Email vs. RSS in the world of Marketing

Interesting comment I came across from back in December. I thought I would share my answer here:

Dear Chris,

I saw this in another blog that discusses the idea that eNewsletters are losing their hold on the market and instead will be replaced by RSS.  What are your thoughts on this?

Veronica
http://www.essentialsecurity.com/

Thanks for the heads up Veronica. The author is right and very wrong. 

If I am not getting useful information in an email...what makes me think that I’m going to get any better information via RSS feed?

I subscribe to  a “newsletter” with an expectation of value.  I’m disappointed most of the time...so I unsubscribe.

This has nothing to do with the technology of message delivery and everything to do with the entire concept of a “Newsletter”.   

The key to success for marketing anything to anyone is relevance.   Use your data to talk to people like they are human beings.  Forget newsletters or anything that is not specifically designed to engage me in a conversation.   If you have nothing to say to me....leave me alone. 

RSS or Email...that’s a different argument altogether.   99% of the internet engages with email.  Less than 2% use RSS feeds.  Even if that goes to 10% with the advent of better technology...that doesn’t mean these same people are going to stop engaging in email.

The problem is the message, not the technology.

Make sense?

Chris

Comments

[Doug Karr]

I would add that email is a push technology and RSS is a pull technology. Email is usually read in a timely manner when the advertiser sends it. RSS; however, is read when the user requests it.

RSS is great as a resource for publications; however, it's not a medium that's predisposed to getting the right message to the right prospect/customer at the right time.

Imagine if you rec'd billing reminders via RSS instead of Email? Would you remember to pay your bills?

Regards,
Doug

[Lee Barclay]

I would like to comment on RSS vs Email Newsletters.

I prefer Email. I have the control. I can read when I am ready and delete in bulk if needed. RSS invades my computer. I have subscribed to hundreds of newsletters. Can you imagine having hundreds of people having access to your desktop. Windows would be popping open constantly. I would be overwhelmed. How could I use my computer?

RSS might be great for hobbiest or one or two topics. If you are like me and sign up for everything you can so you can be "connected" to what is happening, RSS would be a nightmare. I think RSS has a place yet doubt it would replace email or direct response type marketing.

I have one RSS feed and will be deleting it soon if it does not improve soon.

That is my take on it!

Lee

[Laisan]

"99% of the internet engages with email. Less than 2% use RSS feeds."

May I ask where you got these figures?

[Chris Baggott]

Ohhh.. You might have busted me Laisan :-)

I was just using those numbers to help visualize the large gap between email and RSS.

Marketing Sherpa has the following Data:

"Currently at least 75 million consumers and businesspeople in the USA and UK use RSS on a regular basis. However, depending on which study's stats you believe, only 17%-32% of RSS users actually know they're using RSS. That's right -- roughly 50 million regular RSS users would say, "Huh?" if you asked them what RSS was. What do they think they're using?"

I really like Lee Barclay's point on this topic too. Clutter is a much bigger potential problem for RSS than it is with Email.

[Nick Rice]

Lee, I have to disagree. I think it's personal preference. I'm the opposite. I can keep up with industry news much easier via GoogleReader than I can w/ email. Just from a # of clicks point of view, it's so much faster to go through my 30+ feeds than to open, scroll, and scan email one at a time.

I'm really struggling w/ launching an ezine right now. There is so much great functionality w/ blog software that I'm naturally inclined to use it to publish my ezine, but you cannot market as easily to RSS subscribers. Emails are great, but they lose all of the functionality of the web like categories, search, comments, etc...

I know that Feedburner (and others I'm sure) let you subscribe to RSS via email, but you don't want to clutter your posts w/ all of the other things you put in an email ezine like a table of contents, multiple articles, promotional offers, event calendars, etc... And not to mention, there's no personalization w/ a blog post.

I'm just stuck and have to choose a path soon.

[Chris Baggott]

Nick, you have hit on an interesting issue...choice. You want to let your constituents engage with you however they like.

You can post your ezene content to your blog where appropriate. The problem is the blogging tools are too hard. That's what we are attacking with my new startup compendium software. See my post: http://exacttarget.typepad.com/chrisbaggott/2007/02/im_starting_a_n.html

[Nick Rice]

Chris, I did see your startup news. It's exciting to think of the problems you'll tackle.

I'm not sure that blogging tools are hard. I'm technically minded, but I'm a server novice. I've set up a few WP blogs and have helped an associate do it w/ very little assistance.

When we're a little closer to launching the ezine, I'd like to set up the initial opt-in email to provide a link to subscriber preference where they would choose the type and content they're interested in. Same thing in reverse when someone unsubscribes. Let them choose what they get and don't get.

Keep up the great work.

[Roy Rajan]

I think both are vital tools for an eMarketers and if used in combination might be very rewarding.

An email could be used to try and get people to subscribe to your RSS feeds.
You could publish great content loaded with images and spammy phrases and not worry about it being delivered.

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