Sometimes, a user may not use a newsletter script hosted on another server to read the data on his/her server. In such cases, the user should write his/her own script or hire someone to do so or use a Newsletter plugin. Free extensions have limited features. To add more capabilities to the existing plugin, you’ll have to upgrade to the plugin’s premium version. Instead of wasting time in testing/checking extensions one by one, why not buy a good Newsletter plugin?
The cheapest and the best premium Newsletter plugin is Mailster. Mailster has 25000+ users and an excellent rating of 4.61/5 on Codecanyon. The plugin doesn’t have a restriction on the number of emails you send, the number of lists you can create, etc. It runs on your server and doesn’t call APIs of the web apps/SaaS i.e. this extension uses your server resources to send newsletters.
The plugin enables you to create email marketing campaigns, set up autoresponders, etc. It supports WordPress 3.8+, Fsockopen function, and requires a server that has 128MB free memory for the PHP. It also requires the DOM PHP extension to function.
The plugin supports third-party services such as SparkPost, MailGun, SendGrid, Amazon SES, WooCommerce, ReCaptcha, Ninja Popups, Easy Digital Downloads, Gravity Forms, Google Analytics, etc.
Mailster plugin features
Tracking
Mailster makes you aware of:
- The number of times your newsletter was opened.
- The number of people that received the mail.
- URLs the subscribers have clicked.
The plugin also displays the users that have unsubscribed from your newsletter. It shows the top users on a map. The tracking data is displayed in the Mailster plugin’s dashboard interface.
Must see: Best WordPress plugins
List Management
Mailster enables users to create and manage list of subscribers. To create a list, click the “Lists” option displayed on the WP dashboard’s sidebar and click the “Add New” option.
The plugin displays lists you’ve created and the number of users that have subscribed to the list on a single interface. It also displays the date on which the list was last updated and the date on which a new user was added.
To help you differentiate/identify subscribers, each subscriber is assigned one of the following statuses in the Mailster application:
- Unsubscribed, Subscribed.
- Pending, Error, Hard bounced.
While setting up the newsletter, the plugin will prompt you to choose the list of subscribers. Mailster rates the users. The rating is based on the user’s activity. When the user opens your newsletter, his/her rating will increase. Likewise, the ratings of users that have unsubscribed from your newsletter will decrease. You can use this feature to find out which users are interested in your content and which are not. You can send top-rated users deals, coupons, etc to increase your blog’s/website’s revenue.
Download the Mailster plugin here
Drag and Drop/Forms
The Mailster plugin provides a drag and drop newsletter builder tool which you can use to design new templates or customize the existing templates. To design or create a form, click the “Forms” option, and then click the “Add New” option. Mailster will now display a list of supported elements on the right side and an interface called “Form Fields” on the left. You should click the element and drag it to the “Forms Fields” interface. Once your form is ready, click the “Save” button.
Get your copy of Mailster here
Unlimited
Mailster lets you send mails to all subscribers of your list at one go even if your list has 1000+ subscribers.
Campaigns and autoresponders
Creating a new newsletter campaign or managing existing ones is easy with the Mailster plugin. While creating a campaign, you’ll be asked to enter:
- Subject, preheader text.
- From name, from email, reply to the mail.
Below the above five fields, you’ll find the template. You can edit/customize this template by dragging elements from the left side to the template’s interface. Once your template is ready, you should select the users to whom the plugin should send the newsletter and specify the mail delivery time.
Autoresponder is a function that will be invoked when the user subscribes to your newsletter or sends a message with your form. You can configure autoresponder to send a mail/message to the user when he/she signs up for your newsletter, unsubscribes your list, when you publish a new post, at a specific time of your choice, etc,
Also read: Optinmonster review
Settings
The Mailster plugin’s settings interface is divided into the following sections:
- General, template, Front End, Privacy.
- Subscribers, WordPress users, Text Strings, Tags.
- Delivery, Cron, Capabilities, Bouncing.
- Authentication, Advanced, Manage settings
In the General settings interface, you’ll find options to change the sender’s name, email address, specify sending delay, disable/enable image embedding in mails, specify the number of posts the newsletter should have, etc.
The template interface enables you to upload a logo, link a URL to the image, choose the default template, etc. The logo will be displayed in the newsletter.
Mailster lets you disable/enable the sharing option, display pagination for posts, and prevent search engines from indexing the frontend in case if the search engine finds the plugin’s Front End interface. The privacy section has the option to enable/disable tracking of clicks, IP addresses, activate/deactivate GDPR notice, etc.
Mailster lets you specify the mail/newsletter delivery method in its Cron interface. The plugin supports wp_cron function as well as a real cron. You can choose one of these two modules to send newsletters to the subscribers.
Capabilities interface lets you change the role of the editor, author, contributor, subscriber, etc. Mailster assigns roles to each of the four users. You can easily change or modify the roles with the plugin’s Capabilities interface.
Download the Mailster plugin here
Screenshots
Pros
- Easy to use.
- Autoresponder, form builder, campaign manager, modules built-in.
- Subscriber management is easy.
- You can send unlimited newsletters.
Cons
- Very few templates are bundled with the plugin. You may have to buy a new template if you can’t customize or don’t like the existing templates.
Get your copy of the Mailster plugin here
Final thoughts
Mailster is the best premium WordPress newsletter plugin. It gives you full control over the campaigns and has no restrictions on the number of campaigns/forms/autoresponders you can create.
