from the content database as a function of the customer-provided and the customer-behavioral data;

means for sending to the customer via a communications network the data set from the selecting step ;

means for obtaining access by the customer of the first database such that customer review is limited to a set of predetermined data sets; and

means for generating a web site and data storage location for the customer after storing the customer-provided data in the first database.