Overview

Adding a news feed widget to your email can be a great way to keep your visitors informed and engaged with the latest news and updates. This guide will walk you through the steps to add a news feed widget to your template. 

Why should you use the news feed widget?

1. Save time by showing the latest information every time the email is opened. You wont have to send multiple campaigns for every update. 

2. The email recipient can get access the latest news from a single place without having to check multiple websites.

Pre-requisites

1. Elements of news feed widget- The widget consists of the following components:

    a. Topic (Optional field)

    b. Title (Mandatory field)

    c. Description (Optional field)

    d. Link (Mandatory field)

    e. Image (Optional field)

2. You need to have an API endpoint from where we will fetch the latest data. The API endpoint must return data in JSON format.

Here is the sample data which we expect-

[
{
"image_url": "<optional image url for item 1>",
"alternate_image_text": "<value for alternate image text>",
"topic": "<optional topic for item 1>",
"title": "<mandatory title for item 1>",
"description": "<optional description for item 1>",
"link": "<mandatory link for item 1>"
},
{
"image_url": "<optional image url for item 2>",
"alternate_image_text": "<value for alternate image text>",
"topic": "<optional topic for item 2>",
"title": "<mandatory title for item 2>",
"description": "<optional description for item 2>",
"link": "<mandatory link for item 2>"
}
]

As long as data in in JSON format, we will be able to parse your data. You would be able to map the keys to the corresponding news feed elements in further steps.

Data beyond two levels of nesting cannot be parsed.

Already have a RSS feed?

RSS is an XML based dialect. If you already have an RSS feed, you can use third party tools like rss.app to convert your XML feed to JSON feed. 

How to insert a news widget in your email template?

1. Open the editor and create your template. Add a widget>Live feed>News feed

2. Click on Setup in the right panel.

3. Paste your API endpoint and enter header key value pairs if any> Fetch data

4. Map the elements to corresponding keys in the API payload. Once done, click on Complete setup.

5. Customise the widget from the right panel. You have the following customisation options-

a. Number of items- Select the number of items you want to show in the feed. You can select any number from 1 to 10 (inclusive).

b. Layout- Select a layout with or without an image.

c. Text color- Select the color of the topic, title, description and button text

d. Button call to action- Input the button's call to action

6. Send out a test email and preview the email across devices to ensure everything is rendering as expected.

Your widget setup is complete! You are all set to use the news feed widget in your campaigns.

While the AMP version of the email will fetch the latest data every time the email is opened, the HTML version will always show the data fetched at the time of sending the email.

Have any queries? Reach out to us using the chat icon on the bottom right of your screen or send us an email at support@mailmodo.com.