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Using RSS/XML Feeds in Campaigns

In Author.Email you can embed XML (RSS) feeds into you campaigns easily.

In order to take advantage of this feature, when you create a campaign, you will have to enable the feature.

Next, in the campaign template(or subject line), you will have to add a set of tags that Author.Email will recognize and transform into the actual content of the feed.

Here is a brief example of what you will have to add inside your campaign template to make use of this feature:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
   <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html" />
   <title>XML FEEDS</title>
</head>
<body>
    [XML_FEED_BEGIN url='http://www.authoremail.com/news/feed/' count='5']
        <table>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <a href="[XML_FEED_ITEM_LINK]">
                        <img src="[XML_FEED_ITEM_IMAGE]" width="100" height="100"/>
                    </a>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <strong>[XML_FEED_ITEM_TITLE]</strong><br />
                    <p>[XML_FEED_ITEM_DESCRIPTION]</p>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    [XML_FEED_END]
</body>
</html>

The [XML_FEED_BEGIN] tag accepts following arguments:
url – string – the url from where we will fetch the feed items. Mandatory.
count – integer – the number of items you want to receive back from the feed. Optional.
Added in 1.5.1:
offset – integer – the number of items you want to skip loading. Optional.
days-back – integer – the number of days to look back for posts. Optional.
no-item-action – string – what action to take when no items are found in the feed. Valid values: postpone-campaign(postpones the campaign till next day). Optional.
send-only-unique-items – string – if we should only send unique items. if no items are found, then  no-item-action is applied. Valid values: (yes or no). Optional.

Below is a list with all the tags accepted for XML feeds:
[XML_FEED_ITEM_TITLE] – The item title (the title of a post for example)
[XML_FEED_ITEM_DESCRIPTION] – Short item description
[XML_FEED_ITEM_CONTENT] – Item content
[XML_FEED_ITEM_IMAGE] – The image of the item
[XML_FEED_ITEM_LINK] – The url/permalink to the item
[XML_FEED_ITEM_PUBDATE] – Item publish date
[XML_FEED_ITEM_GUID] – Item guid.

You can also use indexed tags for a better control, so you can use:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
   <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html" />
   <title>XML FEEDS</title>
</head>
<body>
    [XML_FEED_BEGIN url='http://www.authoremail.com/news/feed/' count='5' offset='0']
        <table>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <a href="[XML_FEED_ITEM_1_LINK]">
                        <img src="[XML_FEED_ITEM_1_IMAGE]" width="100" height="100"/>
                    </a>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <strong>[XML_FEED_ITEM_1_TITLE]</strong><br />
                    <p>[XML_FEED_ITEM_1_DESCRIPTION]</p>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    [XML_FEED_END]
</body>
</html>

All the above tags will work if the feed is valid and the content they try to replace exist in the feed.


You should test your feed campaign before sending, to make sure the tags are parsed and the content is fine because the parsing is strict, any minor error will stop parsing the tags and render them without transformation

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