My Newsletter vs Hustle –

My Newsletter is a lightweight WordPress newsletter plugin focused on a practical use case many site owners need immediately: Send a campaign to WordPress users. Send a campaign to commenters (optionally only commenters from a specific post). Import and manage your own mailing list (CSV/TXT upload, simple XLSX upload, or paste emails). Queue the campaign and process it in the background (batch sending). Include unsubscribe links in every message. Track basic campaign progress in the admin area. Optional file logging for troubleshooting large sends. Optional built-in SMTP settings (with SMTP test) (no external SMTP plugin required). Save and load reusable email templates (v2.5.0). Manage templates (edit/rename/duplicate/delete) from My Newsletter → Templates (v2.6.0). Import/export templates as JSON for backup and migration (My Newsletter → Templates) (v2.6.1). This plugin is intentionally simple and WordPress-native: Email sending uses wp_mail() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/). Background processing uses WP-Cron (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/). File uploads in the admin import flow use wp_handle_upload() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_handle_upload/). Mailing list import & management (v2.3.0) My Newsletter lets you import and manage your own subscriber list: Import subscribers via CSV/TXT upload, simple XLSX upload, or copy/paste. Preview the first rows before writing to the database. Choose merge behavior: Update existing or Skip existing. Built-in list tools: search, export CSV, delete selected, delete all matching search, and delete by domain. Suppression list (unsubscribed): view/export and remove suppression (admin-only). Important: You are responsible for ensuring you have a lawful basis/consent to email imported contacts, and every campaign must include a working unsubscribe option. Then, when composing a campaign, choose Mailing list (imported) as the recipient source. Core functionality Campaign composer (admin screen) Create a newsletter subject and HTML content. Use the WordPress editor for message body content. Choose recipient source: Users + Commenters Users only Commenters only Commenters on a specific post Mailing list (imported) Background queue processing Recipients are queued in custom plugin tables. Sending runs in batches through WP-Cron (instead of trying to send everything in one browser request). Reduces the risk of timeouts and broken sends on slower hosting. Test email before full campaign Send a test message to any email address from the composer screen. Uses the same rendering path and unsubscribe footer logic as real sends. Secure unsubscribe links Every email includes an unsubscribe URL. Unsubscribe tokens use an HMAC-based signature (derived from WordPress salts; see wp_salt() https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_salt/). Unsubscribed addresses are stored and skipped in future campaigns. Email templates (save/load) (v2.5.0) Save the current subject + content as a template. Load a saved template into the composer to reuse it for a new campaign. Templates are stored locally on your site (not sent anywhere). Template variables (placeholders) {{site_name}} {{site_url}} {{recipient_name}} {{recipient_email}} {{unsubscribe_url}} Settings screen From name From email Reply-To (optional) Max emails per cron run (batch size) Footer HTML (appended to outgoing emails) Logging (optional) Optional log file (v2.3.3) Enable logging in Settings → Logging. View, download, and clear logs in My Newsletter → Logs. Logs are stored in wp-content/uploads/my-newsletter/wpnl.log. Basic campaign tracking Shows recent campaigns in admin. Displays queue progress (total / sent / failed / queued). User Guide (v2.3.3) 1) Quick start (5–10 minutes) Install and activate the plugin. Go to My Newsletter → Settings and set: From name From email (prefer an address on your domain) Go to My Newsletter (campaign composer) and send a Test email to your own address first. Create a campaign: Enter Subject Enter Message (HTML supported via the editor) Choose recipients (Users / Commenters / Mailing list) Click Queue & Start Sending (wording may vary by screen) If you don’t see progress, read the “WP‑Cron” section below. 1B) Email templates (Save / Load) (v2.5.0) On the My Newsletter campaign screen you can reuse content without retyping: Write your Subject and Content (or load an existing template). To save: enter a template name and click Save Email Template. To load: choose a template from the dropdown and click Load Email Template. Tip: keep templates generic (e.g. “Welcome email”, “Promo template”), then adjust the final message before queuing. 1C) Manage Templates (v2.6.0) Use My Newsletter → Templates to manage your saved templates: Add New to create a template from scratch. Edit to update the template name (rename), subject, or body. Duplicate to quickly create a variation. Delete to remove a template you no longer need. Templates are local to your site and can be loaded into the campaign composer using Load Email Template. 2) Settings explained (My Newsletter → Settings) From name / From email Used as the sender identity in outgoing messages. WordPress email is sent via wp_mail() and your mail transport decides the final headers (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/). Reply‑To (optional) If you want replies to go to a different inbox than “From”. Max emails per cron run (batch size) Limits how many emails each WP‑Cron run tries to send. Smaller batches reduce timeouts on shared hosting. WP‑Cron is traffic-driven by default (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/). Footer HTML Appended to every message. Best practice is to include: your site name, a short reason why the recipient is receiving the email, and an unsubscribe link (the plugin can insert {{unsubscribe_url}}). Logging (optional, v2.3.3) Enable logging when troubleshooting unexpected queue behavior or mail failures. Go to My Newsletter → Settings → Logging and enable the log file. Re-run sending (WP-Cron or “Run queue now”). Open My Newsletter → Logs to view, download, or clear the log. Logs are stored in wp-content/uploads/my-newsletter/wpnl.log. 3) Creating a campaign (My Newsletter → Campaigns) Subject: what recipients will see. Message body: use the editor; HTML is allowed. Placeholders: you can personalize using: {{recipient_name}}, {{recipient_email}} Recipients: choose one: Users (WP users) Commenters (emails from approved comments) Commenters for a specific post Mailing list (imported) Then click the action button to queue recipients and start sending. 4) Recipient sources: what exactly is included Users Uses WordPress user emails (typically wp_users.user_email). WordPress user data is stored in core tables (https://developer.wordpress.org/apis/wpdb/). Commenters Uses emails from comment records (typically wp_comments.comment_author_email) and only approved comments are considered in typical implementations (WordPress comment basics: https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_comments/). Commenters on a specific post Same as Commenters, but filtered by post ID. Mailing list (imported) Uses subscribers stored by this plugin in its own table. This list is independent from WP users/comments. 5) Mailing list import (My Newsletter → Mailing List) You have two import methods: Upload file or Paste. 5A) Upload (CSV/TXT) Best and most reliable method. Recommended columns * email (required) * name (optional) CSV example email,name [email protected],Ana [email protected],Marko The plugin will: * accept comma/semicolon/tab-delimited CSV (delimiter auto-detected), * accept a header row if it contains email, * validate emails with WordPress helpers like sanitize_email() and is_email() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sanitize_email/ and https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_email/), * deduplicate by email during the import batch, * skip emails that are already unsubscribed. Export from Excel / Google Sheets * Export to CSV. XLSX support exists, but CSV is safer for complex sheets. 5B) Upload (XLSX) XLSX support is intentionally minimal to keep the plugin lightweight. Requirements: * First worksheet (sheet1) * Column A = email * Column B = name (optional) * If cell A1 contains “email”, that row is treated as header and skipped If your XLSX is more complex, export to CSV first. 5C) Paste emails (copy/paste) Paste supports: * one email per line, * comma/semicolon separated emails, * Name , * 2-column lines: email,name or name,email (comma/tab/semicolon). Examples: [email protected] [email protected],Marko Ana Example [email protected] Marko Example [email protected] After import, the screen shows: * imported count, * invalid count, * duplicate count, * skipped unsubscribed count. 5D) Import workflow (Preview + merge rules) Go to My Newsletter → Mailing List. Upload a file (CSV/TXT/XLSX) or paste emails. Click Preview import. Confirm you have lawful basis/consent (required). Choose merge behavior: Update existing (recommended): update name/source/updated_at for existing emails. Skip existing: only add new emails. Click Import now. After import, you can export and clean the list using: * Export subscribers CSV, * Delete selected (bulk), * Delete all matching search, * Delete by domain (e.g. example.com). 6) Viewing and managing the list In My Newsletter → Mailing List, you can: * see the total subscriber count, * search by email or name, * browse paginated results, * export subscribers as CSV, * delete selected subscribers (bulk), * delete all subscribers matching the current search (with confirmation), * delete by domain (e.g. example.com) for quick cleanup. In Mailing List → Suppression list, you can: * view unsubscribed emails (suppressed), * export suppression list as CSV, * remove suppression (admin-only) if you need to re-subscribe someone manually. 7) WP‑Cron and reliable background sending This plugin uses WP‑Cron to send queued emails in batches. WP‑Cron runs on site visits (traffic). On low‑traffic sites, campaigns may send slowly (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/). For reliable sending on production: * Configure a real server cron to hit wp-cron.php at a fixed interval. WordPress explains this approach here: https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/#what-is-wp-cron. Admin tools: * In My Newsletter → Settings, use Run queue now (admin-only) to process one batch immediately for testing/troubleshooting. * The Settings screen includes ready-to-copy cron examples (curl/wget) for common hosting setups. 8) Deliverability (what matters most) This plugin hands off email to WordPress via wp_mail() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/). Deliverability depends on your mail transport and DNS. If you care about inbox placement: * Use an SMTP provider (or transactional email service). * Use a sender on your own domain. * Configure SPF/DKIM/DMARC (vendor-specific docs). 9) Compliance and consent (your responsibility) The plugin provides unsubscribe links, but it does not enforce consent or double opt‑in. You must only email people you have a lawful basis to contact and you must honor opt‑outs. FTC CAN‑SPAM overview: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business EU GDPR overview (lawful basis, consent, etc.): https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/what-does-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr-govern_en

Hustle is the ultimate marketing plugin for building a mailing list and converting site traffic. Lead generation just got easier with simple set up optin forms, targeted marketing popups, and designer-made templates. Build a social following while you’re at it with Hustle’s diverse social sharing capabilities. From the award winning developers of Smush image optimization and Forminator form builder at WPMU DEV. Hustle lets you easily grow your mailing list or display targeted ads across your site with popups, optins, slide-ins, widgets, and shortcodes. Access unlimited pop-ups, slide-ins, and social shares from the start with Hustle Pro. Level up immediately with unlimited campaign creation + access to the full suite of WPMU DEV performance and marketing plugins. Learn more about Pro. Instant Templates For Every Kind Of Offer Hustle makes the process of creating popups, slide-ins, and embeds easier with a range of pre-designed templates. The templates available represent a number of different use cases (e.g. Black Friday, giveaway, COVID notice, newsletter signup), meaning you can get started with a module that aligns with your campaign goals. See them in action below: Learn The Ropes With These Hands-On Hustle Tutorials How to Get the Most Email Subscribers Using Hustle How to Make the Perfect Popup with Hustle How To Get The Most Out Of Using Hustle Get Creative With Styling For Desktop and Mobile Hustle’s flexible appearance settings can help your marketing stand out. Choose colors, animations, layouts, drop shadows, and display conditions from the easy-to-use design settings for all your marketing modules. By default layouts and templates are fully mobile responsive. But you can also make granular adjustments (margins, padding, borders, container sizing) to ensure your modules are popping on all devices. Take Styling & Customization Even Further If you have an eye for detail you’ll love the additional customization options available with Hustle. As well as basic appearance elements like layout, images, typography, and color – Hustle allows for more advanced detailing like borders, spacing, shadow, module sizing, and more. There’s also custom CSS if you’d really like to make your modules your own. Highly Targeted Display Settings Hustle has all the behavior and condition settings you’ll need to target visitors with email opt-ins or ads. Set up intelligent conditions such as: specific pages and posts, visitor device/browser, country, source of arrival, post registration, browser cookie, and a whole lot more. Smart Triggers For Popups And Slide-ins As well as intelligent visibility conditions, Hustle also allows you to set up a range of behavior triggers for your popups and slide-ins. Including: time on page, scroll, exit-intent, and more. Set Specific Schedules For Best Results Hustle makes it easy to schedule exactly when you want your marketing modules to deploy. Set start and end dates, schedule modules to show on specific days of the week, at a certain time of day, and choose a custom timezone to adhere to. Reach Out To Visitors Via Email Once a user has engaged with one of your marketing modules it’s important to follow up with next steps or a simple welcome message. Hustle’s email settings allow you to easily whip up manual or automated email messages and establish that initial connection. Get Busy With Social Sharing Hustle includes top social icons for easily building your following on your favorite social networks. Quickly enable the most popular social networks and use floating social, widgets, and shortcodes to add followers. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit LinkedIn VKontakte 500px Houzz Instagram Twitch YouTube Telegram WhatsApp Form Builder Integrations Hustle integrates with popular free form builders like Forminator, so you can embed your forms, polls, and quizzes into popups and slide-ins for interactive lead generation. Grow your following and capture more leads with Hustle. Grow Your Mailing List Hustle integrates with all the popular email services. Just connect your account and start collecting new subscribers. AWeber ActiveCampaign Campaign Monitor MailChimp & MailChimp groups Constant Contact ConvertKit GetResponse Mailster Hubspot Sendy Mad Mimi Mautic Infusionsoft Brevo MailPoet MailerLite iContact Zapier SendGrid Gutenberg WordPress Editor Block Hustle supports both the Classic Editor plugin and Gutenberg. When you’re ready to say goodbye to shortcodes, the Hustle block pulls your opt-ins and embedded content in for you. Smart Exit-Intent Hustle has exit-intent, a favorite of professional marketers, that detects when visitors are about to leave your site and – BOOM! A pop-up or slide-in to grab their attention. ReCAPTCHA Spam Warrior Keep bot subscribers from taking over your mailing lists. Hustle connects to Googles ReCAPTCHA to protect your signup forms from spam. Adblock is no Match for Hustle Hustle has the moves and displays pop-ups and slide-ins even when Adblockers try to block your content. Measure Performance and Results Whether you’ve created a popup, slide in, or embed, Hustle allows you to track the results of each individual module with intelligent tracking data, conversion stats, and insightful charts for a visual representation. You can also set up a custom widget and include stats on your WP dashboard. Features available in Hustle include: Pop-ups, slide-ins, widgets, embeds and after post opt-ins Ready-made marketing templates – Discount, sale, Black Friday, COVID-19 3 free popups upgrade to Hustle Pro for unlimited 3 free slide-ins upgrade to Hustle Pro for unlimited 3 free social share bars upgrade to Hustle Pro for unlimited 3 free embeds upgrade to Hustle Pro for unlimited Built-in designs editor for simple customization Color match your brand, like magic Smooth display animations Integrate with the best email services including: Aweber, MailChimp, MailChimp groups, Constant Contact, Sendy, Infusionsoft, GetResponse, Campaign Monitor, and many more Super powerful conditions for targeting your audience Schedule your modules to display at a specific time or date Track how many times pop-ups, slide-ins and opt-ins are displayed See submissions straight through WordPress Conversion rates overview 4 default layouts Easy management dashboard New features, layouts and sass coming every month What Do People Say About Hustle? ★★★★★ “I don’t know how I’ve survived this long without Hustle and Forminator, but I’m now using them on every website I build.” – sherylryan ★★★★★ “Recovering 15%+ of sales due to this. Insanely good. Thanks!” – lmbpack ★★★★★ “We used this plugin to build a beautiful pop-up to attract more users and increase conversion rate. Thanks” – inblch98 ★★★★★ “Maybe the only plugin with free “exit intent” feature. Simple but powerful.” – tutoruniversitario ★★★★★ “Wow, we needed so many pop ups for client’s websites with this COVID thing going on. We used the Hustle on all of them. No problems and they look great!” – tammylfinch A Note From Hustle Hey! This is Hustle, your trusted popup, email opt-in, and marketing plugin for WordPress. I’m part of the WPMU DEV team, a superhero-suite of WordPress plugins, services, and support. Here are some of our other free plugins: Smush – Image Compression and Optimization Forminator – Form, Quiz, Poll and Survey Builder Hummingbird – Speed up, Cache, Optimize Your CSS and JS Branda – White Label WordPress, Maintenance Mode and Coming Soon Pages My superhero friends run the WPMU DEV Blog, your source for the very best WordPress tutorials. If you need to be in the know about WordPress, check it out. Thanks for looking at Hustle, and I look forward to helping you market and grow your business with popups and more. Enjoy, The Hustle About Us WPMU DEV is a premium supplier of quality WordPress plugins, services and support. Join us here: https://wpmudev.com/ Don’t forget to stay up to date on everything WordPress from the Internet’s number one resource: WPMU DEV Blog Hey, one more thing… we hope you enjoy our free offerings as much as we’ve loved making them for you!