RSS Campaigns
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a simple method of receiving updates published on a website. You can find RSS on blogs, newsletters or any site where the content is updated regularly. At Zoho Campaigns, users can create an RSS-to-email campaign using RSS Merge Tags. These tags fetch the data from RSS feed and create content as a summary text that is sent periodically.
What is RSS Campaign?
The RSS-to-Email Campaign is an easy way to share and view the website updates without visiting the website. This is done by sending automated campaigns to your contacts when there is an update in the site. Typically, an item in an RSS Campaign will contain a title, concise description, and link to the original content in the website.
Why RSS Campaigns?
Without RSS, contacts need to check your website for new updates. This may be overly time-consuming for many contacts. The main purpose of RSS Campaigns is to provide contacts with the convenience of updates without the need to continually hunt for them
For example, your website releases one or two features on weekly basis and these features are followed by announcements and blogs. When you send an RSS Campaign, your contacts will receive the summary of your updates automatically.
Benefits of RSS Campaign
RSS Campaigns provide a regularly updated summary of web content in a capsule format, along with links to the full content.
- Easier access - From the contacts' perspective, they can easily stay informed about the new features and updates via email.
- Save time - For the time-crunched marketer, it saves time and prevents them from having to create newsletters about the weekly updates.
- Nurture your contacts - It becomes a new channel for your readers to subscribe to your blogs and updates. Easily share your blogs on social media and forward to friends.
- Increases your site traffic - Interestingly, by not forcing your customers to visit your website, over time you will see an increase in traffic. This is due to an increase in visibility, as well as a regular reminder to your customers about what's going on with your company.
RSS Merge Tags
RSS Merge Tags are used to bring the content from a website that has an RSS Feed. Now, you can send email without having to create the content. Simply create an RSS Campaign and add these merge tags. They will fetch the content from your RSS Feed and send out the email. Make use of the following tags to customize your RSS campaign content.
Note
- Usage of RSS merge tags is limited to RSS Campaigns only.
- Make use of other merge tags to personalize the content for RSS campaigns.
Merge Tags for RSS Feeds
Personalize your campaign content using the following tags. Using these tags, you can include the required elements (title, date, and author) of your blog in the content.
- $[RF:TITLE]$ - Shows the title of the blog via RSS feed.
- $[RF:DATE]$ - Shows the recently updated date of the RSS Feed.
- $[RF:LINK]$ - Shows the URL Link of the RSS Feed
- $[RF:DESCRIPTION]$ - Shows the description of the RSS feed.
- $[RF:AUTHOR]$ - Shows the blog author's name.
- $[RF:IMAGE]$ - Shows the blog's image.
Merge Tags for RSS Items
Use the following merge tags to show an individual item or post.
$[RSSITEMS:START:n]$ and $[RSSITEMS:END]$ - These are the opening and closing tags. Include the merge tags under this loop. Here n= number of items to display in RSS-to-email campaign.
E.g.
$[RI:TITLE]$ - Shows the title of the RSS item.
$[RI:LINK]$ - Shows the URL Link of the RSS item.
$[RI:DATE]$ - Shows the recently updated date of the RSS item.
$[RI:AUTHOR]$ - Shows the author's name of the RSS item.
$[RI:CONTENT]$ - - Shows a concise form of the RSS item.
$[RI:DESCRIPTION]$ - Shows the description of the RSS item.
$[RI:IMAGE]$ - Shows the image of the RSS item.
How to Create an RSS Campaign
RSS-to-Email Campaigns allow you to send an automated email campaign when your website/blog gets updated. This is a step-by-step guide on how to create an RSS-to-Email Campaign.
RSS Feed Details
To create an RSS-to-Email Campaign:
- From the Navigation toolbar, choose Campaigns and select Email Campaigns.
- Click Create Campaign in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Hover over the RSS category and click Create New
- Enter the following details:
- RSS Feed or Blog URL - Enter the main site URL in the box and the RSS feed will be fetched automatically.
- Time Zone - Select the relevant time zone.
- Schedule Time - Schedule a specific day and time for your emails to be sent.
- Click Next.
Basic Info
In the Basic Info page, enter the campaign details as given below:
Field | Description |
Campaign Name | This will be automatically updated according to the website URL entered in previous page. However, you can manually set the name. |
Campaign Subject | This will be automatically updated according to the website URL entered in previous page. However, you can manually set the name. |
Sender Name | You can either mention your name or your organization's name. |
Sender email address | Specify your business email address. (By default, this will reflect the email address related to your Zoho Campaigns account). |
Reply-to Address | The purpose of this email is to receive any reply from contacts. This can be same to that of sender's email address. |
Content
In this step, you will configure the content of your email by choosing your email type and content option.
- Select one of our RSS-to-email templates for sending an RSS campaign to your customers. You can also make use of our regular templates designed for emails.
These RSS-to-Email templates will be embedded with the RSS merge tags in them.
If you are interested in using generic templates or trying other content configuration methods, select the RSS Merge tags associated for RSS-to-Email Campaign to add them to your template. - Click Save & Close to proceed.
Note
- While using generic templates or other content configuration methods, it is mandatory to copy and paste the merge tags so that they pull the RSS feed or item from your website.
- You can find the RSS merge tags to the right of the Template Editor.
Audience
In the Choose Recipients page, select the mailings list (s).
If you haven't created any mailing lists, you'll be asked to create one now. Learn how to import contacts.
Start RSS
In this page, there are two different options to start the RSS Campaign.
- Start RSS - This will start the RSS campaign but it will wait for the scheduled day and time to send the first email.
- Send Now & Start RSS - This will start the RSS campaign and send its first email immediately.
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