If you want to make your email marketing efforts as successful as possible, installing an email plugin for WordPress is a great decision.
What is an Email Plugin?
An email plugin is an extension for WordPress that helps you implement email marketing campaigns more effectively on WordPress. And since 77% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the past year, using an email plugin for WordPress is a great way to ensure your site benefits from the advantages of email marketing.
Best Email Plugins for WordPress
In this article, I’ve drawn on my over 10 years of WordPress experience and practical testing to choose nine of the best email plugins for WordPress available. I will highlight what I love about each plugin and help you understand how they can enhance your email marketing efforts.
MailPoet
MailPoet is a popular email plugin for WordPress that has been acquired by Automattic/WooCommerce, one of the largest WordPress companies.
What I love about this plugin is that it provides a 100% WordPress email solution. Without needing to leave the WordPress dashboard, you can create email subscription forms, manage your subscribers, and send one-off or automated emails using a drag-and-drop visual builder.
However, unlike many other email plugins for WordPress, MailPoet also includes its own email delivery service (which is a good thing!). This means you can be confident that your messages will reach your subscribers’ inboxes without needing to set up a third-party email sending service.
I think this fact makes MailPoet particularly perfect for non-technical users, as setting up a separate email sending service can be very complicated.
You can use MailPoet for any type of site, including blogs. However, if you have a WooCommerce store, MailPoet includes some specific WooCommerce automation and analytics, such as the ability to link revenues/orders to the specific emails you’ve sent.
What I love: MailPoet is a 100% WordPress plugin, which means you can do everything without leaving the WordPress dashboard. In addition to allowing you to send one-off emails, MailPoet also includes various useful marketing indicators. If you have a WooCommerce store, you can also take advantage of WooCommerce-specific automations like abandoned cart emails. MailPoet includes its own email delivery service, which my experience has shown is rare among native WordPress email plugins. All paid MailPoet plans offer unlimited email sending. There’s a free lifetime plan that can work well for smaller sites.
Pricing: MailPoet has a free plan that gives you access to basic features and allows you to send up to 5,000 emails monthly to up to 1,000 subscribers.
All paid plans support unlimited email sending and are primarily billed based on your number of subscribers. Paid plans start at $10 per month for up to 500 subscribers and include advanced email marketing features in addition to unlimited email sending.
HubSpot Plugin for WordPress
HubSpot is the popular customer relationship management (CRM) system that includes flexible email marketing tools, along with advanced email automation.
With
The HubSpot plugin for WordPress allows you to easily integrate HubSpot into your site. You will be able to create email subscription forms and pop-ups, as well as access HubSpot’s email builder through convenient links in your WordPress dashboard.
Overall, I believe that HubSpot can be a great option if you are looking for a full-service CRM system alongside your email marketing efforts. However, if you only want to send emails to a subscriber list without needing any CRM functionalities, you might be satisfied with a different WordPress email plugin.
What I like: The CRM functionalities in HubSpot are more advanced than all the other email plugins on this list. Although HubSpot is technically a standalone software tool, the HubSpot plugin for WordPress allows you to access key features directly from your WordPress site. HubSpot enables you to set up more complex types of email automation, which I think can be a great option for advanced users looking to maximize their email marketing efforts. You can design emails and list-building forms using visual editors, which is great for non-technical users. HubSpot includes its own email service, so you can be confident that your messages will reach your subscribers’ inboxes without needing to set up a third-party email sending service. HubSpot has a generous free plan, and both the HubSpot CRM plugin and the HubSpot for WordPress plugin are free.
Pricing: The HubSpot CRM plugin and the HubSpot for WordPress plugin are available for free, and you will be able to send a certain number of emails monthly in the free tier. To increase your monthly email sending limits and access other advanced email marketing features, HubSpot’s Marketing Hub plans start at $20 per month.
Newsletter
Newsletter is another popular WordPress email plugin that works similarly to the MailPoet plugin mentioned above.
Without needing to leave your WordPress dashboard, you can create email subscription forms, manage your subscriber lists, and send messages to users using a visual builder.
However, I think you should be aware of one notable drawback of this plugin – it does not include its own email service like MailPoet. Instead, you will need to link it to a separate email-sending service like Amazon SES, SendGrid, or Mailgun (which the plugin can help you with).
While this isn’t overly complicated, I believe that non-technical users may be more satisfied with plugins like MailPoet or HubSpot because they include a built-in sending service.
What I like: You can manage 100% of your email marketing efforts without leaving your WordPress dashboard. The free version of the plugin works well if you are happy to send each email manually, which is great for those with a limited budget. You can design your emails using a visual builder – no HTML required. Newsletter uses a modular and add-on-based approach. I love this because it means you can keep things simple by only activating the specific features that you need.
Pricing:
The newsletter includes a free version on WordPress.org that allows you to send unlimited emails to unlimited subscribers. However, to set up autoresponders and access other advanced features like WooCommerce integration, the paid version starts at $99 to access all 35+ premium add-ons.
Depending on the number of emails you send, you may also need to pay for your email sending service. However, this is usually very inexpensive. For example, Amazon SES charges $0.10 for every 1,000 emails sent. This means you can send 50,000 emails monthly for just $5.
Mailster
Mailster is another full-service email plugin that allows you to manage every aspect of your email marketing efforts from WordPress.
From the WordPress dashboard, you can create email subscription forms, manage your subscribers, and send emails to them either one-time or automatically using a visual builder.
I believe it has one of the best visual builders available, making it a good choice if you plan to create more detailed and complex email designs.
However, unlike the newsletter plugin above, Mailster does not provide its own email sending service. This means you will need to set it up to use a third-party email sending service like Amazon SES, SendGrid, or Mailgun. However, Mailster includes built-in features to help you do this.
I believe one potential advantage of Mailster over other options is that it offers a lifetime license option. This can make it cost-effective in the long run. However, there is no free version of the plugin, so I do not recommend it for those looking for a free email plugin for WordPress.
What I like: You can manage all your email marketing tasks without leaving the WordPress dashboard. There is a lifetime license option, making it affordable for long-term use. You can design emails using a drag-and-drop editor. Mailster also includes over 400 ready-made email designs, which I think is great for those who do not want to design everything from scratch. Mailster supports sending both manual and automated emails, including multi-step automation sequences.
Pricing: Mailster comes only in a paid version. You can purchase an annual license through the developer’s site, starting from $79 for use on one site and one year of support/updates.
Alternatively, you can purchase a lifetime license through the CodeCanyon marketplace. It will cost you $119, but it provides lifetime updates and six months of support.
If you think you will use the plugin for more than two years, I believe it makes sense to purchase a lifetime license through CodeCanyon. Although it requires a higher upfront cost, you will save money in the long run.
In addition to the Mailster plugin itself, you may also need to pay for your email sending service. This will depend on your actual usage and the service you choose to send the email.
Convert Pro
Convert Pro is an email plugin that helps you attract more subscribers to your email list using various types of pop-ups, as well as embedded forms.
You can
Using the visual builder to design pop-ups, slide-ins, notification bars, embedded forms, and full-screen user interface tools. Then you can sync the subscribers generated by your forms with your favorite email marketing services.
The visual email builder is user-friendly and also features many ready-made form templates for all different styles.
I want to clarify that Convert Pro does not include the functionality to actually send emails to people. Instead, it only helps you attract more subscribers for any email marketing service you are already using.
However, it supports over 39 different email marketing services, so you won’t have a problem connecting it. This also includes some of the full-service email add-ons mentioned in this list, such as Mailster and MailPoet. If you can’t find a custom integration, Convert Pro also allows you to connect to other services via Zapier.
What I love: You can design your email subscription forms using an easy-to-use visual builder. Convert Pro integrates with over 39 different email marketing tools, including HubSpot. This allows you to choose your preferred integration. If you can’t find a custom integration, it also works with Zapier to help you connect to additional services. You can access many targeting rules and operational triggers (including exit intent) to ensure that the forms are displayed to the right people at the right time. You can use A/B testing to optimize your forms. Although there is no free version of the plugin, Convert Pro offers excellent value as it supports usage on unlimited sites and has a one-time payment option.
Pricing: There is no free version of Convert Pro. You can purchase it for $99 for a single annual license or $387 for a lifetime license. Both licenses allow for use on unlimited sites.
OptinMonster
Like Convert Pro, OptinMonster is not a full-service email add-on. Rather, it is a tool designed to help you grow your subscriber lists more effectively.
It provides a variety of pop-ups and form types that you can use to capture people’s email addresses. It can then sync those new subscribers with any email marketing service you choose. It has a very detailed list of integrations, supporting HubSpot, Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, ConvertKit, and many others (including Zapier).
In my opinion, where OptinMonster truly excels is in advanced targeting rules and operational triggers. Those rules allow you to ensure that you are displaying the email subscription forms to the right people at the right time. In other words, it enables you to implement very advanced personalization strategies.
I believe OptinMonster should only be chosen if you plan to take advantage of these advanced targeting and operational rules. If you just want to create some basic pop-ups, I think you can save a lot of money by choosing a different tool on this list.
What I love: OptinMonster has very advanced targeting rules and operational triggers. If you take advantage of these rules, I think they give you more opportunities for personalization and optimization than most other plugins. You can manage lead generation efforts across multiple sites from a single cloud dashboard. OptinMonster integrates with most popular email marketing services. It also has close integration with WooCommerce (and Shopify), which I believe can be particularly valuable for online stores.
Pricing:
OptinMonster only comes in a paid version and utilizes paid recurring billing. It is more expensive than most WordPress list-building plugins, which is why I believe it makes sense to use OptinMonster only if you plan to take advantage of its advanced targeting/rule capabilities.
Plans start at $16 per month for up to 2,500 page views with basic features and go up to $99 per month for up to 100,000 page views and all features.
Hustle
Hustle is another popular plugin that can help you grow your subscriber lists using embedded forms, pop-ups, notification bars, and more. You can then sync subscribers with your email marketing service using custom integrations or Zapier connection.
In terms of free functionality, I think it has one of the most generous free versions when it comes to the targeting rules and advanced rules you get for free. So, if you’re looking to grow your email lists on a budget, this is a great plugin to consider.
While Hustle doesn’t offer a visual builder like some other tools, I still think the builder is quite intuitive. You choose a template as a starting point and customize it using an interface that looks like this:
You can quickly preview what your actual content will look like by clicking a preview button.
However, if you want a visual builder, I would recommend Convert Pro or OptinMonster instead. Those plugins definitely give you more control over the design compared to what Hustle offers.
What I love: You can build different types of email subscription pop-ups, in addition to embedded forms. You get access to all the plugin’s functionality in the free version. Instead of limiting the free version by features, Hustle limits the free version to a limited number of different campaigns for each type of form. Although Hustle doesn’t offer a drag-and-drop visual builder like some other tools, the interface makes it easy to customize the available free templates. You can access a variety of targeting rules and advanced rules to control when the pop-ups are shown, including exit intent. You can connect your email subscription forms with several different email marketing services including HubSpot, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Brevo, and more. There’s also comprehensive Zapier integration.
Pricing: Hustle has a free version on WordPress.org that offers very generous functionality. The main constraint is that you can only
Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/website/wordpress-email-marketing-plugin
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