Dynamic content delivery via email

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11909701-B2
Application number	US-201916460492-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 2, 2019
Priority date	Oct 23, 2018
Publication date	Feb 20, 2024
Grant date	Feb 20, 2024

Abstract

Dynamic content can be delivered via email. Email messages include HTML content with one or more hyperlinks referring to a network-connected dynamic content server. The hyperlinks are accessed upon rendering of the email on a client device, triggering a request to a dynamic content server. The dynamic content server determines a content item to be served in response to the request. The dynamic content item determination may be based on factors including the identity of the requester, the email communication in which the hyperlink is embedded, recent activities or behavior on the part of the requester, and/or known preference or demographic information associated with the requester. The request can be directed to a selected content item stored within a content delivery network, for transmission back to the requester and display to the user within the email.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computerized method, at a dynamic publication system, for publishing dynamic content via email, the computerized method including operations comprising at least:
receiving an email template at an email server;
transmitting an email message by the email server for delivery to a batch of recipient user devices, the email message including static content including a header and a body in accordance with the email template, wherein the body includes one or more content hyperlinks to the dynamic content;
receiving, via a network, requests for the dynamic content at a dynamic content server in response to respective renderings of the email message on the recipient user devices;
allocating, in real-time, different dynamic content of the dynamic content to different recipient user devices of the recipient user devices as the email message is respectively rendered on or viewed by users of the recipient user devices, the allocating the different dynamic content comprising:
detecting, among the requests for the dynamic content, an originating IP address of a first recipient user device of the recipient user devices rendering the email message and requesting the dynamic content;
performing a location lookup based on the detected originating IP address to determining a current location of the first recipient user device;
making or tailoring a dynamic content determination based on the current location;
determining a degree of persistence for the different dynamic content, wherein the degree of persistence for the different dynamic content is included in a mapping of the one or more hyperlinks and a specified period of time for when each of the different dynamic content expires after a first rendering on one of the recipient user devices;
tracking a number of times the email message is opened on the recipient user devices including each of the different dynamic content;
determining performance levels of content items in the dynamic content;
based on the determined performance levels, allocating a greater proportion of subsequent requests for the dynamic content to a highest-performing dynamic content of the dynamic content;
based on the determined performance levels, eliminating a further dynamic content of the dynamic content that is performing poorly;
selecting, from the different dynamic content, personalized content for the users of the recipient user devices based on at least one habit of the users; and
transmitting the personalized content to at least one of the batch of recipient user devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise determining a particular content item with which a particular request for dynamic content is associated based on a message ID contained within the particular request for dynamic content.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise:
relaying information from the particular request for dynamic content to a personalization server and receiving, from the personalization server, a content item ID; and
based on the content item ID, making a new content determination and transmitting different content to a recipient user device in response to an email message on the recipient user device being opened.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise making a new content determination after a persistence period associated with the degree of persistence expires, the persistence period being a period of time during which a mapping of a particular href and img tag set to the particular content item is fixed.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the operations further comprise redirecting the particular request for dynamic content to a content item identified by a content item ID and transmitting the content item to a recipient user device via a content delivery network.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the operations further comprise caching the particular content item with which the particular request for dynamic content is associated and utilizing the cached particular content item to enable a determination of the persistence period.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the allocating, in real-time, the different dynamic content to the different recipient devices comprises performing a new content determination for each request from a particular user such that different content is delivered to a client device of the particular user each time an email message is opened.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the allocating, in real-time, the different dynamic content to the different recipient users devices comprises persisting the dynamic content determination for a period of time such that an email message to a particular user will render same content during the period of time.

9. A dynamic publication system comprising:
at least one processor for executing machine-readable instructions; and
a memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor configured to:
receive an email template at an email server;
transmit an email message by the email server for delivery to a batch of recipient user devices, the email message including static content including a header and a body in accordance with the email template, wherein the body includes one or more content hyperlinks to dynamic content;
receive, via a network, requests for the dynamic content at a dynamic content server in response to respective renderings of the email message on the recipient user devices;
allocate, in real-time, different dynamic content of the dynamic content to different recipient user devices of the recipient user devices as the email message is respectively rendered on or viewed by users of the recipient user devices, the different dynamic content allocated by:
detecting, among the requests for the dynamic content, an originating IP address of a first recipient user device of the recipient user devices rendering the email message and requesting the dynamic content;
performing a location lookup based on the detected originating IP address to determine a current location of the first recipient user device;
making or tailoring a dynamic content determination based on the current location;
determining a degree of persistence for the different dynamic content, wherein the degree of persistence for the different dynamic content is included in a mapping of the one or more content hyperlinks and a specified period of time for when each of the different dynamic content expires after a first rendering on one of the recipient user devices;
tracking a number of times the email message is opened on the recipient user devices including each of the different dynamic content;
determining performance levels of content items in the dynamic content;
based on the determined performance levels, allocating a greater proportion of subsequent requests for the dynamic content to a highest-performing dynamic content of the dynamic content;
based on the determined performance levels, eliminating a further dynamic content of the dynamic content that is performing poorly;
select, from the different dynamic content, personalized content for the users of the recipient user devices based on at least one habit of the users; and
transmit the personalized content to at least one of the batch of recipient user devices.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a particular content item with which a particular request for dynamic content is associated based on a message ID contained within the particular request for dynamic content.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
relaying information from the particul

Assignees

• Zeta Global Corp

Inventors

• Monberg Christian
• Govan Barney
• Hudson Tim

Classifications

• H04L51/18 Primary

  Commands or executable codes · CPC title

• H04L51/063

  Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content · CPC title

• H04L67/568

  Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching · CPC title

• H04L51/02

  using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages · CPC title

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title