An RSS campaign is an automated email that delivers your latest content like blog posts, news updates, product launches, etc., directly to your subscribers whenever you publish something new. Instead of manually creating and sending an email each time, you connect your RSS feed once, and the emails go out on their own. It is one of the simplest ways to keep your audience engaged without adding to your workload. This document talks about how to create an RSS campaign in Zoho Campaigns.

Who should use RSS campaign? 

RSS campaigns work well for anyone who publishes content on a regular schedule. Here are a few common use cases:

• Bloggers and content teams: Automatically notify subscribers every time a new article goes live, without any manual work after the initial setup.

• News and media publishers: Send daily or weekly digests of your top stories to readers who want to stay informed.

• E-commerce brands: Push new product listings or back-in-stock updates straight to customer inboxes.

• SaaS and tech companies: Share product updates, or release notes, with users who care about what’s new.

• Newsletters: If you send content-heavy newsletters and want them to go out regularly, RSS campaigns can do it automatically based on your publishing schedule.

Prerequisite 

Make sure you have the following ready before creating your RSS campaign:

• A valid RSS feed URL (for example, https://yourblog.com/feed)

• A list of contacts or segments you want to send the email to

Steps to create an RSS campaign 

To create an RSS campaign,

1. From the Navigation tool bar on the left, click Campaigns and select Email.

2. In the top right corner of the screen, find the Create new button. Click the dropdown arrow next to it and select Create RSS Campaign.

3. Type or paste your RSS feed URL into the field provided. This is the link the system will monitor for new content. Once done, click Proceed.

You will now land on the email configuration page. This is where you set everything up:

1. Recipients: Add Topics to categorise your campaign, and in the To field, add contacts from lists and segments.

2. From: The name and email address subscribers will see as the sender

3. Reply-to: The email address where replies will be sent

4. Subject: The subject line for your email

5. Preheader: Short preview text that appears in the inbox below the subject line

You can also configure these additional settings based on your needs:

1. Enable track replies: Track when subscribers reply to your campaign emails

2. File attachments: Attach files that will be included with every send

3. Response action: Define what happens when a subscriber takes a specific action

Now you can add the email content.

1. Browse the template gallery and choose a predesigned layout that fits your brand.

2. Click Use Template to select it.

3. You will be taken to the drag-and-drop editor, where you can make your edits and customizations.

4. Once inside the template editor, you must add RSS merge tags to your content. For that:
   (a) Drag and drop the Text element.
   (b) Click Merge Tags.
   (c) Choose the relevant merge tags.

5. When you are happy with the template, click Save and Close Editor.

Once your email is ready,

1. Click Launch. You will be asked to choose how often the campaign sends.
   (a) Quick presets: Pick from predefined send frequencies for a fast setup.

(b) Manual: You can set a custom interval for every X days, weeks, months, or years, and choose your preferred send time and time zone.

2. Send immediately: To send the campaign right away, check the box next to 'Send a campaign now'.