Mailing lists and newsletters are an efficient and sensible way to bind interested target audiences to a blog or website. Through the newsletter, latest blog posts or news and information go exactly to those recipients who are interested in them.
Newsletters can be managed in many systems, one of the best-known tools being Mailchimp. However, these systems are often too powerful and complex. Additionally, you connect another system to WordPress, which complicates handling data protection.
MailPoet is a fine plugin with which you can manage the entire newsletter administration directly in WordPress. Up to 1000 subscribers are free. Data and settings remain in the WordPress installation or database.
Easy to Set Up
Setting up MailPoet is simple and straightforward:
Under “Forms“, you define various input fields in a simple editor.
Visitors who register via a form end up as “Subscribers” in the system.
Under “Lists“, you define different newsletters or information channels. Separate forms can be created for each list.
Mailings for Every Purpose
The heart of MailPoet, of course, are the actual mailings that you can create directly in WordPress and send from WordPress. In the “Emails” menu item, you can manage existing templates or create new ones.
Currently, there are four use cases that can be easily configured individually.
- One-time newsletters
- Welcome messages when subscribing to the newsletter
- Notification about latest blog posts
- Notification of new articles in a WooCommerce shop
For each use case, a wizard starts in which you make individual settings: For the newsletter with the latest blog posts, the selection of posts by tags or categories can be defined as well as the presentation and frequency of the mailing.
Email Templates to Customize
All mailings can be customized directly in WordPress using a simple editor. Numerous good templates are available as a starting point. You then customize these in the editor as you like.
Sending Mailings
Once you have defined the mailings and collected potential interested parties, you send the newsletters either automatically or manually – also directly from WordPress.
You can use your own hosting’s mail server or use MailPoet’s mailing service. For this, you can have various sender addresses verified and use them for sending.
Transparency for Subscribers
By the way, MailPoet also automatically creates all necessary pages where subscribers can unsubscribe from the newsletter or check their subscription. When subscribing to the newsletter, the email address is verified via a confirmation email. The texts on the pages and in the email can, of course, all be customized.
MailPoet vs. Mailchimp
I prefer working with MailPoet over Mailchimp. Firstly, I find the plugin solution much clearer. Secondly, customer data doesn’t leave my WordPress installation – I consider this advantageous for data protection reasons. For associations and smaller organizations, the solution is also free for up to 1000 subscribers. It’s therefore no problem to simply try out the plugin.
Disclaimer: MailPoet neither initiated nor sponsored this post. I find the plugin a fine thing and am happy to recommend it.
