Send marketing emails locally

[mnelson4]

MailChimp is way too expensive, but I’d like to communicate with our email list. We should use the Freemius web hooks to listen for:

• user.marketing.opt_in for adding someone to the mailing list
• user.marketing.opt_out for removing them

Probably not install.site.opt_in or install.site.opt_out.

Then we can use a plugin and SMTP2Go for sending emails.

I’d like a new email every new post we make to the website.

@ryanvdk what’s the plugin you used for marketing emails and does it support emailing ever timr there’s a new post?

[ryanvdk]

@mnelson4

This is the Newsletter plugin I have used in the past: https://wordpress.org/plugins/newsletter/

Here is the documentation for version 2 of the free API for the plugin: https://www.thenewsletterplugin.com/documentation/api-reference/

The API includes the ability to create new subscribers.

The Newsletter plugin includes the ability to send emails out of the box using the server a WP website is hosted on. Would SMTP2Go be necessary? What features does it offer that you are interested in?

Looks like automated newsletter generation based on blog content is a Pro feature of the plugin.

Pro Feature Pricing: https://www.thenewsletterplugin.com/premium

Automation Feature Documentation: https://www.thenewsletterplugin.com/documentation/addons/extended-features/automated-extension/

[ryanvdk]

Freemius has a MailChimp integration.

[ryanvdk]

Mautick also has a Freemius integration.

[mnelson4]

• [x] try to export Mailchimp list to CSV so we can then import it - Mike
• [x] install Newsletter plugin on a devsite - Ryan
• [x] Test sending mail from Setrahost - Ryan
• [x] importing from CSV to devsite - Ryan
• [ ] Test uninstallation process on the devsite - Ryan
• [ ] install Newsletter plugin on printmy.blog - Ryan
• [ ] importing from CSV to printmy.blog - Ryan
• [ ] Make newsletter template - Ryan
• [ ] send out newsletter - Ryan
• [ ] upgrade to Pro - Mike; ("Automated Periodic Emails" requires a Pro license, about $100/year)
• [ ] setup monthly email - Ryan
• [ ] Setup SMTP2Go integration - Ryan
• [ ] Replace Newsletter subscription form on printmy.blog - Ryan

[ryanvdk]

I tested the Newsletter plugin on dev.printmy.blog and installation and import ran very smoothly without issues. I was able to add 7186 subscribers (3 emails from the list were not valid). I was also able to import the list of unsubscribed users with their status set to unsubscribed. Everything looked good. I then went through the uninstallation process from here to make sure uninstallation could be done smoothly since it involved deleting certain things from the database and wp-content folders: https://www.thenewsletterplugin.com/documentation/developers/backup-recovery/#deleting-newsletter

Uninstallation was completed without issue. I tested the dev site after installation and everything seemed to still work.