Emerson: An RSS Overkill?

Here's a company that's totally serious about RSS marketing.

Emerson not only created an excellent RSS Starter Kit for new subscribers, which all marketers can learn from, but actually also put their RSS notification right on top of their homepage.
[via Steve Rubel]

Now all they need to do is setup RSS subscribe links (not ignoring the easy AddToMyYahoo! and AddToMyMSN buttons!) within their website content categories and next to their e-mail subscriptions.

While I aplaud their move to strongly facilitate their RSS subscriptions I at the same time wonder why aren't they doing more to promote their e-mail subscription options.

Don't forget --- e-mail is still the strongest content delivery channel. Don't start ignoring it just because of e-mail. Rather, learn how to use both of them together.

But going back to their RSS subscriptions ...

The Moonwatcher blog [Charlie Wood] took a deeper look and found the personalization process for the feeds too complicated, since Emerson allows you to personalize your feed content.

I agree, Emerson should offer easy subscribe options to their most important topical RSS feeds, without the user having to register.

And I dissagree, personalization is actually what gives the consumer more choice, and at the same time helps the marketer better communicate with his audiences.

The simple answer is --- do both!

The Moonwatcher comments:

"Second, it creates needless complexity for the site administrator. Why have a form, and a form-handling web application, and a dynamic feed generation application? Why make it more difficult to analyze what feed content people are actually suscribed to? Why create and maintain a server-side database of user preferences?"

Well, because additional user data gives you better targeting capabilities.

Because additional user data can help you better market to your audiences and better serve them.

Because additional user data helps your sales department better manage the time they spend on individual leads, helping them identify the hottest leads at this given time.

But of course, users should always be strongly enticed to give you all of this data, for example by providing them with a downloadable high-value whitepaper after the personalization process. And they should also have the choice of simply subscribing to your default feeds as well.

Rok, I agree with your analysis, that content providers should provide their content in ways that their audiences want to receive it.

A good example for Emerson is the DeltaV automation system product. From the main page, http://EasyDeltaV.com you can subscribe to the email list of news, or to the RSS feed. The main difference is that the RSS feed delivers the news as its posted, and the email news is sent every few weeks with the collection of news items which have occurred between mailings.

Subscriptions to the email list far outnumber subscriptions to the RSS feed, but we believe this will change over time as RSS is adopted and encouraged by things like the RSS Starter Kit, and the move of common browsers and applications to support RSS natively.

Take it easy, Jim

Posted by: Jim Cahill at April 5, 2006 3:14 AM

Rok, thanks for your comments re: Emerson's RSS feed. To your point about eMail remaining very viable and personalization being important, the answer is...we DO do both! In fact, the mechanism one uses to customize their 'pre-aggregated' feed is handled by the same database as our permission marketing eMail tools. We are careful to not compromise the integrity of the anonymous nature of RSS, yet once a customer feels comfortable with entrusting us with their contact details, they can have a single profile of interests with the benefit of more than one delivery mechanism. Open to receiving eMail? great. Prefer the anonymity of RSS, yet want it streamlined to one feed? no problem. Prefer snail mail? OK.

We do have a challenge of being a broadline supplier...thousands of different products in hundreds of different categories and families. Frankly, we are hard to figure out some times. This whole effort is an exercise in making us easier to understand, easier to find information from and easier to do business with.

Yes, we gain insight on customers. But we do so with the genuine intent of narrow casting content based on demand. We view this as a symbiotic relationship: customers tell us of their need and we meet it. The customer remains in control.

Thanks for facilitating the dialog. We are excited to make RSS mainstream in B2B, yet maintain a media agnostic approach. Meaning, use the right tool for the job!

Thanks again,
Bill

Posted by: Bill Morrison at April 7, 2006 4:39 PM

Jim,

A great example, thank you.

I would however recommend doing that you put the RSS option directly below the e-mail option, and very briefly explain the difference.

But a great example!

All the best,
Rok

Posted by: Rok Hrastnik at April 5, 2006 10:36 PM

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