JP7767811B2 - Message management device and message management method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a message management device and a message management method.

An electronic notification service is provided to provide information online.
Among electronic notification services, message services addressed to mobile phone numbers are widespread. Examples of message services addressed to mobile phone numbers include Rich Communication Services (RCS). Addressing a mobile phone number allows a message to be sent even if the recipient's email address is unknown.
Such electronic notification services allow messages to be exchanged interactively between senders and recipients. For example, companies use electronic notification services to send messages to users containing questions about reservations and various inquiries, and then ask users to enter their answers, thereby providing various services to users.
Patent Document 1 discloses a system that allows a sender to specify a transmission date and time when sending an e-mail.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-141039

However, even if a user receives a question message from a company, checks the content, and has some intention to answer, there are cases where the user is unable to answer immediately at that time. For example, if there are a certain number of items to answer, the user may not have time to enter each answer. Also, if the user is required to confirm several items before answering, the user may not be able to answer immediately. If the user decides to enter an answer later and does not enter an answer at that time, the user may forget to enter the answer as time passes, or if the user receives another message, the answer input field may be outside the display area of the screen as the timeline passes, resulting in the user having to go through the trouble of searching for the answer input field.
In addition, in Patent Document 1, the sender can specify the date and time to send an e-mail to the recipient, but since the e-mail is sent at the time specified by the sender, the convenience of the recipient is not taken into consideration.

The present invention was made in light of these circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a message management device and message management method that can re-notify messages while taking into consideration the user's convenience.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, one aspect of the present invention is a message management device that includes a first message control unit that sends a first message regarding a question from a company to a user's communication terminal and a date and time specification request message that asks the user to specify a date and time for re-notifying the question; a re-notification receiving unit that accepts a date and time specification input as a response to the date and time specification request message; and a second message control unit that sends a second message to the communication terminal that includes content for re-notifying the first message based on the specified date and time.

Another aspect of the present invention is a computer-implemented message management method that includes: sending a first message regarding a question from a company to a user's communication terminal; and a date and time specification request message requesting the user to specify a date and time for re-notifying the question; accepting a date and time specification input in response to the date and time specification request message; and sending a second message to the communication terminal containing content for re-notifying the first message based on the specified date and time.

As explained above, this invention allows messages to be sent again taking into consideration the user's convenience.

1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a message transmission system S according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the function of a message management device 1. FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the communication terminal 3. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the communication terminal 3 when a second message is transmitted containing content according to the attributes of the user. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the communication terminal 3 when a second message is transmitted containing content according to the attributes of the user. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the communication terminal 3 when a second message is transmitted containing content according to the attributes of the user. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the message management device 1. 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating a case where an additional message is generated using nudge information.

A message transmission system using a message management device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a message transmission system S according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The message transmission system S includes a message management device 1, a company server 2, a plurality of communication terminals 3 (communication terminal 3A, communication terminal 3B, communication terminal 3C), and a network N.

The message management device 1 sends a message to the communication terminal 3. When sending a message to the communication terminal 3, the message management device 1 may send the message via a telecommunications carrier's server. The telecommunications carrier's server is a server device managed by the telecommunications carrier. The telecommunications carrier is, for example, an MNO (Mobile Network Operator) that provides communication services to the communication terminal 3 using telephone numbers and communication lines that it owns or operates.

The message management device 1 accepts message sending requests from companies on the company server 2 and transmits the messages to the communication terminal 3. The message management device 1 is an information processing device managed by a service provider. The provider managing the message management device 1 may be the same as the company on the company server 2, or a different company. The message management device 1 controls the transmission of messages requested for delivery by the company server 2. The provider operating the message management device 1 may also provide companies with a delivery acceptance system (e.g., a GUI (Graphical User Interface) portion for accepting input) for accepting message delivery from the message management device 1, and the company may send messages from the message management device 1 by registering the message to be sent in the delivery acceptance system. The message management device 1 communicates wirelessly or via wired communication between the company server 2 and the communication terminal 3.

In this embodiment, notification is performed using a messaging service.
Messaging services are mechanisms for sending and receiving messages using functions such as RCS (Rich Communication Services), SMS (Short Message Service), and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). RCS is a standard for implementing instant messengers for mobile phones at the terminal level, and uses a telephone number as the user account used for communication. SMS, like RCS, uses a telephone number as the user account used for communication. MMS uses an email address as the user account used for communication.
The message service is a two-way communication. Notification is made, for example, using the chat function of the messaging service. In this case, when a question such as a questionnaire is notified to the communication terminal 3, a message corresponding to the question is displayed in the company's chat room, and selectable buttons for answering the question can also be displayed.
By displaying a message and options corresponding to the content of the question indicated in the message, the user can easily answer the question by simply touching the option button.
In messaging services, messages are exchanged in a chat format (interactive), and messages sent from both sides are displayed in a predetermined chronological order (timeline direction). The timeline may be arranged so that the most recent messages are displayed at the top of the display screen and the older messages are displayed at the bottom, or so that the most recent messages are displayed at the bottom of the display screen and the older messages are displayed at the top. For example, when a survey is conducted using a messaging service, question messages and messages related to the responses are displayed one after another along the timeline.

The corporate server 2 is a server device managed by a requester who requests the message management device 1 to deliver a message to a destination user. The requester is, for example, a company or organization (e.g., a bank, insurance company, local government, etc.) that provides information to the destination user. The corporate server 2 communicates with the message management device 1 wirelessly or via wired communication. In this embodiment, we will explain the case where the sender of the message is a company, but it may also be a public organization such as a local government. In this case, instead of a corporate server, it may be a transmission request server that requests the message to be sent.

The communication terminals 3 (communication terminal 3A, communication terminal 3B, communication terminal 3C) are, for example, any of terminal devices such as a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or a personal computer.
The communication terminal 3 is assigned a telephone number and has the function of communicating with this telephone number as the destination.
The communication terminal 3 has a display unit such as a liquid crystal display for displaying information and an operation unit such as a touch panel for accepting user operations. For example, the user can receive a message transmitted from the company server 2 using the communication terminal 3 and send a reply to the received message to the company server 2 by inputting the reply into the communication terminal 3.

Network N is a communications network that includes, for example, some or all of the following: the Internet, a WAN (Wide Area Network), a LAN (Local Area Network), a provider device, a wireless base station, a dedicated line, etc.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the function of the message management device 1.
The message management device 1 includes a communication unit 11, a storage unit 12, a first message control unit 13, a re-notification receiving unit 14, a second message control unit 15, a message generation unit 16, and a control unit 17. The message management device 1 may be a computer.
The communication unit 11, the first message control unit 13, the re-notification receiving unit 14, the second message control unit 15, the message generation unit 16, and the control unit 17 may be composed of a processing unit such as a CPU (central processing unit) or a dedicated electronic circuit.

The communication unit 11 communicates with the company server 2 and communication terminal 3 via the network.

The storage unit 12 stores various types of data.
The storage unit 12 is configured by a storage medium, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a flash memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a random access read/write memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), or any combination of these storage media.
For example, a nonvolatile memory can be used for the storage unit 12. The storage unit 12 may be realized by a single storage device or by the cloud (cloud computing).

The first message control unit 13 transmits to the user's communication terminal 3 a first message regarding the question from the company to the user, and a date and time designation request message for requesting the user to designate a date and time for notifying the question again.
Here, after the first message is sent as the first report, a date and time specification for re-notifying a message regarding the first message is accepted from the user's communication terminal 3, and the re-notification is made at a timing according to the date and time specified by the communication terminal 3.
The content of the second message may be any content related to the first message, for example, it may be any content related to the first message, as long as the second message contains the same subject matter as the first message. More specifically, the second message may contain the same sentence as the first message, or may contain the same subject matter as the first message but with a different sentence expression.
Here, the matter is a request from the company on the company server 2 for an action that the user is to take, and may be, for example, a reservation procedure, a procedure to update user information to the latest information, etc. A reservation procedure is a procedure to make a reservation to purchase a product or receive a service, such as a reservation procedure for a vehicle inspection procedure or a procedure to reserve the date and time for a specific health checkup conducted by a local government. A procedure to update user information to the latest information is a change procedure to have the new address registered on the company server 2 when the user moves.

In addition, the first message control unit 13 transmits the first message, an option indicating that the user will reply to the first message, and an option indicating that the user will reply later to the communication terminal 3, and when it receives a response indicating that the user has selected the option indicating that the user will reply later from among these options, it transmits a date and time specification request message.
When the user checks the first message, the user can decide whether to enter the answer immediately (when the question message is read) or later, and then consider specifying a date and time. This allows the user to decide how to respond to the first message step by step, even if the company asks a question at an unexpected time.
In addition, the first message control unit 13 performs various processes based on the first message.

The re-notification receiving unit 14 receives the date and time specification entered as a response to the date and time specification request message from the communication terminal 3.

The second message control unit 15 sends a second message to the communication terminal 3 based on the specified date and time, the second message control unit 15 including content that notifies the first message again. When notifying the first message again, the second message control unit 15 determines that the first message and the second message only need to include common content in terms of subject matter. For example, the text representing the message may be the same, or the second message may be generated by processing the text representing the first message. For example, the second message control unit 15 sends a second message including a message generated by the message generation unit 16.

The second message control unit 15 transmits the second message chronologically after the date and time specification request message and causes the communication terminal to display the second message.
In addition, the second message control unit 15 performs various processes based on the second message.

The message generator 16 generates various messages such as a first message and a second message.
The message generator 16 can generate various messages, but can also generate messages whose content corresponds to the user's attributes and that encourage action in response to the message included in the first message. The user's attributes, for example, represent the type of user who is likely to take action. The action referred to here refers to taking action in response to the message expressed by the first message from the company. There are various types of users who are likely to take action, such as a type who is likely to take action when given an incentive, a type who is likely to take action after understanding the risks of not taking action, and a type who is likely to take action when a response deadline is approaching. By sending a message that takes such user attributes into consideration, it is possible to appeal to the user to take action in response to the notification content (message), and to encourage the user to take action in response to the notification content.

For those types who are more likely to take action once they understand the risks, it is thought that the points at which people perceive risks differ, so the message to be added may be changed to match those points.
Here, the user attributes based on the user's behavioral history (history of receiving services, purchasing products, visiting stores, etc.) stored in a database by the company that sent the message, third-party user attribute information data, the results of a questionnaire given to the user in advance, and the history of actions taken in response to the sent message (behavioral history) are stored for each user in storage unit 12 (or a customer database), and attributes are assigned to each user based on this stored data and stored for each user in storage unit 12. Message generation unit 16 references the attributes for each user stored in storage unit 12 and generates a second message based on the attributes so that the second message contains content appropriate to the user's attributes.

The control unit 17 controls each part of the message management device 1.

Next, a display screen on which messages are displayed on the communication terminal 3 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the communication terminal 3. As shown in FIG.
Here, a case is shown in which a message group 31 relating to the first report and a message group 32 relating to the second report (re-notified messages) are displayed along a timeline.
In message group 31, a message "Dear Mr./Ms. XX, your vehicle inspection is approaching. We recommend that you bring it in early," which is the content of the question requested to be sent by company server 2, is displayed, and two options that answer the question are displayed. Here, the options are "Make a reservation now" to take action according to the content of the question, and "I'm busy right now, so please notify me again" to respond later because you cannot take action according to the content of the question (reason) immediately, and these two options are displayed as buttons that can be operated by touch input.

Here, when the user touches the button (reference numeral 35) for responding later, a message prompting the user to specify the date and time for re-notification, "I understand. Please specify the time for us to notify you again," is sent from the message management device 1 to the communication terminal 3 along with a date and time specification request message (here, buttons as options) for specifying the date and time, which are then displayed on the display screen of the communication terminal 3. Here, four options for specifying the date and time are displayed: "Tomorrow," "The day after tomorrow," "Five days later," and "Ten days later." These options are for specifying the date and time for re-notification, but it is also possible to specify not only the date but also the date and time, or the date and time. If the option specifies only the date, the time at which the message is sent may be a predetermined time.

When the user touches the "10 days later" button (reference numeral 36), the message management device 1 stores in the memory unit 12 the date corresponding to the date selected from the options, based on the date the questions in the first message were sent, as the date for sending the message again. When the stored date arrives, the message management device 1 sends a message corresponding to the second notification to the communication terminal 3. For example, if the first message was sent on September 1, 2021, and "10 days later" is specified as the date for re-notification, the second message will be sent on September 11, 2021.

The second message will be related to the content of the first message, such as "Dear Mr./Ms. XX, how is the inventory reservation we contacted you about the other day going?" The second message will also display two options for responding to the second message: "Reserve now" or "I'm busy right now, please notify me again."

Even if the user is not ready to respond to the first message or is in a situation where it is difficult to decide on a specific plan of action when the user receives and reads the first message, the user can confirm the purpose of the first message, consider their own convenience, and then decide and specify a date and time for the user to receive the message again. Therefore, the user can receive a new message at a date and time that is convenient for them and enter a reply at that time.
Furthermore, if it takes time to consider answering the question in the first message or if there are certain things you want to confirm, even if you are unable to answer at the time you receive the first message, you will have time to prepare your answer, and you can have the message sent again, which will prevent you from forgetting to answer.

When the user takes action in response to a question, the user touches the "Book Now" button (symbol 37). This causes the message management device 1 to send a message for entering the reservation details, allowing the user to enter an answer to the question. Alternatively, when the "Book Now" button (symbol 37) is touched, the message management device 1 may redirect the user to a website for entering the reservation details, allowing the user to enter an answer to the question from that website. Furthermore, if the user is unable to respond at the time of this re-notification, the user may press the "I'm busy right now, please notify me again" button. In this case, the message management device 1 sends the communication terminal 3 an option for specifying the date and time for re-notification of the message. In this case, even if the user has set a date and time for re-notification but is now unable to make that date and time, the user can specify a date and time for re-notification.

Here, the second message may not only be sent according to the date and time specified by the user, but may also be re-notified by including content in the second message according to the attributes of the user to whom it is to be sent.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the display screen of the communication terminal 3 when the second message is transmitted with content according to the user's attributes included therein.
Here, message group 41 is the same as message group 31 in FIG.
When the button (reference numeral 46A) indicating "the day after tomorrow" is touched as the date and time for the re-notification, the message management device 1 transmits the second message when the specified date and time arrives. Here, if the user's attributes indicate that they are likely to take action when an incentive is offered, the message generation unit 16 adds a message (reference numeral 47A) indicating that an incentive will be awarded if the user takes action on the matter (here, a reservation), such as "If you make a reservation now, we will give you a gift of XX," following the message "Dear XX, how do you feel about the reservation we contacted you about the other day?" These two sentences may be transmitted as two separate messages, or they may be transmitted as a single message containing the two sentences. By referencing this message, it is possible to encourage the user to respond immediately to the re-notification without postponing their response.
This allows the user to be prompted to press the "Book Now" button (reference numeral 48A) sent after the second message in the message group 42A and to carry out the reservation procedure.

FIG. 4B is a diagram showing an example of the display screen of the communication terminal 3 when the second message is transmitted with content according to the user's attributes included therein.
Here, message group 41 is the same as message group 31 in FIG.
If the button (46B) indicating "10 days later" is touched as the date and time for the re-notification, the message management device 1 sends the second message when the specified date and time arrives. Here, if the user's attributes indicate that they are likely to take action after understanding the risks of not taking action, the message generation unit 16 adds a message (47B) explaining the risks that may arise if the user does not take action (here, make a reservation) in response to the question, such as "Dear Mr./Ms. XX, how do you feel about the parking reservation we contacted you about the other day?", following the message. If the user's attributes indicate that they are likely to take action after understanding the risks of not taking action, the message generation unit 16 adds a message (47B) explaining the risks that may arise if the user does not take action (here, make a reservation), such as "If you drive with an expired vehicle inspection, you will be subject to punishment." By referring to this message, the user can understand the risks of postponing action, tailored to the user's attributes, and thus be more likely to take action (make a reservation).
This allows the user to be prompted to press the "Book Now" button (reference numeral 48B) sent after the second message in the message group 42B and to carry out the reservation procedure.

In Figure 4B, the case where the matter is to undergo a vehicle inspection (Motor Vehicle Inspection and Registration System) and an additional message about the risks of not undergoing the inspection is explained, but even in the case of a specific health checkup conducted by a local government, for example, an additional message about the risks may be included. In this case, following the message "How do you feel about the specific health checkup we contacted you about the other day?" an additional message such as "If you do not undergo the specific health checkup, and in the unlikely event that you have a lifestyle-related disease, your disease may progress" may be included. This allows the user to understand the possibility of the disease progressing as a risk, and can encourage users who are highly aware of risks to take action regarding the matter of undergoing the specific health checkup.

In Figures 4A and 4B, we have described cases where content according to the user's attributes is added to the second message, but the content to be added may also be changed depending on the length of the re-notification period. For example, if the re-notification period is within three days, content that provides an incentive may be added, as shown in Figure 4A, to encourage the user to take action sooner. Furthermore, if the re-notification period is four days or more away, there is a high possibility that the user will not take action, so content explaining the risks of not taking action may be added, as shown in Figure 4B.

In addition, in Figures 3, 4A, and 4B, options for responding to the first message, such as "Book now" or "I'm busy right now, please notify me again," are transmitted to the communication terminal 3, with options indicating that the user will respond to the first message and options indicating that the user will respond later. This allows the user to select whether to act on the first message now or later, and then a date and time request message is sent in the second message. Therefore, even if the user receives a question from the company at an unintended time, the user can determine whether they can respond at the time the question is received and then specify a date and time for responding later, allowing the user to decide how to respond to the first message step by step.

FIG. 4C is a diagram showing an example of the display screen of the communication terminal 3 when the date and time of re-notification is included in the answer options for the first message and transmitted.
Here, the illustration shows a case in which a first message regarding a question from a company to a user, an option "Book now" as a response to the first message, and options (reference numeral 45C) for specifying a date and time for re-notification, such as "Notify again tomorrow" or "Notify again the day after tomorrow," are transmitted to and displayed on the communication terminal 3. In this case, the user can select from options that parallel the actions requested in the first message, such as immediately taking the action requested in the first message, and the date and time for re-notification, and therefore there is no need to send a question such as "Please specify the date and time for re-notification," and this prevents the number of messages that the user must confirm from increasing.
Here, the option for specifying a date and time is exemplified as specifying a date within a few days to a few weeks from the date the message was sent, but an option for specifying a date after a long period of time, such as one year from now, may also be used. If the option is one year from now, for example, the user may not be able to sign a contract with the company that sent the message because, at the time of receiving the first message, the user has already completed procedures to receive services from another company (such as an insurance contract), but may be notified of advantageous information at the next renewal time (such as one year from now). On the other hand, for the company, even if the user is unable to sign a contract immediately and is unable to determine the time when the user might sign a contract (contract renewal time), the company can allow the user to set the date and time for re-notification based on the renewal time, thereby enabling the company to send a message in time for the next renewal time.

Next, FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the message management device 1.
In response to the message transmission request from the enterprise server 2, the first message control unit 13 of the message management device 1 transmits the first message and answer options (step S101). As a result, the display screen of the communication terminal 3 displays, for example, the first message (reference numeral 43A) and its answer options (reference numeral 44A) as shown in FIG. 4A.
When a user of the communication terminal 3 touches any one of the multiple options, the communication terminal 3 transmits the touch-input option as an answer to the message management device 1. The message management device 1 accepts the option transmitted from the communication terminal 3 as an answer (step S102).

The first message control unit 13 of the message management device 1 determines whether the response received from the communication terminal 3 specifies the date and time for re-notification (step S103). If the date and time does not correspond to the date and time for re-notification, i.e., if the "Reserve now" option is selected (step S103-NO), the control unit 17 executes the reservation process (step S108). This allows the user to complete the reservation procedure and take action regarding the matter in the first message.

On the other hand, if the response specifies a date and time for re-notification (step S103—NO), the re-notification receiving unit 14 acquires an option indicating the specified date and time as the response, and then receives the date and time based on the option as the re-transmission date and time and stores it in the storage unit 12 (step S104). When the re-transmission date and time is written, the second message control unit 15 determines whether the re-transmission date and time has been reached (step S105), and if the re-transmission date and time has not been reached (step S105—NO), after a certain waiting time, performs the determination process of step S105 again.
On the other hand, if the retransmission date and time has arrived (step S105—YES), the second message control unit 15 outputs an instruction to the message generation unit 16 to generate a message. The message generation unit 16 generates a second message based on this generation instruction (step S106). Here, the message generation unit 16 generates a message for the first message that includes content according to the attributes of the destination user. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A (reference numeral 47A), the second message is generated by adding to the first message content indicating that an incentive will be granted if the user takes action regarding the request from the company.
When the second message is generated, the second message control unit 15 transmits the second message and the answer options to the communication terminal 3 (step S107).
The above-mentioned series of steps from step S101 to step S107 may be automated by creating a scenario like a chatbot, or the specified date and time data may be batch processed and manually re-distributed.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the case where content according to the attributes of the user is included as an additional message in the second message has been described, but nudge information may also be used.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a case where an additional message is generated using nudge information.
The message management device 1 is connected to a customer database related to users to whom messages are sent, and references this customer database (reference numeral 60). The customer database stores the user's behavior history and customer attributes in response to the sending of a message. The user's behavior history is the user's behavior in response to the matter indicated by the message. For example, if the matter is a specific health checkup, the history is the user's history of having undergone the specific health checkup in the past. The customer attributes are the customer's address, occupation, age, family composition, etc.

The message management device 1 is also connected to a risk sensitivity DB (reference numeral 61) and references this risk sensitivity DB. The risk sensitivity DB is the user attributes described above. Here, the degree of sense of danger regarding risk differs depending on the type of user. In other words, the way of feeling differs depending on the degree of risk. Therefore, the user is surveyed by questionnaire or the like to find out the points at which the user feels a sense of danger based on the user's attributes and characteristics, and the results are stored in the risk sensitivity DB for each user.
The message management device 1 classifies the types of people who feel a sense of crisis according to the risks into clusters based on the data stored in the customer DB and the data stored in the risk sensitivity DB, and generates risk sensitivity clusters (reference numeral 62). Here, the clusters are divided into four clusters, for example, cluster A, cluster B, cluster C, and cluster D.

The message management device 1 assigns a scenario for sending a message based on the generated risk sensitivity cluster (reference numeral 63) and the nudge DB (reference numeral 64).
The nudge database stores nudge information about points at which people are likely to take action depending on their sense of crisis. Nudges are gaining attention in fields such as behavioral economics, and are a way to encourage people to change their behavior. The points at which behavioral change occurs vary from user to user.

The message management device 1 assigns scenarios based on the risk sensitivity cluster and the nudge DB. This makes it possible to derive a message with notification content appropriate to the combination of the type of sense of crisis felt in the cluster classified in the risk sensitivity cluster and the point at which behavioral change occurs, and the content of the notification can be changed again depending on the user's individual attributes. This makes it possible to appropriately appeal to the user about risk. For example, it is possible to generate a second message containing content appropriate to the point at which the sense of crisis is felt, or to generate a second message containing content to grant an incentive for a user who perceives not being able to obtain a prepared incentive as a risk, and so on.

In the embodiment described above, after the first message is sent, a message is sent again after a period of time based on the user's request. This allows the message to be conveyed again at a time when the user is most likely to take action, making it easier for the user to take action on the message, and also enabling the company to complete the message by having the user take action.

Furthermore, according to the above-described embodiment, the time when a message sent from a sender (such as a company or a local government) is to be notified again can be specified according to the convenience of the recipient (user), so even if the recipient receives a message from the sender at a time when it is inconvenient for the recipient, the recipient can be notified of the message again at a time that is convenient for the recipient. As a result, the message is initially delivered from the sender to the recipient, and the recipient can check the contents of the message, but for users who think that they need to take action on the matter indicated by the message now (or can take action later), the message can be notified again at a time when it is convenient for them to take action, so that they do not miss an opportunity to take action.
For example, if the recipient fails to act on a message, simply notifying the recipient of the message again at a timing determined by the sender may not be enough time for the recipient to check the message, or may check the message but not be ready to take action. In such cases, sending the message again is not very effective. In contrast, in the above-described embodiment, the recipient can specify the timing for re-notification, so the message can be re-notified according to the recipient's convenience, intention, etc.

Furthermore, when a message is resent, the user can select the date and time for receiving the next message, which gives the user the intention to deal with the matter in the message later, even if they cannot deal with the matter now. This allows the user to recognize that the matter stated in the message is based on a decision made by the user when they receive the resent message, making it easier for them to take action on the matter.
It is also possible to prevent the recipient from forgetting to take action on a message that has already been received, even though he or she intends to respond to the message later.
Furthermore, even if you receive another message after checking the first message and the first message gets buried under other messages, you can be notified of the message again at the time you specify, and the message will be displayed in the most recent position on the timeline, making it easy to check messages that require action.

In the above-described embodiment, the second message is sent to the communication terminal 3, but the second message may be conveyed to the user by a method other than a messaging service. For example, the second message may be conveyed to the user by mail, by telephone, or by other method. The method of sending the second message may be designated by the user or by the sender of the message, among various methods such as a messaging service, mail, or telephone.
In the case of mailing, a message corresponding to the content of the re-notification may be printed on a print medium and sent to the user, and the user may be asked to enter a response via a messaging service.

In the case of a telephone call, an operator from the company that sent the message may call the user, or the call may be made via an IVR (Interactive Voice Response). When an IVR is used, a list of the phone numbers of users to whom messages are to be sent is stored in advance in a customer database. When the time comes to send the second message, the message management device 1 reads this list and has the IVR call the phone number of the user to whom the second message is to be sent again. The IVR plays a voice message corresponding to the second message to the specified phone number (for example, "Would you like to make an appointment for a health check from Municipality A? If you do, press 1. If you would like to be notified again later, press 2"). The user may then be asked to enter an input using the dial buttons. If the user fails to answer the phone, the call may be called again after a certain period of time has elapsed, or the second message may be sent using a messaging service.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, options for specifying the date and time for re-notifying the message are transmitted to the communication terminal 3, but a calendar from which the date and time can be selected may also be transmitted to the communication terminal 3. This allows the user to specify their own date and time of their choice from the displayed calendar. Furthermore, the user may be asked to directly input a string of characters indicating the date and time for re-notifying the message (for example, "20211001AM" to specify the morning of October 1, 2021).

The message management device 1 in the above-described embodiment may be implemented by a computer. In this case, a program for implementing this function may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program may be loaded into a computer system and executed. Note that the term "computer system" herein includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices. Furthermore, "computer-readable recording medium" refers to portable media such as flexible disks, optical magnetic disks, ROMs, and CD-ROMs, as well as storage devices such as hard disks built into a computer system. Furthermore, "computer-readable recording medium" may also include media that dynamically store programs for a short period of time, such as communication lines used when transmitting programs over networks such as the Internet or telephone lines, or media that store programs for a fixed period of time, such as volatile memory within the computer system that serves as the server or client. The program may also be a program that implements some of the above-described functions, or it may be a program that can implement the above-described functions in combination with a program already stored in the computer system, or it may be implemented using a programmable logic device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

The above describes in detail an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings, but the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment and includes designs that do not deviate from the gist of the present invention.

1...Message management device, 2...Corporate server, 3, 3A, 3B, 3C...Communication terminal, 11...Communication unit, 12...Storage unit, 13...First message control unit, 14...Re-notification reception unit, 15...Second message control unit, 16...Message generation unit, 17...Control unit

Claims (6)

a first message control unit that transmits a first message regarding the question from the company to the user and a date and time designation request message that requests the user to designate a date and time for notifying the user of the question again to the user's communication terminal;
a re-notification receiving unit that receives a date and time specification input as a response to the date and time specification request message;
a second message control unit that transmits a second message including content that notifies the communication terminal of the first message again based on the specified date and time ,
the first message, the date and time specification request message, and the second message are displayed in an interactive format in chronological order;
The second message control unit transmits the second message chronologically after the date and time specification request message and causes the second message to be displayed on the communication terminal.
Message management device. a first message control unit that transmits a first message regarding the question from the company to the user and a date and time designation request message that requests the user to designate a date and time for notifying the user of the question again to the user's communication terminal;
a re-notification receiving unit that receives a date and time specification input as a response to the date and time specification request message;
a second message control unit that transmits a second message including content that notifies the communication terminal of the first message again based on the specified date and time ,
The first message control unit transmits the first message, an option indicating that a reply will be made to the first message, and an option indicating that a reply will be made later to the communication terminal, and transmits the date and time specification request message when a response indicating that the option indicating that a reply will be made later has been selected by the user is received.
Message management device. a first message control unit that transmits a first message regarding the question from the company to the user and a date and time designation request message that requests the user to designate a date and time for notifying the user of the question again to the user's communication terminal;
a re-notification receiving unit that receives a date and time specification input as a response to the date and time specification request message;
a second message control unit that transmits a second message including content that notifies the communication terminal of the first message again based on the specified date and time;
a message generating unit that generates a message having content according to the attributes of the user and prompting the user to input a response to the first message,
The second message control unit transmits a second message including the generated message.
Message management device. 1. A computer-implemented method for managing messages, comprising:
a company transmitting a first message regarding the question and a date and time designation request message to the user's communication terminal, the date and time designation request message prompting the user to designate a date and time for notifying the user of the question again;
Accepting a date and time specification input as a response to the date and time specification request message;
transmitting a second message including content notifying the communication terminal of the first message again based on the specified date and time;
This includes:
the first message, the date and time specification request message, and the second message are displayed in a dialogue format in chronological order;
Transmitting the second message to the communication terminal includes transmitting the second message chronologically after the date and time specification request message and displaying the second message on the communication terminal.
A message management method comprising: 1. A computer-implemented method for managing messages, comprising:
a company transmitting a first message regarding the question and a date and time designation request message to the user's communication terminal, the date and time designation request message prompting the user to designate a date and time for notifying the user of the question again;
Accepting a date and time specification input as a response to the date and time specification request message;
transmitting a second message including content notifying the communication terminal of the first message again based on the specified date and time;
This includes :
Transmitting the first message and the date and time specification request message to the communication terminal of the user includes transmitting the first message, an option indicating that a reply will be made to the first message, and an option indicating that a reply will be made later to the communication terminal, and transmitting the date and time specification request message when a response indicating that the option indicating that a reply will be made later has been selected by the user is received.
A message management method comprising: 1. A computer-implemented method for managing messages, comprising:
a company transmitting a first message regarding the question and a date and time designation request message to the user's communication terminal, the date and time designation request message prompting the user to designate a date and time for notifying the user of the question again;
Accepting a date and time specification input as a response to the date and time specification request message;
generating a message whose content corresponds to the attributes of the user and prompts the user to input a response to the first message;
transmitting a second message including content notifying the communication terminal of the first message again based on the specified date and time;
This includes :
Transmitting the second message to the communication terminal includes transmitting a second message including the generated message.
A message management method comprising: