System and method related to generating and tracking an email campaign

• US 7,693,950 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2008
• Issued: 04/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Advanced Transactions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Archeron Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Storms, Andrew C., Chipperfield, Thomas R., Foulger, Michael G., Cooper, Jeremy S.
• Primary Examiner(s): BAROT, BHARAT
• Application Number:
  US12/135,748
• Publication Number:
  US 20080244027A1
• Time in Patent Office: 666 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-203, 709206-207, 709245-246
• 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 tracking custom email messages sent from a source to a plurality of target recipients, comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, for each custom email message sent from the source to a respective target recipient of the plurality of target recipients, data associated with the custom email message sent to the respective target recipient, wherein the data associated with each custom email is received other than from the respective target recipient;

receiving, at the computing device, at least one response from the plurality of target recipients, wherein each response indicates receipt by a respective target recipient of a respective custom email message sent to the respective target recipient; and

forming, at the computing device, a tracking list that includes analysis information about the custom email messages sent to the plurality of target recipients, wherein the analysis information includes analysis related to the data associated with the custom email messages and the at least one response.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each response is an email message sent by a respective target recipient, responsive to receipt of a custom email message or a uniform resource locator address request unique to the respective target recipient, responsive to receipt of the custom email message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each custom email message includes an executable link, wherein each executable link includes a custom uniform resource locator unique to a respective target recipient, and wherein each response is a uniform resource locator address request produced by executing a respective executable link to the custom uniform resource locator unique to the respective target recipient included in the custom email message sent to the respective target recipient.

4. An apparatus for tracking custom email messages sent from a source to a plurality of target recipients, comprising:

a computing device configured to;

receive, for each custom email message, data associated with the custom email message sent to a respective target recipient of the plurality of target recipients, wherein the data associated with each custom email is received other than from the respective target recipient;

receive at least one response from the plurality of target recipients that indicates receipt of a respective custom email message sent to the respective target recipient; and

form a tracking list that includes analysis information about the custom email messages sent to the plurality of target recipients, wherein the analysis information includes analysis related to the data associated with the custom email messages and the at least one response.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the computing device is further configured to generate the custom email messages sent to the plurality of target recipients.

6. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method for tracking custom email messages sent from a source to a plurality of target recipients, method comprising:

receiving, for each custom email message sent from the source to a respective target recipient of the plurality of target recipients, data associated with the custom email message sent to the respective target recipient, wherein the data associated with each custom email is received other than from the respective target recipient;

receiving at least one response from the plurality of target recipients, wherein each response indicates receipt by a respective target recipient of the custom email message sent to the respective target recipient; and

forming a tracking list that includes analysis information about the custom email messages sent to the plurality of target recipients, wherein the analysis information includes analysis related to the data associated with the custom email messages and the at least one response.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, the method further comprising:

outputting the tracking list for display.

8. A system for tracking custom email messages sent from a source to a plurality of target recipients, comprising:

means for receiving, for each custom email message sent from the source to a respective target recipient of the plurality of target recipients, data associated with the custom email message sent to the respective target recipient, wherein the data associated with the custom email messages is received other than from the respective target recipient;

means for receiving at least one response from the plurality of target recipients, wherein each response indicates receipt by a respective target recipient of a respective custom email message sent to the respective target recipient; and

means for forming a tracking list that includes analysis information about the custom email messages sent to the plurality of target recipients, wherein the analysis information includes analysis related to the data associated with the custom email messages and the at least one response.

9. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method for conducting an email campaign, the method comprising:

receiving information from an email target database;

generating a message template of an email campaign template;

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

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.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, the method further comprising tracking the custom email sent to each of the at least one email target.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, the method further comprising:

collecting at least one document;

parsing the at least one document;

categorizing the at least one document into at least one category; and

inserting data derived from the at least one document into the email target database.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, the method further comprising:

removing, from the email target database, at least some of the data derived from the at least one document if the data derived from the at least one document corresponds to a duplicate email address.

13. A system for conducting an email campaign, comprising:

means for receiving information from an email target database;

means for generating a message template of an email campaign template;

means for generating a configuration file of the email campaign template to contain data related to each of at least one email target, wherein the data is insertable in the message template; and

means for 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.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method for generating an email campaign, the method comprising:

generating an email campaign template from an email target database, wherein the email target database comprises a plurality of email targets and the email campaign template comprises a text message and a configuration file that includes data from the email target database corresponding to each of the plurality of email targets;

generating a custom email corresponding to each of the plurality of email targets, wherein the custom email is formed at least in part from the email campaign template; and

sending the custom email to each of the plurality of email targets.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, the method further comprising:

receiving a response corresponding to the custom email; and

producing a campaign tracking list that includes the response.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein said generating a custom email includes making a copy of the text message and replacing a custom tag in the copy of the text message with data derived from a corresponding portion of the data of the configuration file.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein said generating a custom email includes producing a custom uniform resource locator address for each of the plurality of email targets, and wherein the data of the configuration file includes the custom uniform resource locator address.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein said generating a custom email includes generating, for each of the plurality of email targets, a hash from a campaign identifier, a message template version identifier, a user reference identifier, and a private key, and appending at least a portion of the hash to a host web address to form the custom uniform resource locator address.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the host web address comprises a first part, a second part, and a third part, the first part comprises an email campaign host Internet address, the second part comprises an identifier located at an email campaign host and configured to cause the processor to process the custom uniform resource locator address for an email target after the email target has been selected, and the third part comprises an identifier for information related to the custom uniform resource locator address for the email target.

20. A system for generating an email campaign, comprising:

means for generating an email campaign template from an email target database, wherein the email target database comprises a plurality of email targets and the email campaign template comprises a text message and a configuration file that includes data from the email target database corresponding to each of the plurality of email targets;

means for generating a custom email corresponding to each of the plurality of email targets, wherein the custom email is formed at least in part from the email campaign template; and

means for sending the custom email to each of the plurality of email targets.

21. A method for producing a custom email template, comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, email addresses for a plurality of target recipients of custom email messages; and

producing at the computing device, as the custom email template, a configuration file and a message file,

wherein the configuration file includes, for each of the plurality of target recipients, data related to the target recipient and a custom uniform resource locator unique to the target recipient,

wherein the message file includes a textual message for each of the custom email messages, and

wherein the message file includes a plurality of custom tags configured to receive, for each target recipient, the data related to the target recipient and an executable link configured to receive the custom uniform resource locator unique to the target recipient.

22. A custom email template generator, comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive, from a database, email addresses for a plurality of target recipients of custom email messages;

produce, as a custom email template, a configuration file and a message file,

wherein the configuration file includes, for each of the plurality of target recipients, data related to the recipient target and a custom uniform resource locator unique to the target recipient,

wherein the message file includes a textual message for each of the custom email messages, and

wherein the message file includes a plurality of custom tags configured to receive, for each target recipient, the data related to the target recipient and an executable link configured to receive the custom uniform resource locator unique to the target recipient; and

output the configuration file and the message file.

23. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method for producing a custom email template, the method comprising:

receiving email addresses for a plurality of target recipients of custom email messages; and

producing, as the custom email template, a configuration file and a message file,

wherein the configuration file includes, for each of the plurality of target recipients, data related to the target recipient and a custom uniform resource locator unique to the target recipient,

wherein the message file includes a textual message for each of the custom email messages, and

wherein the message file includes a plurality of custom tags configured to receive, for each target recipient, the data related to the target recipient and an executable link configured to receive the custom uniform resource locator unique to the target recipient.

24. A system for producing a custom email template, comprising:

means for receiving email addresses for a plurality of target recipients of custom email messages; and

means for producing, as the custom email template, a configuration file and a message file,

wherein the configuration file includes, for each of the plurality of target recipients, data related to the target recipient and a custom uniform resource locator unique to the target recipient,

wherein the message file includes a textual message for each of the custom email messages, and

wherein the message file includes a plurality of custom tags configured to receive, for each target recipient, the data related to the target recipient and an executable link configured to receive the custom uniform resource locator unique to the target recipient.