Systems and methods for producing, managing, delivering, retrieving, and/or tracking permission based communications

• US 7,640,322 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2005
• Issued: 12/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TrueFire LLC
• Original Assignee: TrueFire, Inc.
• Inventors: Hasbach, Alison, Wendkos, Brad, Pervazov, Andrian
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr.; William C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BENGZON, GREG C
• Application Number:
  US11/068,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20050228899A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,765 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/202, 709/227, 709/206, 705/14, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

New and improved methods and systems are provided for producing, managing, delivering, retrieving, and/or tracking permission communications that alleviate several of the existing problems commonly associated with existing permission communications. According to the invention, computer users can request to receive direct communications from one or more senders. When a new communication is detected, an alert is provided to the recipients, who can use the alert to view the communication in their Web browser. Similar alerts may also be provided to one or more recipients when particular Web pages are updated. Various alternative embodiments are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for providing electronic communications comprising at least one of marketing and advertising information from a plurality of senders to a plurality of recipients via a platform disposed therebetween, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, from the plurality of senders, information associated with the generation of the electronic communication comprising the at least one of marketing and advertising information for distribution by the platform to the plurality of recipients;

generating by the platform the electronic communication to be transmitted to a recipient as a recipient-specific Web page based at least in part on the information received from the sender and permission criteria specified by the recipient with respect to the at least one of marketing and advertising information;

publishing by the platform the Web page on a server maintained by the platform that is accessible by the recipient using a network connection when communicating with the platform to receive the electronic communication from the platform;

determining by the platform whether a utility program is installed;

downloading by the platform the utility program to a recipient'"'"'s computer when the utility program is not installed;

installing by the platform the utility program to the recipients computer when the utility program is not installed;

generating by the utility program a recipient-specific security key

determining, by the utility program installed on a computer of the recipient, that the electronic communication is available by polling the server;

using the recipient security key generated by the utility program to verify that the recipient should be provided access to the electronic communication prior to the step of providing the published Web page to the recipient;

providing the computer of the recipient with an indication that the electronic communication is available as a published Web page when the utility program verifies that the recipient should be provided access, wherein the indication includes location information relating to the location of the published Web page;

receiving from the recipient computer a request to receive the electronic communication;

providing by the platform the published Web page to the recipient, using the location information, following the request by the recipient to receive the electronic communication from the sender;

tracking the request received from the recipient with respect to successful receipt of the indication that the electronic communication is available; and

providing by the platform electronic communication statistics comprising at least one of a total number of queued deliveries, a number of deliveries that are still being processed, a number of deliveries that have already occurred, a number of deliveries that were bounced, a number of deliveries that were opened, a number of deliveries that were clicked, a number of electronic communications delivered using different delivery methods, and a number of clickthroughs to determine the effectiveness of the electronic communication responsive to said tracking.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing the Web page to the recipient comprises the steps of:

downloading the Web page, using the location information provided with the indication; and

opening the Web page in a Web browser operated by the recipient.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication is an alert window that is made visible to the recipient, and wherein the alert window provides information to the recipient based on at least one of the sender of the electronic communication, the date on which the electronic communication was sent, the subject of the electronic communication, and the recipient of the electronic communication.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing the Web page to the recipient is based on the recipient activating the received indication.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated electronic communication is personalized based at least in part on information associated with the recipient that is stored by the server.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

using at least one web-centric reporting tool to collect information associated with the recipient'"'"'s interaction with the electronic communication; and

providing at least some of the collected information to the sender.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the electronic communication comprises using a design wizard tool, by the sender, to assist in the generation of the electronic communication.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of using a design wizard tool comprises the steps of:

selecting, by the sender, a Web page template; and

selecting, by the sender, at least one of formatted text, an image, graphics, a link, a form, and rich media content to be included in the generated Web page.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a list manager tool, and wherein the list manager tool is used by the sender to select the recipient that is to be provided the electronic communication and wherein the list manager tool is used to modify the recipient profile information comprising at least one of a name, an email address, an account information, demographic, and communication preferences.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining whether the recipient has granted permission to receive the electronic communication responsive to the permission criteria, wherein the step of providing the recipient with an indication that the electronic communication is available occurs only after it has been determined that the recipient has granted permission to receive the electronic communication.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

generating a second electronic communication as a second Web page based at least in part on the information received from the sender;

publishing the second Web page on a server that is accessible by a second recipient using a network connection;

providing the second recipient with a second indication that the electronic communication is available, wherein the second indication includes location information relating to the location of the published Web page;

receiving from the second recipient a second request to receive the electronic communication; and

providing the published Web page to the second recipient, using the location information, following the second request by the second recipient to receive the electronic communication from the sender.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing to the sender reports with information for tracking aspects of the electronic communication with the recipient, wherein the information comprises at least one of the date and time of the indication of the electronic communication to the recipient, the date and time the recipient accessed the electronic communication, the total number or intended recipients, the total number of indication deliveries, the number of recipients that opened the electronic communication, the number of recipients that clicked on one or more links in the electronic communication, the number of recipients that clicked on a specific link in the electronic communication, and the type of operating system and Web browsers of the recipient.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the Web page can only be viewed by the recipient.

14. The method of claim 1, providing to the plurality of senders key metrics of the electronic communication responsive to said tracking, wherein the key metrics include at least one of an electronic communication delivery date and time, a number of recipients, a number of deliveries, a number of recipients that opened the communication, a number of “

clickthroughs,”

a number of specific “

clickthroughs,” and

the operating systems and browsers recipients use.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said generating the electronic communication comprises generating by the platform the electronic communication comprising an alert formatted as a Web page to be transmitted to the recipient as a recipient-specific Web page based at least in part on the information received from the sender and permission criteria specified by the recipient with respect to the at least one of marketing and advertising information.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting to the utility program a new indication that the electronic communication is available; and

transmitting to the recipient simultaneously an encrypted and recipient-specific URL where the electronic communication is published.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

opening by the utility program the recipient default web browser when the recipient elects to view the communication; and

loading by the utility program the encrypted and recipient-specific URL.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating automatically by the platform a list with response data wherein the response data are generated from a communication campaign.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the response data comprise at least one of the number of times the recipient has received a communication, the number of times the recipient has opened a communication, and the number of times the recipient has responded to a communication.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic communication comprises at least one of personalized text and personalized images by merging recipient-specific data from a sender'"'"'s list.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic communication is not delivered to a recipient'"'"'s email client.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic communication is not delivered to the recipient through the email network.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing by the utility program an indication that the electronic communication is available if the recipient has granted permission to receive the electronic communication.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling by the platform a campaign manager develop advertising campaigns; and

providing by the platform to the campaign manager access to at least one of a design wizard tool, a list manager tool, and a sender tool.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining by the platform whether a utility program is installed;

checking by the platform for previously installed versions of the utility program in a recipient'"'"'s computer;

downloading by the platform the utility program to a recipient'"'"'s computer if the previously installed version of the utility program is not current;

installing by the platform the utility program to the recipient'"'"'s computer if the previously installed version of the utility program is not current; and

generating by the utility program a recipient-specific security key.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating by the platform to the utility program a unique identification number; and

identifying by the platform the recipient from the unique identification number.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating by the platform the recipient with more than one utility programs and security keys.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting by the platform to the recipient a selection window with a list of archived communications.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting by the platform to the recipient a selection window with archived communications; and

enabling by the platform generating a plurality of lists for storing the archived communications.

30. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reporting by the platform to a campaign manager the total number of recipients that have unsubscribed from receiving communications associated with a campaign.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the utility program and the recipient specific security key can be used for different delivery methods.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication indicates that a particular Web page has been updated.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

highlighting by the platform the exact location of the updated content on the electronic communication.

34. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

flagging by the platform undeliverable electronic communication as hard or soft bounces, wherein the reasons why the electronic communication is undelivered comprises at least one of an incorrect addresses, a canceled email account, a bad domain name, SPAM blocking, Firewall filtering, a full mailbox, and malfunctioning servers on the recipient'"'"'s end, wherein hard bounces are electronic communications with permanent and fatal errors and soft bounces are electronic communications with temporary errors, and suppressing automatically by the platform bounced electronic communications.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

searching by the platform a list for an email address that may have bounced the electronic communication.

36. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

removing by the platform a bounce flag from bounced electronic communications.

37. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

validating by the platform a recipient address with the recipient server; and

receiving by the platform the recipient server response.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein the method inserts and entry in the Windows operating system registry that enables automatic execution at startup.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

enabling by the platform the recipient subscribe in a campaign; and

using by the method a cookie to identify existing recipient subscriptions.

40. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying by the platform an icon in the system tray when the method is active;

checking periodically by the platform for new messages by transmitting a unique security identification number to the polling servers;

opening by the platform an indication window when a new electronic communication is available;

receiving by the platform an encrypted URL associated with the electronic communication if the recipient elects to view the new electronic communication;

opening by the platform a new browser window; and

displaying by the platform the electronic communication in the new browser window.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein the method bypasses the email network and recipient inboxes to deliver highly targeted communications instantly, reliably and without being subject to filters, blocking, stripping or any of the other pitfalls of email delivery.

42. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing by the platform a tool for automatically hosting and generating a unique URL for a landing page; and

enabling by the platform linking of a sender'"'"'s email address to the landing page.

43. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying by the platform the browser used by the recipient for viewing the electronic communication.

44. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying by the platform the operating system used by the recipient.

45. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

counting by the platform the number of times a referral tool was used in a campaign.

46. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing by the platform to the senders templates for designing electronic communications.

47. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling by the platform the recipient to set up a first special indication to alert the recipient to visit a web page;

enabling by the platform the recipient to set up a second special indication to alert the recipient when a particular content has significantly changed; and

enabling by the platform the senders to send a third special indication manually.