Patent ID: 7296026

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for providing electronic communications messaging services, comprising: storing data about a plurality of customers of an electronic communications messaging service provider; associating a respective state variable with each of the customers; automatically updating the respective state variable with one of a plurality of predefined first states, in response to applying a selected one of a plurality of predefined rules to analyze some of the stored data, wherein the rules are defined in part by the provider, wherein the selected rule is applied to those customers whose respective state variable has a first predefined value which indicates that those customers are subscribing to only free services of the provider, and the selected rule, once applied, transitions the respective state variable to a second predefined value which indicates the customer is ready for paying services; and automatically determining whether or not an email message that promotes a paying service of the provider is to be a) sent to each of the customers, and/or b) personalized, based on the respective state variable of the customer.