In today’s digital era, effective email marketing is crucial to stay connected with your audience and boost your online presence. “The Newsletter Plugin for WordPress” offers you a powerful and user-friendly solution for creating and managing appealing newsletter campaigns. In this newsletter, we’ll take a look at the key features of this versatile plugin and show you how it can help you achieve your email marketing goals.
Click here for The Newsletter plugin in the WordPress repository and this is the page for support.
Table of contents
In WordPress vs. another platform
That is a completely different topic that we will not go into here. Basically, you always have the choice: either you create and send the newsletter yourself via WordPress, or you use an external, specialized newsletter platform such as Mailchimp or Brevo.
Main features of The Newsletter Plugin for WordPress
The Newsletter Plugin for WordPress is available as a free and PRO version. Basic functions are available free of charge. You have to pay a few francs for other functions.
Easy creation and management of newsletters
The “The Newsletter Plugin” for WordPress is characterized by its ease of use and management of newsletters. With its intuitive user interface, even beginners with no prior technical knowledge can design and organize appealing email campaigns.
The drag-and-drop design allows for effortless customization of layouts and content, so you can quickly and effectively adapt your emails to your specific needs. Whether it’s publishing regular updates, sharing news or promoting products, this plugin makes newsletter creation a seamless and straightforward process.
Anyone familiar with platforms such as Mailchimp may initially find the range of templates and blocks in “The Newsletter Plugin” to be limited. Personally, however, I don’t see this as a major problem, as overly complex newsletter designs often distract from the actual content, are more likely to end up in spam filters and can increase loading times. A simpler approach can therefore be more effective in communicating the central message clearly and directly.
Automation
The automation function of “The Newsletter Plugin” is a decisive advantage for efficient email marketing. This feature enables newsletters to be sent automatically based on predefined criteria and schedules. For example, you can plan regular updates or special offers and ensure that your target group receives the relevant information at the right time. This automation not only saves valuable time, but also helps to ensure the consistency and regularity of your email communications, which is essential for building a strong relationship with your subscribers.
However, it should be noted that The Newsletter Plugin for WordPress is not quite as advanced as other marketing automation platforms. What doesn’t work is if you want to map entire flows, what happens when the user does x, etc.
Customizable templates
Customizable templates are a core feature of “The Newsletter Plugin”, which offers users a flexible and user-friendly way to personalize their email campaigns. With a selection of different templates designed for different styles and requirements, you can quickly create a professional-looking email that matches your brand and content. These templates are not only visually appealing, but also fully customizable – from the color scheme to the fonts to the layout. This way you can ensure that every email is tailored to your target group and that your message is delivered effectively.
Subscriber management
“The Newsletter Plugin” offers advanced functions for managing subscriber lists. You can easily add, segment and manage subscribers to run targeted and personalized email campaigns. Segmentation by interests, demographics or past interactions allows you to create more relevant and engaging content for different subscriber groups.
Performance analysis
The plugin offers comprehensive analysis tools to monitor the performance of your newsletter. You get insights into open rates, clicks, unsubscribes and more, so you can adjust your strategy and continuously improve the effectiveness of your email campaigns.
This function is available via additional plugins in the Pro version.
Advanced integrations with WordPress & WooCommerce
One of the outstanding features of “The Newsletter Plugin” is its ability to integrate with other WordPress plugins and tools. This offers advanced functions such as automated content distribution and connection to e-commerce platforms and CRM systems. These integrations make it much easier to create a newsletter from the latest blog posts or automatically send the latest products to your subscriber list.
A few more things about “The Newsletter Plugin for WordPress”
There are various other additional functions that can be added via small plug-ins:
- Dispatch via Brevo, Mailgun, Sendgrid etc.
- Various integrations to collect e-mail addresses
- Webhooks
- API
- etc.
These usually require a PRO version. However, if you are serious about sending newsletters, you should not shy away from it.
If you have the PRO version of The Newsletter Plugin for WordPress, then you also have good support, which in my experience always responds within 12 hours.
Use cases and advantages
Below are a few possible use cases and advantages.
WordPress integration
If you want to integrate content from WordPress directly into your newsletter, such as the latest posts, references or products, you will come up against the limits of many services – especially with posts or custom post types. “The Newsletter Plugin” offers a solution here: With just a few lines of code, you can create your own widget that is integrated into the newsletter and does exactly what you need. This gives you the flexibility to use almost any content from your WordPress site effectively for your email campaigns.
Subscribers can be added effortlessly from other systems via the user-friendly API of “The Newsletter Plugin”. A practical example: If you have a Google Sheets file with contact data, you can integrate it into your newsletter list quickly and easily at the touch of a button using a script. The API is characterized by its simplicity and functionality, which makes it a useful tool for the efficient management of your mailing list.
If you are interested in the code, please contact me.
LowBudget
Mailchimp and similar services can quickly become costly due to their subscription-based billing – 500 subscribers are often free, but 5,000 can quickly add up to $100 per month. These costs are justified if all functions are used intensively and sales are generated. However, when used occasionally for information purposes, they can have a deterrent effect.
A WordPress solution can eliminate many of these costs. For better deliverability, I recommend not sending emails directly via SMTP, but using services such as Mailgun or Sendgrid, which often offer better delivery rates and deeper insights.
OneTo Rule them all
In today’s digitally networked world, we are confronted with a multitude of platforms on a daily basis, be it for websites, CRM, newsletters, project management or the intranet. For people who are intensively involved with a platform, this is usually pleasant and clear. However, especially in small companies, where one person often has to manage several tasks, this can quickly become overwhelming, if only to manage the various login details. It is therefore a great relief if several functions can be integrated into a single platform.
Important tips for sending newsletters
There are a few important tips to consider when sending newsletters directly via your platform:
- Compliance with data protection guidelines: Ensure that you comply with data protection regulations such as the GDPR, especially when collecting and using subscriber data.
- Reliable email service: Use a reliable SMTP service or email sending service such as Mailgun or SendGrid to ensure high deliverability.
- Responsive design: Make your newsletters responsive so that they are easy to read on different devices.
- Clear unsubscribe option: Provide a simple and clear way to unsubscribe from the newsletter.
- Regular tests: Carry out regular tests to ensure that your emails are displayed correctly and do not end up in the spam folder (e.g. with mail-tester.com)
- Content relevance: Make sure that your content is relevant and interesting for your target group.
- Analysis and adjustment: Use analysis tools to measure the performance of your campaigns and make adjustments.
My experience with The Newsletter Plugin
After careful consideration and experience with Brevo, we decided to switch to “The Newsletter Plugin” for WordPress. The main reasons for our decision were the high costs, which were not in proportion to our level of usage, as well as a high unsubscribe rate with too few new subscribers, which led to a reduction in our newsletter list. We were looking for a more cost-effective solution that would allow us to increase our subscriber numbers and make our newsletter a growing communication tool.
After switching to “The Newsletter Plugin”, we have experienced a positive development:
- Our newsletter started to grow again. This could be due to the seamless integration with the WooCommerce checkout process, which enabled us to increase the number of new registrations.
- At the same time, the number of deregistrations fell – the exact reasons for this are unclear.
Overall, we draw a positive conclusion from the change.
Is it all too complicated for you, but a newsletter would still be important to you? Then you should definitely take a look at our small business platform: Website, newsletter perfectly integrated, available at the touch of a button.