FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to cooperative electronic marketing of custom products. 
   BACKGROUND 
   Web-based providers of customized products, taking advantage of the capabilities of the World Wide Web and modern Web browsers, operate Web sites that provide online design services for user&#39;s desiring to create customized materials from any computer with Web access at whatever time and place is convenient to the user. These service providers typically provide their customers with the ability to access the service provider&#39;s Web site, view product templates, and use software tools provided by the site to select a template, add text or other content, and perform various modifications to create a personalized custom product design. After the product has been designed by the user, Web-based service providers also typically allow the user to place an order for the production and delivery to the user&#39;s home or business of quantities of high quality, printed products of the type that the user is not capable of producing with the printer systems typically connected to most personal computer systems. 
   Web-based providers of customized products, like virtually all businesses, strive to attract new customers through various advertising and customer acquisition channels. Sending promotional emails to rented lists of email addresses from other companies is one common technique, but list renters rarely, if ever, obtain access to specific personal information about the individuals or companies associated with the email addresses. Promotional email communications are typically in the form of bulk, standardized emails describing one or more of the company&#39;s products or services and containing one or more links to the company&#39;s Web site. Response rates to bulk email campaigns are typically low and any parties coming to the site in response to the email must typically “start from scratch” in the product design process. 
   There is, therefore, a need for a novel collaborative system and method for acquiring new customers by using email solicitations that take advantage of available information about the email recipient to facilitate the design process by presenting a partially or completely finished product design created automatically by the product vendor. 
   SUMMARY 
   The present invention is directed at satisfying the need for systems and methods that provide a streamlined cooperative email marketing experience. 
   In accordance with one aspect of the invention, an email containing images of various customizable product designs offered by a first company is transmitted by a second company to the second company&#39;s customer base. The product designs displayed in the email each have an associated design identifier and each product design has an associated link allowing the email recipient to select the design and initial a design session to create a personalized product based on the selected design. Upon the recipient&#39;s selection of one of the designs in the email, the second company forwards the design identifier of the selected design to the first company along with relevant information about the associated email recipient. 
   In response to the received design identifier, the first company integrates the supplied customer information into the selected design image to create a personalized product image pre-filled with relevant customer information. An edit page from the first company&#39;s site is displayed in a browser window opened at the recipient&#39;s computer. The edit page displays the selected design image, with the received customer information pre-entered in the appropriate fields, and provides editing tools with which the customer may, if desired, delete or change the pre-entered information or add additional information. If some information for which fields are provided in the product design is not received from the second company, those fields are populated with generic placeholder text indicating where the customer&#39;s information will be placed. 


   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic representation of a system with which the invention can be employed. 
       FIG. 2  is simplified depiction of an embodiment of a promotional email message. 
       FIG. 3  is a representative embodiment of a product design edit page before customization. 
       FIG. 4  is a representation of the product design page of  FIG. 3  after customization with received customer information 
       FIG. 5  is a flow chart showing a representative method for cooperative electronic product promotion. 
   


   DESCRIPTION 
   Referring to  FIG. 1 , client  110  is a typically equipped personal computer, portable computer, or other system capable of communicating via network  120 , such as the Web, with remote server systems, such as vendor server  130  and co-marketing server  140 , and capable of executing system and application programs, such as web browser program  112  and email program  114 . The client  110  system includes user display  116  capable of displaying text, images, and graphics to a user of the system and one or more user data input devices  118 , such as a keyboard and a mouse. 
   Server  130  is the web site computing and support system of a vendor of customized products. In the following discussion, a custom printed product vendor site that allows users of the site to design and purchase personalized printed products using online software tools available at the site, such as the VistaPrint.com site operated by VistaPrint Limited, will be discussed, but it will be understood that the invention is not so limited. While server  130  and co-marketing server  140 , discussed below, are depicted in  FIG. 1  as single blocks, it will be understood that servers  130  and  140  may be comprised of multiple servers, data storage systems, and other equipment and devices configured to communicate and operate cooperatively to support the business and computing operations of the server operators. 
   Vendor server  130  retains a variety of templates, images, graphics, text, and other content for creating various electronic product designs, all collectively represented in  FIG. 1  as product designs  132 . Server  130  also has a plurality of software design tools  134  allowing the user of remote client computers, such as client  110 , to enter and position user text and perform other edit operations on a product template supplied by the product vendor to create a custom personalized product design. 
   Co-marketing server  140  represents a Web server system operated by another company that has entered into an agreement with the product vendor to cooperate in the marketing of vendor products and services to the customers identified in customer information  142 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , a database of customer information  142  that has been developed, acquired, or licensed by the co-marketer is stored on server  140 . Customer information  142  could, alternatively, be retained on another local or remote system that is accessible to server  140  when required. Customer information  142  contains customer email addresses and at least some additional customer contact information, such as name, address, telephone number, and the like. 
   The custom product vendor desires to promote its products and services to the customers in customer information  142  with the aim of attracting new customers. To this end, for the purposes of the discussion herein, the product vendor has entered into an agreement with the party controlling customer information  142  whereby the vendor and the operator of server  140  will mutually cooperate to prepare and transmit an email to the customers identified in customer information  142 . In addition, as will be discussed below, when an email recipient indicates a desire to prepare a custom image, the two parties will mutually cooperate to transfer appropriate customer information from server  140  to server  130 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 2 , a simplified representation of a promotional email  200  prepared in accordance with the invention is shown. Because, as discussed below, server  140  must perform actions to facilitate the response of server  130  to email recipients, both the operator of server  130  and the operator of server  140  will typically be involved in preparing a promotional email. In general, the product vendor will prepare and arrange the product design images and other creative content to be displayed to the email recipient. The operator of server  140  will package and transmit the vendor-supplied material and information with the appropriate additional information necessary to allow server  140  to identify each email recipient who responds to the email and retrieve information associated with each responding recipient from customer information  142 . Prior to transmission of promotional emails to the customers identified in customer information  142 , the product vendor and the operator of server  140  will mutually agree on a data exchange format to be used for communications between the parties. 
   In the example shown in  FIG. 2 , email  200  contains six product design images  201 - 206 . The exact number of design images is not significant and a greater or lesser number of images could be used in the email, if desired. An email showing only a single design image could be employed, but a greater number of design images showing a variety of designs increases the likelihood that the email recipient will be presented with a design that the recipient finds appealing or attractive. The images can be sized and positioned within the email as desired by the product vendor. 
   For simplicity, images  201 - 206  are shown in  FIG. 2  as empty rectangles, but it will be understood that images  201 - 206  in an actual promotion email would be product design images developed by the vendor to contain a range and variety of design elements, such as images, graphics, color schemes and fonts, to give the email recipient an indication of the variety of designs that are possible. Typically, all images  201 - 206  in an email will be for a single type of product, such as a business card, postcard, invitation, announcement, or other type of product available from the vendor. A typical email  200  would also include additional content, not shown, such as additional images, graphics, links, and informational and promotional text. 
   To allow interested recipients to initiate the design process for a custom product, the email will typically be created such that each design image is an active link that can be selected by the email recipient to activate and initiate the personalization process of that design with server  130 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 2 , the email is implemented such that each image  201 - 206  has an associated button  207 - 212  bearing a legend such as “Use This Design” or the like, each button  207 - 212  also being implemented as an active link to initiate the personalization process using the associated product image. 
   Each design image used in the promotional email is assigned a unique design identifier that is incorporated into the email and, as discussed below, is used by server  130  to identify the particular design selected by a recipient and to prepare a customized image. If, after opening and reviewing the email, a recipient selects one of the images  201 - 206  or buttons  207 - 212 , information identifying the specific selected image and information identifying the email recipient is returned to server  140 . Upon receiving the information from client  110 , server  140  will retrieve the appropriate information for that recipient from customer information  142  and forward it to server  130  in a mutually agreed format along with the design identifier. 
   Referring to  FIG. 3 , an embodiment of a representative edit display  300  for allowing a customer to personalize business card design  302  is depicted. No specific customer contact information is shown in  FIG. 3 . Business card design  302  includes eleven pre-defined data fields  304 , including fields for entering company name, message, full name, and so forth. The various positions of where text entered for these fields will appear in the body of the card are indicated in image  302 . 
   The intent of the product provider is that email recipients will not see a completely uncustomized edit display, such as shown in  FIG. 3 , but rather will see a partially, or fully, customized edit screen such as shown in  FIG. 4 . Ideally, the vendor would like to receive the complete set of customer information needed to fully populate the product design, but in some cases the information will not all be present in customer information  142 . For the purpose of illustration,  FIG. 4  shows an example situation where only the information for Company Name, Full Name, Address Lines 1-3, and Phone/Other was retrieved from customer information  142  and forwarded to server  130 . Server  130  automatically incorporated this information into the design selected by the customer in the email and displayed the partially completed business card design as design image  402 . The customer information is also automatically entered and displayed in the corresponding fields  404 . In the example shown, information for some predefined data fields, such as Message and Job Title, was not successfully received from customer information  142 , therefore the corresponding fields  404  remain empty with corresponding generic placeholder text for those fields displayed in image  402  to prompt the customer to make entries for those fields. When the design is completed to the customer&#39;s satisfaction, the customer can continue through the product vendor&#39;s usual order placement process. 
   Referring to  FIG. 5 , a representative embodiment of a method for soliciting customers in accordance with the invention will be discussed. As mentioned above, because promotions as described herein require coordination between the product vendor and the owner or custodian of the customer information, the parties will typically have reached agreement on technical and contractual and technical issues, such as a mutually agreed format and procedure for exchanging information, prior to the initiation of email promotions. At step  502 , the product vendor creates and forwards the design images and image identifiers and other creative components of the email promotion to the customer information owner or custodian. If the parties plan a joint promotional campaign, both parties may collaborate on or contribute to the appearance and content of the email. 
   At step  504 , the operator of server  140  completes the email with the information required by server  140 , such as information needed to identify the specific recipient, and transmits it to the email addresses associated with the customers in customer information  142 . It is likely that some email addresses with be out-of-date or inoperative and that not all emails that are delivered will actually be opened, but at least some of the transmitted emails will be received and opened at step  506 . Of the emails that are opened by recipients, not all recipients will be interested, therefore some emails will be closed or deleted without further recipient action, but at least some portion of the recipients will select one of the links in the email at step  508 , causing the product design process to be initiated. 
   At step  510 , the recipient information from customer information  142  and the design identifier are provided to server  130 . This information transfer could be accomplished in various ways. For example, the relevant customer information could have been incorporated into the email to the recipient from server  140  along with a link causing browser  112  to pass the customer information and the design image identifier directly to server  130  when the recipient selects one of the design images. Alternatively, the email could be designed to respond to the selection of one of the design images by making a request back to server  140 . Server  140  would respond to the request by sending the associated customer information for the recipient to client  110  along with a request for client  110  to redirect to server  130  and provide the customer information and the design image identifier. At step  512 , server  130  incorporates the received customer information into the appropriate fields and positions in the selected product design template, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . At step  514 , server  130  displays edit page  400  with the personalized product design  402  in a browser window at client  110 . 
   If all necessary information to complete a design was received from server  140  and is satisfactory to the customer, the customer may choose to immediately begin the vendor&#39;s usual purchase process. If some fields are incomplete because the information was not available from server  140  or if one or more fields are incorrect or otherwise required updating or correction, the customer can enter missing information or edit the current information using data fields  404  or any other editing tools that the vendor may choose to make available to the customer. 
   While an exemplary embodiment of the invention has been discussed, the described embodiment is to be considered as illustrative rather than restrictive. The scope of the invention is as indicated in the following claims and all equivalent methods and systems.
Computer-implemented systems and methods for presenting personalized custom product designs to the customers of a second company. Email content promoting customizable products and containing images of product designs is prepared by the product vendor and supplied to a second company. The second company creates and sends an email containing the content to customers of the second company. If a recipient of the email selects one of the product images presented in the email, an identifier of the selected image and information about the email recipient are forwarded to the product vendor. The received recipient information is incorporated into the selected design to create a customized product design, which is displayed to the recipient for review.