How to Send RSS Email from Marketo

A setup guide detailing how to send RSS emails with Marketo and FeedOtter.

1. Create a new automated RSS campaign in FeedOtter

  1. Create or Log In to your FeedOtter account
  2. Click on the New Marketo RSS Campaign button
  3. Follow the wizard and accordion steps to create and customize your RSS email, key aspects you’ll want to be sure to check out are:
    1. Selecting a template from our library of awesome, responsive, templates
    2. Adding your company address and social media URL’s
    3. Uploading your logo and customizing your brand colors

2. Define your automated RSS email schedule

FeedOtter offers 2 types of Marketo RSS emails:

Alert; a new email is triggered every time new content appears in your RSS feed. Most clients use this to alert their Marketo leads to new content in real-time.

Digest; emails are created and sent on a schedule you specify. We support sending Monthly, Weekly, and Daily with advanced features that let you specify business day sending only or “every other” sending.

3. Add your RSS feed url

FeedOtter supports any valid RSS/Atom/XML datafeed. In addition, FeedOtter supports adding multiple RSS feeds which can be combined into 1 content stream or used to create complex multi-section newsletters automatically.

If you’re not sure if your RSS feed will work with FeedOtter we recommend using https://validator.w3.org/feed/ to ensure your feed is valid. Any valid feed will work with FeedOtter.

4. Connect your Marketo account

When you’re happy with your email, click on the Publish to Marketo button to connect your new rss email to Marketo and activate your email. If this is your first RSS campaign you will be prompted to enter your Marketo REST API details. Read our Marketo Connection Guide for a step-by-step walkthrough how to setup the connection.

Once you have completed the Marketo connection you will see a screen as shown on the right. Here you need to select the appropriate Marketo Channel and Tag settings, these are required.

5. Decide: Full Automation or Semi-Automated

With FeedOtter you have full control over your rss emails. You can choose to have FeedOtter create and automatically send your email or create and prompt you to review, edit(as needed), A/B test, and press send manually. These two options allow you to have the perfect level of automation while maintaining control over the actual sending process.

You enable full automation by checking the Automate Future Runs checkbox as seen in the screenshot (right).

How the Marketo Integration Works

Unlike other Marketo RSS tools FeedOtter handles the setup for you. When you press the Start RSS Email button FeedOtter will create several items in your Marketo account.

  1. A new Folder called FeedOtter Programs
  2. A new Default Program with the same name as your FeedOtter RSS Campaign
  3. A Email Program named ### – FeedOtter Setup

Note: Once these items are created they can be moved and renamed as desired.

6. Configure recipients in Marketo

The last step only needs to be done once and tells Marketo who should receive your email. In either case click on the ### – FeedOtter Setup email program and do the following:

  1. Under Audience > Edit Smart List and tell Marketo who to send rss emails to.
  2. Under Email select the only option in the dropdown.

Note: These steps are required if you selected automate future runs in the previous steps. Otherwise, they are optional.

Steps 1 and 2 are highlighted in the Marketo screenshot below:

Wrapping Up

At this point setup is complete and FeedOtter will be able to create and send Marketo RSS emails. If you have chosen to Automate your email sending new Email Programs will be created and sent at your requested time. If you did not check the automated checkbox FeedOtter will create new Email Programs but will not send them. Instead you will receive an email when an email has been created in Marketo and requires your attention.

Reporting

We recommend using the Email Performance Reports built into Marketo. There are no hacks, tricks, or work-around required all FeedOtter sending allows for perfect Marketo email reporting.

Unsubscribe Handling

Since all emails are sent by Marketo unsubscribes are handled and tracked by Marketo. All FeedOtter rss email templates use the default Marketo {{system.unsubscribe_link}} merge token. If you wish to change this it should be done in your FeedOtter email template.

Marketo Workspaces

Yes, please email us at success@feedotter.com with the name of the workspace you would like your RSS emails to appear in.