PERSONALIZED USER ENGAGEMENT SYSTEM USING OPERATING SYSTEM NOTIFICATION SCRIPT

Systems and methods for user engagement are provided. The methods may include retrieving user information of a user from a local registry on a user computing device; delivering a notification of personalized content to the user using an interface of the user computing device, wherein the notification is generated based at least on the user information retrieved from the local registry; and delivering the personalized content to the user based on an interaction of the user with the notification. The systems may include a user computing device including a user interface configured to interact with a user, a storage device configured to store thereon a local registry, and a user engagement software module configured to retrieve user information of a from the local registry; and a content server configured to store a personalized content.

BACKGROUND

For years, businesses have been struggling with how to engage their customers after they have made their purchases (physically or virtually) at a commerce location. This is particularly relevant in medical services and the retail environment. The lack of post-purchase engagement often has resulted in non-adherence in the case of medications, returned merchandise in the case of physical goods, lack of loyalty in the case of services, and lost business opportunities associated with the lack of ongoing linkages. Post-purchase engagement would yield significant benefits to both service providers and the consumers themselves.

A specific case study involves consumer adherence to pharmaceutical medication. Nearly 50% of U.S. citizens take prescriptions, and nearly 3.7 billion prescriptions are written each year. Over 75% of Americans self-report that they do not take their medications as directed, and 33% never fill their prescriptions at all. This non-adherence has been costly through premature deaths, long-term sicknesses, and economic losses. Studies have suggested a lack of education (e.g., not understanding one's medical condition, the efficacy or side effects of a drug) and forgetfulness account for nearly 70% of the non-adherence problem. To address the non-adherence issue, the medics would like to spend more time educating their patients. It is also well documented that the “human-process bottleneck” in medicine is a reality; doctors do not have as much time as desired with patients, only a fraction of patients receive counseling from pharmacists and the patient “take-away” from their pharmacy visit consists of tiny print on a difficult to read drug-fact sheet.

Another case study involves the consumer adoption of home electronics. Millions of home-electronics are purchased worldwide, including personal computers. Many people struggle to learn how to use them, resulting in low utilization, incorrect utilization, fatalities and a high rate of returns back to the stores. The returns are expensive to the retailers. Retailers therefore acknowledge that post-purchase engagement with the consumer is important to the adoption of the technology, customer loyalty and overall economics. However, retailers have experienced a significant disconnect between the purchaser, the manufacturer, and the retailers themselves as most purchasers never provide explicit feedback on how they utilize the electronics they have purchased.

Computing device manufacturers and retailers use emails, blog sites, social media sites, websites with various types of content, and RSS feeds and mobile applications to educate their customers on how best to use the devices, promote associated services and accessories, and create a positive brand experiences.

However, these methods often need the customer user to go to a particular destination, email client, website, or a mobile application to find out about some notification, which would request the user to open the emails and then to be redirected to a website that filters through various types of content to hopefully to identify the relevant content. The content is often not personalized, intuitive, irrelevant, and poorly designed, and thus provides low incentive for the customer user to open and follow through on the notification. This often results in very low open rates of emails and low utilization of mobile applications especially for e-commerce and enterprise applications.

SUMMARY

In view of the foregoing, the Inventors have recognized and appreciated the advantages of a personalized user engagement system using operating system notification script.

Accordingly, provided in one embodiment is a method. The method includes retrieving user information of a user from a local registry on a user computing device. The method further includes delivering a notification of personalized content to the user using an interface of the user computing device, wherein the notification is generated based at least on the user information retrieved from the local registry. The method further includes delivering the personalized content to the user based on an interaction of the user with the notification.

In some embodiments, the method is provided so that the notification comprises a passive notification popup.

In some embodiments, the method is provided so that the notification comprises a GROWL style notification.

In some embodiments, the method is provided so that the notification comprises a passive notification popup, and the interaction of the user with the notification comprises the user interacting with the passive notification popup.

In some embodiments, the method is provided so that the notification comprises a passive notification popup, the interaction of the user with the notification comprises the user interacting with the passive notification popup, and the delivering the content to the user further comprises loading a webpage identified by a uniform resource identifier associated with the passive notification popup.

In some embodiments, the method is provided so that the notification comprises a passive notification popup, the interaction of the user with the notification comprises the user interacting with the passive notification popup, and the delivering the personalized content to the user further comprises launching a native content application installed on the user computing device.

In some embodiments, the method is provided so that the notification comprises a passive notification popup, the interaction of the user with the notification comprises the user interacting with the passive notification popup, and the passive notification popup is personalized for the user based at least on the user information retrieved from the local registry.

In some embodiments, the method further includes interfacing with a content management system, that the content management system is installed on a remote computing device, and wherein the interfacing with a content management system further comprises communication between a user engagement software module installed on the user computing device and the content management system over a data communications network.

In some embodiments, the method further includes interfacing with a content management system, that the content management system is installed on a remote computing device, that the interfacing with a content management system further comprises communication between a user engagement software module installed on the user computing device and the content management system over a data communications network, and that the content is determined at least by the content management system.

In some embodiments, the method further includes generating a schedule for content delivery based at least on the user information retrieved from the local registry.

In some embodiments, the method further includes generating a schedule for content delivery based at least on the user information retrieved from the local registry, and that the delivering a notification of personalized content to the user is performed based on the schedule for content delivery.

In some embodiments, the method is provided so that the user information of the user is stored in the local registry as a part of a registration process for the user and the user computing device.

In some embodiments, the method is provided so that the delivering the personalized content to the user is based at least on rules for content delivery.

In some embodiments, the method is provided so that the delivering the personalized content to the user is based at least on rules for content delivery, that the rules for content delivery are stored by a user engagement software module installed on the user computing device, and that the rules for content delivery include at least one of: rules specifying an interface for delivery of content notifications, rules specifying a mode for delivery of content notifications, and rules specifying a frequency of delivery of content notifications.

In some embodiments, the method further includes installing a user engagement software module on the user computing device, and that the user engagement software module is configured to perform the retrieving the user information of the user from the local registry.

According to another embodiment, a system is provided. The system includes a user computing device that includes a user interface configured to interact with a user, a storage device configured to store thereon a local registry, and a user engagement software module configured to retrieve user information of a user from the local registry. The system further includes a content server configured to store a personalized content. The system is provided so that the user engagement software module is configured to deliver a notification of the personalized content to the user on the user interface, the user engagement software module is configured to generate the notification based at least on the user information retrieved from the local registry, and the content server is configured to deliver the personalized content to the user computing device based at least on an interaction of the user with the notification.

In some embodiments, the system is provided so that the user engagement software module is further configured to generate a schedule for content delivery based at least on the user information retrieved from the local registry.

In some embodiments, the system is provided so that the user engagement software module is installed on the user computing device prior to a sale of the user computing device to the user, and the sale of the user computing device to the user is a first retail sale of the user computing device.

In some embodiments, the system is provided so that the user engagement software module is installed on the user computing device as part of an installation of an update to an operating system executing on the user computing device.

According to another embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readable computer medium stored thereon a program is provided. The program is provided so that, when executed, the program causes a user computing device to perform the method including retrieving user information of a user from a local registry on a user computing device, delivering a notification of personalized content to the user using an interface of the user computing device, wherein the notification is generated based at least on the user information retrieved from the local registry, and delivering the personalized content to the user based on an interaction of the user with the notification.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Following below are more detailed descriptions of various concepts related to, and embodiments of, inventive techniques for delivery of personalized content and notifications thereof to users. It should be appreciated that various concepts introduced above and discussed in greater detail below may be implemented in any of numerous ways, as the disclosed concepts are not limited to any particular manner of implementation. Examples of specific implementations and applications are provided primarily for illustrative purposes.

In the following disclosure, some terms may be used with special meaning to the present embodiments. The term “consumer” or “customer” is used. In some embodiments, a “consumer” or a “customer” is an all-inclusive definition of a person who receives a service, purchases a product, attends a course, and/or is involved in a commercial activity as a receiver of that commerce. The term “pathway” is used. In some embodiments, a “pathway” is a personalized engagement roadmap that is created algorithmically for a consumer to further enhance his/her knowledge about the product or service he/she has received. The term “purchasing data” is used. In some embodiments, “purchasing data” refers to the data involving the consumer's actions at the point of service provision or purchase. The term “promotional” is used with various other terms, such as “promotional video,” “promotional offer,” “promotional information,” etc. In some embodiments, “promotional” means something generally tending to promote the purchase, consumption, or other use of some product, service, or other item. The terms “computer,” “computing device,” and other similar variations are used. In some embodiments, these terms refer similarly to electronic computing devices. These may be implemented in various forms, including cellular telephones, smart phones, PDAs, tablet computers, laptop computers, desktop computers, and other forms of a device that comprises a processor. The terms “point of engagement” and “point of interaction” are used. In some embodiments, these phrases refer similarly to a point wherein a consumer has some sort of interaction, engagement, transaction, etc. These phrases may refer to a point of sale in some embodiments. The terms “interactions” and “engagements” and other similar terms are used. In some embodiments, these terms are used similarly to refer to contact made by the system with a user in order to interact with the user and thereby engage the user. Other similar terms may be used to describe this action.

FIG. 1is a system diagram showing a system100for user engagement according to some embodiments. As shown, the system100includes a user computing device110, a content management system120, a network130, and a user engagement server140.

User computing device110includes an interface111, a storage device112, an operating system113, a registry114, a user engagement script115, a web browser116, and a native content application117. The user computing device110may be any of a variety of computing devices used by an end user, such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a smartphone, a tablet computer, etc. The interface111is an interface that the user can use to interact with the user computing device110. The interface111may be any of a variety of combination of software and hardware, such as a touchscreen interface on a tablet computer or smartphone, a combination of a keypad and a non-touchscreen display screen on a cellular telephone, a combination of a keyboard with a non-touchscreen display of a laptop computer, etc. The storage device112is any of a variety of storage devices that may be used by the user computing device110to store data, including volatile and non-volatile storage devices such as RAM, flash memory, hard disks, etc. The operating system113is a software program that runs on user computing device110and provides basic functionality for the operation of the user computing device110. The operating system113may be any of a variety of operating system programs, such as Mac OS, Windows, Linux, Android, etc.

The registry114is a file or some equivalent stored on the user computing device110that contains basic information about a user registered on the user computing device110. The registry114may be a file, multiple files, or part of a file created by the operating system113. The registry114may be created by the operating system113when the user initially registers on the user computing device110after purchase of the user computing device110. The information contained in the registry114may be basic identifying information, such as a name or names of the registered user and an email address of the registered user. In various embodiments, other information managed by the operating system113may be included in the registry114.

The user engagement script115is a program or some equivalent stored on the user computing device110that is capable of performing various user engagement tasks. The user engagement script115may be a small executable file that is capable of being executed on the user computing device110. The user engagement script115may be capable of communicating with the content management system120over network130. The user engagement script115may be capable of communicating with the user engagement server140over network130. The user engagement script115may be capable of reading information stored in the registry114to perform user engagement tasks. The user engagement script115may be able to retrieve other information stored on the user computing device110, such as an IP address or a MAC address, in order to perform user engagement tasks. The user engagement script115may contain rules201and a notification engine202as shown in greater detail inFIG. 2.

The user engagement script115may contain rules201used for performing user engagement tasks. For instance, user engagement script115may contain rules201regarding which user computing device (e.g., element110) to deliver content notifications or content to; which hardware interface (e.g., element111) to deliver content notifications or content to; which software interface (e.g., elements113,116, or117) to deliver content notifications or content to; which mode to use for content notifications or content (e.g., an OS popup notification, an email, loading a webpage); what frequency of delivery of content notifications or content. In various embodiments, the user engagement script115may use other types of rule for user engagement tasks.

The user engagement script115may contain a notification engine202for performing user engagement tasks. The notification engine202may control when and how user engagement script115delivers content notifications to a user registered on the user computing device110. For example, the notification engine202may use a schedule for content delivery to determine when to deliver content notifications to the user registered on the user computing device110. As another example, the notification engine202may listen for instructions from user engagement server140as to content notifications that should be delivered to the user registered on the user computing device110. In various embodiments, the user engagement script115may use the notification engine202in other ways for user engagement tasks.

User engagement script115may be installed on user computing device110by any suitable methods and in any suitable manners. In some embodiments, user engagement script115may be installed on the user computing device110prior to the sale of the user computing device110as a “new” product to the user. In this way, no additional installation steps are needed to include the user engagement script115in the user computing device110. In some embodiments, user engagement script115may be installed on the user computing device110after sale of the user computing device110as a “new” product to the user, such as by downloading it over network130. In this way, user computing device110may be configured to include user engagement script115even if it did not contain user engagement script at the time of sale to the user. In some embodiments, user engagement script115may be installed on the user computing device110after sale of the user computing device110as a “new” product to the user, such as by including user engagement script115in a software patch for operating system113. In this way, user computing device110may be configured to include user engagement script115even if it did not contain user engagement script at the time of sale to the user, while the user engagement script115can be installed as part of an already planned software installation. The term “sale” here may refer to any transaction and transfer of goods, and need not necessarily involve monetary transactions.

Web browser116may be any web browser software operating on the user computing device110. Web browser116may be capable of presenting a webpage to the user via interface111based on a uniform resource identifier (URI) or uniform resource locator (URL). Web browser116may be Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc., or some other web browser software.

Native content application117is a software application that runs natively on operating system113on user computing device110. Native content application117may be capable of presenting content to the user via interface111, such as video, audio, etc. Native content application117may have further content-related functionality. For example, native content application117may provide recommendations of content for the user to view, management of a profile for the user for a user engagement platform, management of a schedule for content delivery to the user, etc. Native content application117may contain a dashboard where the user can view content notification and personalized content previously delivered to the user. While web browser116may also provide these features via various webpages, the distinction between web browser116and native content application117is that web browser116present webpages to the user which may contain various functionalities, whereas the native content application117is itself programmed to provide various functionalities regardless of any particular webpage.

Content management system120includes video/audio/document/graphics content121, e-commerce platforms122, and enterprise systems123. Content management system120is a system that manages and delivers content. In some embodiments, content management system120may include a federation of multiple distinct content management systems or other content sources. Video/Audio/Document/Graphics content121is any collection or group of content that can be managed and delivered by the content management system120. This may include video files, audio files, word processing documents, graphics files, image files, PDF files, webpages, markup language files, webpages containing other content sources, electronic books, etc. E-commerce platforms122may be any computer based system for conducting transactions over a network, such as network130. E-commerce platforms122may include sales websites, payment websites, banking websites, etc. Enterprise system123may be any software or hardware system provided by an enterprise that is accessible over a network, such as network130. In some embodiments, content management system120may include or be part of or other be referred to as a digital assets manager.

Network130is a network that allows communication between the user computing device110and the content management system120. Network130may be any of a variety of networks, such as a data communications network, the Internet, a local area network, a cellular network, a combination of instances of these types of networks, etc.

User engagement server140comprises a computer that assists the user engagement script115in performing user engagement tasks. For example, user engagement server140may contain information about the content preferences of the user registered on the user computing device110. As another example, user engagement server140may contain information on a schedule of content delivery for the user registered on the user computing device110. As another example, the user engagement server140may contain information necessary to produce a schedule of content delivery for the user registered on the user computing device110. As another example, the user engagement server140may be capable of sending instructions to the user engagement script115for the presentation of a content notification or content to the user registered on the user computing device110. As another example, the user engagement server140may be capable of interacting with the content management system120to select and prepare content for delivery to the user computing device110. For these and other user engagement tasks, the user engagement server may communicate with the content management system120or components thereof over network130. For these and other user engagement tasks, the user engagement server may communicate with the user computing device110or components thereof over network130. In some embodiments, user engagement server140may be provided as part of content management system120, or vice versa.

FIG. 3is a schematic flowchart showing a user engagement technique according to some embodiments.FIG. 3shows elements similar to those from previous figures. In addition,FIG. 3shows a user300.

At callout350, the user300accesses the user computing device110for the first time after having purchased the user computing device110. As part of this access, the user300provides personalized information as part of a registration process. The personalized information may include a name or names for the user, an email address for the user, and other information.

At callout352, the operating system113creates a registry114containing the personalized information entered by the user300during registration. In the present exemplary embodiments, the registry114will be treated as a single data file created by the operating system113containing the personalized information entered by the user300during registration and stored on the user computing device110.

At callout354, the user engagement script115reads the contents of the registry114to retrieve the personalized information stored therein. In order to perform this reading, the user engagement script115may create a temporary copy of the file containing registry114in order to not prevent other applications from accessing the registry114.

At callout356, the user engagement script115generates scheduling information for content delivery. The scheduling information may include a schedule for content delivery to the user300. The user engagement script115may generate the scheduling information based on various factors. The user engagement script115may generate the scheduling information based on the personalized information retrieved from registry114. The user engagement script115may generate the scheduling information based on rules201included with user engagement script201. The user engagement script115may generate the scheduling information based on a communication with user engagement serer140and scheduling parameters stored thereon. The user engagement script115may generate the scheduling information based on the user computing device110, based on information stored on the user computing device110, or based on a type or model of the user computing device110.

At callout358, the user engagement script115interfaces with the user engagement server140and/or the content management server120in order to prepare personalized content for the user300. The user engagement script115may use the scheduling information created with respect to callout356in order to determine when to perform the actions descried with respect to this callout358. The user engagement script115may interface with the user engagement server140and/or the content management server120in order to select content that should be delivered to the user300. The user engagement script115may interface with the user engagement server140and/or the content management server120in order to personalize content that should be delivered to the user300. The content may be personalized based on the personalized information retrieved from the registry114, such as by adding the name of user300to the content. The content may be personalized based on information retrieved from user engagement server140, such as by adding a photo of a pharmacist of the user300to the content based on information stored about the user300on user engagement server140. The content may be personalized so as to provide coupons or other promotional offers that may be of interest to the user300. The coupons or other promotional material may be selected based on personal interest graphs, personal dashboards, or other content based on preferences of the provider of the content. The content may be personalized based on the scheduling information generated with respect to callout356. The content may be personalized based on a type or model of the user computing device110that the user300is using. The content may be personalized based on the location of the user300. The content may be personalized using the rules201. The rules201may define how content is personalized, what personalized information is used, what promotional offers to present to the user300, and other parameters in personalizing the content. The content may be prepared as a video page having various points of personalized content presented on a single webpage or application screen for viewing by the user300. Having prepared personalized content for the user300, the user engagement script115may retrieve a URI, URL, or other reference to the personalized content.

At callout360, the user engagement script115delivers a content notification to the user300via interface111. The content notification may contain information informing the user300of the personalized content prepared with respect to callout358that is available for the user300to view, interact with, or otherwise retrieve. The content notification may be associated with the URI URL, or other reference to the personalized content as retrieved with respect to callout258. The content notification may be personalized in ways similar to those described for personalizing the content above. The user engagement script115may use rules201to determine to which user computing device (e.g., element110), which hardware interface (e.g., element111), and/or which software interface (e.g., elements113,116, and117) to deliver the content notification.

The content notification may itself be presented in a variety of forms. The content notification may be a notification popup, which can be any popup message or window on the interface111displaying the content notification. The content notification may comprise, or be, a passive notification popup, which can be a notification popup that is displayed in on the interface111but does not change the focus of the interaction of the user300with the user computing device110. For instance, a GROWL-style notification popup may be used that nonintrusively displays the notification popup. The content notification may be an active notification popup, which can be a notification popup that changes the focus of the interaction of the user300with the user computing device110. The content notification may be an email message delivered to an email account of the user300. The content notification may be a rich site summary (RSS) feed, a short message service (SMS) message, or a multimedia message service (MMS) message. The content notification may be accompanied by an audible signal to alert the user300, such as a ding. The content notification may be a spoken message that reads the content notification and options for interaction to the user300.

The style and type of the content notification may be configurable in various ways. The user300may be able to configure how the content notification is presented. A party involved in the preparation or ownership of the content that is personalized for the user300may be able to configure how the content notification is presented. The content notification may be automatically configured based on the context of the content notification, such as the particular device or type of device on which it is presented, the type of the content, and parameters specific to the user300to whom the content notification is presented.

At callout362, the user300interacts with the content notification. This may involve the user300clicking, tapping on, or otherwise selecting the content notification via the interface111. This may involve any other input from the user300that tends to indicate that the user300has an interest in the content of which the content notification is alerting the user300.

At callout364, the personalized content is delivered to the user computing device. As shown here, the content management system120delivers the personalize content to the web browser116. In other embodiments, the personalized content may be delivered to native content application117. The web browser116may cause the delivery of the personalized content by requesting a resource identified by the URI, URL, or other reference to the personalized content as retrieved with respect to callout258. At this point the user300may view or otherwise interact with the personalized content using the user computing device110. In some embodiments, the content may be delivered in real time or over a period of time. This determination may be made based on extraction rules contained in the user engagement script115, the user engagement server140, or the content management server120.

In some embodiments, the content notification and personalized content may not be delivered to the same user computing device110. For example, the content notification may be presented to the user300on a smartphone device, whereas an interaction by the user300with the content notification causes the personalized content to be delivered to a laptop computer. These situations may be particularly useful where a single user300is registered as a user on multiple user computing devices. The control of which user computing device is used for presentation of the content notification and which user computing device is used for delivery of the personal content may be determined in a variety of ways. Customization parameters set by the user300may be stored on the user engagement server140or on a user computing device110for controlling which user computing devices are selected for presentation of content notifications and delivery of personalized content. Rules associated with the provider to the user engagement server140and the user engagement script115may be used for controlling which user computing devices are selected for presentation of content notifications and delivery of personalized content. A selection made by the user300at the time of interaction with the content notification may be used for controlling which user computing device is selected for delivery of personalized content.

In some embodiments features described as being provided by the user engagement script115may instead be provided by the user engagement server140, and vice versa. For instance, the rules201and notification engine202may be provided in the user engagement server140in some embodiments. In some embodiments, both the user engagement script115and user engagement server140may contain rules201.

In some embodiments, the user engagement script115may use transactional triggers for determining when to deliver content notifications. These transactional triggers may be used in additional to or in place of the scheduling information generated with respect to callout356. Transactional triggers may include observance of the user300visiting a particular webpage or buying a particular product using user computing device110. Transactional triggers may include information received by the user engagement script115from the user engagement server140. This information may include information about webpages visited by the user300or a product purchase by the user300.

FIG. 4is an exemplary registration interface according to some embodiments. As shown, the user may be presented with a screen400. Screen400may be presented on an interface of a user computing device. Screen400may contain a greeting/instruction message402, a name entry section404, an email entry section406, and a marketing section408. The marketing section408may be used to present the user computing device manufacturer's logo. Using the screen400, the user may be able to enter personalized information that the operating system can use to create a registry on the user computing device, as previously described.

FIG. 5is an exemplary user computing device interface with a content notification according to some embodiments. As shown, a standard home screen500may be provided. The user may generally interact with the home screen500for performing standard functions on the user computing device. A content notification510is shown as presented on the home screen500. As shown, content notification may be a small popup message on the periphery of the screen500so as to not be intrusive to the user's existing interaction with screen500. For example, content notification510may be presented as a passive notification popup in the fashion of a GROWL-style popup message. As shown, the content notification510can contain various information. Content notification510may contain a personalized message to the user, such as a message including the user's name and inviting the user to interact with the content notification510. Content notification510may contain a marketing graphic, such as the “BC” marketing symbol for the manufacturer of the user computing device, Best Computers. Content notification510may contain a preview of personalized content that the user is invited to view. Though not presented in the content notification510, a URI, URL, or other reference to the personalized content may be associated with the content notification. If the user interacts with the content notification, such as by clicking on it, the personalized content may be automatically loaded in a web browser or native content application running on the user computing device based on the associated URI, URL, or other reference to the personalized content.

FIG. 6shows an exemplary content interface600with personalized content according to some embodiments. As shown, the personalized content interface600may contain a variety of information. Personalized content interface600may contain marketing graphics or other information for the manufacturer of the user computing device (Best Computers), an operating system running on the user computing device (PrettyGood OS), or some other entity. Personalized content interface600may contain a personalized message to the user (Clay), inviting him to view or otherwise interact with the content presented on the personalized content interface600. Personalized content interface600may contain various videos, links, or other content that may be of particular interest to the user. In some embodiments, the personalized content may be delivered in the form of a video page, such as that embodied in personalized content interface600.

FIG. 7is a flowchart showing a process of user engagement according to some embodiments. The process begins at step702.

At step702, the user completes registration on a user computing device. This registration may be part of an initial registration when first starting the user computing device after purchase. The user enters personalized information as part of the registration.

At step704, the operating system receives the personalized information and creates an entry in a local registry containing the personalized information. Where a local registry does not exist, the operating system may newly create a local registry and then add a new entry.

At step706, the user engagement script retrieves the personalized information for the user stored in the local registry.

At step708, a video page is assigned to the user. The video page may be assigned to the user based on various factors. The personalized information retrieved from the local registry may be used to determine what video page to assign to the user. Information about the user stored on a user engagement server may be used to determine what video page to assign to the user. A content management system may be used during this step, where content for the video page may be managed by the content management system.

At step710, a personalized video page is pushed to the user computing device at a specified time. In addition to video page, other type of information (e.g., sound, text, etc.) can be pushed. The assigned video page may be personalized based on various information, such as the personalized information retrieved from the local registry. The video page may be pushed in a variety of ways. For example, an instruction containing a reference to the video page may be sent to the user engagement script running on the user computing device in order to push the video page to the user computing device. The time for pushing the personalized video page may be specified in a variety of ways. For example, fixed period of time after the initial registration by the user takes place may be used to determine the specified time.

At step712, a content notification is presented to the user on the user computing device. In some embodiments, this may involve presenting a passive notification popup, or GROWL-style message, or both, to the user on an interface of the user computing device.

At step714, the user clicks on the content notification. In some embodiments, a different interaction of the user with the content notification may satisfy step714, such as tapping on the content notification on a touchscreen display or hovering over the content notification with a cursor.

At step716, a web browser launches with the personalized video page on the user computing device. In some embodiments, a native content application running on the user computing device may be used to present the personalized video page instead of the web browser.

The process then terminates.

FIG. 8is a flowchart showing a process of user engagement according to some embodiments. The process begins at step802.

At step802, personalized information is retrieved from a registry on a user computing device. The personalized information may be stored in the registry based on a previous registration process for the user on the user computing device.

At step804, a schedule for delivery of content to the user is generated. The schedule may be generated on the user computing device or on a separate computing device, such as a user engagement server. The schedule may define times at which personalized content should be delivered to the user.

At step806, personalized content is prepared for the user using the personalized information retrieved from the registry. This preparation of personalized content may involve adding a name of the user to the personalized content, selecting content that may be of particular interest to the user, determining a particular user computing device to which deliver the personalized content based on information about one or more registrations of the user on user computing devices, or some other form of personalization.

At step808, a notification of personalized content is delivered to the user on an interface of the user computing device. In some embodiments, this may involve presenting a passive notification popup, or GROWL-style message, to the user on an interface of the user computing device.

At step810, the personalized content is delivered to the user based on an interaction of the user with the notification of personalized content. This delivery of personalized content may include launching a web browser or a native content application.

At step812, further notifications of personalized content and further personalized content are delivered to the user on the user computing device in accordance with the previously generated schedule.

The process then terminates.

Through the embodiments described in this disclosure, various enhancements to user engagement are provided.

In some of the embodiments described herein, improvements to the level of personalization of the user engagement are provided. In some embodiments, a highly personalized experience is provided to the user, including personalization of the content notification, personalization of the content itself, and personalization of how and where the content is delivered. These forms of personalization are possible at least because the user engagement script is provided running on the native operating system of the user computing devices. Based on this user engagement script, personalized information identifying the user can be retrieved, but also that user can be tied to particular user computing devices. In this way, the content notifications and personalized content need not only be delivered to a software platform (e.g., email, social media), but can also be targeted to particular hardware devices.

In some of the embodiments described herein, improvements to the automation of user engagement are provided. In some embodiments, the delivery of personalized content for user engagement is mostly automated, based on processes running on the user computing device, the content management system, the user engagement server, and elsewhere. The generation of a content delivery schedule is a particular example of this. These improvements to automation make personalized interaction with large groups of users feasible, given that manual intervention is not required on every personalized interaction.

In some of the embodiments described herein, improvements to the customization by users of their own user engagement are provided. In some embodiments, the user is able to customize various features of the user engagement, including how content notifications are delivered and what the schedule of personalized content delivery should be. These improvements allow each individual user to tweak his or her personal interaction with the user engagement platform and thereby have a more enjoyable and effective user engagement.

In some of the embodiments described herein, improvements to the depth of personalization of user engagement are provided. In some embodiments, the user engagement script on the user computing device along with the user engagement server, the content management system, and other data sources allow for a highly personalized interaction with the user due to the large amounts of information available about the user. Through these various components, information about purchases by the user, webpages visited by the user, videos liked by the user, and other information specific to each user can be used to create a highly in-depth personalization of the user engagement. These improvements allow the delivery of user engagement to the user that is more relevant to the user and thus more likely to be effective with engaging the user.

In some of the embodiments described herein, improvements provided allow for real-time personalized engagement, e-commerce, and customer support opportunities leading to additional sales, lower cost of support of new products (better operational support model), lower returns of new products, and much more.

Additional Notes

As noted, an exemplary system for implementing the overall system or portions thereof provided herein might include a general purpose computing device in the form of a computer, including a processing unit, a system memory, and a system bus that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit. The system memory may include read only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). The computer may also include a magnetic hard disk drive for reading from and writing to a magnetic hard disk, a magnetic disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. The drives and their associated machine-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of machine-executable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer.

It should be noted that although the flow charts provided herein show a specific order of method steps, it is understood that the order of these steps may differ from what is depicted. Also two or more steps may be performed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Such variation will depend on the software and hardware systems chosen and on designer choice. It is understood that all such variations are within the embodiments provided herein. Likewise, software and web implementations of the embodiments provided herein could be accomplished with programming techniques with rule based logic and other logic to accomplish the various database searching steps, correlation steps, comparison steps and decision steps. It should also be noted that the word “component” as used herein and in the claims is intended to encompass implementations using one or more lines of software code, and/or hardware implementations. It should also be noted that the phrase “a plurality” is intended to mean more than one, and is not intended to refer to any previous recitation of the word “plurality,” unless preceded by the word “the.”

All components, modes of communication, and/or processes described heretofore are interchangeable with similar components, modes of communication, and/or processes disclosed elsewhere in the specification, unless an express indication is made to the contrary.

While the embodiments provided herein has been described in conjunction with the exemplary embodiments outlined above, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments provided herein, as set forth above, are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments provided herein.

All literature and similar material cited in this application, including, but not limited to, patents, patent applications, articles, books, treatises, and web pages, regardless of the format of such literature and similar materials, are expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety. In the event that one or more of the incorporated literature and similar materials differs from or contradicts this application, including but not limited to defined terms, term usage, described techniques, or the like, this application controls.

The above-described embodiments provided herein can be implemented in any of numerous ways. For example, some embodiments may be implemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof. When any aspect of an embodiment is implemented at least in part in software, the software code can be executed on any suitable processor or collection of processors, whether provided in a single computer or distributed among multiple computers.

In this respect, various aspects of the embodiments provided herein may be embodied at least in part as a computer readable storage medium (or multiple computer readable storage media) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compact discs, optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, circuit configurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductor devices, or other tangible computer storage medium or non-transitory medium) encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one or more computers or other processors, perform methods that implement the various embodiments of the technology discussed above. The computer readable medium or media can be transportable, such that the program or programs stored thereon can be loaded onto one or more different computers or other processors to implement various aspects of the present technology as discussed above.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.” Any ranges cited herein are inclusive.

The terms “substantially” and “about” used throughout this Specification are used to describe and account for small fluctuations. For example, they can refer to less than or equal to ±5%, such as less than or equal to ±2%, such as less than or equal to ±1%, such as less than or equal to ±0.5%, such as less than or equal to ±0.2%, such as less than or equal to ±0.1%, such as less than or equal to ±0.05%.