As a direct marketer myself I always like seeing new direct marketing examples of using RSS, especially since it's so underused in the field.

The new Cost Saving Network, which specializes in discount coupons and best deals from hundreds of webstores, has the right idea.

a] Subscribe to a coupon RSS feed for any webstore.

b] Subscribe to a search RSS feed that will give you the latest results from hundreds of webstores for your keywords.

c] Subscribe to their blog, either to the entire blog or again using the search function to subscribe only to what matter to you.

It's a great idea ... too bad it's implemented so poorly. But certainly a good lesson for the rest of us.

The gist of the lesson: if your RSS initiative doesn't provide value, just don't do it.

a] In this case, the first problem is with the actual search function. It just works quite poorly and doesn't give me any really relevant information.

The lesson: if the service that your RSS initiative is based on, doesn't work, RSS won't work either.

b] The site might be OK for those that already know what RSS is, but for everyone else the orange button will just be another "what's this" question. No explanations, no instructions, no benefits, no subscribe buttons like MyYahoo or MyMSN ...

The lesson: if you do RSS, do it so that even those that haven't used RSS before will find your service accessible.

c] They do have an e-mail newsletter option ... but I don't see an RSS option for the newsletter as well.

The lesson: make your relevant e-mail content directly accessible to RSS users.

d] Why can't I subscribe to an aggregate feed of multiple webstores, without using the keyword feature? And why won't you let me specify a specific product that I want to be notified of ... perferably when the price reaches the botton I specified when I subscribed.

The lesson: if you offer listings from a database via RSS, make it easy for the subscriber to really customize his subscription.

OK guys, still lots of room for improvement, but you still have time ...