October 02, 2005
Back to the Future: Introducing Email Subscriptions
Publishers using FeedBurner can now enable subscribers to receive content updates via email — no Flux Capacitor required. There are a number of email subscription services on the market that leverage the feed to provide subscriber updates. Some of these services are subscriber-centric (these feel more like an RSS aggregator that's using mail as a client channel, such as RssFwd and R|Mail) while other services are publisher-centric (the publisher has to configure a service and then subscribers can opt in). One of the newer publisher-centric email services is FeedBlitz, and we are excited to partner with FeedBlitz to provide simple and integrated email subscription capability.
Email subscription is a service that many of our existing blog publishers have requested, and we believe it will become more popular since email subscribers account for up to half the circulation totals for some publishers. As we mentioned in our previous post, our vision is to deliver the world's content everywhere it's needed and we do this by focusing on services specifically designed for publishers.
To activate the new service, visit the Publicize tab for any feed in your account and select "Email Subscriptions powered by FeedBlitz" from the menu of available services. You will be provided with all the information you need to allow people to begin subscribing to your content updates via email. Just like a subscriber viewing content in an aggregator, all FeedBurner optimization services are applied before the content is distributed via email. Publishers leveraging this service will get a FeedBlitz account, and FeedBlitz handles of all of the email delivery. FeedBurner will report FeedBlitz and other email subscription services in a new subcategory of circulation traffic on your feeds' Readership report page. Existing publishers may have also noticed that FeedBurner Readership reporting now subcategorizes email subscribers separately from Reader and Aggregator traffic sources. More FAQs here.
As we observe how this service is used in the coming weeks, we have additional plans for more interesting email integration points. We will certainly be expanding our capabilities in this area so we may continue to be your density. We mean ... your destiny.
Comments
I think that it would be cool to have the ability to be able to put an e-mail subscription box on my ClearFeed/BrowserFriendly sort of thing.
Yes, a subscribe by email option, burned directly into the feed, would be excellent.
Good idea, noexes :-)
I agree, it would be more useful if it added the subscription text box to the feedburner feed automagically, like it does the rss subscription buttons at the top.
Having a subscription box as a additional feature in the feed is indeed a good idea, I agree - but as an extra, not as an "instead". Putting it only in the feed helps only people who already subscribe to the feed.
If the idea is to help people who aren't so au fait with feeds but OK with email, then personally I think the primary place for the box should be the blog/website.
I know this is more on the FeedBlitz side than FeedBurner but I'll comment anyway.
FeedBlitz needs to provide more options that just a daily email. Some people would prefer a weekly or bi-weekly update.
There should also be the option to somehow filter out what goes into the email. For example, if you want to include only new posts from a specific category or categories.
Since you are partnering with them, perhaps you can pass this along.
Hi Ken,
Great comments. FeedBlitz will be expanding its options to allow more (and less) frequent emails. FeedBlitz/Turbo will be a premium option - keep an eye on the FeedBlitz blog or just subscribe via mail from any FeedBlitz.com page for updates.
For truncation, FeedBlitz recommends using FeedBurner's "SummaryBurner" FeedBlitz converts what is in your feed. If you want to drive people to the web site then it makes sense to truncate the feed for both FeedBlitz and traditional aggregators. SummaryBurner also enables you to customize the call to action which is a great feature.
Phil
I love the idea, but don't we all get enough email in our "in-boxes" as it is? Also, this gets pretty expensive if you are doing wi-fi or travel a great deal. Finally, even though people might have to sign up for the service, they'll forget over time, and the potential for being accused of spam might occur.
Just my two cents!
I really see the email option as beneficial for travelers who can check email on the road, or for people who are afraid of podcatchers. It's definitely not for dialup users. You can always prevent your podcatcher from requesting files, but you can't stop an email from clogging up your mail server. File size limits might prevent receipt. If I have to wait for 5 30 megabyte files to come through before I can read the urgent email from work or family, I might never get the email.
But, if that's what people want to experience, I won't stop them.
You say email subscriptions are counted separately from normal subscriptions, will they come through together in the statistics API? That's very important to me! Did I read that wrong?
Quick response to JT:
Where podcast feeds are concerned, FeedBlitz does not include the enclosure or create any sort of attachment with the outbound notification email. You won't have to worry about waiting for a ~5MB or larger file to download first before continuing on through your Inbox. You should only receive the text of the most recent posting.
Also, when we say email circulation is counted separately from "normal" aggregator circulation, we're only pointing out that we provide a different email reporting category on the "Readership" section of your FeedBurner stats reports. Your total daily circulation always includes any email subscription clients as contributors. Therefore, any requests for circulation numbers through our Awareness API should be for your entire circulation, including all email sources.
I've got some comments/issues about Feedblitz but I won't list them all at length here - see the "Issues with Feedblitz" heading under my write up - perhaps you could consider and take them up with Feedblitz as you feel appropriate? Particularly the one feature I think Bloglet has which Feedblitz doesn't? Thanks for not resting ou your laurels with Feedburner!
Cheers
Imp.
Are the email addresses accumulated by Feed Blitz available to me for my marketing purposes associated with the blog site or are they hidden?
I've commented on Improb's blog on her very thoughtful analyses.
To KMcClure - they're your subscribers, not FeedBlitz's. You can acess all your confirmed subscribers at any time using the dashboard. You can even forcibly unsubscribe them if you so wish. To get them into a separate product you can just copy / paste the table. It's that simple. The only readers you cannot see are (a) those who elect to subscribe anonymously, and (b) those who have not confirmed their registrations, just in case they were spammed.
Perhaps I've missed it: can you tell me if my e-mail subscribers via Feedblitz will show up on my Analyze/Readership stats in Feedburner? I don't see an answer to this on the FAQ above. Thanks! TMH
Hi Trevor - I just updated the post to include confirmation that email subscribers are included in your circulation traffic as a separate subcategory. Thanks!
We have actually got it to work; e-mail newsletters translated into html blogs and moreover into RSS feeds.
Works great, but involves a lot of software transissions on MSDN / ASPX 2.7 Beta level. A core code Patent is pending since wednesday.
When completed and patent is granted, I'll post it here or you can ask Feedburner for a copy of it.
I'm going to echo the comment from Ken -- I'm not going to force my subscribers to deal with daily emails.
I'd prefer the ability to send weekly digests (selecting which day of the week). That way, people would look forward to my mail instead of thinking "damn! here's another of these things every morning."
Thanks for adding new service. very useful to all.
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