Patent Publication Number: US-2021185000-A1

Title: Dynamic Email Content Engine

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/700,885, filed Sep. 11, 2017, now allowed, and is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/700,898, filed Sep. 11, 2017, entitled “Dynamic Email System,” which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     A business often maintains overlapping email addresses across different departments. For example, a subscriber&#39;s email address may be simultaneously stored in a sales department and a service department. This creates a situation where subscriber segments collide. This may prevent the business from presenting multiple product marketing messages to an individual subscriber. This is often because an email system is prevented from sending multiple email messages to the same subscriber during a given time period (e.g., the email system may only send two emails per month per email address). This may cause inconsistent and unpredictable send volumes for the different departments. 
     In addition, this may prevent the business from creating email campaigns that cross sell products and services. For example, the business may want to create an email campaign that markets a product selected by the sales department, and cross sells a service package for that product from the service department. Finally, the business may need to create and send emails manually, especially when the business is restricted from sending additional emails to a subscriber during a given time period. This may require creating and storing different email templates, and manually assigning content from the different departments to an email. This is often tedious, error prone, and computationally intensive. 
     Thus, what is needed is a dynamic email system that automatically assigns relevant content to an email message for a subscriber that is present in different departments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a dynamic email system, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a content engine that assigns a content item to a subscriber record, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a process for assigning a persona record to a subscriber record, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a process for assigning a content score to a content item in a content database, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating a process for assigning a content item to a subscriber record, according to some embodiments. 
         FIG. 6  is an example computer system useful for implementing various embodiments. 
     
    
    
     In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical or similar elements. Additionally, generally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Provided herein are system, apparatus, device, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for automatically assigning relevant content to an email for a subscriber at the time the email is sent. Further provided herein are system, apparatus, device, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for a content engine that automatically assigning relevant content to an email for a subscriber based on a set of content rules and a persona assigned to the subscriber. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a dynamic email system  102 , according to some embodiments. Dynamic email system  102  includes persona engine  104 , scoring engine  106 , and content engine  108 . 
     In some embodiments, persona engine  104  may assign a persona record to a subscriber record. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, a subscriber record may represent a prospect, a customer, or some other type of entity. A subscriber record may include, but is not limited to, a subscriber email address field, an account identifier field, a name field, an account type field, a content score field, a job function field, and a product interest field. Dynamic email system  102  may store a subscriber record in a subscriber record table in a database. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, the database may be a relational database management system (DBMS). 
     In some embodiments, dynamic email system  102  may store a persona record in a persona record table in the database. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, a persona record may represent a subscriber associated with a sales department, a marketing department, an information technology (IT) department, or various other type of department. 
     In some embodiments, persona engine  104  may select one or more subscriber records from a set of subscriber records for persona record assignment based on a suppression list. In some embodiments, persona engine  104  may skip assignment of a persona record to a subscriber record based on the associated subscriber being present in the suppression list. In some embodiments, the suppression list may include one or more subscribers to which emails have previously been sent. 
     In some embodiments, persona engine  104  may assign a persona record to a subscriber record based on the subscriber record being associated with either a prospect or a customer. In some embodiments, persona engine  104  may determine whether the subscriber record is associated with a prospect or a customer based on an account type field in the subscriber record. 
     In some embodiments, where the subscriber record is associated with a prospect, persona engine  104  may determine that the product interest field of the subscriber record is populated. Persona engine  104  may then assign a persona record to the subscriber record based on the product interest field. In some embodiments, where the product interest field is not populated in the subscriber record, persona engine  104  may assign a default persona record to the subscriber record. For example, in some embodiments, persona engine  104  may assign a sales persona record to the subscriber record. 
     In some other embodiments, where the subscriber record is associated with a customer, persona engine  104  may determine that the subscriber record indicates that the associated customer owns a sales cloud product. Persona engine  104  then determines whether the job function field of the subscriber record maps to a sales focused role. In some embodiments, where the job function field of the subscriber record maps to a sales focused role, persona engine  104  assigns a cross sales persona record to the subscriber record. In some other embodiments, where the job function field of the subscriber record does not map to a sales focused role, persona engine  104  determines whether the subscriber record has an associated propensity to buy (PTB) score. 
     As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, dynamic email system  102  may track one or more PTB scores for a subscriber record. For example, in some embodiments, dynamic email system  102  may track a product that the subscriber associated with the subscriber record has a propensity to buy. Dynamic email system  102  may then assign a PTB score to the product for the subscriber record. Dynamic email system  102  may store the PTB score in a unsorted staging stable associated with the subscriber record. 
     In some embodiments, dynamic email system  102  may rank the PTB scores stored in the unsorted staging table for a subscriber record. In some embodiments, persona engine  104  may assign a persona record to the subscriber record based on the persona record being associated with a product having a highest PTB score for the subscriber record. In some embodiments, where there is a tie among PTB scores, persona engine  104  may assign a persona record to the subscriber record based on a hierarchy of products which have a PTB score assigned. 
     In some other embodiments, persona engine  104  assigns a persona record to the subscriber record based on the subscriber record indicating that the associated customer does not own a sales cloud product. Persona engine  104  then determines whether the product interest field of the subscriber record does not map to a product that the associated subscriber owns. Persona engine  104  then assigns a persona record to the subscriber record based on the product interest field. 
     In some other embodiments, where the product interest field of the subscriber record does map to a product that the associated subscriber owns, persona engine  104  determines whether a job function field of the subscriber record does not map to a product that the associated subscriber owns. Persona engine  104  then assigns a persona record to the subscriber record based on the job function field. 
     In some other embodiments, where the product interest field of the subscriber record does map to a product that the associated subscriber owns, and the job function field of the subscriber record does map to a product that the associated subscriber owns, persona engine  104  determines whether there are any products that the subscriber associated with the subscriber record does not own. In some embodiments, if there are products that the subscriber associated with the subscriber record does not own, persona engine  104  assigns a persona record to the subscriber record based on a product hierarchy. For example, persona engine  104  assigns a persona record to the subscriber record based on a product with a highest revenue potential. In some other embodiments, if there are no products that the subscriber associated with the subscriber record does not own, persona engine  104  assigns a default persona record to the subscriber record. For example, persona engine  104  may assign a sales persona record to the subscriber record. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may assign a content score to a content item in a content database. In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may determine the performance of a content item across different email messages. For example, in some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may determine the cumulative performance of a content item across multiple email messages by evaluating associated subscriber engagement data according to a series of rules. 
     In some embodiments, a content item may be an offer item (e.g., a proposal to a customer to buy a product or service). The content item may be stored in a content database. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, the content database may be a relational DBMS. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may assign a content score to a content items based on subscriber engagement data (e.g., click to open rate (CTOR), click rate, open rate, unsubscribe rate, etc.) associated with the content item. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, scoring engine  106  may assign a content score at periodic intervals, during a maintenance automation, or at various other times. Similarly, as would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, scoring engine  106  may recalculate a content score at periodic intervals, during a maintenance automation, or at various other times. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may determine whether a content item in the content database has more than a threshold value of email sends. For example, scoring engine  106  may determine whether a content item in the content database has been sent more than 1000 times. In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may assign a content score to a content item that has more than a threshold value of email sends. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, the assignment of a content score to a content item having a threshold value of email sends may ensure that there is a sufficient sample size for ranking the content item among other content items. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may calculate one or more content score metrics for a content item based on various criteria. For example, in some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may calculate a content score metric for a content item based on a CTOR, click rate, open rate, or unsubscribe rate metric. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may rank a content item based on a content score metric. For example, in some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may compare a content score metric for a first content item to a content score metric for a second content item. In some embodiments, based on the difference in content score metrics, the first content item and the second content item may be reranked. In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may only rank the first content item and the second content item differently, incrementing one rank from high to low where the difference between their content score metrics is statistically significant. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, scoring engine  106  may determine that there is a statistically significant difference based on calculating a Z score between the first content score metric and the second content score metric. Moreover, as would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, scoring engine  106  may rank the content items using various sorting mechanisms. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may further rank a content item based on its content score for a second metric (e.g., click rate). As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, scoring engine  106  may rank content items based on a hierarchy of best performing content score metrics. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, a user may specify the hierarchy of best performing content score metrics. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may rank content score metrics of content items in reverse by counting the total number of content items being ranked. For example, in some embodiments, the total number of content items may be the top score. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may weigh multiple content score metrics associated with a content item. In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may multiply the multiple content score metrics associated with the content item by different weights. For example, scoring engine  106  may multiple a CTOR content score metric by a first weight and a click content score metric by a second weight. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may normalize the multiple weighted content score metrics for the content item. In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may sum the weighted content score metrics and normalize the resulting number so that it falls within a specific range. For example, in some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may normalize the resulting number to fall between 98 and 0, with 98 being the highest score and 0 being the lowest score. In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may reserve a specific score in the normalized score range (e.g., a highest score for forced content). For example, scoring engine  106  may reserve a score of 99 for forced content. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may evaluate content score metrics on a daily basis. In some other embodiments, scoring engine  106  may evaluate content score metrics on a different timeline. In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may store the resulting normalized content score with its associated content item in the content database. 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  assigns a content item to a subscriber record based on a content score associated with the content item, a persona record assigned to the subscriber record, or one or more characteristics of the content item. Dynamic email system  102 , and content engine  108 , solve the technical problem of having to manually assign content items for each email generation request from a different part of a business (e.g., different department). In addition, content engine  108  reduces the amount of database requests issued as part of the content assignment process. In particular, in some embodiments, content engine  108  assigns all content items to a subscriber record at one time, and prior to generation of an email based on the content item assignment. In contrast, previous approaches issued multiple database requests at the time of email sending, one for checking for each content item that could possibly be inserted into the email. Content engine  108  reduces these database requests, and therefore reduces computation. This computation reduction further increases the amount of emails that can be sent per unit of time. Finally, content engine  108  reduces storage requirements because only a single email template is needed for insertion of content items. In contrast, previous approaches required maintaining different email templates for use by different parts of the business. In addition to requiring different email templates, each content item may need to be stored in an offer 1 and offer 2 form in a marketing cloud computing system. This increased storage requirements and added complexity. Content engine  108  reduces these storage requirements. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram of content engine  108 , according to some embodiments. 
     Content engine  108  includes rules based content assignment engine  202 , persona based content assignment engine  204 , and affiliated based content assignment engine  206 . 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  may assign multiple content items to a subscriber record. For example, content engine  108  may assign a first content item (e.g., a main offer), a second content item (e.g., a secondary offer), and a third content item (e.g., an offer for customers only). In some embodiments, content engine  108  may assign different content items based on one or more of a content score associated with the content item, a persona record assigned to the subscriber record, and one or more characteristics of the content item. 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  may select a subset of content items in a content database for possible assignment to a subscriber record. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may store the subset of content items in a content pool. In some embodiments, a content pool may include content items from the content database that are eligible for assignment to a subscriber record. 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  may select non-viewed content items in the content database for possible assignment to a subscriber record. For example, in some embodiments, content engine  108  may store in the content pool only content items that the subscriber associated with the subscriber record has not viewed in a certain period of time (e.g., the last 90 days). In other words, content engine  108  may only store “fresh” content items in the content pool. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, content engine  108  may track a number of views of a content item in the content database by subscriber record. 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  may select only valid content items in a content database for possible assignment to a subscriber record. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may select only valid content items from the non-viewed content items for possible assignment to the subscriber record. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may store content items marked as “live” in the content pool (e.g., non-expired content items). In some embodiments, content engine  108  may check an expiration date field of a content item to determine if the content item is expired. 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  may assign a first content item to a subscriber record based on one or more of a content score associated with the content item, a persona record assigned to the subscriber record, and one or more characteristics of the content item. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may assign the first content item to a subscriber record using rules based content assignment engine  202  and or persona record based content assignment engine  204 . In some embodiments, content engine  108  may assign all content items selected by rules based content assignment engine  202  and persona record based content assignment engine  204  to the content pool. Content engine  108  may then rank the content items in the content pool based on one or more priority values and content scores. 
     In some embodiments, rules based content assignment engine  202  may store content items in the content pool for possible assignment as a first content item to a subscriber record based on a series of rules. In some embodiments, rules based content assignment engine  202  may apply the series of rules in a prioritized order. In some embodiments, rules based content assignment engine  202  may store a content item with a priority value based on a rule in the series of rules that triggered storage of the content item in the content pool. 
     For example, in some embodiments, rules based content assignment engine  202  may apply the following series of rules. In some embodiments, rules based content assignment engine  202  may store a content item in the content pool based on the content item being forced content (e.g., having a force content flag=“true”). Rules based content assignment engine  202  may add the content item to the content pool along with a first priority value. 
     In some embodiments, rules based content assignment engine  202  may store content items in the content pool based on the persona record assigned to the subscriber record being a cross sales persona record. Rules based content assignment engine  202  may add the content items to the content pool along with corresponding second priority values. 
     In some embodiments, rules based content assignment engine  202  may store a content item in a content pool based on the persona record assigned to the subscriber record having its product owned field set to true, and the content item having its upsell flag set to true. Rules based content assignment engine  202  may add the content item to the content pool along with a priority value associated with the particular persona record. 
     In some embodiments, rules based content assignment engine  202  may store a content item in a content pool based on the PTB content flag of the content item being not null. Rules based content assignment engine  202  may then add the content item to the content pool along with a corresponding fourth priority value based the PTB score. 
     In some embodiments, persona based content assignment engine  204  may apply a another set of rules. In some embodiments, persona based content assignment engine  204  may apply the another set of rules after rules based content assignment engine  202  completes. In some embodiments, persona based content assignment engine  204  may store one or more content items in the content pool based on the persona record assigned to the subscriber record, and the one or more content items having an age less than or equal to a threshold value (e.g., 30 days old). Persona based content assignment engine  204  may add the one or more content items to the content pool along with corresponding fifth priority values. 
     In some embodiments, persona based content assignment engine  204  may store one or more content items in the content pool based on the persona record assigned to the subscriber record, and the one or more content items having content scores greater than a threshold value (e.g., top 3 performance scores). Persona based content assignment engine  204  may add the one or more content items to the content pool along with corresponding sixth priority values. 
     In some embodiments, rules based content assignment engine  202  may store one or more content items in the content pool based on the persona record assigned to the subscriber record, and the job function field of the subscriber record. Persona based content assignment engine  204  may add the one or more content items to the content pool along with corresponding seventh priority values. 
     In some embodiments, content engine  106  may sort the content items in the content pool based on the assigned priority values and content performance scores. In some embodiments, content engine  106  may assign the highest ranked content item in the content pool to the subscriber record as its first content item (e.g., main offer). 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  may assign a second content item to a subscriber record based on one or more of a content score associated with the content item, a persona record assigned to the subscriber record, and one or more characteristics of the content item. In some embodiments, affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  of content engine  108  may assign a second content item to a subscriber record. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may assign all content items selected by the affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  to the content pool. Content engine  108  may then rank the content items in the content pool based on one or more priority values and content scores. 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  may remove the assigned first content item stored in the content pool unless one or more rules apply. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may remove content items from the content pool that were assigned by rules based content assignment engine  202 . 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  may determine that the first content offer (e.g., the main offer) is not forced content (e.g., does not have a forced content flag of “true”). Content engine  108  may then remove content items from the content pool that match the persona record assigned to the subscriber record. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may remove content items from the content pool that match the persona record assigned to the subscriber record. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may store one or more content items in the content pool based on the persona record assigned to the subscriber record being a cross sales persona record. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may add the content items to the content pool along with corresponding second priority values. 
     In some other embodiments, content engine  108  may determine that the first content offer (e.g., the main offer) has a forced content of “true.” Affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  may then assign one or more content items to the content pool based on their affiliation with the assigned first content item. For example, this may occur if there is no content item marked as forced content. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may add the one or more content items to the content pool along with corresponding first priority values. 
     In some embodiments, affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  may add additional content items based on a set of rules. For example, in some embodiments, affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  may store one or more content items in the content pool based on being affiliated content with the first content item, and the one or more content items having an age less than or equal to a threshold value (e.g., 30 days old). Affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  may add the one or more content items to the content pool along with corresponding third priority values. 
     In some embodiments, affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  may store one or more content items in the content pool based on being affiliated content with the first assigned content item, and the one or more content items having content scores greater than a threshold value (e.g., top 3 performance scores). Affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  may add the one or more content items to the content pool along with a fourth priority value. 
     In some embodiments, affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  may store one or more content items in the content pool based on being affiliated content with the first assigned content item, and the job function field of the subscriber record. Affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  may add the one or more content items to the content pool along with a fifth priority value. 
     In some embodiments, content engine  106  may sort the content items in the content pool based on their assigned priority values and content performance scores. In some embodiments, content engine  106  may assign the highest ranked content item in the content pool to the subscriber record as a second content item (e.g., affiliated offer). 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  may assign a third content item to a subscriber record based on the subscriber record being associated with a customer. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may assign a content item from the content pool based on the content item being tagged as a third content item (e.g., a third offer). In some embodiments, content engine  108  may perform this assignment randomly. 
     In some embodiments, content engine  108  may determine that the first assigned content item or second assigned content item are available for selection. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may not insert the first and second content items into an email message for the subscriber record if they are unavailable. 
     In some embodiments, dynamic email system  102  may send an email for each subscriber record containing its associated assigned content items (e.g., a main offer, an affiliated offer, and third offer). As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, dynamic email system  102  may send the emails on demand or at various intervals. 
     In some embodiments, dynamic email system  102  may generate the email for each subscriber record using an email template. In some embodiments, dynamic email system  102  may insert all assigned content items into the email at once based on a single request for all assignments. This may reduce the number of network requests need to retrieve content items compared to previous solutions. 
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart for a method  300  for assigning a persona record to a subscriber record, according to an embodiment. Method  300  can be performed by processing logic that can comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executing on a processing device), or a combination thereof. It is to be appreciated that not all steps may be needed to perform the disclosure provided herein. Further, some of the steps may be performed simultaneously, or in a different order than shown in  FIG. 3 , as will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. 
     Method  300  shall be described with reference to  FIG. 1 . However, method  300  is not limited to that example embodiment. 
     In  302 , persona engine  104  receives a subscriber record. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, a subscriber record may represent a prospect, a customer, or some other type of entity. A subscriber record may include various fields including, but not limited to, a subscriber email address, account identifier, name, account type, content score, job function, and primary product interest field. 
     In  304 , persona engine  104  determines that the subscriber associated with the subscriber record is not present on a suppression list. For example, persona engine  104  may determine that the email address of the subscriber record is not present on the suppression list. 
     In  306 , persona engine  104  determines that the subscriber associated with the subscriber record is a given type (e.g., a customer or prospect). For example, in some embodiments, persona engine  104  may determine that the subscriber associated with the subscriber record is a customer based on an account type field of the subscriber record. 
     In  308 , persona engine  104  assigns a persona record to the subscriber record based on one or more fields of the subscriber record, e.g., a primary product interest field and a job function field, or a product owned by subscriber record. For example, in some embodiments, where the product interest field is populated in the subscriber record, persona engine  104  may assign a persona record to the subscriber record based on the primary product interest field. In some other embodiments, where the job function field of the subscriber record maps to a sales focused role, persona engine  104  may assign a cross sales persona record to the subscriber record. In some other embodiments, where the job function field of the subscriber record does not map to a sales focused role, persona engine  104  may assign a persona record to the subscriber record based on an associated PTB score. 
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart for a method  400  for assigning a content score to a content item in a content database, according to an embodiment. Method  400  can be performed by processing logic that can comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executing on a processing device), or a combination thereof. It is to be appreciated that not all steps may be needed to perform the disclosure provided herein. Further, some of the steps may be performed simultaneously, or in a different order than shown in  FIG. 4 , as will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. 
     Method  400  shall be described with reference to  FIG. 1 . However, method  400  is not limited to that example embodiment. 
     In  402 , scoring engine  106  selects a content item in a content database. In some embodiments, a content item may be an offer item (e.g., a proposal to a customer to buy a product or service). The content item may be stored in a content database. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, the content database may be a relational DBMS. 
     In  404 , scoring engine  106  determines that the content item has more than a threshold number of email sends. For example, scoring engine  106  may determine that the content item in the content database has been sent more than 1000 times. 
     In  406 , scoring engine  106  calculate one or more content scores for the content item based on various metrics. For example, in some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may calculate CTOR, click rate, open rate, and unsubscribe rate content scores for the content item. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, scoring engine  106  may calculate various other types of content scores for the content item. 
     In  408 , scoring engine  106  ranks the content item among the other content items based on one of its content score metrics. For example, in some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may compare the content score metric for the content item to a corresponding content score metric for a second content item. In some embodiments, based on the difference in content score metrics, scoring engine  106  may rerank the content item with respect to the second content item. In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may only rank the content item and the second content item differently, incrementing one rank from high to low where the difference between their content score metrics is statistically significant. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, scoring engine  106  may determine that there is a statistically significant difference based on calculating a Z score between the two content score metrics. 
     In some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may further rank the content item among the other content items based on a second one of its content score metrics. As would be appreciated by a person of ordinary skill in the art, scoring engine  106  may rank content item based on a hierarchy of best performing content score metrics. 
     In  410 , scoring engine  106  weighs and normalizes the one or more content score metrics for the content item. For example, in some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may multiply the multiple content score metrics associated with the content item by different weights. For example, scoring engine  106  may multiple a CTOR content score metric by a first weight and a click content score metric by a second weight. Scoring engine  106  may then normalize the multiple weighted content score metrics for the content item. For example, in some embodiments, scoring engine  106  may sum the weighted content score metrics and normalize the resulting number so that it falls within a specific range. 
     In  412 , scoring engine  106  may store the resulting normalized content score with the content item. 
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart for a method  500  for assigning a content item to a subscriber record, according to an embodiment. Method  500  can be performed by processing logic that can comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executing on a processing device), or a combination thereof. It is to be appreciated that not all steps may be needed to perform the disclosure provided herein. Further, some of the steps may be performed simultaneously, or in a different order than shown in  FIG. 5 , as will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. 
     Method  500  shall be described with reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 . However, method  500  is not limited to that example embodiment. 
     In  502 , content engine  108  receives a subscriber record for assignment of one or more content items from a content database. 
     In  504 , content engine  108  selects non-viewed content items from the content database for possible assignment to the subscriber record. For example, in some embodiments, content engine  108  may store in the content pool only content items that the subscriber associated with the subscriber record has not viewed in a certain period of time (e.g., the last 90 days). 
     In  506 , content engine  108  selects one or more valid content items from the non-viewed content items for possible assignment to the subscriber record. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may check an expiration date field of a content item to determine if the content item is valid (e.g., non-expired). In some embodiments, content engine  108  may store the non-viewed valid content items marked in a content pool for possible assignment to the subscriber record. 
     In  508 , content engine  108  assigns a first content item to a subscriber record based on one or more of a content score associated with the content item, a persona record assigned to the subscriber record, and one or more characteristics of the content item. In some embodiments, content engine  108  assigns the first content item to a subscriber record using rules based content assignment engine  202  and or persona record based content assignment engine  204 . 
     In  510 , content engine  108  assigns a second content item to the subscriber record based on one or more of a content score associated with the content item, a persona record assigned to the subscriber record, and one or more characteristics of the content item. In some embodiments, affiliated content based content assignment engine  206  of content engine  108  may assign the second content item to the subscriber record. 
     In  512 , content engine  108  assigns a third content item to the subscriber record based on the subscriber associated with the subscriber record being a customer. In some embodiments, content engine  108  may assign the third content item based on the third content item being tagged (e.g., as a third offer). In some embodiments, content engine  108  may perform this assignment randomly. 
     Various embodiments can be implemented, for example, using one or more computer systems, such as computer system  600  shown in  FIG. 6 . Computer system  600  can be used, for example, to implement method  500  of  FIG. 5 . For example, computer system  600  can perform content item assignment to a subscriber record. Computer system  600  can further perform persona record assignment to a subscriber record, according to some embodiments. Computer system  600  can be any computer capable of performing the functions described herein. 
     Computer system  600  can be any well-known computer capable of performing the functions described herein. 
     Computer system  600  includes one or more processors (also called central processing units, or CPUs), such as a processor  604 . Processor  604  is connected to a communication infrastructure or bus  606 . 
     One or more processors  604  may each be a graphics processing unit (GPU). In an embodiment, a GPU is a processor that is a specialized electronic circuit designed to process mathematically intensive applications. The GPU may have a parallel structure that is efficient for parallel processing of large blocks of data, such as mathematically intensive data common to computer graphics applications, images, videos, etc. 
     Computer system  600  also includes user input/output device(s)  603 , such as monitors, keyboards, pointing devices, etc., that communicate with communication infrastructure  606  through user input/output interface(s)  602 . 
     Computer system  600  also includes a main or primary memory  608 , such as random access memory (RAM). Main memory  608  may include one or more levels of cache. Main memory  608  has stored therein control logic (i.e., computer software) and/or data. 
     Computer system  600  may also include one or more secondary storage devices or memory  610 . Secondary memory  610  may include, for example, a hard disk drive  612  and/or a removable storage device or drive  614 . Removable storage drive  614  may be a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, a compact disk drive, an optical storage device, tape backup device, and/or any other storage device/drive. 
     Removable storage drive  614  may interact with a removable storage unit  618 . 
     Removable storage unit  618  includes a computer usable or readable storage device having stored thereon computer software (control logic) and/or data. Removable storage unit  618  may be a floppy disk, magnetic tape, compact disk, DVD, optical storage disk, and/any other computer data storage device. Removable storage drive  614  reads from and/or writes to removable storage unit  618  in a well-known manner. 
     According to an exemplary embodiment, secondary memory  610  may include other means, instrumentalities or other approaches for allowing computer programs and/or other instructions and/or data to be accessed by computer system  600 . Such means, instrumentalities or other approaches may include, for example, a removable storage unit  622  and an interface  620 . Examples of the removable storage unit  622  and the interface  620  may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an EPROM or PROM) and associated socket, a memory stick and USB port, a memory card and associated memory card slot, and/or any other removable storage unit and associated interface. 
     Computer system  600  may further include a communication or network interface  624 . Communication interface  624  enables computer system  600  to communicate and interact with any combination of remote devices, remote networks, remote entities, etc. (individually and collectively referenced by reference number  628 ). For example, communication interface  624  may allow computer system  600  to communicate with remote devices  628  over communications path  626 , which may be wired and/or wireless, and which may include any combination of LANs, WANs, the Internet, etc. Control logic and/or data may be transmitted to and from computer system  600  via communication path  626 . 
     In an embodiment, a tangible, non-transitory apparatus or article of manufacture comprising a tangible, non-transitory computer useable or readable medium having control logic (software) stored thereon is also referred to herein as a computer program product or program storage device. This includes, but is not limited to, computer system  600 , main memory  608 , secondary memory  610 , and removable storage units  618  and  622 , as well as tangible articles of manufacture embodying any combination of the foregoing. Such control logic, when executed by one or more data processing devices (such as computer system  600 ), causes such data processing devices to operate as described herein. 
     Based on the teachings contained in this disclosure, it will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) how to make and use embodiments of this disclosure using data processing devices, computer systems and/or computer architectures other than that shown in  FIG. 6 . In particular, embodiments can operate with software, hardware, and/or operating system implementations other than those described herein. 
     It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and not any other section, is intended to be used to interpret the claims. Other sections can set forth one or more but not all exemplary embodiments as contemplated by the inventor(s), and thus, are not intended to limit this disclosure or the appended claims in any way. 
     While this disclosure describes exemplary embodiments for exemplary fields and applications, it should be understood that the disclosure is not limited thereto. Other embodiments and modifications thereto are possible, and are within the scope and spirit of this disclosure. For example, and without limiting the generality of this paragraph, embodiments are not limited to the software, hardware, firmware, and/or entities illustrated in the figures and/or described herein. Further, embodiments (whether or not explicitly described herein) have significant utility to fields and applications beyond the examples described herein. 
     Embodiments have been described herein with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternate boundaries can be defined as long as the specified functions and relationships (or equivalents thereof) are appropriately performed. Also, alternative embodiments can perform functional blocks, steps, operations, methods, etc. using orderings different than those described herein. 
     References herein to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” or similar phrases, indicate that the embodiment described can include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment can not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it would be within the knowledge of persons skilled in the relevant art(s) to incorporate such feature, structure, or characteristic into other embodiments whether or not explicitly mentioned or described herein. Additionally, some embodiments can be described using the expression “coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, some embodiments can be described using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, can also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other. 
     The breadth and scope of this disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.