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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method, system, and computer program product for optimizing performance in a data processing system. Still more particularly, the present
invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for identifying and tracking electronic mail campaigns.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the Internet has matured, so has electronic mail, which is also referred to as e-mail. In particular, the content, layout, and architecture of e-mail have significantly improved over time. E-mail has become richer in terms of its ability to
convey a message as it can blend together audio, video, artwork, and other content. E-mail can contain a combination of items, including attached files and hyperlinks. The files may contain text, video, audio, graphics, and other rich content. The
hyperlinks may contain links to a network such as the Internet, an intranet or an extranet. Due to these capabilities, in the 21.sup.st century e-mail is preferred by over 93 percent of U.S. based Internet users as the communication medium of choice.
As the reach of the Internet grows and e-mail as a communications medium becomes more prolific, newsletter authors, advertisers, and marketers alike are trying to leverage this new channel and extend their reach on a daily basis. As savvy
marketers attempt to extend their reach and tap into a global economy, e-mail based marketing campaigns rank number one as a vehicle of choice. E-mail is fast, inexpensive, and reliable for reaching the large masses, especially when compared to methods
such as outbound call centers or direct mail. E-mail also has the capability of delivering targeted and customized messaging to specific audiences. As a result, e-mail campaigns cover the full range from product and service announcements to business
partnerships and beyond.
Problems with the ability to track or identify e-mail readership over time include knowing if a reader ever opened and read the message, which hyperlinks were most popular, and which attachments were opened most often. E-mail authors need this
information to improve the effectiveness of future e-mail campaigns. Given the significant amounts of investments being made in e-mail based campaigns and newsletters, a number of methods exist in the commercial world to address hypertext markup
language (HTML) based e-mails. Tracking of e-mail is fundamentally achieved by incorporating a probe or some mechanism within the e-mail whereby the e-mail can be tracked and the readership identified. In most situations, e-mail is typically created
using HTML or text and delivered as multipurpose Internet mail extensions (MIME) based e-mail. The simplest way to track HTML formatted e-mail is by the inclusion of a reference to an external image, typically 1 pixel wide. The loading of the image by
a web browser causes a small amount of code to be executed. Such code, typically written in JavaScript.RTM. language, has the capability of capturing the desired information about the e-mail, allowing e-mail authors to track and report on usage.
In contrast, Lotus Notes.RTM. based e-mail presents an interesting challenge because an e-mail generated by Lotus Notes.RTM. is typically non-HTML based and it is not simple text. Lotus Notes.RTM. is a rich and complex system, allowing for
the inclusion of graphics, audio, video, complex tables, and other content. But Lotus Notes.RTM. does not provide for a mechanism to track and identify unique or repeat readers of any e-mail. Currently, no solution is available that allows native
Lotus Notes.RTM. based e-mails to be automatically tracked and reported on.
Many of the world's largest corporations use Lotus Notes.RTM. as their e-mail of choice. A solution to track and report on Lotus Notes.RTM. based e-mail benefits any enterprise looking for response rates to campaigns and gives e-mail authors
the ability to measure readership for any e-mail, whether it be part of a formal campaign, executive communication, team event, or some significant occurrence.
The Lotus Notes.RTM. Client is a highly secure client. It is not easy for an e-mail author to customize or alter a given corporation's mail template as templates are highly protected. Another problem involves the ability to insert any type of
probe or tracking mechanism into e-mail created by the Lotus Notes.RTM. Client. Any inclusion or introduction of a probe has to be done in such a manner so as to preserve the authenticity of the e-mail message and ensure that any actions by the probe
or tracking mechanism remain totally transparent to the recipient and within the security features enabled by the Lotus Notes.RTM. Client.
E-mail campaigns created by Lotus Notes.RTM. usually contain links to websites, or hyperlinks. The intent of most e-mail campaigns is to try to get the reader of any given e-mail to select the links within the e-mail and subsequently visit the
linked website. The creation of a hyperlink or hotspot is what facilitates its selection, typically using a mouse to click on the hyperlink or hotspot. Assuming uniform resource locator (URL) hyperlinks within a given e-mail are tagged or instrumented,
a subsequent problem is the tracking and reporting of any of the various types of URL hyperlinks.
A technical problem is the absence of a convenient mechanism or published applications program interface (API) to directly access hotspots and hyperlinks that exist within an e-mail created by Lotus Notes.RTM.. Furthermore, such a mechanism or
API has to address issues of security and transparency, and also be capable of tagging all of the objects that could be used to generate hotspots and hyperlinks. These and other features of Lotus Notes.RTM. are not currently found in markup language
based e-mail, making it more difficult to track the usage of this type of e-mail.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for using an anti-caching graphics interchange format process for tracking and reporting e-mail campaigns. An instruction set is placed in an
e-mail to form a modified e-mail, wherein the data type of the field for the instruction set is set to hypertext markup language. The modified e-mail is sent to a distribution list, wherein the instruction set is executed when the modified e-mail is
opened. The instruction set captures and records attributes about a reader of the modified e-mail, requests a web page at a website, passes information about the e-mail and the reader, causes a local server to request the website from an original
version of the website located on an original server in response to the non-existence of the web page, causes the original server to capture relevant information about the e-mail and the reader as tracking information, and transmits the captured tracking
information to a collection device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as an illustrative mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by
reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of a data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented, according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server in which the present invention may be implemented, according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented, according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary e-mail tracking system in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the processing of an e-mail from creation to opening, according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is an example of encoded XML representation of text in the body of a Lotus Notes.RTM. based e-mail and the underlying hyperlink, according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is an example of an XML representation of a hyperlink in the body of a Lotus Notes.RTM. based e-mail with a tag added, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is an example of a portion of the tagged XML representation of a URL hotspot hyperlink(s) reconverted, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is an example of a flowchart for tagging items in an e-mail for tracking, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10 is an example of a section in Lotus Notes.RTM. and the same section converted to XML, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 11 is an example of an anti-caching GIF tracking process, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 12 is an example of a portion of HTML code that is included within an e-mail that when executed indicates that the e-mail has been opened, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 13 is an example of a portion of HTML code modified to send information for a hyperlink or hotspot that may be selected within an e-mail, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 14 is an example of a portion of LotusScript.RTM. language that utilizes the Lotus Notes.RTM. C Language Application Program Interface to generate an instruction set in an e-mail to download and render the IBM logo directly from the IBM
website at the time the e-mail message is opened by the e-mail recipient, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 15 is a portion of an example of placing a standard JavaScript.RTM. language instruction set within the HTML code, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 16 is an example of a process for placed instructions in an e-mail uniquely identifying the reader of the e-mail, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 17 is an example of a process for instructions appended or pre-pended to a tagged item in an e-mail uniquely identifying the manipulator of the tagged item, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIGS. 1-3 are provided as exemplary diagrams of data processing environments in which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. It should be appreciated that FIGS. 1-3 are only exemplary and are not intended to assert or imply any
limitations with regard to the environments in which aspects or embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. Many modifications to the depicted environments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
With reference now to the figures, FIG. 1 depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which aspects of the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system 100 is a network of computers in
which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system 100 contains a network 102, which is the medium used to provide communication links between various devices and computers connected together within network
data processing system 100. Network 102 may include connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables.
In the depicted example, server 104 connects to network 102 along with storage unit 106. In addition, clients 108, 110, and 112 connect to network 102. These clients 108, 110, and 112 may be, for example, personal computers or network
computers. In the depicted example, server 104 provides data, such as boot files, operating system images, and applications to clients 108-112. Clients 108, 110, and 112 are clients to server 104. Network data processing system 100 may include
additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown.
In the depicted example, network data processing system 100 is the Internet with network 102 representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols to
communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers, consisting of thousands of commercial, governmental, educational, and other computer systems that
route data and messages. Of course, network data processing system 100 also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN). FIG. 1 is intended as
an example, and not as an architectural limitation for different embodiments of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server, such as server 104 in FIG. 1, is depicted in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Data processing system 200
may be a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system including a plurality of processors 202 and 204 that connect to system bus 206. Alternatively, a single processor system may be employed. Also connected to system bus 206 is memory controller/cache 208,
which provides an interface to local memory 209. I/O bus bridge 210 connects to system bus 206 and provides an interface to I/O bus 212. Memory controller/cache 208 and I/O bus bridge 210 may be integrated as depicted.
Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus bridge 214 connects to I/O bus 212 provides an interface to PCI local bus 216. A number of modems may be connected to PCI local bus 216. Typical PCI bus implementations will support four PCI expansion
slots or add-in connectors. Communication links to clients 108-112 in FIG. 1 may be provided through modem 218 and network adapter 220 connected to PCI local bus 216 through add-in connectors.
Additional PCI bus bridges 222 and 224 provide interfaces for additional PCI local buses 226 and 228, from which additional modems or network adapters may be supported. In this manner, data processing system 200 allows connections to multiple
network computers. A memory-mapped graphics adapter 230 and hard disk 232 may also be connected to I/O bus 212 as depicted, either directly or indirectly.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in FIG. 2 may vary. For example, other peripheral devices, such as optical disk drives and the like, also may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware
depicted. The depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention.
The data processing system depicted in FIG. 2 may be, for example, an IBM.RTM. eServer.TM. pSeries.RTM. computer system, running the Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX.RTM.) operating system or the LINUX operating system (eServer, pSeries and
AIX are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both while LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both).
With reference now to FIG. 3, a block diagram of a data processing system is shown in which aspects of the present invention may be implemented. Data processing system 300 is an example of a computer, such as client 108 in FIG. 1, in which code
or instructions implementing the processes for embodiments of the present invention may be located. In the depicted example, data processing system 300 employs a hub architecture including a north bridge and memory controller hub (NB/MCH) 308 and a
south bridge and input/output (I/O) controller hub (SB/ICH) 310. Processor 302, main memory 304, and graphics processor 318 are connected to NB/MCH 308. Graphics processor 318 may be connected to the MCH through an accelerated graphics port (AGP), for
example.
In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter 312, audio adapter 316, keyboard and mouse adapter 320, modem 322, read only memory (ROM) 324, hard disk drive (HDD) 326, CD-ROM drive 330, universal serial bus (USB) ports and other
communications ports 332, and PCI/PCIe devices 334 connect to SB/ICH 310. PCI/PCIe devices may include, for example, Ethernet adapters, add-in cards, PC cards for notebook computers, etc. PCI uses a card bus controller, while PCIe does not. ROM 324 may
be, for example, a flash binary input/output system (BIOS). HDD 326 and CD-ROM drive 330 may use, for example, an integrated drive electronics (IDE) or serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface. A super I/O (SIO) device 336 may be
connected to SB/ICH 310.
An operating system runs on processor 302 and coordinates and provides control of various components within data processing system 300 in FIG. 3. The operating system may be a commercially available operating system such as Microsoft.RTM.
Windows.RTM. XP (Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both). An object oriented programming system, such as the Java.TM. programming system, may run in conjunction with the operating
system and provides calls to the operating system from Java programs or applications executing on data processing system 300 (Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both).
Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented programming system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as hard disk drive 326, and may be loaded into main memory 304 for execution by processor 302. The
processes for embodiments of the present invention are performed by processor 302 using computer implemented instructions, which may be located in a memory such as, for example, main memory 304, memory 324, or in one or more peripheral devices 326 and
330. These processes may be executed by any processing unit, which may contain one or more processors.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in FIGS. 1-3 may vary depending on the implementation. Other internal hardware or peripheral devices, such as flash memory, equivalent non-volatile memory, or optical disk
drives and the like, may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in FIGS. 1-3. Also, the processes of the present invention may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system.
As some illustrative examples, data processing system 300 may be a personal digital assistant (PDA), which is configured with flash memory to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data.
A bus system may be comprised of one or more buses, such as system bus 206, I/O bus 212 and PCI buses 216, 226 and 228 as shown in FIG. 2. Of course, the bus system may be implemented using any type of communication fabric or architecture that
provides a transfer of data between different components or devices attached to the fabric or architecture. A communication unit may include one or more devices used to transmit and receive data, such as modem 218 or network adapter 220 of FIG. 2 or
modem 322 or LAN 312 of FIG. 3. A memory may be, for example, local memory 209 or cache such as found in memory controller/cache 208 of FIG. 2 or main memory 304 of FIG. 3. A processing unit may include one or more processors or CPUs, such as processor
202 or processor 204 of FIG. 2 or processor 302 of FIG. 3. The depicted examples in FIGS. 1-3 and above-described examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations. For example, data processing system 300 also may be a tablet computer, laptop
computer, or telephone device in addition to taking the form of a PDA.
To implement illustrative aspects of the present invention to track which recipients opened an e-mail and specific items in the e-mail, four processes are described in the illustrative examples. The first process is a process for tagging items
such as an e-mail and the hyperlinks and attachments within the e-mail, such that when the tagged items are accessed by an e-mail reader, tagged information about the e-mail and the e-mail reader may be sent from the e-mail reader. Second, a process is
employed to send tagged information in a message to a collection device in order for the tagged information to be tracked each time a tagged e-mail is opened, a tagged attachment within an e-mail is opened, or a tagged hyperlink within an e-mail is
selected, despite caching effects. Third, a process is used to send tagged information in a message to a collection device each time a tagged section, an expandable area defined on an e-mail, is expanded. Fourth, a process is utilized for placing a set
of instructions into an outbound e-mail at send time. These instructions are ones that are executed when the e-mail is initially opened for reading. Execution of these instructions enables the identification of the recipient in these examples.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary e-mail tracking system, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. In this example, author 402 composes e-mail 404. An e-mail can have zero or more attachments, zero or more
sections, and zero or more hyperlinks. Here, for purposes of illustration, e-mail 404 is shown as comprising one attachment 432, one section 434, and one link 436.
Author 402 sends e-mail 404 to a distribution list that comprises recipient 410, recipient 412, and recipient 414 in these examples. When recipient 410, recipient 412, and recipient 414 perform actions such as opening e-mail 404, opening
attachment 432, expanding section 434, or selecting link 436, each recipient's action results in a tracking message being sent to collection device 428. These tracking messages are illustrated in FIG. 4 as tracking message 416, tracking message 418,
tracking message 420, tracking message 422, tracking message 424, and tracking message 426. The mechanism used to gather the information in the tracking messages is described in more detail in FIG. 5.
Each tracking message contains information about how recipients respond to the contents of the e-mail. Typically the information contained in each tracking message is comprised of details about the marketing campaign and details about the
recipient. The details about the marketing campaign may include data such as the subject of the e-mail, the name of the associated campaign, and information about any objects in the e-mail. The details about each recipient may include data such as the
recipient's user name, the date the e-mail was opened, the time the e-mail was opened, the recipient's browser type, the recipient's e-mail client type, the level of the recipient's e-mail client, the recipient's internet sub-domain, and the recipient's
transmission control protocol over Internet Protocol address.
Thus, for example, when recipient 410 opens e-mail 404, tracking message 416 informs collection device 428 that recipient 410 opened e-mail 404, and provides details about the e-mail, such as the campaign name, and details about the recipient,
such as representations of the recipient's user name. Similarly, when recipient 412 opens e-mail 404, tracking message 418 informs collection device 428 that recipient 412 opened e-mail 404, and provides details about the campaign and the recipient.
When recipient 414 opens e-mail 404, tracking message 420 informs collection device 428 that recipient 414 opened e-mail 404. When recipient 414 opens attachment 432, tracking message 422 informs collection device 428 that recipient 414 opened
attachment 432. When recipient 414 expands section 434, tracking message 424 informs collection device 428 that recipient 414 expanded section 434. When recipient 414 selects link 436, tracking message 426 informs collection device 428 that recipient
414 selected link 436.
Collection device 428, using information provided in tracking messages 416-426 may produce report 430. This report indicates which recipients opened e-mail 404, which recipients selected attachment 432, which recipients expanded section 434, and
which recipients selected link 436. Using this method, e-mail authors can look at report 430 and determine which e-mails, attachments, sections, and hyperlinks are popular and which are not. With this information e-mail authors are able to customize
future e-mails accordingly.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the processing of an e-mail from creation to opening in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. An e-mail in an e-mail campaign typically has a plurality of recipients in a
distribution list, but in this example only one recipient is shown to illustrate what happens when a recipient performs different actions to an e-mail. In the case of a plurality of recipients, each recipient may perform one or more of the same actions,
such as opening an e-mail, opening an attachment, expanding a section, or selecting a hyperlink.
Typically, an author composes e-mail 502 using an e-mail program such as Lotus Notes.RTM.. The e-mail may have a native format such as Lotus Notes.RTM., or hypertext markup language (HTML). It is important to note that the format that underlies
the e-mail and how the e-mail appears to an author or recipient are different. For example, someone viewing the e-mail might see the sentence "For more information on our product click here", with the words "click here" displayed in a color different
from the rest of the e-mail to indicate that "click here" represents a hyperlink. A hyperlink underlies the words "click here", but the viewer typically only sees "click here".
A recipient of an e-mail may perform various actions on items within the e-mail. An item is any component associated with or part of an e-mail, such as an attachment, section, or hyperlink. An attachment is a file that is sent along with an
e-mail such as a document, audio file, video file, mixed media, etc. Multiple attachments of different types of files may be attached to and sent with the e-mail.
A problem with tracking Lotus Notes.RTM. based e-mail campaigns involves the use of sections. One of the most common inclusions within Lotus Notes.RTM. based e-mail is the use of sections, or, as they are commonly referred to, "twisties."
Sections give the e-mail author a way or organizing different content based on his or her preference. A section is an expandable area defined on an e-mail that is also collapsible. A manipulation of a section occurs when a section is either expanded or
collapsed. A section may include file attachments, images, rich text or other objects. Sections typically contain a short descriptive title of a topical area. If the reader of the e-mail is interested in a topic, the reader can select a section and
expand it to view the full content, typically by using a mouse to click on the section.
The aspects of the present invention recognize that the use of sections within any e-mail creates a problem in that the e-mail author does not know if any e-mail recipients expanded and read the detailed information that followed the section
summary. Nor does the e-mail author know the most popular section within any given e-mail. E-mail authors would prefer that this information be measured and reported so that campaign creators can refine, target, improve, or alter their messaging.
Some e-mail applications such as Lotus Notes.RTM. provide a feature that allows the e-mail author to create sections. A section allows the author to group similar or related e-mail content together under a section name. A section is also
referred to as grouped content. The section name provides a high-level view and the reader can, by expanding a given section, view the contents of that section. The reader may also collapse a previously expanded section. A section typically has a
short descriptive title of a topical area in a summary level followed by the full text in a full text level that is below the summary level. The grouped content may have more than two levels depending on the implementation. Sections may be nested
within other sections.
Thus, for example, the recipient may open an attachment to the e-mail, expand a section of the e-mail, or select a hyperlink in the e-mail. In order to track the recipient's actions on items in the e-mail, process e-mail 504 identifies and adds
one or more tags to each item in the e-mail.
As previously mentioned, an e-mail may contain words or graphics with underlying hyperlinks. A hyperlink is typically a specific network address and may appear in an e-mail in a variety of ways such as a set of numbers separated by a period, a
web page address, or a graphic such as a company's logo.
Tags may be added to each item in the e-mail while the e-mail is in its native format. However, the aspects of the present invention recognize that the e-mail's native format might not allow easy access to the items in the e-mail, making it
difficult to access and add tags to the e-mail in its native format. Another method of tagging items, illustrated here, is to first convert the e-mail from its native format to an encoded format that is easier to parse. For example, by converting a
Lotus Notes.RTM. native format e-mail to extensible markup language (XML), the XML may be quickly parsed and items such as attachments, sections, and hyperlinks easily identified and tagged.
In this example, process e-mail 504 is an e-mail processor that converts compose e-mail 502 from the e-mail's native format to an encoded format in convert e-mail 530. The native format may display a hyperlink as the words "click here" or a
logo. The e-mail's encoded format may be in the form of a markup language such as XML. In identify and tag items 532, process e-mail 504 parses the encoded e-mail, identifies items such as attachments, sectio | | |
