Experian CheetahMail has struck a strategic partnership with SimpleFeed to offer RSS technology strategy and services to their combined client list.
According to CheetahMail president Matt Seeley, the e-mail marketing firm thought than an alliance with a specialty firm was better than doing the job in-house.
“Our job is to figure out how to take e-mail and RSS and make it relevant to extend the value to the customer,” Mr. Seeley said. “The partnership made sense.”
The alliance follows Microsoft Corp.’s introduction of Outlook 2007 and Internet Explorer 7, both of which feature RSS reading functionality.
CheetahMail, New York, is the e-mail marketing and Web analytics subsidiary of database giant Experian Group Ltd. Its clients include H&R Block, Sears Holding Corp., Wyndham Hotels, Borders Books, CompUSA, J. Jill, Discovery Communications and this publication.
Based in Los Altos, CA, SimpleFeed provides on-demand RSS publishing and analytics services to online marketers, publishers, e-commerce retailers and financial services firms.
Using SimpleFeed marketers can create RSS feeds that are measurable and look like their Web site, and not just a line of text.
According to JupiterResearch, 63 percent of large companies plan to have syndicated RSS content by year’s end. However, so far it’s the early adopters who are signed up for RSS.
“I still think the adoption rate for consumers is still low, so marketers are still just keeping their eye on it,” Mr. Seeley said. “What we’re hearing from our customers is that they are happy that we are looking ahead and are ready.”
