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Why RSS May Be
The Email Killer
By Peter Lenkefi
According to online statistics from eMarketer, less than 20% of internet
users intentionally read content with the aid of an RSS reader.
Indeed, even frequent internet users have no idea what that little orange
RSS square represents and certainly don't realize that there is a big
shift brewing in the bowels of online publishing and marketing.
But, that may change more quickly than we all used to think for 3 very
potent reasons.
There are advantages to RSS that will compel most, if not all, internet
users and content consumers to "learn" to use an RSS reader
and start managing RSS subscriptions.
In the same way email eclipsed snail mail for content delivery, RSS will
eclipse email as the consumer's choice for opt-in messaging.
If you are an email marketer, the time for you to get engaged to RSS
has come, because, whether you like it or not, the wedding bells will
be ringing soon.
Here's why
RSS = Embedded Video (and audio)
I recently was asked to help a small business embed video into emails
they wanted to send to established clients.
Their vision was clear:
1. Create a quick video email with a webcam, stick it right into their
corporate Outlook email with a Youtube style preview.
2. The customer gets the email, clicks the Youtube-looking video preview
and the video starts playing.
3. No landing page, they wanted everthing to happen right there inside
the email client, whether it was Outlook, AOL, Gmail, Yahoo or otherwise.
Simple right? Nope...
This is simply not possible with email.
Many brilliant companies have tried various tactics to embed video into
email in a way that doesn't consistently get blocked or stripped by the
various email providers.
With email, the best that can be done is mimic the embedded video look
by putting a video preview image in the email which opens up the web browser
and plays the video there when clicked.
Ironically, even this comes at a significant cost because of the technical
knowledge needed to make it happen.
So why is this a less than perfect solution?
Primarily because none of us like to be bounced around, we want to view
video instantly, seamlessly.
After all, we have been trained to expect this level of immediacy by
seeing it everyday on Google's "universal search" and countless
blogs.
The good news is, embedded video and audio are part and parcel (fundamental
elements) of RSS.
Adding video (and audio) that can be instantly viewed by someone receiving
an RSS feed is as simple as adding text.
Readers get what they have come to expect and corporations, as well as
small businesses, can provide dynamic, highly personal content without
paying a coder or webmaster thousands of bucks.
RSS = 100% Deliverability
I was shocked to see the stats on email deliverability rates for the
typical business. The fact is, even if you have come by a person's email
honestly (that is - you did not buy a bootleg list of emails from some
guy in a dark virtual alley) the likelihood of them actually receiving
that message from you is 60% or less.
So, let's say you have a list of 1000 customer emails - which you have
worked hard and paid real money to acquire. When you send a message, 400
of them (on average) don't get it. It either automatically lands in their
Sp@m Folder or gets deleted even before it reaches them.
Even companies like Aweber who make a living sending emails for other
people and have intimate agreements with email providers like Gmail, AOL
and Yahoo, only get a 90% deliverabilty rate - on a good day (they claim
%99.4 but I use Aweber and when I factor in the whole opt-in and email
management process, at least 10% of my emails are undelivered).
RSS is quite different. If someone has opted-in to your RSS "feed",
they will get 100% of your messages. No doubt about it.
This is obviously good for the company but how is this also an advantage
for the customer?
Well, have you ever had the frustration of opting-in to something that
you were interested in only to find (after searching for a few minutes)
that it was buried in your sp@m box.
Have you ever had to "whitelist" an email address so that each
email that was sent wasn't immediately deleted?
Doing this takes TIME... the most expensive commodity any one of us owns.
Once consumers realize there is a simpler way to get 100% of what they
want, 100% of the time, and 0% of what they don't want, RSS will start
to look like a (pardon the old expression) "no brainer".
RSS = Sp@m-Free
This may be the "tipping point" that triggers the general masses
toward RSS.
Yes, sp@m is annoying... it takes time to delete... it contains inappropriate
messages which make parents steaming mad... and it is the constant burden
of corporations and email providers.
Especially due to the last reason, email will not be free forever. You
may not have to pay if you send just a few emails to your friends and
family each month but if your sending out a significant number of messages...
you will pay.
This will be the email manager's final attempt at curbing the clever
spammer.
In fact, email providers are already debating and tweaking a platform
similar to cell phone companies where you will have a sending quota.
This will only push spamming into a "higher" art form and challenge
the suprisingly intelligent geeks behind this modern phenomenon to new
technical heights.
All of this will only serve to highlight the value of RSS even more and
compel the average folks into opening up a Google Reader account or using
the one they goofed around with more often.
However, before RSS eliminates email as we know it, a few things have
to happen...
In the first part of this article we discussed the three compelling features
of RSS that will lure the mases of content seekers.
Namely, embedded video, 100% deliverability and sp@m-free information
management.
But, before any of us permanently trades in our email account for an
RSS Reader, a few things need to happen.
Until then, we will be doing double-duty... checking both our Inbox and
our latest feeds.
What RSS Needs Before It Kills Email
1. RSS Content Clients (like Outlook for RSS).
As it stands, messages which are sent via RSS are usually composed inside
some sort of blog or other similar content management system and published
to the world. All the folks who have requested the RSS "feed"
then receive that message into the RSS reader they check whenever it is
convenient for them. Generally speaking, the entire group of subscribers
gets every message.
Now, imagine a software application that works like an email client such
as Outlook that allows you to create a message, format it, add video and
audio and then send it to just one (or a selected group) of subscribers
via RSS...All without having to publish that content to the world.
This would be the silver bullet solution to all the woes of email.
2. RSS to One or Selected Groups
One of the current appeals of RSS is the fact that one can subscribe to
an RSS feed anonymously. You are assured of receiving only messages from
that person or website (which is hopefully run by a person) and nothing
else. Neither the website owner or the RSS service knows anything about
the subscriber. This is a good thing and something that will continue
to make RSS valuable.
However, at some point, a more personal RSS option should appear which
allows the subscriber a choice. In the future, when someone chooses to
subscribe to an RSS feed, h/she will have the option of sharing personal
information with the publisher, perhaps just their name and a few selected
interests.
They will be glad to do this for two reasons.
1. It will allow the publisher to send only content that matches their
desired interests (this is actually already possible but very few take
advantage of it).
2. It will allow for private RSS communication between individuals and
groups with all 3 benefits listed above - embedded media, 100% deliverability,
sp@m-free.
What Killer-RSS Will Look Like
In this new more advanced world, you will have a personal RSS address.
Not connected to a business or blog content, just to you personally. Yes,
you may be thinking... "just like my email address".
When someone wants to hear from you, they will go to some fancy Web 2.0
service and subscribe to your personal RSS feed. They will sign-up for
their own personal RSS feed and then subscribe to yours, providing you
with their name (if they are a friend) and perhaps their interests if
they are a business contact.
When you want to send them, and only them a message, you'll open up the
fancy wysiwyg editor provided by the cool Web 2.0 service mentioned above,
create a message and publish it.
Sounds like email right? Exactly...
The difference is, you publish the message not to your public blog but
to a private space on the net and to your friend's RSS reader.
So, your friend checks their RSS reader, sees your name on their list
of subscriptions, notices that you have published a message to them (and
maybe a few other friends) and either reads the message in their reader
or in the private space online.
So, as this shift occurs, what we are calling Killer-RSS will be viewed
as an upgrade to typical email services with the added benefits mentioned
above.
What do you think - will RSS be the email killer? If not, how do you
see the RSS - email relationship working out? Visit Web2Center.com to
join the dialogue.
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