How to Differentiate Between Basic and Custom for RSS Headers and Items in the Email Builder

How to Differentiate Between Basic and Custom for RSS Headers and Items in the Email Builder

Using the RSS Header and RSS Item elements in the Advisor's Growth Email Builder allows you to automatically pull in and display dynamic content from an RSS feed, ideal for blog updates or any site providing regularly updated content.

Follow these steps to understand how to edit RSS Headers and Items with both Basic and Custom options.

Step 1: Editing the RSS Header Block

The RSS Header Block dynamically pulls information from your RSS feed and displays it in your email. It uses specific RSS tags to extract and present this information. The following custom values correspond to the tags in the feed:

• RSS Tags and Custom Values:

  • <title> ➔ {{rss_feed.title}}

  • <description> ➔ {{rss_feed.description}}

  • <link> ➔ {{rss_feed.url}}

  • <lastBuildDate> ➔ {{rss_feed.date}}

Basic vs Custom

• Basic Option:
  The "Basic" option adds pre-formatted, non-editable content to the editor. The text is locked, meaning you can’t modify it beyond its automatic structure.

• Example:
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  <h1 class="h1">{{rss_feed.title}}</h1>

• {{rss_feed.description}}<br /><br />

• Custom Option:
  The "Custom" option allows you to modify the text, offering more flexibility in how the information is displayed.

• Example:
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  Updates from {{rss_feed.url}}

• <h1>{{rss_feed.title}}</h1>

• <strong>{{rss_feed.description}}</strong><br /><br />

• <strong>In the {{rss_feed.date}} edition:</strong><br />

Note: You can also use these custom RSS channel variables in the subject line to dynamically populate email subjects.

Step 2: Editing the RSS Items Block

The RSS Items Block is where individual RSS items, such as blog posts, are dynamically inserted into your email. This block uses custom values to pull specific details for each item.

• RSS Tags and Custom Values:

  • <title/> ➔ {{rss_item.title}} (e.g., the title of a blog post)

  • <description/> ➔ {{rss_item.content}} (a short summary or snippet of the post in HTML)

  • <link/> ➔ {{rss_item.url}} (a URL linking to the full post)

  • <content:encoded/> ➔ {{rss_item.content_full}} (full HTML content)

  • <pubDate/> ➔ {{rss_item.date}} (publication date, e.g., MMM DD, YYYY hh:mm A)

  • <dc:creator> ➔ {{rss_item.author}} (author of the post)

  • <media:content> ➔ {{rss_item.imageUrl}} (image URL from the post, displayed using {{rss_img}})

Basic vs Custom

• Basic Option:
  Similar to the RSS Header, the Basic option provides a standard layout that cannot be edited.

• Example:
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  {{#rss_items rss_items}}

• <h2 class="mc-toc-title"><a href="{{rss_item.url}}" target="_blank">{{rss_item.title}}</a></h2>

• {{rss_item.content}}<br />

• <a href="{{rss_item.url}}" target="_blank">Read on »</a><br /><br />

• {{/rss_items}}

• Custom Option:
  The Custom option gives you more flexibility, allowing you to fully control how each item is presented, including additional details such as author and date.

• Example:
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  {{#rss_items rss_items}}

• <h2 class="mc-toc-title"><a href="{{rss_item.url}}" target="_blank">{{rss_item.title}}</a></h2>

• <em>By {{rss_item.author}} on {{rss_item.date}}</em><br />

• {{rss_item.content_full}}<br />

• <a href="{{rss_item.url}}" target="_blank">Read in browser &raquo;</a><br /><br />

• {{/rss_items}}

• Additionally, you can add a section for recent articles:
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  <h3 class="h3">Recent Articles:</h3>

• {{#rss_items rss_items}}

Summary

• Basic: Provides a pre-formatted, fixed layout for the RSS headers and items. It’s quick to use but doesn’t allow for content modification.

• Custom: Offers full flexibility to edit the layout and style of the RSS content, ideal for customizing how information is presented in your email.