How to automatically send your blog posts by email with an RSS campaign
Connect your blog’s feed to Mailrelay and send every new post to your subscribers without putting the newsletter together by hand.
Do you have a blog and want your subscribers to get every new post without putting the newsletter together by hand? With Mailrelay’s RSS campaigns, you can do just that: the system reads your website’s feed and sends the new posts at the frequency you choose.
It works with the WordPress feed and with many other services, including YouTube. In this guide, you’ll see how to set it up step by step.
Step 1: find your blog’s RSS feed
The RSS feed is an address that collects your latest posts. In WordPress, it’s usually your website’s address followed by /feed. For example, ours is https://blog.mailrelay.com/en/feed.
If you don’t know it, open your website, right-click and choose View page source.
Search the code for the text “RSS”. Clicking that link opens the feed page: copy its address, because that’s the one you’ll use in Mailrelay.
Note: if your website is in maintenance mode, the feed won’t be accessible. Some plugins also cause problems with the feed, so open it in your browser first to check that it works.
Step 2: create the RSS campaign
Go to Campaigns > RSS campaigns.
Click +Add and then Create campaign.
Step 3: configure the campaign settings
These are the settings that define your RSS campaign:
Subject. What your contacts will see in their inbox.
Preview text. The line that appears next to the subject in many email clients.
Sender. The address it’s sent from.
Groups or segments. Who the campaign is sent to.
URL. The address of the RSS feed you copied in step 1.
Number of entries. How many posts are included in each send.
Frequency. How often it’s sent: daily, weekly or manually.
Here’s what a real example looks like:
Show the post title in the subject line
To use the title of the latest post as the subject, type this tag in the subject box: {{ first_rss_entry.title }}
You can also combine it with your own text, for example: “New on the blog: {{ first_rss_entry.title }}”.
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Step 4: prepare the RSS campaign design
Start from a template and choose the text box where you want the posts to appear.
Select the text in that box and delete it.
Then open the Variables drop-down menu. This is where you’ll insert the tags that make the campaign work.
The most important one is the Loop for RSS entries. Without it, the campaign can’t show your posts.
The loop starts with {% rss_loop %} and ends with {% endrss_loop %}. Never delete either part: all the other tags have to go between them. The {{ rss_entry.title }} tag is replaced with the title of each post.
Check your feed’s settings. The tags available depend on your RSS feed. If your feed doesn’t include the summary, it won’t be shown. If the summary includes the full article, the whole article will be shown.
Step 5: add the link to each post
If you insert the URL variable as is, the email will show the address as plain text, without a link.
To create a link, copy the {{ rss_entry.url }} tag.
Type some text such as “Read more”, select it and click the link icon.
A window like this will open:
Fill in two fields:
Protocol. Choose the other option.
URL. Paste the {{ rss_entry.url }} tag.
The text box will look like this, with three tags: the loop, the title and the link.
Step 6: add the image of each post
The process is similar. In the variables drop-down menu, choose URL under the Image block. The {{ rss_entry.image.url }} tag will be inserted.
Copy the tag and click the insert image icon.
In the window that opens, paste the tag into the image address field.
The image won’t show in the editor, but it will in the email you send. For it to appear, your feed has to include images: sometimes the article has them but the feed doesn’t.
Your newsletter on autopilot
Every new post on your blog reaches your subscribers without you having to prepare anything.
Step 7: send a test before enabling it
In the RSS campaigns list, you have several options:
The blue magnifying glass icon shows a preview of the campaign. The green envelope icon lets you send a test.
Send yourself a test and check that all the tags have been replaced with the feed’s data.
Always send a test before sending to your list: that way you can check that titles, links and images look right.
Other feeds: your YouTube videos
You can also use your YouTube channel’s feed, with an address like this one: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=YOUR_CHANNEL_ID
This feed doesn’t include the summary or the image, but it does include the title and link of each video. It’s an easy way to let your subscribers know when you publish something new.
Benefits of sending your blog by email
You save time. The campaign goes out on its own every time you publish, or at the frequency you choose.
You bring back visitors. Your subscribers come back to your website without relying on social media or Google.
You stay in touch. Your list gets useful content regularly, not just offers.
For more detail, see the help article How to create an RSS campaign in the Mailrelay knowledge base. And if you don’t have a list yet, start by creating a subscription form for your blog.
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Frequently asked questions
These are the most common questions about RSS campaigns in Mailrelay.
What is an RSS campaign?
A newsletter that builds itself from the latest posts in your website’s feed and is sent at the frequency you choose.
Where do you create an RSS campaign in Mailrelay?
In Campaigns > RSS campaigns > +Add.
How do I put the post title in the subject line?
Type the {{ first_rss_entry.title }} tag in the subject. You can combine it with your own text.
Why doesn’t the post image appear?
Because your feed doesn’t include images, even if the article does. Check your website’s RSS settings.
Can I send my YouTube videos?
Yes. Use your channel’s feed. The title and link will be shown, but not the summary or the image.