External content in Inxmail Professional

There are two different agents in Inxmail Professional that are used for integrating external content into a mailing. These are the Content agent and the Templates agent. In key points, they behave in the same way. But there are also significant differences. This is described in more detail below.

Send time content

When referring to external content that can be integrated using the Content agent, the term Send time content is used. Send time content has the following characteristics:

• You can integrate HTML files into your mailing.
• You can integrate XML files (with transformation) into your mailing.
• You can personalise content by passing recipient details from Inxmail Professional to the data source and receiving personalised content back from the data source.
• Send time content can be used in all mailings. In other words, the external content can be integrated into mailings that are based on the Inxmail Smart Templates and those that are not based on the Inxmail Smart Templates (for example, HTML templates).
• The integrated external content is drawn from the external data source at the time of sending.
• The integrated content therefore cannot be edited in Inxmail Professional.
• Send time content is set up exclusively in the Global settings.
• The provision of external content in other formats (for example, using JSON) is not supported in the standard system, but can be implemented through a custom solution. Contact your Inxmail contact person for more information.

Content import

When referring to external content that can be integrated using the Templates agent, the term Content import is used. Content import has the following characteristics:

• You cannot integrate HTML files into your mailing.
• You can integrate only XML files or XML feeds into your mailing.
• This means that the data source must provide XML files.
• The content can be used only for the Inxmail Smart Templates or Inxmail Enterprise Templates.
• The XML files or feeds must be transformed to the structure of the elements in the Inxmail Smart Templates elements through transformations.
• You can personalise content by passing recipient details from Inxmail Professional to the data source and receiving personalised content back from the data source.
• The external content is not updated at the time of the mailing dispatch. So if updates have taken place in the external data source prior to the mailing dispatch, they will no longer be included in the mailing. (The exception is if the editor performs a manual update or synchronisation with the external data source. Doing this will delete/overwrite any changes that he/she has performed manually.)
• The content import can be performed across lists in the ‘Global settings’, or at list level.
• The external content can be edited in the Template Editor, in other words, the external content can be modified by the editor before sending.

Tabular overview of the key characteristics

	Send time content	Content import
Integrate HTML files	Yes	No
Integrate XML files	Yes	Yes
Transformation	Required for XML files	Always required
Personalisation	Yes	Yes
Inxmail Smart Templates required	No	Yes
Editable in Inxmail Professional	No	Yes
Update of the content	Sending time	Editing time
Setup	Globally	Global or at list level

Using content import and send time content together

You can use Send time content and Content import in one and the same mailing insofar as the mailing is based on Inxmail Smart Templates. For example, you can fill article elements with content from your online shop using the Content import, and integrate the legal notice in the footer element using Send time content.

Real-time content

In addition to external content that is updated at the time of editing (Content import) or at the time of sending (Send time content), there is external content that is not updated until the time of email opening. The term Real-time content is used here.

Real-time content examples

• Countdown timer

  Countdown timers are a means of drawing attention to time-restricted actions and giving notice of forthcoming events. Countdown timers can be static or animated images that are generated by an image generator at the time of opening, taking account of the current time. They are then loaded by the email program.

• Location-dependent weather report

  When an email is opened, the recipient’s location can normally be determined with sufficient accuracy to show location-dependent weather forecasts. The location is determined using the recipient’s profile or IP. These weather forecasts offer useful added value for the recipient, and are commonly found in newsletters issued by travel operators and organisers.

The data source must fulfil specific requirements if external content is to be updated at the time when the email is opened.

More detailed information on Real-time content can be found in the Inxmail blog (https://www.inxmail.de/wissen/blog):

An example showing the use of Real-time content can be likewise found in the Inxmail blog (https://www.inxmail.de/wissen/blog):

If you would like to set up a data source for Real-time content, contact your customer service representative (Care-Consulting@inxmail.de).

The following chapter provides general information on the procedure related to external content. This information applies to both Send time content and the Content import. You will find examples showing how different forms of external content can be integrated. The examples indicate whether Send time content or Content import was used.

After that, the two sections Send time content and Content import provide detailed information on setup and use in Inxmail Professional.