RSS Publishing One of Many Tools
RSS publishing has no doubt revolutionized the way you can distribute critical information, be it utilized as a pipeline to your customers or a means of disseminating internal corporate communications. In some instances, it has edged out email as a means of direct contact.
Corporate RSS Publishing Saves Money
Which tools you use depends on the context and the audience being served.For example, FastCompany.com reports that Union Bank of California’s adoption of corporate RSS communications is eliminating a good deal of useless internal email, and saving money .
“Not all of Union Bank of California’s more than 10,000 employees need to see the information that goes out in countless email broadcasts every day. “They are crucial for some people but irrelevant to the majority,” says James Penn, the bank’s VP of marketing. So Union Bank is replacing broadcast emails with targeted RSS Web feeds… The new system… will send RSS feeds based on job description and location… Penn estimates that they will get back 30 minutes a week in the first year, which the company conservatively figures will save in excess of $750,000.”
However, the same company might still lean heavily on e-mail combined with RSS feeds when communicating with their customers. A recent study suggests that a combination of communication tools serves best.
Communicating Through Several Channels
“This point was driven home solidly this week when I read the results of Rafat Ali’s PaidContent survey of readers. Below is the breakdown for how people consume the site’s information, according to the survey:
- E-mail newsletter: 42%
- Paidcontent.org website: 34%
- RSS Reader: 19%
- Mobile Device: 4%
Along the same lines, DirectMag.com reports Radiator.com experienced higher conversion rates by directing their online customers to make an old fashioned phone call.
“Radiator.com reported its conversion rate for Web site visitors to buyers has increased to 35% to 40% since it added a click-to-call feature to its online chat customer service. Its online customer conversion rate previously ranged from 1% to 2%.”
Be it internal company communications or delivering content to your target market,survey all of the tools available for your use and employ those that best serves your audience and translates into a heftier bottom line. Studying the results of your marketing campaigns will inform you of what the majority of your customers are using to stay in touch with you.
Tags: communication_tools, conversion, conversion_rates, corporate-RSS-communications, email, internal_corporate_communications, mail_newsletter, RSS-publishing, rss_reader