Add External Content

Add external content blocks to an email in Content Builder

1. Drag the External Content block to a content area.
2. Enter the complete URL, including http://, of the external content to embed into a message.
3. Select when to retrieve the content:
   • Immediately - immediately retrieves the URL content. Use this feature to get the content as it appears at the URL right now. If you select this option, you can’t include personalization in the URL. You can edit and preview the content in the Layout and Plain Text preview of an Email.
   • Send Time - retrieves the URL content at the time the system processes the email for sending. Use this feature to get the latest content at the URL at the time the email is sent. If you choose this option and select a failure protocol, you can include personalization in the URL . When used in an Email, you can’t edit the content but you can preview the content for a test subscriber.
4. If you select Send Time, choose a retrieval option:
   • Email Level - retrieves the URL external content only once, and every recipient receives the same content. Example: A newspaper sends a daily email with the latest news headlines. When the email is sent, the external content block pulls headlines from a web service the newspaper created to serve the headlines and links to full stories. Since the headlines are the same for everyone, this retrieval is only called once for the entire send.
   • Subscriber Level - retrieves the URL external content for or each individual recipient, and each recipient receives unique content. Example: an airline newsletter contains the recipients’ award miles balance. Since each recipient's balance is different, the external content block calls a web service once for each recipient to get their miles balance.

   

   Warning Since this retrieval can result in millions of external calls in a large send, we recommend Email Level.