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06.07.07
A Trek Through Wordpress Mailing List Plugins
 By
Solomon Rothman
I recently had a client who needed an easy way to manage e-mail lists from within their wordpress blog.
The requirements included the ability to support multiple lists with additional properties and an easy import / export feature. I thought finding a wordpress plugin to take care of these tasks would be simple, but I was wrong. It appears that one of the big features left out of the 15 or so wordpress mailing plugins I tested was the ability to export the user list in .csv format so it can be used in other programs (like CRM). Technically you can export this list directly from the mySQL database, but that's cumbersome and not "client friendly". I wanted an option that worked through a simple admin interface that allowed for easy exporting and importing.
There was a nice solution which still integrated into wordpress. I installed PHPlist a stand alone, open source, powerful mailing list manager. I then used the wordpress plugin PHPlist form integration to integrate the various forms. So users can subscribe, and unsubscribe without leaving wordpress. The customer can then login to PHPlist and have access to a powerful but simple admin with capabilities that including multiple import and export options.
Here is a brief list of the wordpress mailing list plugins I checked out in no particular order.
MailList for Wordpress
Looks great, but couldn't get it to work. The author is no longer supporting it, so I don't recommended using it.
WordPress Email Notification Plugin
Mainly designed for sending e-mail notifications when your blog is updated. Isn't this sort of thing outdated by e-mail RSS subscribptions?
Subscribe 2
Contains a nice widget version widget compatible themes. Works with the latest version of wordpress , but again setup mainly to send updates on when blog is updated. Seems unnecessary with e-mail RSS.
Subscribe Me
Didn't get a chance to test this one, but it looks the most promising out of this list because it includes the ability to export subscriber data to a common CSV format so you can use it easily with other programs as well as having a confirmed opt-in and opt-out. By default it only records the visitors e-mail and name. You'll have to do some code editing to expand the list and attribute sections.
WP-Campagin-Monitor
very simple with no way to export users, but comes with built in integration with WP-liteecommce plugin so is an excellent way to capture a mailing list if you're using that shoping cart. Also is very fast to install and supports a sidebar widget "out of the box"
Wordpress Newsletter Plugin
Full features, excellent easy administration features. Can create multiple lists, send mail or newsletters, contains every feature I wanted except 1. There is no included, fast or easy to export the lists. So you can't get the lists out without using other software. I need the client to be able to export the various maililng lists in a standard format like CSV. Not to mention this plugin cost $20 (which is cheap if it ONLY had tat one feature).
PHPList Form Integration
- nice simply way to integration the forms form PHPList into wordpress. Includes admin functionality so you can adjust the list options and attributes from PHPlist in the wordpress admin. I love this plugin and I'm using it for all my mailing list needs. Only problem is you have to install and work with a separate program PHPlist, but once you get use to it, PHPlist is full featured and does everything I need it to do including multiple import / export options.
PHPlist Helper
Another PHPlist integration wordpress plugin. This one requires changing a few lines in the core of PHPlist so I choose to use PHPList Form Integration instead.
About the Author:
Solomon Rothman is an SEO
consultant, web and graphic designer for Acclivity Inc. He co-authors
the internet marketing
blog Stir Crazy. He has created over 100 websites and conducted SEO
campaigns for companies of all sizes; besides technology, his other passions
include screenwriting and filmmaking.
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