Connections to external content

You can connect email and landing pages that you create in Deliver to content that is stored outside of your HCL Unica installation. Create the connections in zones with the Content Connector widget or embed the connections in HTML templates or HTML snippets.

Connecting to external content gives you the flexibility to update email and landing pages without opening a communication. Content connections also give individuals that do not have access to your Unica installation the ability to contribute content to your marketing email and landing pages.

You can add connections in HTML email or text-only email to external content that is provided from the following sources.

  • HTML or text content on a web server
  • HTML or text content on an FTP server hosted by HCL (not available for landing pages)
  • Content from an RSS feed (not available for landing pages, email sent as an A/B test, or transactional email messages)

When you configure the connection, you must specify when the system retrieves the content from the source and adds it to the email or landing page.

The system provides options to retrieve the content from the source either when you publish the communication or when you send the message. The specific options available for each connection depends on the type of content, the type of communication, and the source of the content.

If an email contains a View As Web Page link, you can configure the content connection to include or exclude the external content in the web page version of the message.

You cannot create a content connection to an image file or other types of digital files. However, HTML snippets that you add through a content connection can include images if you include the full path to each image.

You cannot create a connection to content that contains a <UAEreferenceLabel> tag. The <UAEreferenceLabel> tag is used to reference digital assets that are stored in the Content Library.

After you add a content connection, you can preview the communication to see how the connected content appears to a message recipient. You can also preview the message in the Message Editor. or from a link on a mailing tab in Campaign.