RSS Meets the Needs of Direct Marketers
by Rok Hrastnik
Published on this site: April 13th, 2005 - See
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Contrary to general opinion, RSS meets the needs of even the most
demanding direct marketer, actually providing most of what e-mail
marketing does, except for the strong push factor.
Most direct marketing reasons against RSS are in fact the result
of inadequate understanding of RSS by most marketers.
a] Scheduled and autoresponder messages
There are already a few services and software packages on the market
that allow for scheduled and autoresponder messages via RSS feeds.
Once your visitor subscribes to your special RSS feed, he can receive
a pre-determined set of messages in a specific time frame, determined
by you. Use these messages to welcome your new reader to your RSS
feed; thank your new customer after the purchase, send him additional
information about the ordered product and give him the opportunity
to buy an additional product at a lower price tag a couple of days
later, and so on.
b] RSS metrics
RSS can in fact be tracked: track anything from the number
of your subscribers, their reading habits, their reading frequency
to your click-through rates and activities after clicking-through
from your feed. This includes tracking which of your RSS feeds
are performing better, are more interesting to your readers
and drive more sales ... and the same for individual content
items.
c] Message targeting
Since RSS feeds can be dynamically generated on a per-user basis,
you can easily track the interests of your individual subscribers
and then target marketing messages directly to them, making each
message relevant to their needs and interests in order to increase
your sales success.
d] Message personalization
If you generate your RSS feeds for each individual user, you can
also personalize these feeds. Basic personalization includes elements
such as the reader's first name, while more advanced personalization
might include personalized content and product recommendations and
so on.
e] Data capture
E-mail marketers have already become experts at using opt-in
forms to get as much information from the prospect as possible;
the prospect's name, his interests, the current products he
is using, his current position in the purchase cycle and so
on. RSS can be used in the same way, giving your visitors
access to the RSS feed only after they've filled in a simple
or complex opt-in form. This can work with e-zine subscriptions,
as well as forms you require your visitors to fill in to either
register on your website or download your free report or whitepaper.
Good news for direct marketers is that these capabilities are already
available in many RSS publishing/marketing solutions, available
at very acceptable prices, accessible even to the smallest companies.
Rok Hrastnik is the author of »Unleash the Marketing
& Publishing Power of RSS«, acclaimed as the best and
most comprehensive guide to RSS for marketers by leading RSS experts.
The complete guide on RSS for marketers: http://rss.marketingstudies.net/index.html?src=sa4
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