System and method related to generating and tracking an email campaign

• US 7,065,555 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2001
• Issued: 06/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Advanced Transactions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: IC Planet Corporation
• Inventors: Foulger, Michael G., Cooper, Jeremy S., Storms, Andrew C., Chipperfield, Thomas R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barot, Bharat
• Application Number:
  US09/841,186
• Publication Number:
  US 20020032738A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,882 Days
• Field of Search: 709206-207, 709223-225, 709201-203
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method and system for generating and tracking an email campaign is described. An email campaign generator generates an email campaign template from an email target database. The email target database comprises at least one email target. An email campaign engine generates a custom email corresponding to each of the at least one email target. The custom email is formed from the email campaign template. The email campaign engine sends to each of the at least one email target the corresponding custom email. A campaign tracker receives at least one response corresponding to the sent custom email. The campaign tracker creates a campaign tracking list that includes the received at least one response.

Claims

1. A method for conducting an email campaign, comprising the steps of:

(1) receiving an email target database;

(2) generating an email campaign template related to at least one email target in the received email target database, wherein step (2) comprises;

(a) generating a message template, and

(b) generating a configuration file to contain data related to each of the at least one email target, wherein the data is insertable in the generated message template;

(3) sending to each of the at least one email target a corresponding custom email, wherein the custom email is formed from the email campaign template; and

(4) tracking the custom email sent to each of the at least one email target.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (1) comprises the step of:

(a) generating the email target database.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein step (a) comprises the steps of:

(i) collecting at least one raw document;

(ii) parsing said collected at least one document;

(iii) categorizing said parsed at least one document into at least one category;

(iv) inserting said at least one document into a database; and

(v) removing documents from the database corresponding to duplicate email addresses.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (1) comprises the step of:

(a) requesting an email target database according to a structured query language statement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (1) comprises the step of:

(a) receiving an email target database from a database vendor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises the steps of:

(i) generating a custom uniform resource locator address for each of the at least one email target; and

(ii) inserting the generated custom uniform resource locator address for each of the at least one email target into the configuration file.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein step (i) comprises the steps of:

(A) generating a hash from a campaign ID, a message template version ID, a user reference ID, and a private key, for each of the at least one email target; and

(B) appending a first portion of the generated hash for each of the at least one email target to a host web address to form the custom uniform resource locator address for each of the at least one email target.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the host web address is equal to:

hostname/module?token

where hostname is replaced with an email campaign host Internet address,

module is replaced with an identifier for software located at the email campaign host directed to processing the custom uniform resource locator address for each email target after it is selected, and

token is replaced with any alphanumeric identifier for unique information related to the customized uniform resource locator address for each of the at least one email target.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (3) comprises the step of:

(a) forming the custom email for each of the at least one email target from the generated text message template and the generated configuration file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (4) comprises the steps of:

(a) receiving at least one response from the at least one email target; and

(b) creating a campaign tracking list from said received at least one response.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein step (b) comprises the steps of:

(i) determining a number of successful visits from the at least one email target;

(ii) determining a number of the custom email sent to the at least one email target that were undeliverable; and

(iii) determining a number of the at least one email target that requested deletion.

12. A system for generating and tracking an email campaign, comprising:

an email campaign generator that generates an email campaign template from an email target database, wherein said email target database comprises a plurality of email targets;

an email campaign engine that generates a custom email corresponding to each of said plurality of email targets, wherein said custom email is formed from said email campaign template, wherein said email campaign engine sends said custom email to each of said plurality of email targets; and

a campaign tracker that receives a response corresponding to said sent custom email, and wherein said campaign tracker creates a campaign tracking list that includes said received response;

wherein said email campaign template comprises

a text message, and

a configuration file that includes data from said email target database corresponding to each of said plurality of email targets.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said email campaign engine makes a copy of said text message to generate said custom email.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said email campaign engine replaces at least one custom tag in said text message copy with a corresponding portion of said configuration file data.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein said email campaign generator comprises a custom uniform resource locator generator that creates a custom uniform resource locator address for each of said plurality of email targets, wherein said configuration file includes said custom uniform resource locator address in said data.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said custom uniform resource locator generator generates a hash from a campaign ID, a message template version ID, a user reference ID, and a private key, for each of said plurality of email targets, and appends at least a portion of the generated hash to a host web address to form said custom uniform resource locator address for each of said plurality of email targets.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said host web address is equal to:

hostname/module?token

where hostname is replaced with an email campaign host Internet address,

module is replaced with an identifier for software located at the email campaign host directed to processing said custom uniform resource locator address for an email target after it is selected, and

token is replaced with any alphanumeric identifier for unique information related to said custom uniform resource locator address for said email target.