Written on July 3rd, 2009 at 12:07 am by Darren Rowse
Feedburner Add Customizable Subject Lines to Email Subscriptions
One month ago I wrote an open letter to Google/Feedburner suggesting that it might be time to add some more features to Feedburner – particularly the ability to customize subject lines of those subscribing to a feed via RSS.
It seems that they’ve been hard at work on that very feature.
Today I logged into my Feedburner account and noticed this in the ‘Email Branding’ area.
Yep – it’s the feature we’ve been waiting for! All you need to do now is add the tag ${latestItemTitle} into the subject line and it looks like you’re set to have new subject lines on each email sent.
There’s no official word on this new feature yet from Feedburner.
Ironically it was only a few hours ago that I emailed a few questions to Feedburner who have agreed to an interview here on ProBlogger. Expect to hear more from Feedburner in the coming few days – hopefully this is a sign of things to come as they take Feedburner to the next level!
Thanks for listening Feedburner.
A hat tip to Carrie who emailed me about this new feature – nice pick up!
77 Responses to “Feedburner Add Customizable Subject Lines to Email Subscriptions” - Add Yours
Matt Harris
July 3rd, 2009 12:43 am
Nice, can’t wait to start using the new features.
FeedBurner Team
July 3rd, 2009 12:44 am
official post with more details on other ways to use the feature just went up:
http://adsenseforfeeds.blogspot.com/2009/07/happiness-is-more-subject-in-your.html
Robert Allen
July 3rd, 2009 12:47 am
Great news. Good to see that they’ve finally improved.
BlogSEOExpert - SEO for Blogs
July 3rd, 2009 12:47 am
This is awesome! Now, readers would be able to archieve the emails and look for them easily!
Thanks Darren – please keep asking for more user-friendly features!!
Francesco Gavello
July 3rd, 2009 12:58 am
This will come in handy! :D
Olivier Tischendorf
July 3rd, 2009 12:59 am
Darren,
excellent suggestion! I just changed my feedburner settings.
The Bad Blogger
July 3rd, 2009 1:03 am
Thanks for sharing…. this is really great !
Jodi Kaplan
July 3rd, 2009 1:10 am
Thanks Darren! While I was poking around, I noticed that I could set the timezone and time of day for delivery, so I changed that too.
Shafar
July 3rd, 2009 1:10 am
Thanks for sharing!
Jannie Funster
July 3rd, 2009 1:10 am
Well, I wrote them too, but was spurned. But now redeemed, via you. (Thanks.)
Tim Smith
July 3rd, 2009 1:21 am
Thanks for the tip! I’ve been hoping that Feedburner would do this.
Stephanie PTY
July 3rd, 2009 1:40 am
Yes! I just went in and changed my as soon as I saw this. I think they did a really great job with this change, including letting you customize how it handles multiple posts in one email. Way to go Google/Feedburner!
R. Kneschke
July 3rd, 2009 1:40 am
Thanks for getting it chainged and pointing that out. Just changed my subject to “Postname – Blogname”.
Bye, Robert
S.K SHARMA
July 3rd, 2009 1:57 am
This is good news for all the bloggers,Publishers.
Zemalf
July 3rd, 2009 2:04 am
Heh, Darren asks, Feedburner delivers? Anyway, it’s good to see that feedburner is developing, being such a great and essential service to all serious bloggers.
Cigar Inspector
July 3rd, 2009 2:11 am
Great news! Just did the config.
kosmo @ The Casual Observer
July 3rd, 2009 2:18 am
Cool.
How about a feature to insert text into the feed :) I’ll be giving away an eBook next Friday to my repeat visitors and RSS feed readers. I found a way to insert text+link (using a generic feedflare) but it would have been nice if there were a simple option to just insert a blurb of text.
I look forward to your interview with Feedburner.
malber
July 3rd, 2009 2:28 am
Wonderful! very much look forward to your interview.
Hopefully they will start displaying the author in email subscriptions. email subscribers to multi-author blog currently don’t have context to who wrote the post via their email.
a true integration with Google Analytics would also be a pretty neat.
Justin Parks
July 3rd, 2009 2:29 am
Just added the script myself, has made me quite happy today!
Prince of Andalus
July 3rd, 2009 2:32 am
if we have problems with feedburner, we will forward it to you… hehehe
feedburner only listens to famous people only
Slade Roberson
July 3rd, 2009 2:37 am
Darren,
Thanks for alerting us! I’ve been waiting forEVER for this feature and might have missed it without your head’s up.
You’ve earned another fond High 5 from me.
Oh, Happy Day!
:-)
wajira
July 3rd, 2009 2:51 am
Thanks ,,,great work :D
I m having a photo blog in blogger, I don’t want to send images to feed subscribers’ inbox. I want send only text. How can I stop it,
Great help…..
Amílcar Tavares
July 3rd, 2009 2:56 am
Thank you alot Darren for the tip and for pressuring them to offer a better service.
I’d already implemented it.
Heather Allard
July 3rd, 2009 3:03 am
Very cool! I just set mine up–and they actually give you another option to change the title when there are 2+ posts included AND give you three ways to do that!!
Good work, Darren–using your influence to improve Feedburner for all bloggers!! :)
Heather
Salman
July 3rd, 2009 3:10 am
Really awesome post I will try this surely
Regards
Salman
http://www.tips4blogging.co.cc
Squawkfox
July 3rd, 2009 3:20 am
Thank you Feedburner!
Nicole/MadlabPost
July 3rd, 2009 3:38 am
This is a GREAT new feature and I hope that I will be able to use it. That really helps to increase conversions, as some subscribers may not be interested in every single post so it will give them options on whether they want to read the one from say…Monday or one from Friday, you know. It also gives a blog a more attractive appearance than the generic “New Blog Post” that shows up for email subscriptions.
Ariel
July 3rd, 2009 3:58 am
and thank YOU Darren for giving us a heads up about the change! i just made the change to my feedburner feed and am overjoyed to see it finally be possible! :D
Ariel
http://www.YouAreTrulyLoved.com
Steven Finch
July 3rd, 2009 4:58 am
Is this actually a big deal?
Jess Gordon
July 3rd, 2009 5:10 am
YAY!!! Thanks for the tip! I just fixed mine :).
teratips
July 3rd, 2009 5:50 am
Oh! Darren really cool post, how can i thanks to you, you are such a blogger.
my blog about blogging and money making tips
http://www.teratips.com
Boris
July 3rd, 2009 5:54 am
Nice! I wonder why it took them so long =)
Chanda | BizDharma
July 3rd, 2009 5:58 am
Hey
could have added the complete path for newbies to track where the change needs to be done….
Also theres some new logo thingie too on the same page. Do checkout
Rgds
Guillermo
July 3rd, 2009 7:39 am
What I’ve noticed a couple of days ago was some kind of summary with all the entries titles at the beginning of the email. I did not see it again but it was something nice. if it was a test, feedburner could consider to include it!
À propos des allergies alimentaires
July 3rd, 2009 7:41 am
Thank you Darren & Feedburner!
Muzi Mohale
July 3rd, 2009 8:44 am
My pet peeve about feedburner is their verification process, it’s too much of a process and as a result people add their email address and never complete the process. Maybe they should authorise the publisher to compete the process on their behalf. You find on the total number of subscribers on your list half are inactive subscribers.
Another method which I came across yesterday through flippa.com their verification process is through the telephone. Immediately you enter your phone number you receive an automated call with a code which you then enter to completes the verification process instantly.
Mikes Sumondong
July 3rd, 2009 9:20 am
Let me update my feedburner right away!
Thanks for the tip as usual.
Michael
July 3rd, 2009 11:13 am
Thanks Darren & Feedburner. This is a great new feature, thanks to Darren’s prompting (at least that’s his story LOL)
Cheers,
Michael
needmoney.com
July 3rd, 2009 11:22 am
I guess sometimes dreams really do come true.
Sean Davis
July 3rd, 2009 11:46 am
Wow… I wonder how long this has been in the works. That’s pretty cool that they got this together. I like to see that kind of progression!
Flat Baby
July 3rd, 2009 12:13 pm
i dont use feedburner, it because i dont know how to use it, lol. but im gonna try it now. thanks
Ms Constantine
July 3rd, 2009 1:18 pm
Great news. Thanks to everyone who prodded them until they gave in!
Alison Kerr
July 3rd, 2009 2:21 pm
Great news! I’d not even been aware of the lack until you pointed it out. I’m sure my readers will appreciate this upgrade though.
make money online
July 3rd, 2009 2:38 pm
Excellent this will be interesting to hear. I will definatley be checking back to see the interview thanks for the work.
Amy Grindhouse
July 3rd, 2009 3:09 pm
I’ve been a reader for some time and do not usually comment, but I wanted to say thanks Darren – ahead of the curve as usual.
This is a great tip. I agree that without an adequate subject, all emails do look the same. This is much better and should allow people to search for them in their emails better too.
Raju
July 3rd, 2009 4:36 pm
ahhh finally… now the feed count issue needs to be addressed
Jessica Who
July 3rd, 2009 6:50 pm
Awesome! I was thinking about this the other day, thinking that it was pretty weak that my email subscribers were getting email updates simply titled “Jessica Who?” (my blog name) every time.
This is a great help and will certainly add to the personality of my blog. Thanks a lot for suggesting and then telling us about it.
- Jessica
Karl Staib - Work Happy Now
July 3rd, 2009 10:08 pm
That’s pretty cool. You write about it and they change it. Now that’s blogging power.
Thanks! I just adjusted my subject line.
Deepak @ BusinessAttitude.com
July 3rd, 2009 10:21 pm
This is the feature I have been waiting for as well. Google rocks!
fas
July 3rd, 2009 10:43 pm
I tried using it, it says feed not found. This still have to make it better.
David Stillwagon
July 3rd, 2009 11:26 pm
That is really good news. Thanks Darren
Nihar
July 3rd, 2009 11:41 pm
very basic feature. but was not implemented from long time.
Great to see that feedburner have included it.
will go to feedburner and change it now.
Thanks for informing!
MJ Doyle
July 3rd, 2009 11:51 pm
I would switch to Feedburner if it had the following 2 options:
1. Your own header in the feed/email (like FeedBlitz)
2. The ability to send blog broadcasts to your list (as a newsletter)
Gaby
July 3rd, 2009 11:54 pm
I saw that yesterday and added it right away. I like that there’s even the option to say “plus 2 items” if there are more new than just the latest one.
Google Money Master
July 4th, 2009 12:05 am
fantastic news…
Nick
July 4th, 2009 12:08 am
Thank the Feedburner gods!
Just sent out my first RSS feed with this feature… worked like a charm and very helpful.
Hubtonomy
July 4th, 2009 12:19 am
That’s great as I have been using feedburner as a method of sending our RSS newsletters, basically the equivalent of email but using RSS instead.
RSS isn’t just for news feeds.
Mikes Sumondong
July 4th, 2009 12:20 am
I just tried it and it wokrs really really fine!
Alex
July 4th, 2009 1:43 am
Yay! Finally, after years of waiting, feedburner finally got their act together.
Fix error
July 4th, 2009 3:46 am
Great news bout Feedburner
John White
July 4th, 2009 3:54 am
Brian:
Well done. Take the rest of the day off.
Lee Ka Hoong
July 4th, 2009 8:27 pm
That’s what we want from Feedburner! I’ve just made the chances for my Feedburner title. Thanks Darren for telling us about this! I believe that we can get more subscribers to click on the email and read our posts with the attractive title!
Regards,
Lee
tunepal
July 4th, 2009 8:49 pm
Thanks for that tips. Its really useful.
ITrush
July 4th, 2009 11:20 pm
Hmm, looks very interesting.. thanks for the heads up Darren.
Rob
July 5th, 2009 8:00 am
Thanks, Darren! I can’t help but think that you are probably the squeaky wheel whose squeak was loud enough to get the “oil” we’ve been wanting. :-)
Nicholas Z. Cardot
July 5th, 2009 8:47 am
I just set that up in my feedburner account. Thanks for letting me know about it. Good stuff!
MicroMixx
July 5th, 2009 6:32 pm
I like this new feature of Feedburner. In fact, I tried changing the subject line to make the email more catchy.
Jan
July 5th, 2009 11:42 pm
Great post! Can’t wait to start using it. Thanks for sharing.
Jody
July 7th, 2009 12:33 pm
Thanks for the heads up! I just went over and set up all of mine!
Winning Startups
July 7th, 2009 1:27 pm
Great tips, thanks for the advice.
Excel Matic
July 10th, 2009 7:18 pm
Darren
Thanks for all the great posts that you have written here. I was aware of the name ProBlogger blog since long but really never visited it.
But, now when am reading your blogs, I am just loving them. So nicely and simply written.
I have gone through your ‘comments policy’ (which I found only here and nowhere else), but I will still put comments on all those posts which I will really like.
Hope that does not make me get counted in Spam!
Mohit
teratips
July 13th, 2009 4:11 am
defenately useful for me also
Ari Herzog
July 17th, 2009 12:32 pm
Groovy stuff, Darren. Thanks for sharing (and to Tim Walker who pointed me this way via http://www.hooversbiz.com/2009/07/16/tweaking-subscriber-e-mails/)
SURVEYS FOR MONEY
July 18th, 2009 7:13 pm
I’ve actually been using feedburner on my blog and I didn’t even know about this feature. Thanks for suggesting this to Feedburner. It helps bloggers everywhere.
Liane | Blogging Tips
July 24th, 2009 3:12 pm
I’m amazed. Feedburner listens to bloggers too. Or is it because of you darren? Anyway, I’ve off to using it right now. Thanks ;)
Doug C.
August 28th, 2009 2:34 pm
A nice idea, but it still needs work. When I insert the ${latestItemTitle} into the title bar along with my post title I get my post title AND the ${latestItemTitle}.
Try again.
jeux voiture
September 26th, 2009 10:42 pm
Sounds like a nice feature, but truly speaking I was pretty much satisfied with the feedburner they had. Hope they would overload it with a bunch of unnecessary features that would bulk my email.
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