Every automated RSS campaign is sent to a list. Most of the campaign's settings and features are controlled by the Edit Campaign Page.
Start at the List Dashboard.
Use the dropdown Settings menu and select Edit Campaign.
The Edit Campaign Summary Page
After clicking Edit Campaign you will arrive on the campaign summary page. This page gives you an overview of many of the details that affect your automated mailings sent to your list and the access to edit these details.
These details are divided into related sections that can be expanded and edited.
Note: To apply changes to your campaign you must finish the two step process.
- Click Next Step: Campaign summary
- Click Finish: Save this campaign
Audience
Each automated RSS campaign can be sent to a single list. You can change which list it is sent to by clicking Edit Audience and then selecting a new list from the dropdown on the next screen.
Settings
This section looks similar to a list's settings, but these settings will apply only when the automated campaign is sending emails. Emails sent by the list, such as activation emails will use the list's settings. Click Edit Settings to access these settings on a new screen.
The Settings screen has multiple sections that can be expanded and collapsed to make finding and editing different aspects of your campaign easier. Clicking the + (plus) sign to the right of each section will expand the section to display what options can be edited. Clicking it again will collapse the section to hide it. If you edit a section, collapsing it does not undo your changes.
Remember: If you navigate away from the Settings page without clicking Next Step: Campaign Summary and Finish: Save this Campaign, your changes will not be applied to your automated RSS campaign. Blue help icons can be clicked on for help and support information.
Sender
Expanding the sender section allows you to change who the emails for the automated campaign appear to be from. The from name is who it will look like the email is from in your subscriber's inbox. The from email is the address the email appears to be sent from.
It is important to already have your DKIM and SPF set up for your domain to ensure that your emails won't look like they come from feedblitz@mail.feedblitz.com which is the default sender email address used when FeedBlitz is not authorized to send email for a domain. You can learn more about that here.
Schedule
Expand the schedule section to change the time your automated emails are sent. You can then use the arrows to the right of the current schedule to select your new schedule. You can read an in-depth explanation of the automated campaign in this article.
Source
You can change the name of the list that your mailings are sent to by changing the text in the box to the right of List Name. Please be aware that list names are public facing, so use care when choosing your name and description.
The source of the campaign is the RSS feed that powers your campaign. You may use a FeedBlitz feed or the feed from your site.
Enter the URL of your RSS feed into the text box to the right of Article Source Address. Your RSS feed is not your domain name. It may have the word feed, rss, or sometimes atom in the URL.
Most RSS feeds are public, but if your RSS feed is password-protected, you will need to choose private and provide the login and password so that FeedBlitz can access the content. You may provide a description if you wish. It is not required and can be seen publicly if a subscriber edits their subscription profile.
Subject Line
Automated RSS Campaigns can have static (unchanging) or dynamic (changing) subject lines. The default subject lines use the title of the post to create the subject of your mailings.
If only one post will be included in a mailing, the subject line will be: Post Title.
If more than one post will be included the subject line will be: Post Title and more. . .
You can enter your preferred subject line by replacing the content of the textbox. If you make a mistake or wish to change back to the default, simply click Restore Default.
The short-code for your post's title is: <$BlogItemTitle$>.
If you want to include the date in your subject line, you can. There is an extensive resource on this topic here.
Tracking
This section allows you to customize what information is appended to (added to the end of) your site's URLs when someone clicks a link in your automated campaigns.
These customized extensions let you use your own analytics software to determine how successful your campaigns are, in addition to the analytics offered by FeedBlitz. Clicking the arrows to the right of the current tracking allows you to change the format.
If further customization is available, you can then do so in the boxes below.
Filtering
You have the ability to customize what general content is or is not sent to your subscribers by filtering it based on the tags or categories on your site. FeedBlitz treats tags and categories the same.
If you have a post that is tagged with both an include and an exclude tag and you want to ensure that the exclude will override the include, use the toggle and turn on Mixed tag priority.
Note: Any post tagged "noads" by your site will not include ads if you have ads turned on in your account.
Ads
Use this section to turn on or off your account ads for this automated campaign. Please note that if ad blocks are manually added to the template, ads will display as this overrides setting this to Never run ads in emails from this campaign.
Post Formatting
The content used for each mailing is tailored by this section. Your template may override some preferences set here.
Post length
When a feed is truncated by the website, the content that is left is generally plain text. This means that URLs and images have been removed. When you use the post length option in Campaign Settings, FeedBlitz will intelligently truncate your posts, leaving the final word intact and preserving images and links.
Set the approximate number of characters you would like to have included in your posts here. A paragraph is generally around 300 characters.
Pro-Tip: If you want to include a button or call to action below your content in your template and don't want the default Read the whole entry, use "%20" in the Teaser Text box without the quotes or leave the post length full here and use the template editor to change the length of your post.
Number of Recaps
Enter the number of recent posts you would like linked after your article(s) in each mailing. Five is the default. You may include up to ten. Enter zero in this block if you would like to disable this automated feature.
When the automated recaps block is used, it defaults to the style of the post(s) in the mailing. If the post(s) include a button or an added call to action block, that block will be repeated after the recaps. Enter zero in the Number of Recaps to disable and use a content block in the editor to customize your own recap block.
Sharing
These are icons and links that can be enabled to appear after the content of your article/post. They are inserted immediately after your post's content. This text will be inserted as part of the the post block and before any other content can be added to the RSS block. In other words, if you want to add a button or specially styled call to action in the template editor, it will follow all sharing icons and links.
Please note due to the way FeedBlitz stores data changes made in this section may take a few minutes to be reflected in your preview/emails.
Email to a Friend and Comment Links
Email to a friend is forwarding link that reminds your subscriber that they can share your email with their contact(s). Comment links give your subscriber a quick way to quickly see if people have commented —at the time of the mailing—encouraging interaction.
Social Sharing
Editing these links will change the underlying FeedBlitz feed, if you are using a FeedBlitz feed to power your automated mailing. The final two options, the subscribe choices are most useful when your email has been forwarded.
Choose which icons you would like to include as quick share links beneath your content.
Template
Click Edit template to be taken to the template editor to change the design of your campaign. Some template changes can override campaign settings. Ads and post formatting are examples. When troubleshooting you will need to check both the campaign settings and the template design.
Use the template editor to send yourself test emails to confirm your campaign looks exactly as you prefer. Don't forget to test on mobile devices, different browsers, and applications.
Remember
To apply changes to your campaign you must finish the two step process.
- Click Next Step: Campaign summary
- Click Finish: Save this campaign
As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to let us know. You can find all of our great support resources and how to get in touch with us via email, chat, or phone on our Support Page.