WO2012174316A1

WO2012174316A1 - Rental, auction, sharing and valuation system for contacts

Info

Publication number: WO2012174316A1
Application number: PCT/US2012/042564
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christopher II MANCE; Imani E. S. MANCE
Original assignee: Mance Christopher Ii; Mance Imani E S
Priority date: 2011-06-17
Filing date: 2012-06-15
Publication date: 2012-12-20

Abstract

A systems or method is provided for providing a contact renter access to a plurality of contacts owned by a contact owner. For example, the systems and methods may include obtaining an agreement on a campaign from the contact owner and contact renter. A message is created including the parameters from the campaign. The message is sent to the plurality of contacts. A plurality of responses to the message by the contacts is tracked and scored. The systems and methods may also include providing a valuation of the plurality of contacts based on the scoring. At the same time, the systems and methods isolate the plurality of contacts from the contact renter.

Description

RENTAL, AUCTION, SHARING AND VALUATION SYSTEM FOR CONTACTS CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit and priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 61/498,294 filed on June 17, 201 1 in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The contents of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 61/498,294 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to computer systems for marketing and, more particularly, computer systems using contact lists for marketing.

Millions of businesses across the world have vast archives of their customers and prospect contact and profile data stored in data warehouses either within the local computer systems or in the Internet cloud with a third party. The data warehouse that stores this information ranges from as simple as an email contact database, to a social networking system, to a sophisticated and robust customer relationship management (CRM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) software system.

Businesses store their customer and prospect data so they can among other things, profile their customers and prospects into demographic categories, track their buying history, as well as track the type and number of interactions the customer or prospect has had with the business. Various analytics tools are also used to generate various types of business intelligence data based on this customer and prospect data, and other tools are used to maintain the data integrity and quality of the data.

In addition to analyzing and maintaining customer and prospect data, another significant goal for businesses is to use this data to increase sales. This is done by successfully progressing through the customer engagement cycle which includes getting existing customers to buy more, getting prospects to become customers, and also finding new prospects to add to the pipeline. One method businesses have used to successfully progress through the customer engagement cycle is Internet marketing.

Internet marketing includes a vast array of activities including but not limited to the placement of media along many different stages of the customer engagement cycle through search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), banner ads on specific websites, email and social network marketing. However, when it comes to engaging existing customers and prospects, email and social network marketing has proved to be the most cost efficient to execute.

Email and social networking marketing are so cost efficient because it is practically free to send and receive messages from customers and prospects over these mediums. But the costs efficiencies can be dramatically reduced if a significant amount of resources are expended growing the size of your email list and/or social networking circle. Thus, businesses face a tremendous challenge in managing their cost when it comes to growing these two contact repositories.

The quick and easy approach to this challenge is to employ the practice of buying consumer contact data from third-party companies who harvest this data from unknown sources and sell it to the highest bidder. This practice is frowned upon because more often than not, when people receive unsolicited messages from companies they have not specifically made the decision to communicate with it is viewed as SPAM. In addition to the risk of being labeled as a spammer, the other problem with buying customer contact data from third-party harvesters is not having any way to know in advance the quality of the data you are paying for, and the possibility that once you pay in advance for the data, you find out the data doesn't provide a ROI.

An alternative to buying contact data is renting it. When a business rents the data, a third-party business sends messages and offers to their customers on behalf of the other business. Many of the same problems that exists with buying customer contact data exist with renting it, such as the problem with not knowing if the customer data was sourced in an unscrupulous way, not having any way to know in advance the quality of the contacts being rented and being charged for contacts that do not provide a ROI.

SUMMARY

A method of providing a contact renter access to a plurality of contacts owned by a contact owner is disclosed. The method includes obtaining an agreement on a campaign from the contact owner and contact renter. A message is created including the parameters from the campaign. The message is sent to the plurality of contacts. A plurality of responses to the message by the contacts is tracked and scored. The method also includes providing a valuation of the plurality of contacts based on the scoring. At the same time, the method isolates the plurality of contacts from the contact renter.

The method may also include determining whether the plurality of responses is at least one of a bounce, not read or read. The read, for example, includes at least one of a non-action, response, forward, share, opt-out, click link or perform goal.

The method may also further comprise storing the plurality of responses in a database. Also, an analytics profile of the contacts may be created or updated based on the plurality of responses. This analytics profile may be provided to at least one of the contact owner or the contact renter.

The method may also include receiving permission settings from the contact owner for the contact renter and modifying the permission settings. The permission settings allow the contact renter to perform at least one of read the analytics profile, read response messages, reply to response messages, write messages or send messages.

Mapping the message to an identifier provide by the contact owner may also be included in the method. Also, a mailbox may be created for receipt of the plurality of responses. The method may also include receiving from the contact owner and

implementing instructions setting permissions for the contact renter's ability to perform actions on the mailbox.

A sent items folder may also be created in the mailbox and contact owner instructions setting permissions for the contact renter on the sent items folder may be implemented. Other folders may be created in the mailbox, such as an analytics folder, and each of these folders may have permissions set by the contact owner for the contact renter.

The tracked and scored responses may be received using the method. Notification may be sent to the contact renter of each of the responses and the responses displayed to the contact renter. Also, the method may include providing real-time analytics of the response to at least one of the contact owner or contact renter. Permissions of the contact renter may be set to allow reading of the responses and replying to the responses. And, approval may be sought from the contact owner for a reply to be sent by the contact renter.

The method may include rating the plurality of contacts based on the tracking of the plurality of responses. For example, the rating may be incrementally adjusted in a negative manner based on a bounce of the message by one of a plurality of contacts. Also, the rating could be adjusted in a positive manner based on a read of the message by one of the plurality of contacts. Positive adjustments may also be made for a response to the message, a click through of the message or performance of a message goal.

A distribution may be applied to a plurality of scores generated by scoring the plurality of contacts. For example, an agreement between the contact owner and contact renter on a value for each portion of a plurality of portions of the distribution may be reached and received. Further, contacts may be collected from a plurality of contact owners, with each of the contacts being scored and each owner's contribution to a total score for each portion of the distribution determined.

The method may also include apportioning revenue to each of the owners based on each owner's contribution to the total score. And, an expense amount for each of the contact owners may be calculated based on a value for each portion of the distribution and each owner's contribution to the total score for each portion of the distribution.

The method may include collecting votes from a plurality of contact owners on a template for the campaign. The template may be used to format the message and confirmatory votes on the template may be collected from a plurality of contact owners. Rankings of the plurality of templates, for example, may be collected from each of the contact owners. Each of the contact owners may be positioned into template module positions based on the rankings of the templates by each of the contact owners.

Weighting of each of the votes may be applied using a contact owner voting weight. For example, the contact owner voting weight may be based on a number of contacts of each of the contact owners. Or, a total value of the contacts of all of the contact owners may be used for the voting weight.

A distribution may be applied to a plurality of scores generated by scoring the plurality of contacts, wherein the distribution has a plurality of portions. These portions may be used to create the contact owner voting weight by multiplying the number of contacts owned by each of the contact owners within each of the portions by a value of each of the portions. The value of each of the portions may be summed for each of the contact owners.

A template for the campaign may also be determined by conducting a bidding process by the plurality of contact renters. Also, a bidding process could be conducted to determine the valuation of the plurality of contacts.

Also included are systems and computer program products for providing a contact renter access to a plurality of contacts owned by a contact owner, including the various configurations and functions described above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a system class diagram of a system and method for providing a contact renter access to a plurality of contacts owned by a contact owner;

Figure 2 is a flow diagram of a system and method to rent customer contact data;

Figure 3 is a flow diagram of a system and method to rate the quality of customer contact data;

Figure 4 is a flow diagram of a system and method to exchange the value of customer contact data;

Figure 5 is a flow diagram of computer system for providing a contact renter access to a plurality of contacts owned by a contact owner; and

Figure 6 shows a schematic of a crowd sourced contact rental system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods (or computer program products) for providing a contact renter access to a plurality of contacts owned by a contact owner, as shown in FIG. 6, for example. For example, the systems and methods may include obtaining an agreement on a campaign from the contact owner and contact renter. A message is created including the parameters from the campaign. The message is sent to the plurality of contacts. A plurality of responses to the message by the contacts is tracked and scored. The systems and methods may also include providing a valuation of the plurality of contacts based on the scoring. At the same time, the systems and methods isolate the plurality of contacts from the contact renter.

Advantageously, the systems and methods may allow two or more businesses to rent their customer contact data to each other separately or simultaneously by allowing one or more contact renters to send messages and offers to one or more contact owners' contacts without having direct access to those contacts. What's more, the systems or methods may provide the ability for contact renters to get real time analytics on the messages sent to third-party contacts and follow-up on replies from the third-party contacts without revealing the personally identifiable information of the third-party contacts.

Also advantageously, the systems and methods may enable both buying and renting customer contact data while retaining the benefit of being a quick and easy way to engage new customers cheaply through internet marketing. In addition, collaboration between contact buyers and sellers is facilitated to increase efficiencies and further reduce the cost of the customer engagement cycle.

The systems and methods may also enable two or more businesses to rent their customer contact data to each other separately (or simultaneously) by allowing one or more contact renters to send messages and offers to one or more contact owners' contacts without having direct access to those contacts. What's more, the systems and methods may provide the ability for contact renters to get real time analytics on the messages sent to third-party contacts and follow-up on replies from the third-party contacts without revealing the personally identifiable information of the third-party contacts.

The systems and methods may also rate the quality of a contact owner's contacts in the context of a third-party contact renter sending messages to those contacts based on the real time analytics and historical data. Also, the system and methods may exchange the value of customer contact data by either debiting or crediting a financial account balance based on the rating.

Further, the systems and methods may create formatted content using a template that assigns one or more businesses the right to enter data into a module position within the template based on the rating. The systems and methods may be configured to use a voting system to make decisions between two or more businesses collaborating with each other by using the rating.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non- exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read- only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

A system 10 for providing to a contact renter 12 access to one or more contacts 14 owned by a contact owner 16 is shown in FIG. 1. An entity 18 may be one or both of the contact renter 12 or contact owner 16. The system 10 includes the contacts 14, contact inbox 20, owner inbox 22, renter inbox 24, message sending campaign 26, message sending API 28, message content 30, message template 32, analytics engine 34, voting ballot 36 and rating band 40. The system 10 may also include all or part of the entity 18 itself, such as one or both of the contact renter 12 or contact owner 16.

Exemplary interaction of the system 10 with the contact renter 12, contact owner 16 and contact 14 to rent contact data is shown in FIG. 2 and described in Table 1 below.

campaign 26 (could be email

address, user ID, phone

number, or similar varchar

field)

3) No Action 3) Create a folder in the

system's message inbox unique to that campaign for the contact owner(s) and the contact renter(s)

a) Set up campaign analytics dashboard for the analytics engine 34 within inbox b) Set up sent items folder

4) Contact Owner 16 sets 4) Permissions for contact permissions for contact renter(s) inbox 24 updated renter(s) inbox 24

a. Read analytics

b. Read response

messages

c. Reply to response

messages

d. Write and send

messages

5) No action 5) Send message to each contact 14 using message 30 from proxy mapped to contact owner 16, contact data, and message sending API28

6) Contact 14 interacts with 6) Store in database of the message 30 analytics engine 34 the analytics a. Bounce on how the contact 14 b. Not Read interacted with the message 30 c. Read

i. No Action

ii. Responds

iii. Forward

iv. Opt Out

v. Perform Goal

7) No Action 7) Refresh folder of the

campaign analytics engine 34 for Contact owner(s) 16 and contact renter(s) 12 with updated contact interaction data

8) Contact owner 16 and renter 12 8) If Contact 14 responds, have option to view real time response received by proxy analytics from the analytics a) System 10 notifies contact engine 34 owner 16 and contact renter(s) 12

b) Displays response message in the inbox 22 of contact owner

9) Contact Owner 16 sets 9) Permissions for contact permissions for contact renter(s) inbox 24 updated renter(s) inbox 24 a) Contact renter 12 and now a. Read response read and reply

messages

b. Reply to response

messages

10) Contact renter 12 sends 10) Notify contact owner 16 for message to a rented contact 14 approval

11) Contact owner 16 approves 11) Send message 30 to contact message using appropriate message from proxy

a) Store sent message 30 in the sent folder of both contact owner 16 and the contact renter 12 who sent the message 30 b) Future reply messages stored in inbox 22 of contact owner and the contact renter 12 who sent the message 30. Step 9 and 10 used again as needed to loop through read and reply cycle as necessary.

Contact Owner, Contact Owner Inbox, Contact Renter, Contact Renter

Databases

Inbox, Contact, Message Sending Campaign, Message Sending Proxy, Entities Used

Message Sending API, Interaction Analytics,

Table 1

Exemplary interaction of the system 10 with the contact 14 to rate the quality of customer contact data is shown in FIG. 3 and described in Table 2 below. The context is the contact renter 12 sending messages 30 to the contacts 14 and the system 10 is rating those contacts 14 based on historical and real time analytics, such as those resulting from the process of Table 1.

2) If Bounce (rejected by contact's 2) Check if greater than 3 message receiving system) bounces then delete contact

14 and end flow, else increment bounce count and message count

a) Subtract 1 from rating then divide rating by message count b) End flow

3) If not read 3) leave rating as is

4) If read and opt out 4) Delete and end flow

5) If contact responds 5) Add 2 to rating

6) If click link 6) Add 3 to rating,

7) If perform message goal 7) Add count +1 to rating

8) Loop through if multiple 8) After x days passes or interaction types between steps 5, 6, next message sent, or 5,6, and 7 and 7 have been completed by contact end rating

9) No action 9) Increment count by 1 then divide the current rating by count

Databases

Contact, Analytics

Entities Used

Table 2

An exemplary process implemented by the system 10 to exchange the value of customer contact data is shown in FIG. 4 and described in Table 3 below. The system 10 may do this either by debiting or crediting a financial account balance based on the rating from the system and method of FIG. 3 and Table 2. System 10 has sent a message 30 to at least one contact 14. The message

Pre-Conditions 30 has had its final interaction with the contact, the dollar value for each

Rx level has been agreed upon by participants in the campaign.

1) These bands 40 and percentiles are configurable and bands 40 could be spread to R to the n^th level.

Comments

2) A contact owner 16 could also be a contact renter 12 thus this system 10 calculates the exchange value offset and a final balance.

The contact 14, the contact's rating, the agreed upon dollar value for

Inputs

each Rx level as the Rx value

Outputs An updated Message count, an updated contact rating

Actor System

Flow of events

1) No Action 1) Get the updated rating for all contacts 14 within current campaign

2) No Action 2) Assign contacts 14 into a Rating band 40 using a "bell curve" percentile based on comparing all rating numbers:

a) Rl - 95% or higher percentile b) R2 - 75% to 94% percentile c) R3 - 25% to 74% percentile d) R4 - 5% to 24 % percentile e) R5 - 0 to 4% percentile

3) No Action 3) Calculate the total of number contacts 14 within each Rx level and store that number as an array of Total contacts per Rx

4) No Action 4) Calculate how many contacts

14 each Contact owner has within a given Rx level and store that number as an array of Econtacts per Rx 5) No Action 5) Get the contact owner 16 that has the greatest number of contacts 14 for each Rx level and stores that number of contacts 14 as an array of Gcontacts per Rx.

6) No Action 6) Calculate each Contact Renter's

12 expenses by calculating the ((Gcontacts per Rx) - (Econtacts per RX))*RxValue and store as an array of Expenses per Rx

a) Sum all expenses per Rx and

Update Debits for each contact renter 12

7) No Action 7) Calculate the Total Expenses per Rx by totaling the Expenses per Rx across all contact renters 12.

8) No Action 8) Calculate the percentage of contacts 14 each entity 18 owns (a contact renter 12 may also be a contact owner 14 within the same campaign 26) with respect to the aggregate of all contacts 14 of all contact owners 16 for each Rx level (Econtacts per Rx) / (Total Contacts per Rx) and store as an array of %contacts per Rx

9) No Action 9) Calculate the Revenue for each contact owner 16 by calculating (Total Expenses per Rx )*

(%contacts per Rx) and store as a array of Revenue per Rx a) Sum all Revenue per Rx and update Credits for each contact owner 16

10) No Action 10) Calculate entity 18's account balance by subtracting Debits from Credits

Databases

Contact, Rating Band, Entity, Contact Owner, Contact Renter

Entities Used Table 3

Exemplary interaction of the system 10 with the contact renter 12, contact owner 16 and contact 14 to create formatted content using a template 32 is described in Table 4 below. To do this, the system 10 assigns entities 18 the right to enter data into a module position within the template 32 based on the rating outputted from the system and method of Table 3.

4) If entity bids for a more 4) Use ask price/bid price method preferred module position with 24 hour bidding window and highest bid winner

5) No Action 5) Notify entity 18 of bid

outcomes

6) Make or receive payments 6) Facilitate payment between bid winner and position holder

7) No action 7) Finalize template module positions

8) Entity loads data file(s) to 8) For each template 32 and the system 10 for positioning in template module position, checks if their template module position each entity 18's template module position can support at least one data file loaded by the entity a) If yes, load data into template module position

b) If no, system notifies user of required specifications and sends back to step 8

9) No Action 9) Convert template 32 into final formatted contact 14 and display to all entities 18

10) No action 10) Use the Voting System to get final yes or no finalizing template 32

a) If no, provide input data field for all entities 18 who voted no to provide recommendation(s) on who and what must be done to finalize template 32 i) Go back to step 8 as needed

b) If yes, formatted contact is finalized

Databases Contact, Rating Band, Voting Ballot, Message Template, Message

Entities Used Content

Table 4 Exemplary interaction of the system 10 with the contact renter 12, contact owner 16 and contact 14 to use voting to make decisions between entities 18 collaborating with each other is a system and method described in Table 5 below. The system 10 may do this using the rating outputted from the system and method of Table 4 to weight the voting power of each of the entities 18.

4) No Action 4) Display to all entities 18 the weight of each entity's voting ballot 36

5) No Action 5) Send notification to each entity of the start and end time for the vote

a) The start time will be either 8am or 5pm est whatever the next available time slot is (configurable)

b) End time will be exactly 24 hours from the start time (configurable)

6) No Action 6) Display to all entities 18 the voting ballot 36 and input collection form for entities 18 to cast voting ballot 36

7) Entities 18 distribute the 7) Collect entity 18 voting ballot weight of their voting ballot 36 36 in secret and display real time across 1 or more choices on the results within the secure voting ballot ballot user panel

8) No Action 8) When vote is closed

a) Display final results in user panel and send notification to all participating entities 18 of final results

b) Return decision to calling

system

Databases

Contact, Entity, Voting Ballot, Analytics, Message Sending Campaign Entities Used

Table 5

Referring now to FIG. 5, a schematic diagram of a central server 500, or similar network entity, configured to implement the system 10, is provided. As used herein, the designation "central" merely serves to describe the common functionality the server provides for multiple clients or other computing devices and does not require or infer any centralized positioning of the server relative to other computing devices. As may be understood from FIG. 5, in this embodiment, the central server 500 may include a processor 510 that communicates with other elements within the central server 500 via a system interface or bus 545. Also included in the central server 500 may be a display device/input device 520 for receiving and displaying data. This display device/input device 520 may be, for example, a keyboard or pointing device that is used in combination with a monitor. The central server 500 may further include memory 505, which may include both read only memory (ROM) 535 and random access memory (RAM) 530. The server's ROM 535 may be used to store a basic input/output system 540 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information across the one or more networks.

In addition, the central server 500 may include at least one storage device 515, such as a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a CD Rom drive, or optical disk drive, for storing information on various computer-readable media, such as a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk, or a CD-ROM disk. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, each of these storage devices 515 may be connected to the system bus 545 by an appropriate interface. The storage devices 515 and their associated computer-readable media may provide nonvolatile storage for a central server. It is important to note that the computer-readable media described above could be replaced by any other type of computer-readable media known in the art. Such media include, for example, magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards and digital video disks. A number of program modules may be stored by the various storage devices and within RAM 530. Such program modules may include an operating system 550 and a plurality of one or more (N) modules 560. The modules 560 may control certain aspects of the operation of the central server 500, with the assistance of the processor 510 and the operating system 550. For example, the modules may perform the functions described above and illustrated by the figures and other materials disclosed herein, such as modules for obtaining a campaign agreement 562, creating a campaign message 564, message distribution 566, scoring contacts 568, valuing the contacts 570 and isolating contacts 572 from contact renters 12.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Claims

1. A method of providing a contact renter access to a plurality of contacts owned by a contact owner, the method comprising:

obtaining an agreement on a campaign from the contact owner and contact renter;

creating a message including parameters from the campaign;

sending the message to the plurality of contacts;

tracking a plurality of responses to the message by the plurality of contacts; scoring the plurality of contacts based on the plurality of responses;

providing a valuation of the plurality of contacts to the contact renter based on the scoring; and

maintaining isolation of the plurality of contacts from the contact renter.

2. A method of Claim 1, wherein tracking the plurality of responses includes determining whether the plurality of responses is at least one of a bounce, not read or read.

3. A method of Claim 2, wherein the read includes at least one of a non-action, response, forward, share, opt-out, click link, or perform goal.

4. A method of Claim 3, further comprising storing the plurality of responses in a database.

5. A method of Claim 4, further comprising updating an analytics profile of the plurality of contacts based on the plurality of responses.

6. A method of Claim 5, further comprising providing the analytics profile to at least one of the contact owner or the contact renter.

7. A method of Claim 6, further comprising receiving permission settings from the contact owner for the contact renter and modifying the permission settings.

8. A method of Claim 7, wherein the permission settings allow the contact renter to perform at least one of read the analytics profile, read response messages, reply to response messages, write messages or send messages.

9. A method of Claim 1, further comprising mapping the message to an identifier provided by the contact owner.

10. A method of Claim 9, further comprising creating a mailbox for receipt of the plurality of responses.

11. A method of Claim 10, further comprising receiving from the contact owner and implementing instructions setting permissions for the contact renter's ability to perform actions on the mailbox

12. A method of Claim 10, further comprising creating a sent items folder in the mailbox.

13. A method of Claim 12, further comprising receiving from the contact owner and implementing instructions setting permissions for the contact renter's ability to perform actions on the sent items folder.

14. A method of Claim 13, further comprising creating an analytics folder in the mailbox.

15. A method of Claim 14, further comprising receiving from the contact owner and implementing instructions setting permissions for the contact renter's ability to perform actions on the sent items folder.

16. A method of Claim 1, further comprising receiving the responses.

17. A method of Claim 16, further comprising notifying the contact renter of each of the responses.

18. A method of Claim 17, further comprising displaying the responses to the contact renter.

19. A method of Claim 18, further comprising providing real-time analytics of the responses to at least one of the contact owner or contact renter.

20. A method of Claim 19, further comprising setting permissions of the contact renter to allow reading the responses and replying to the responses.

21. A method of Claim 20 further comprising seeking approval of the contact owner for a reply to be sent by the contact renter.

22. A method of Claim 1, further comprising rating the plurality of contacts based on the tracking of the plurality of responses.

23. A method of Claim 22, further comprising incrementally adjusting the rating in a negative manner based on a bounce of the message by one of the plurality of contacts.

24. A method of Claim 23, further comprising incrementally adjusting the rating in a positive manner based on a read of the message by one of the plurality of contacts.

25. A method of Claim 24, further comprising incrementally adjusting the rating in a further positive manner based on a response to the message by one of the plurality of contacts.

26. A method of Claim 24, further comprising incrementally adjusting the rating in a further positive manner based on a click through of the message by one of the plurality of contacts.

27. A method of Claim 24, further comprising incrementally adjusting the rating in a further positive manner based on a performance of a message goal by one of the plurality of contacts.

28. A method of Claim 1, further comprising applying a distribution to a plurality of scores generated by scoring the plurality of contacts.

29. A method of Claim 28, further comprising receiving an agreement between the contact owner and contact renter on a value for each portion of a plurality of portions of the distribution.

30. A method of Claim 29, further comprising collecting contacts from a plurality of contact owners, scoring each contact owner's contacts and determining each owner's contribution to a total score for each portion of the distribution.

31. A method of Claim 30, further comprising apportioning revenue to each of the owners based on each owner's contribution to the total score.

32. A method of Claim 31, further comprising calculating an expense amount for each of the contact owners.

33. A method of Claim 32, wherein the expense amount is based on the value for each portion of the distribution and each owner's contribution to the total score for each portion of the distribution.

34. A method of Claim 33, further comprising totaling the revenue and debit amounts for each contact owner and debiting or crediting a total to an account for each contact owner.

35. A method of Claim 1, further comprising collecting votes from a plurality of contact owners on a template for the campaign.

36. A method of Claim 35, further comprising using the template to format the message and collecting confirmatory votes from a plurality of contact owners.

37. A method of Claim 35, further comprising collecting rankings of a plurality of templates from each of the contact owners.

38. A method of Claim 37, further comprising positioning each of the contact owners into template module positions based on the rankings of the templates of each of the contact owners.

39. A method of Claim 35, further comprising weighting each of the votes based on a contact owner voting weight.

40. A method of Claim 39, further comprising creating the contact owner voting weight using a number of contacts of each of the contact owners.

41. A method of Claim 40, wherein creating the contact owner voting weight includes using a total value of the contacts of all the contact owners.

42. A method of Claim 41 , further comprising applying a distribution to a plurality of scores generated by scoring the plurality of contacts wherein the distribution has a plurality of portions.

43. A method of Claim 42, wherein creating the contact owner voting weight includes multiplying the number of contacts owned by each of the contact owners within each of the portions by a value of each of the portions.

44. A method of Claim 43, further comprising summing the value of each of the portions for each of the contact owners to determine the contact owner voting weight.

45. A method of Claim 1, further comprising conducting a bidding process by a plurality of contact renters to determine a template for the campaign.

43. A method of Claim 1 , further comprising conducting a bidding process by a plurality of contact renters to determine the valuation of the plurality of contacts.

44. A method of Claim 1, further comprising renting contacts for the purpose of distributing content over a wire service

45. A method of Claim 44, further comprising a contact renter inviting a plurality of contact owners to allow their plurality of contacts to be part of a crowd sourced content distribution network

46. A method of Claim 45, further comprising the plurality of contact owners accepting or rejecting the invitation to be part of the crowd sourced content distribution network

47. A method of claim 46, further comprising the plurality of contact owners accepting the invitation to be part of the crowd sourced content distribution network and authorizing sending content to the plurality of contacts of the contact renter.

48. A method of claim 43, further comprising distributing payments to the plurality of contact owners for the responses received from their plurality of contacts from a single account owned by the contact renter and based on the contact owner's contacts' contribution to a total score for each portion of the distribution of contact response types.

49. A method of Claim 44, further comprising calculating a minimum budget that the contact renter will have to allocate for paying the plurality of contact owners for the responses to the content sent to their plurality of contacts based on historical valuation of the plurality of contacts.

50. A method of Claim 47, further comprising receiving, from the contact renter, a max budget to spend on paying the plurality of contact owners for the responses to the content sent to their plurality of contacts.

51. A method of Claim 50, further comprising at least one of ending distribution of content or notifying the contact renter once the plurality of contacts have provided enough responses to reach the assigned max budget.