Automation feeds - Feed explorer, filtering Automation feed in Template editor & other usability improvements

Jarno Marin
  • Last update:

December 2023 - General availability

We have made several updates to make it easier to set up and use Automation feeds for campaign and creative automation.

  • The new Feed explorer lets you review the feed item details right in the UI, and filter the Automation feed within the template editor.
  • Enhanced validation helps to prevent errors.
  • We have also made several usability improvements to the process of connecting your feed to Automation feeds.

Key benefits

With Feed explorer, you can easily see what information you have in the feed and in which format it is after the processing. Feed explorer makes it easier to build the wanted campaigns, ad set, ads and creatives. It's also handy for investigating issues with feed based setups.

Filtering the Automation feed within the template editor allows you to use only the wanted items from your feed when designing the templates or creating assets. It also makes quality assurance much easier as you have a fast way to look into the data each item has.

Setting up a new feed or editing an existing one is now much faster and more intuitive. The improved validation is a guide towards a correct setup.

Changes in Smartly

Feed explorer

Feed explorer uses table format to show all the items and the data within the different fields of each item. This makes it easier to understand what information you have in the feed and in which format it is after the processing.

In the feed explorer, you can use search and filtering to further narrow down the wanted items.

You can access the Feed explorer both in the Automation feed listing view (under the Actions column) and in the Template editor when using Automation feed as the data source.

Use Feed explorer in Template editor to filter the preview items:

When you choose Automation feed as the data source within the Data tab in Template editor, you can see the Feed explorer button. Clicking the button will open up the Feed explorer. From this view you can define filters to narrow down the items you are using from the feed as the preview items. Once you have added filters and clicked Save, you can see the UI highlighting that there are filters applied.

Other usability improvements

  • Each section in the Automation feeds settings now has a validation indicator that highlights missing or faulty information.
  • When creating a new Automation feed and when a valid URL is parsed, the available fields are mapped automatically one-to-one with naming, similarly to clicking the "Map fields automatically".
  • For clarity, we have changed the order of fields within the mapping section.
  • Destination field name is now always editable.
  • There is only one selector visible for adding a new Data source field in the bottom of the field listing. When new field is selected the other details are automatically added.
  • We have added error notification for duplicate destination field names as well as added number type validations and warnings based on what preview values are coming through.
  • If there are unsupported characters in the destination field name, there will be an info box telling that these will be sanitized automatically. When clicking "Save changes" there will be a dialog that further explains the field name sanitations and what the final field names will be.
  • The "Save Changes" & "Cancel" buttons are now floating in the button, following the scrolling of the page.

Limitations

Impact and actions needed

No impact on your content or campaigns. No actions are needed from you.

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