Using an RSS Feed
RSS Feeds can be used in Lawmatics to automatically share your firm's latest content or blog posts with any contacts in your CRM. We have made it simple to add your RSS Feed into your Lawmatics account and create an automatic campaign to send it out to your audience on a repeating interval of your choice.
The first step in using this feature is to add your RSS Feed into your account on the RSS Feed Settings page, found by clicking the settings gear icon near the top right, and then select that option from the left sidebar.
If your firm has more than one RSS Feed, you can feel free to add each of them in by clicking the Add New RSS Feed button shown at the bottom of the image above.
When you add a new feed, you will see the box below.
Give the RSS Feed a name, this is just for internal use and is important for distinguishing between your different feeds if you have more than one.
You will then paste in the URL for the RSS Feed, and select the format as either Blog or Article.
Next you will select how many posts from your feed you would like included in the feed, as well as if the feed should only show new content. These two settings work together to determine how many posts are included when the feed is sent via email.
For example, if you enter 5 as the max posts, and opt to only show new content, then when your feed is sent if there are only 3 new posts since the last send it would just send the feed with those 3. On the other hand, if you have 6 new posts since the last send, then it would only show the 5 newest.
If you do select the option to show only new content, then if you do not have any new content since the last time the feed was sent, it simply will not send the feed, even if you have a campaign set to send it out.
Depending on how often you post, and how often you plan to send out your feed, you can adjust these settings accordingly.
Once you have created your feed on the RSS Feed Settings page, your next step is to create an email template for your feed. This will be a very simple email with the main purpose of merging in your RSS Feed field.
- We suggest turning on the Promotional Email option for your RSS Feed email, this will include an unsubscribe link when the email is sent. Anyone who unsubscribes will automatically be prevented from receiving future promotional emails from your firm.
- Here you have the option to choose if you still want the email to be sent when your feed is empty, meaning there are no posts or no new posts (depending on your selections from the settings above when creating the feed). Most firms choose to keep this toggled off.
- You will need to click into this dropdown to add your RSS Feed field to the email. Note that you will only see this dropdown option if you have added feeds (in settings), and if you have added multiple feeds you will see them all listed here. This is the most important step of sending out your feed, make sure that you have selected the proper RSS Feed field for the email, since this is what will actually include your feed in the email.
- After you have selected the feed field from step 3, verify that you see the field merged into your email.
Once you have created an email template for your RSS Feed, your next step is to create a repeating campaign to send out your feed on a recurring interval.
Learn how to create your repeating email campaign here.
FAQ's
What is an RSS Feed?
RSS Feeds are not unique to Lawmatics. An RSS Feed is a method for easily sharing content in real time. Learn more about the basics of RSS Feeds here: https://rss.com/blog/how-do-rss-feeds-work/
Is the URL to my RSS Feed the same as the URL for my blog on my website?
You will usually need to create a separate URL for the RSS Feed.
What email address will the RSS Feed email send from?
When you create a repeating campaign for sending out your feed, or if you are just manually sending the email, you will have the chance to select from any of your users' email addresses or your firm email to send the email from.