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A Basic Guide to RSS Campaigns in Stack

With Stack, you can effortlessly include an RSS feed in your direct and automated campaigns using the RSS content block. This feature allows your subscribers to automatically receive updates from online content sources like blog posts and news articles.

How Does an RSS Campaign Work?​

To set up an RSS campaign, you can insert an RSS item or header element and add your RSS feed URL in the send or schedule section. Any feed updates published between the time you schedule the campaign and when the email is sent will be included. You can customize the feed layout by selecting the tags you want to display from the feed.

Common RSS Items​

When you add an RSS Element, you can use custom values in the builder to automatically pull in relevant data from your feed. For example, if you want to include only the blog title and content, follow these steps:

  1. Add an RSS Header to Your Template: This will help structure your email.
  2. Include Custom Values: Ensure your template includes {{rss_item.title}} and {{rss_item.content}} to pull in the blog title and content.
  3. Add Your RSS URL: In the send or schedule section, input your RSS feed URL.
  4. Schedule Your Campaign: Choose when you want your campaign to go out.

Behavior​

When the campaign is sent, your contacts will see all blog titles and content from the day it was scheduled.

Details About the RSS Header and Item Block​

What is an RSS Header?​

The RSS Header dynamically populates <channel> tags from your RSS Feed. It supports the following tags, which you can use with their respective custom values:

  • Title: {{rss_feed.title}}
  • Description: {{rss_feed.description}}
  • Link: {{rss_feed.url}}
  • Last Build Date: {{rss_feed.date}}

What is an RSS Items Block?​

The RSS Items block accepts several custom values and dynamically inserts their corresponding RSS tags:

  • Title: {{rss_item.title}} - The title of the RSS item, usually a blog post.
  • Description: {{rss_item.content}} - A summary of the RSS item in HTML format.
  • Link: {{rss_item.url}} - The text link to the RSS item online.
  • Full Content: {{rss_item.content_full}} - Full content of the RSS item in HTML format.
  • Publish Date: {{rss_item.date}} - The date the RSS item was published.
  • Author: {{rss_item.author}} - The author of the RSS item.
  • Media Content: {{rss_item.imageUrl}} - The image URL for rendering images.

How to Send an RSS Campaign​

  1. Find Your RSS Feed URL:

    • Look for the RSS icon on the site.
    • Check the page source for rss or xml.
    • Try common endings like /feed, /rss, or /rss.xml.
    • Use browser extensions or tools like Feedbucket to detect the feed.

  2. Enter the RSS URL:

    • Navigate to Send or Schedule → RSS Campaign and paste your feed URL.

  3. Add RSS Content:

    • In the email builder, insert an RSS header or RSS item element.

  4. Set Custom Values:

    • Add the necessary custom fields for your RSS tags.

  5. Configure Schedule:

    • In Send or Schedule → RSS Schedule, set the send time and number of items to include.

  6. Schedule Your Campaign:

    • Review and schedule your RSS campaign.

FAQs​

How to Handle HTML Content in Descriptions?​

The values returned by the RSS-based custom variable {{rss_item.title}} are HTML-escaped. For example, & becomes &amp;. If your RSS feed includes HTML-based text and you want to render it as HTML, use the "triple-stash" syntax: `{{{rss_item.content}}}`.

What Content Can I Expect in the Next Month's RSS Campaign?​

If you create a campaign on March 10th and schedule it for March 25th, all blog posts published after March 10th will be included in the March 25th campaign. To limit the number of posts, specify the maximum number of feeds in the send or schedule section.

What Happens if There Are No Blogs After the RSS Campaign is Scheduled?​

If there are no new blogs, no campaign will be sent in the next cycle. You can review the audit log for entries of unsuccessful schedules due to no new feeds.