Multiple Feeds

Using multiple RSS feeds in a single automated RSS email with FeedOtter.

A feature unique to FeedOtter is the ability to use content from multiple RSS feeds in a single fully automated newsletter.

Here's what you need to know:

• You must be using a multifeed-capable email template.

• Each feed must be a valid RSS feed

Multi-feed template

Here is a basic example of how you would display content form multiple feeds in a single email. Each feed has a unique loop that can be displayed and formatted as you wish.

// Feed 1 Loop
[% for post in feedotter.posts %]
     <p>[[post.post_title]] - [[post.post_url]]</p>
[% endfor %]

// Feed 2 Loop
[% for post in feedotter.posts2 %]
     <p>[[post.post_title]] - [[post.post_url]]</p>
[% endfor %]

Increment the 'posts2' number for as many feeds as your newsletter has. If you added a third feed you would use 'posts3' and so on.

Important Tools for Multiple Feed Emails

There are lots of clever ways to use multiple feeds in your emails.

Slicing

Use the Slice filter to display a specific post or group of posts by range.

[% for post in feedotter.posts | slice(0,1) %]

allPosts

This is an alternative to the standard "feedotter.posts" loop and can be especially useful in multiple feed newsletters.

This loop contains all posts in an RSS feed regardless of any UI settings or new content filters. It is very useful if you want to have a section of events, webinars, or articles in your newsletter and just want to display some number of items from the top of a feed.

//allPosts for feed 1
[% for post in feedotter.allPosts %]

//allPosts example for feed 3
[% for post in feedotter.allPosts3 %]

//allPosts example using slice to show the top 5 items from a feed
[% for post in feedotter.allPosts3 | slice(0,5) %]

If Statements

We recommend using IF statements around all content sections in multiple feed newsletter to prevent the chance of a newsletter sending with a section that appears empty.

Here is an example. See how each section, including the section header h1 is wrapped with an IF statement based on the loop's contents. If a loop contains no content the section will collapse and not appear in the newsletter.

// Feed 1 Loop with Conditional
[% if feedotter.posts|length > 0 %] 
<h1>Here are posts from Feed 1</h1>
[% for post in feedotter.posts %]
     <p>[[post.post_title]] - [[post.post_url]]</p>
[% endfor %]
[% endif %]

// Feed 2 Loop
[% if feedotter.posts2|length > 0 %]
<h1>Here are posts from Feed 2</h1>
[% for post in feedotter.posts2 %]
     <p>[[post.post_title]] - [[post.post_url]]</p>
[% endfor %]
[% endif %]

Relevant Features and UI elements

While the UI is mostly the same when working with multiple feeds there are a couple differences.

Multiple Feed Inputs

Add multiple feeds to your newsletter from the RSS feeds tab. Your template must support displaying multiple feeds.

Max Posts

The maximum number of content items each feed loop will contain. This pertains specifically to the 'feedotter.posts' loop. See the allPosts feature to override this in code.

Published Date Filter

Whether or not to filter your 'feedotter.posts' loop to only contain content published since the last send date of your newsletter. The default is ON when using multiple feeds. This ensures there will always be SOME content in each post loop. When you become more familiar with multiple feed usage you may wish to turn this off and use combination of 'feedotter.posts' and 'feedotter.allPosts' loops to more precisely control content in each newsletter section.

Scheduling Considerations for Multiple Feed Emails

Refer to the Schedule tab in FeedOtter. If you have added multiple feeds to your email you will see some expanded options IF you have selected the "Require new content to send" option.

The "Require new content to send" checkbox does several things.

1. It tells FeedOtter to skip sending an automated email if the RSS feed does not contain new content since the last send date.

2. It also filters the items contained in the 'feedotter.posts' loops -ALL OF THEM- so only new content appears in your email. This also affects the subject variables.

In a typical, single-feed automated newsletter. FeedOtter will try to send on the schedule you set skipping sends if no new content has been published since the last send date.

It is important to consider the implications of "Requiring new content" in multiple feed newsletters.

In a multiple feed newsletter scenario this needs to be considered further.

Do you want to prevent sending based on the presence of new content? If no. You uncheck the "Require new content to send" option and FeedOtter will send your newsletter on the schedule you set. There is nothing more to think about.

• If you uncheck "Require new content to send" all date-based item filtering is removed from your newsletter. The contents of the 'feedotter.posts' loops will contain the max posts number of articles as set on the RSS Feeds tab.

• If you want to display posts with a published date in the future you can also check Include Old Content. In most cases, we recommend using an allPosts loop in your newsletter code and leaving this unchecked.

If yes, you do want FeedOtter to skip sends based on the presence of new content you will need to select WHICH rss feeds FeedOtter considers when making this decision.

Under the Multi-Feed Settings - Feeds to Watch tick the box next to feeds that should be factored in. When FeedOtter goes to send your newsletter it will examine content from ALL of the selected feeds. If there is at least 1 new post from ANY selected feed. Your newsletter will send.

We also suggest placing IF statements around all of your content loops in your email code. This ensures that your newsletter won't show empty sections when it sends.

In the code example above, the newsletter section, including the header will be hidden if a feed contains no new content.

Additional Code-Based Features

While basic multi-feed email features are shown in the UI more can be done by relying on the HTML code itself.

// Some code

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some examples of multiple feed emails customers have created?

Great question. Here are a couple that we love.

<ex 1> <ex2>

Subject Line Options for Multiple Feed Emails

FeedOtter includes a number of dynamic tokens to make your newsletter subject lines more interesting while staying automated.

In a multiple feed newsletter you have the ability to inject the title of the most recent post from ANY of the feeds included in your newsletter.

If you wish to display a post title in the subject of a multi-feed automated email. We recommend using the "Multi-Feed Title Subject". This ensures that your subject line will always have a subject no matter what feeds have content.

If you have "Require new content to send" turned on it is possible for the latest_post_title value to become empty due to filtering.

Many ESPs will not send an email with an empty subject line so we recommend constructing your subject line with that in mind OR using the Multi-Feed Title Subject to ensure your subject is never empty.