Previewing email templates in marketing campaigns

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9378194-B2
Application number	US-201314066677-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 29, 2013
Priority date	Oct 29, 2013
Publication date	Jun 28, 2016
Grant date	Jun 28, 2016

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems and methods for customizing a preview content of an email template assigned to a marketing campaign are described herein. The method involves receiving a request to preview an email template. In response, a content of the email template including placeholders is invoked and the HyperText markup language (HTML) elements for the placeholders is identified. Further, descriptive names for the identified HTML elements are derived according to a correspondence language of the user. In an aspect, the correspondence language of the user is determined based on the user's language selection at the time of login. The identified HTML elements in the email template are replaced with the selected descriptive names and the preview content is rendered on an output interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a preview of an email template, the method comprising:
receiving, at a computer, a request from a user of the computer to preview an electronic document (e-document) template;
invoking a content of the e-document template, wherein the content includes a placeholder for a variable;
determining, by the computer, a correspondence language of the user;
identifying, by the computer, a markup language element for the placeholder in the e-document template;
determining, by the computer, a descriptive name for the identified markup language element by invoking metadata information pertaining to the place holder, and based on the metadata information, deriving the descriptive name associated with the identified markup language element for the placeholder in the correspondence language of the user;
replacing the markup language element for the placeholder with the selected descriptive name; and
rendering a preview of the e-document template.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving a request to preview the e-document template comprises receiving a selection of a hyperlink to the e-document template.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the correspondence language of the user comprises determining a language option selected by the user at the time of logging into the application.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the markup language elements for the placeholders comprises:
invoking the email template as an Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) string;
parsing the XHTML string into an Extensible markup language (XML) document object model (DOM) tree; and
based on the DOM tree, identifying the markup language elements within the XHTML string.

5. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions which when executed by a computer causes the computer to:
receive a request from a user of the computer to preview an e-document template;
invoke a content of the e-document template, wherein the content includes a placeholder for a variable;
determine a correspondence language of the user;
identify, by the computer, a markup language element for the placeholder in the e-document template;
determine, by the computer, a descriptive name for the identified markup language element by invoking metadata information pertaining to the place holder, and based on the metadata information, deriving the descriptive name associated with the identified markup language element for the placeholder in the correspondence language of the user;
replacing the markup language element for the placeholder with the selected descriptive name; and
render a preview of the e-document template.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 5 , wherein the electronic document template is an email template used in creating a personalized email.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the variable comprises a value specific to a recipient of the personalized email.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 5 , wherein variable includes at least one of name, title, designation, customer ID, social security number, and reference number.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 5 , wherein the descriptive name is a UI text description of a corresponding placeholder.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 5 , wherein the markup language element is an HTML element rendered within HTML tags.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the HTML tags are Span tags.

12. A system operating in a communication network, comprising:
a computer comprising a memory to store a program code, and a processor to execute the program code to:
receive a request from a user of the computer to preview an e-document template;
invoke a content of the e-document template, wherein the content include a placeholder for a variable;
determine a correspondence language of the user;
identify, by the computer, a markup language element for the placeholder in the e-document template;
determine, by the computer, a descriptive name for the identified markup language element by invoking metadata information pertaining to the place holder, and based on the metadata information, deriving the descriptive name associated with the identified markup language element for the placeholder in the correspondence language of the user;

replace the markup language element for the placeholder with the selected descriptive name; and
render a preview of the e-document template.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the electronic document template is an email template used in creating a personalized email.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the variable comprises a value specific to a recipient of the personalized email.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the descriptive name is a UI text description of a corresponding placeholder.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the variable includes at least one of name, title, designation, customer ID, social security number, and reference number.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the markup language element is an HTML element for the placeholder rendered within HTML tags.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the HTML tags are Span tags.

Assignees

• Steinmann Joerg
• Wagner Dirk
• Birkenhauer Christoph
• Sap Se

Inventors

• Steinmann Joerg
• Wagner Dirk
• Birkenhauer Christoph

Classifications

• G06F40/186

  Templates · CPC title

• G06Q30/02

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title

• G06F40/12

  Use of codes for handling textual entities · CPC title

• G06F3/1257

  by using pre-stored settings, e.g. job templates, presets, print styles · CPC title

• G06Q10/107 Primary

  Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing] · CPC title