Targeted electronic and networked content delivery

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for a content module to identify targeted content to a user based on the user's prior interactions with a content providing entity over multiple forms of communication. Information about the user's interaction over the multiple forms of communication, such as, for example, duration of interaction and frequency of interaction, is received by the content module. The content module executes a set of content identification rules to identify the targeted content using the received information about the user's prior interactions. The identified targeted content is provided to the user's device for display on a user interface.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving a request for content from a user device associated with a user having an identifier;   executing a set of content identification rules to determine targeted content for the user based on the user's prior interactions with a content providing entity over two or more forms of communication, wherein each of the two or more forms of communication occurs electronically over a network and comprises a communication using one of a browser, an e-mail application, and a social media platform, and the prior interactions include a first interaction and a second interaction, wherein a form of communication for the first interaction differs from a form of communication for the second interaction; and   providing the targeted content to the user device for inclusion on a user interface to be rendered on a display associated with the user device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the prior interactions further include a third interaction and a form of communication for the third interaction comprises one of a printed communication and a verbal communication between the user and the content providing entity, and wherein information for the third interaction is separately maintained from information for the first interaction and information from the second interaction. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving information about the first interaction and information about the second interaction over the network. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising associating the information about the first interaction with the information about the second interaction when the identifier is associated with both the information about the first interaction and the information about the second interaction. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving information about an anonymous interaction with the content providing entity;   determining whether the information about the anonymous interaction corresponds with information about an interaction having a known user identifier; and   in response to determining that the information about the anonymous interaction corresponds with the information about the interaction having the known user identifier, associating the information about the anonymous interaction with the information having the known user identifier.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein determining whether the information about the anonymous interaction corresponds with the information of the known user identifier comprises comparing the information about the anonymous interaction with the information of the known user identifier to find similar information. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more rules within the set of content identification rules is based on a frequency of interaction and a duration of interaction. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein information about the user's prior interactions with the content providing entity is stored. 
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium on which is encoded program code, the program code comprising:
 program code for providing executable code that engages with a cookie associated with a browser on a user device, the executable code configured to engage the cookie to identify information about a user's interactions with a content providing entity;   program code for receiving the information about the user's interactions with the content providing entity, wherein the received information includes information about prior interactions over two or more forms of communication, wherein each of the two or more forms of communication is electronic over a network and comprises a communication using one of a browser, an email application, and a social media platform, and the prior interactions include a first interaction and a second interaction, wherein a form of communication for the first interaction differs from a form of communication for the second interaction;   program code for associating the information about the user's interaction over the two or more forms of communication together with an identifier; and   program code for identifying targeted content for the user based on the information about the user's prior interactions over the two or more forms of communication with the content providing entity.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , further comprising program code for executing a set of content identification rules received from the content providing entity to identify the targeted content for the user. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein executing the set of content identification rules identifies the targeted content based on the information about the user's prior interactions with the content providing entity over the two or more forms of communication. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the prior interactions further include a third interaction and a form of communication for the third interaction comprising one of a printed communication and a verbal communication between the user and the content providing entity, and wherein information for the third interaction is separately maintained from information for the first interaction and information for the second interaction. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , further comprising program code for providing the targeted content to the user device for inclusion on a user interface rendered on a display associated with the user device. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 9  further comprising: program code for receiving information about an anonymous interaction with the content providing entity;
 program code for determining whether the information about the anonymous interaction corresponds with information about an interaction having a known user identifier; and 
 program code for associating the information about the anonymous interaction with the information having the known user identifier in response to determining that the information about the anonymous interaction corresponds with the information about the interaction of a known user identifier. 
 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein one or more rules within the set of content identification rules is based on a duration of interaction and a frequency of interaction. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the information about the user's prior interactions with a content providing entity over two or more forms of communication is received over the network. 
     
     
         17 . A system, comprising:
 a content provider device comprising a rules creation application for managing content identification rules and content, the rules creation application comprising:
 logic for associating a set of content identification rules to the content; and 
 logic for publishing the set of content identification rules for identifying targeted content based on information about a user's prior interactions with the content provider device through two or more forms of communication; and 
   an interaction data device comprising a content module for identifying the targeted content to provide to a user device, the content module comprising:
 logic for receiving information about the user's prior interactions with the content provider device through two or more forms of communication, wherein each of the two or more forms of communication is electronic over a network, and the prior interactions include a first interaction and a second interaction, wherein a form of communication for the first interaction differs from a form of communication fix the second interaction; 
 logic for receiving the published set of content identification rules from the content provider device; and 
 logic for executing the published set of content identification rules to identify the targeted content based on the information about the user's prior interaction with the content provider device through the two or more forms of communication. 
   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the interaction data device further comprises a code module comprising logic for engaging with a cookie associated with a browser on the user device to identify information about the user's interaction. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the content module further comprises:
 logic for receiving information about an anonymous interaction with the content providing device;   logic for determining whether the information about the anonymous interaction corresponds with information about an interaction having a known user identifier; and   in response to determining that the information about the anonymous interaction corresponds with the information about the interaction having a known user identifier, logic for associating the information about the anonymous interaction with the information about the user's prior interactions when the known user identifier identifies the user.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the prior interactions further include a third interaction and a form of communication for the third interaction comprises one of a printed communication and a verbal communication between the user and the content providing entity, and wherein information for the third interaction is separately maintained from information for the first interaction and information from the second interaction.