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Why RSS May Be The Email Killer - Parts 1 & 2
By Peter Lenkefi (c) 2008

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 Spam 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
spam 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 = Spam-Free

This may be the "tipping point" that triggers the general
masses toward RSS.

Yes, spam 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 spam-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, spam-free.

What Killer-RSS Will Look Like

In this new more advanced world, you will have your own
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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Peter Lenkefi publishes social marketing and blog promotion
tips at http://Web2Center.com .
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