E-mail service provider SubscriberMail has won a patent for the business process that allows brand owners to provide mix-and-match content that resellers and other marketing partners can use to create their own customized messages.
The technique allows corporate marketing departments to provide content so local resellers can send out e-mail that looks like it comes from the reseller, yet all aspects of it are controlled by the corporate marketing department.
An auto manufacturer, for example, could set up an e-mail newsletter with regional offers giving local dealers the ability to send it out with, say, coupons for oil changes.
Jordan Ayan, CEO of SubscriberMail, believes his technique is ripe for growth as companies increasingly aim to take control of what local agents do via e-mail.
For example, in the insurance industry, it is common for local insurance agents send their own e-mail via outlook, said Ayan. “You’ve got insurance agents sending things out with typos in them, and they’re using a logo that was approved in 1965 and doesn’t look like the logo today,” he said. “This patented technology will allow them [the company] to have complete control over what the local agent sends out.”
Some e-mail firms are already using a similar technique that should be licensed by SubscriberMail, and negotiations with the ones Ayan knows about are ongoing, he said.
“We’re not out there trying to beat people up,” said Ayan. “It’s a significant business asset; we spent a significant amount of time developing it, but we’re also not trying to put people out of business.”
The first company to license the technique is e-mail service provider ExactTarget.
ExactTarget’s CEO Scott Dorsey said he wasn’t surprised by SubscriberMail’s patent.
“We follow intellectual property very closely, and these business technique patents have really blossomed,” he said. “Though these types of patents have been debated in the press, the U.S. patent office has granted quite a few.”
Dorsey said it was a strategic move on ExactTarget’s part to be the first licensee of SubscriberMail’s patent because one-third of the company’s revenue comes from firms that could benefit from the technique.
Moreover, he said, “[business-to-business] enterprises are seeing the significance of e-mail and how important it is to be able to share digital assets across the enterprise and have a single point of control on how e-mail is being utilized.”
Ayan would not say how much the company charges to license its technique.
“If you’re doing this type of marketing and you haven’t talked to us, we’d love to talk to you,” said Ayan. “If you’re a marketer and you’re doing this, hopefully you’re doing it through someone who is licensed.”
The patent number is 6,796,002.
