Dynamic content delivery via email

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12457183-B2
Application number	US-202418410695-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2024
Priority date	Oct 23, 2018
Publication date	Oct 28, 2025
Grant date	Oct 28, 2025

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

The invention 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 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 each respective rendering of the email message on a recipient user device of the recipient user devices;
allocating, in real-time by the dynamic content server in response to the received requests, different pieces of the dynamic content to different recipient user devices of the recipient user devices as the email message is rendered on the different recipient user devices, the allocating the different pieces dynamic content comprising, for each of the received requests, dynamic content determination to determine which of the different pieces of the dynamic content to serve to a respective recipient user device of the recipient user devices by:
detecting, among from the received request for the dynamic content, an originating IP address of a first the respective 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 respective first recipient user device;
making a first dynamic content determination based on the current location, the first dynamic content determination identifying at least one of the different pieces of the dynamic content relevant to the current location to render in the email message on the respective recipient user device;
fixing a mapping, by the dynamic content server, of the one or more content hyperlinks to the identified at least one of the different pieces of the dynamic content for a duration of a persistence period, wherein determining a degree of persistence for the dynamic content determination, the degree of persistence including a persistence period that specifies a period of time for when the identified at least one of the different pieces of the dynamic content determination expires after a first rendering of the identified at least one of the different pieces of the dynamic content on one of the recipient user devices;
fixing a mapping of the one or more content hyperlinks to the identified different pieces of dynamic content for a duration of the persistence period; and
transmitting the identified at least one of the different pieces of the dynamic content to the respective recipient user device and to one or more other recipient user devices of the batch of recipient user devices at the current location requesting the dynamic content until the persistence period expires.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mapping of the one or more content hyperlinks to the identified at least one of the different pieces of the dynamic content causes the email message to be rendered with the identified at least one of the different pieces of the dynamic content on the respective first recipient user device for the duration of the persistence period.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the persistence period is determined dynamically upon making the first dynamic content determination based on the identified at least one of the different pieces of the dynamic content.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the persistence period of the first dynamic content determination is expired;
detecting, among the requests for the dynamic content, a new originating IP address of the first respective recipient user device;
performing a second location lookup based on the detected new originating IP address to determine an updated current location of the first respective recipient user device;
making a second content determination based on the updated current location; and
transmitting at least one of the different pieces of the dynamic content identified by the second content determination to the first respective recipient user device.

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

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising relaying information from the particular received request for the dynamic content to a personalization server;
receiving, from the personalization server, a content item ID;
making a new content determination based on the content item ID; and
transmitting different content to a recipient user device in response to an email message on the recipient user device being opened.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising redirecting the particular request for the 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.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising caching the particular content item with which the particular request for the dynamic content is associated; and
utilizing the cached particular content item to enable a determination of the persistence period.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising tracking a number of times the email message including the different pieces of the dynamic content is opened on the recipient user devices;
determining performance levels of content items in the different pieces of 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 different pieces of the dynamic content; and
based on the determined performance levels, eliminating a further piece of dynamic content of the different pieces of the dynamic content that is performing poorly.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting, from the identified at least one of the different pieces of the dynamic content, personalized content for the users of the recipient user devices based on at least one of an identity of the users, a mood of the users, a behavior of the users, a habit of the users, and a topic of interest of the users.

11. 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 a header and a body in accordance with the email template, wherein the body includes one or more content hyperlinks to the dynamic content;
receive, via a network, requests for the dynamic content at a dynamic content server in response to each respective rendering of the email message on a recipient user device of the recipient user devices;
allocate, in real-time by the dynamic content server in response to the received requests, different pieces of the dynamic content to different recipient user devices of the recipient user devices as the email message is rendered on the different recipient user devices and, for each of the received requests, allocating which of the different pieces of the dynamic content to serve to a respective recipient user device of the recipient user devices by:
detecting, among from the received

Assignees

• Zeta Global Corp

Inventors

• Monberg Christian
• Govan Barney
• Hudson Tim

Classifications

• 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

• H04L67/63

  Routing a service request depending on the request content or context · CPC title

• H04L67/53

  using third party service providers · CPC title

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title