Connections to content on an RSS feed

You can use the Content Connector to configure connections in email messages that retrieve content from an RSS feed when you send the message. The connections to RSS feeds are built using the same advanced scripting language that you can use to add nested conditional content and data tables to email messages. Unica has adapted the script syntax to create connections to RSS feeds. You can modify the script to customize the RSS connection.

Adding content from an RSS feed to your marketing email provides the ability to present the very latest information to message recipients. For example, if you send a monthly email newsletter, you can automatically include updated items of interest from one or more RSS news feeds each time that you send newsletter.

When you send the email message, the system automatically retrieves the content available on the feed at that time. You can control how the content appears in the email and how many items are included. You can also personalize how the RSS content appears for each message recipient. You can connect to RSS feeds that are created in either RSS or Atom formats.

The RSS connection retrieves content that is available on the feed only when the email is transmitted. The connection does not refresh the content when the email recipient opens the email. To establish a link to an RSS feed that provides continually updated RSS content, you must add a hyperlink to the feed in the communication.

You can add a connection to RSS feeds using the Content Connector in a zone, by embedding the connection in an HTML email template or HTML snippet, or by referencing a snippet that contains an RSS connection.

The Content Connector interface provides two predefined display format options. The interface also provides access to the script that defines the connection. You can customize a connection by editing the script that defines it. For more information about editing advanced scripts, see Appendix A. Using advanced scripts in email and the related topics in this guide.