TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

Example embodiments of the present invention relate generally to transmitting electronic marketing communications and, more particularly, to methods, systems, and apparatuses for assessing the quality of and managing the frequency of electronic marketing communications.

BACKGROUND

The applicant has discovered problems with current methods, systems, and apparatuses for evaluating and transmitting electronic marketing communications. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, Applicant has solved many of these identified problems by developing a solution that is embodied by the present invention, which is described in detail below.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Accordingly, a method, apparatus, and computer program manage the transmission of electronic marketing communications. Example embodiments may include methods, systems, apparatuses, and the like that provide a management interface between message authors and a message transmission service to ensure that message recipients receive messages according to a defined, predictable, and/or derived schedule. For example, embodiments include a coordination service that manages transmission of messages according to a schedule and message queue for particular user recipients. Embodiments may include a user preference model for one or more users that controls whether particular messages are accepted for transmission to individual users. Embodiments may further provide additional experimental capabilities that allow for modification to transmission schedules and monitoring of the results of the modifications to improve the manner in which future messages are transmitted to recipients.

Embodiments may include a method for controlling electronic transmission of electronic marketing communications generated by a plurality of authoring services. The method includes receiving, from message authoring circuitry, a first message from a first authoring service of the plurality of authoring services. The first message includes at least one recipient and content for at least one electronic marketing communication. The method also includes adding, by message management circuitry, the first message to a message queue associated with the at least one recipient, determining, by the message management circuitry, one or more characteristics associated with the at least one recipient, evaluating the first message, by the message management circuitry, using the one or more characteristics to determine a first message state for the first message, in response to determining that the message state indicates the first message is to be transmitted, forwarding, by the message management circuitry, the first message to message transmission circuitry, and transmitting, by the message transmission circuitry, the first message to the recipient.

Embodiments of the method may also include determining, by the message management circuitry, a message budget for the first authoring service, providing the message budget to the first authoring service, and receiving the first message from the first authoring service in response to providing the message budget to the first authoring service. The first authoring service may selects the first message based at least in part on the message budget. The method may also include determining a budget value for the first message, and reducing the message budget in response to transmitting the first message. In some embodiments the method includes receiving, by the message management circuitry, a registration request from the first authoring service, wherein the message budget is determined in response to receiving the registration request. The method may also include receiving a second message from a second authoring service of the plurality of authoring services, adding, by the message management circuitry, the second message to the message queue, evaluating the second message, by the message management circuitry, using the one or more characteristics to determine a second message state for the second message, and, in response to determining that the message state indicates the second message is to be discarded, removing the second message from the message queue without transmitting the second message. The one or more characteristics may include a recipient preference model. The method may include monitoring, by the message management circuitry, one or more metrics associated with the first message, and updating the recipient preference model based at least in part on the one or more metrics. The method may include adjusting at least one variable related to the evaluation of the first message by the message management circuitry, identifying a correlation between the one or more metrics and the at least one variable, and modifying a subsequent message evaluation process based at least in part on the correlation. The one or more metrics may indicate where the first message generated at least one of an impression or a purchase.

The method may include locking the message queue to prevent access by another operation during adding the first message to the message queue, evaluating the first message, and transmitting the first message. The method may also include receiving a plurality of messages from the plurality of authoring services, adding the plurality of messages to the message queue, evaluating each of the plurality of messages to the message queue, and assigning a message state to each of the plurality of messages based on evaluating the messages, wherein at least one of the message states indicates a message was accepted. The method may also include receiving a preemptive message after assigning the message state to each of the plurality of messages, in response to receiving the preemptive message, reevaluating the plurality of messages in the message queue and evaluating the preemptive message, based on the reevaluation of the plurality of messages, altering the at least one of the message states to reject the message that was accepted, assigning a state of the preemptive message to accepted, and, transmitting the preemptive message by the message transmission circuitry.

Embodiments of the method may also include receiving a message transmission buffer status from the message transmission circuitry, and approving a plurality of messages for transmission by the message transmission circuitry at a rate based on the message transmission buffer status. Approving the plurality of messages for transmission by the message transmission circuitry at the rate based on the message transmission buffer status may include determining a difference between an approval time at which an approved message is approved by the message management circuitry and a time at which the message transmission circuitry is expected to transmit the message to the recipient, and ensuring that the difference is below a minimum threshold before approving at least one of the plurality of messages for transmission by the message transmission circuitry. The minimum threshold may be a value that is configurable by the message management circuitry.

Embodiments also include a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, configure an apparatus to control electronic transmission of electronic marketing communications generated by a plurality of authoring services. The instructions include program instructions for receiving a first message from a first authoring service of the plurality of authoring services, the first message comprising at least one recipient and content for at least one electronic marketing communication, program instructions for adding the first message to a message queue associated with the at least one recipient, program instructions for determining one or more characteristics associated with the at least one recipient, program instructions for evaluating the first message using the one or more characteristics to determine a first message state for the first message, program instructions for, in response to determining that the message state indicates the first message is to be transmitted, forwarding the first message to message transmission circuitry, and program instructions for transmitting the first message to the recipient.

Embodiments may include an apparatus for controlling electronic transmission of electronic marketing communications generated by a plurality of authoring services. The apparatus includes means for receiving a first message from a first authoring service of the plurality of authoring services, the first message comprising at least one recipient and content for at least one electronic marketing communication, means for adding the first message to a message queue associated with the at least one recipient, means for determining one or more characteristics associated with the at least one recipient, means for evaluating the first message using the one or more characteristics to determine a first message state for the first message, means for, in response to determining that the message state indicates the first message is to be transmitted, forwarding the first message to message transmission circuitry, and means for transmitting the first message to the recipient.

Embodiments may include yet another apparatus for controlling electronic transmission of electronic marketing communications generated by a plurality of authoring services. The apparatus includes message management circuitry configured to receive, from message authoring circuitry, a first message from a first authoring service of the plurality of authoring services, the first message comprising at least one recipient and content for at least one electronic marketing communication, add the first message to a message queue associated with the at least one recipient, determine one or more characteristics associated with the at least one recipient, evaluate the first message using the one or more characteristics to determine a first message state for the first message, and, in response to determining that the message state indicates the first message is to be transmitted, forward the first message to message transmission circuitry. The apparatus also includes message transmission circuitry configured to transmit the first message to the recipient. In some embodiments, the apparatus also includes the message authoring circuitry.

The above summary is provided merely for purposes of summarizing some example embodiments to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above-described embodiments are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the invention in any way. It will be appreciated that the scope of the invention encompasses many potential embodiments in addition to those here summarized, some of which will be further described below.

