	US 12,141,834 B1
	System and method for management of email marketing campaigns
Bradford Hardy Johnson, Salt Lake City, UT (US); Michael David Breitenbeker, Salt Lake City, UT (US); Joshua Lloyd Selleneit, Salt Lake City, UT (US); Jessica Leigh Hughes, Salt Lake City, UT (US); and Catherine Diaz, Salt Lake City, UT (US)
Assigned to Overstock.com, Inc., Midvale, UT (US)
Filed by Overstock.com, Inc., Midvale, UT (US)
Filed on Mar. 15, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/202,012.
Application 17/202,012 is a continuation of application No. 13/663,353, filed on Oct. 29, 2012, granted, now 10,949,876.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06Q 30/0251 (2023.01)

CPC G06Q 30/0251 (2013.01)

19 Claims

1. A method of creating an e-commerce website facilitating creation of multiple e-marketing campaigns for an e-commerce enterprise, the method comprising:

providing the e-commerce website with a web browser program that retrieves, presents and traverses information sources;

providing an e-commerce server that hosts the e-commerce website and website and enables e-commerce transactions of products and services via the e-commerce website;

providing a data warehouse server comprising a processor coupled to memory, a database management program, and a storage medium, wherein product information is stored on the data warehouse server;

providing an e-campaign management server comprising a processor coupled to memory, an e-campaign management program, and an e-campaign delivery program;

wherein the e-commerce server, the data warehouse server, and the e-campaign management server are accessible to each other via a network;

causing the data management program of the data warehouse server to collect and store data on a plurality of potential targeted users in the storage medium of the data warehouse server;

defining a first e-marketing campaign using the e-campaign management program, wherein the e-campaign management program allows the operator to (1) define a first target user profile for target users of the first e-marketing campaign; (2) create a first template for the e-marketing content in the first e-marketing campaign, (3) assign a first priority level to the first e-marketing campaign, (4) assign a first run time to the first e-marketing campaign;

causing the e-campaign management program to request data on a plurality of potential targeted users whose profile matches the first target user profile from the data warehouse server, wherein the data warehouse server compares the first target user profile to the data on each potential targeted user to determine users whose profile matches the first target user profile and sends the data on the plurality of potential targeted users whose profile matches the first target user profile to the e-campaign management program on the e-campaign management server;

causing the e-campaign management program to generate a first data table of targeted users of the first e-marketing campaign comprising the plurality of potential targeted users whose profile matches the first target user profile and store the first data table of targeted users in a storage medium on the e-campaign management server;

causing the e-campaign management server to generate at least one message to each of the targeted users of the first e-marketing campaign, wherein the at least one message is generated by filling in at least one template with e-marketing content and user information for the targeted users of the first e-marketing campaign;

defining a second e-marketing campaign using the e-campaign management program, wherein the e-campaign management program allows the operator to (1) define a second target user profile for target users of the second e-marketing campaign; (2) create a second template for the e-marketing content in the second e-marketing campaign, (3) assign a second priority level to the second e-marketing campaign, (4) assign a second run time to the second e-marketing campaign;

causing the e-campaign management program to request data on a plurality of potential targeted users whose profile matches the second target user profile from the data warehouse server, wherein the data warehouse server compares the second target user profile to the data on each potential targeted user to determine users whose profile matches the second target user profile and sends the data on the plurality of potential targeted users whose profile matches the second target user profile to the e-campaign management program on the e-campaign management server;

causing the e-campaign management program to generate a second data table of targeted users of the second e-marketing campaign comprising the plurality of potential targeted users whose profile matches the first target user profile and store the second data table of targeted users in a storage medium on the e-campaign management server, wherein at least one targeted user appears in both the first data table of targeted users and the second data table of targeted users;

causing the e-commerce server to generate at least one message to each of the targeted users of the second e-marketing campaign, wherein the at least one message is generated by filling in at least one template with e-marketing content and user information for the targeted users of the second e-marketing campaign;

using the e-campaign management program to define a threshold for the number of communications which a given user may receive in a given period of time;

suppressing one or more targeted users of the first and second e-marketing campaigns by removing the targeted users from the first and second data tables if the targeted users received a number of communications greater than the threshold for the number of communications which a given user may receive in a given period of time in the given period of time;

comparing the first priority level and the second priority level to determine which of the first e-marketing campaign and the second e-marketing campaign has a lowest priority level;

comparing the first priority level and the second priority level to determine which of the first e-marketing campaign and the second e-marketing campaign has a highest priority level

comparing the first data table of targeted users and the second data table of targeted users using the e-campaign management program and generating a revised data table of targeted users for the determined lowest priority level e-marketing campaign by removing those users in the first data table of targeted users and the second data table of targeted users from the revised data table;

implementing the determined highest priority level first e-marketing campaign by causing the e-commerce server to deliver at least one message to the targeted users of the determined highest priority level e-marketing campaign only to the non-suppressed targeted users appearing in the data table of targeted users of related to the determined highest priority level e-marketing campaign; and

implementing the determined lowest priority level e-marketing campaign by causing the e-commerce server to deliver at least one message to the targeted users of the determined lowest priority level e-marketing campaign only to the non-suppressed targeted users appearing in the revised data table related to the determined lowest priority level e-marketing campaign.